een-rigged feluccas, apparently
following us, which at first sight attracted but little attention.
Captain Roberts soon became suspicious of their movements and watched
them closely, as they were gaining on us. We were going hardly more than
two or three knots an hour, having little more than steering way, but
they spreading much sail were faster. The captain soon gave orders to
have an inventory taken of the firearms on board that could be used in
case of need, but these were found to be few in number and in poor
condition. The cook was ordered to heat as much boiling water as his
small galley would allow, to be ready to repel any attempt to board the
vessel. There was great excitement on the bark, and we fully expected to
be attacked, but fortunately for us

The shades of night were falling fast,

and soon the sun went down. We then changed our course a point or two
and threw a sail over the binnacle light so that the suspected pirates
could not follow us; and thus we escaped what might have been a tragedy.

After our arrival at Malta we learned that three vessels had been taken
by the Riff pirates, as they were called, near the time when we were
threatened, and near the same point of land. Without doubt the captors
belonged to the same crew as those that followed us. We were on the
Mediterranean Sea at the time when the Crimean War broke out, England
having declared war on March 28. This new condition of public affairs
caused great confusion in the movement of steamers and in transportation
generally, as steamships were much needed for military purposes; on
which account my stay at Malta was somewhat prolonged. During this time
I saw a good deal of the American consul, Mr. William Winthrop, who was
a kinsman of our former President, Mr. Winthrop, and at a later period a
Corresponding Member of this Society. At the regular monthly meeting
held on November 8, 1882, Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., paid a handsome
tribute to the consul, on the occasion of the Society's receiving a
liberal bequest from him. He ended his remarks by saying of him: "He
took a pride, however, in being a Corresponding Member,--the only one in
nearly a century who, so far as I am aware, ever left the Society a
dollar, and I much fear that, in this respect, he is likely long to
remain unique."

Transcriber's Note:

Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Variant
spellings have been retained, in addition t