61 r

1684*

^Up. XLII, front the I. oj James I. to the Revolution.

*684. cause the Tide and the Sea Breeze werethen both favourable, it being highWater at seven o’Clock; But if she werean Engiijh Man of War, as they hearti-ly wished, then he thought the SeaBreeze would make her stand off to Sea.At Length, having persuaded the Com-pany to row up to her, they happilyfound her to be the Lark Frigat, Cap-tain Leighton Commander.r e S ef * a- After some Examination and Dis-

v 0(ly-A j-,

n y course, about the Means and Methodan °f 0 f their Escape, Phelps proposed to theCaptain, that jf he would accommodatehim with his Boat, and those belong-ing to the other two Men of War, inCompany, he would undertake to pilotthem in, and burn what Ships therewere then in Marmora, which made theCaptain immediately stand to the North-ward, and come up with the other twoShips, which were the Bonadventureand Gteyhound. The Admiral was sickat Cadiz, so that they went on BoardCaptain Mackdona'd, who was eldestCommander, and sending for CaptainPair born, who was then Captain, underfpisgr a Captain Priejlman, sick as aforesaid,° li ^Aon. ^7 held a Council what to do, and atlast, considering the Forwardness of theMen, who that very Day had escapeda heavy Slavery, and were yet willingthat Night to engage in the Action, theyconcluded the Enterprize both possibleand feasible; After which ,Phelps return-ed on Board the Lark, and having com-municated the Result of the Council tohis Comrade, Mr. Baxter, he beingwell acquainted with the Bar, was muchpleased, and ordered into the Bonadven-ture's Boat. This done, Orders werepresently given to shave some DealBoards, and saw some Tar-Barrels, andall Things being ready, by seven atNight, the Greyhound's Boat, whereinwas Phelps, was commanded a-head,and the Rest had Orders to follow him.There were three Barges in all, and oneYawl; The Number of Men engagedin the Action was two and forty, whowere strictly charged, upon Pain ofDeath, not to seek after Plunder, whichwas punctually observed. About eight,they put off from the Ships, and betwixtnine and ten fell a little to the North-ward of the Bar: But by Baxter's Assist-ance, they quickly righted themselves,

and found the Bar. There was a greatNoise oh the Shoar, all having takenthe Alarm ; But the Engiijh, not at alldiscouraged, pursued their Design to-ward the Ships, aboard which, therebeing a great many Lights,they observ-ed th eMoors looking over theSide of thefirst they came to, which was the big-gest who called to them to keep off; Butthey answering the Infidels with abouttwenty Granadoes, soon drove them o-verboard, so that the Engiijh presentlyentered, and being not long in taking And p uccee dsin their Shavings and Tar-Barrels, set in it,her on Fire in several Places; Soon af-ter which, hearing the Noise of somePeople in the Hold, they opened theHatches, and thereby saved the Livesof three Dutchman and one Frenchman,who told them that the Ship on Firewas Admiral, and belonged to Aly-Hachum ; And the other, which quicklyrun the fame Fate, was the very Ship,which, in 0 si oh er before, took ThomasPhelps, the Author of this Relation,

Captive. The Flame was To fierce, thatthey were forced to keep off from theShip’s Side, whereby they became ex-pos’d to the great and small Shot of theMoors, from the Castle-Walls, tho’ withlittle or no Execution; For the Engiijhmade very smartReturns upon thew, andwith that Eagerness, that they quite ne-glected their Oars; So that if the Tidehad not turned to Ebb, they shouldhave run a great Risque, the Men beingso full of Joy, that they never mindedthe Dangers they might be subject to ;

They were therefore forced to tow theBonadventure'sYawl, who had lost allher Oars. They had but one Man mor-tally wounded, and two or three slight-ly hurt, in the whole Action.

Phelps, and his Comrade Captives,continued on Board Captain Mack dona Id,

’till they came to Cadiz ,where they wentafhoar, in order to a Passage for Englandwith the first Opportunity, Mackdonaldhaving first given them Certificates oftheir Service in the late Action, andthen Phelps and Baxter took their Leaveof him, and not long after, having theConveniency of a Passage, on BoardCaptain Atkins, they left Cadiz the firstof July 1684. and, on the six and tvven- Returns totieth of the fame Month, arrived safely En g land 'in the Downs.

7 Q

CHAP.