6 co Charles 11. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English, Book 1^
i68$. Conditions were revoked before the Endof the Year, and greater Hardships laidMarriage of mon the City. The Marriage of theAnr ^ rince J s Princess Ann, youngest Daughter of theDuke of Tork, afterwards Queen ofEngland, with Prince George, Brotherto the King of Denmark, which was*The Rye- celebrated on the eight and twentieth ofhouse Plot. July, And the Kre-fiou/e Plot, with theProceedings against the Conspirators, arethe only Things which our History af-fords, worthy of Remark, during theremaining Part of this Year.
1684, The next Year afforded nothing butfresh Instances of the King’s aiming, byall the Means he and his Creatures coulddevise, at an absolute Power: ButDeath put an End to his Projects, at aTime, when it is said he had a greatDesign in View, of a quite different Na-ture, by which he would have alteredall the former Measures of his Govern-
Bp. Burnet. menf * &ee an Account of this Scheme inBurnet.
1685. The King died on the sixth of Febru-The Death ary, 1685. not without violent Sufpici-o/Ktng ons of being poisoned, in the four and
ares ' fiftieth Year of his Age, the seven andthirtieth of his Reign, reckoning fromthe Death of the King, his Father, andfour and twenty Years, eight Monthsand nine Days after the Restoration.
The Captivity of Thomas Phelps, atMachanefs, in Barbary, and hisst range Escape from thence, &c.
Harrfs ^'Col This Thomas Phelps failed from thep. 23. Downs, in the Success, of London, onthe seven and twentieth of August, ofthis Year, for Bantry in Ireland, fromwhence, on the twentieth of September,he set Sail for the Maderas. The fifthof Odlober, being a Hundred LeaguesWest of the Rock of Lisbon, he was¥hest taken ta p en by a Sallee-man , and carriedman. * ^ captive, with several other Christi-an Slaves, first to that Place, and after-wards to Machanefs. As the Design ofmy mentioning this Event, is chiefly tointroduce the Account of a gallant Ac-tion, with which it ended, I shall notdescend to the Particulars of the Hard-ships he endured, during his Captivity ;Nor of the Circumstances of his won-derful Escape from Machanefs, withthree other Englishmen, viz. EdmundBaxter, Anthony Bay le, and James In-gram, on the nine and twentieth ofMay , 1685. ’till their Coming to Bailee t
on the eleventh of June, whither they i68ptravelled by Night only, without anyKnowledge of the Way, with little orno Provisions, no Mony to buy any, orif they had, not daring to fee or Ipcakwith any Body.
On the eleventh of June , at Night, His ststthey went down the River of Sal lee,about a Mile above the Town, wherethey found a Boat, but could not, withall their Strength, launch her. Phelpsand Bayle, who were the only Swim-mers, made over to the South side ofthe River, where they found threeBoats, but all aground; So that theycould do noGoosi with them : But then,searching about the new Ships whichwere building there, being five inNum*her, they found two Oars, with whichthey swam over to their Comrades, andgoing down by the River’s Side, to theHarbour’s Mouth; they could meetwith no Boat to put their Oars in.Theysaw, indeed, two Dutch Men in theRiver, who kept such strict Watch,that they could not carry off their Boat,wherefore having concluded to burytheir Oars in the Sand, they betookthemselves to find out a Sanctuary forthe following Day, which was in a Fig-tree full of Leaves, in an unfrequentedPlace, as they thought, on the North-Side of the River; Yet within call ofthe Ships which were then a building.
Here they had safe Protection, ’till thenext Day, tho’ a Moor came and hungup his Shirt to dry upon the very fameTree, and fat down not far off to lousehimself. On the twelfth, at Night, theywent down to the River Side, to lookafter a Boat which they observed wasmoored there, and paddled her downclose to the Dutchman, who saw, butsaid nothing to them : Then putting a-shoar and fetching their Oars, they con-tinued padling, ’till they had past aFrench Man, who likewise took no No-tice of them; After which, havingshipped out their Oars, they rowed rightinto the Sea, their Course, by theNorth Star, being W. N. W. Havingrowed about four Miles, they saw aShip at Anchor, which obliged them toalter their Course, and row Northward, -still they had passed her about twoLeagues, and then lay upon their Oars:
W hen Day broke, they saw her withher Sails loose, upon which Phelps toldhis Comrades, that it was his Opinion,if she were a Sallee-Man, she wouldmake in for the Bar, at that Time, be-cause .