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starving condition. Going down to Wapping, to (illegible text) for an old school fellow of mine, who I was informed, had got the command of a small coasting vessel then in the river, as I crossed Tower wharf, I was suddenly attacked by ten or a dozen sailors, and after an obstinate resistance, in which I received a large wound on the head and cheek, I was disarmed taken prisoner, and carried on boat a tenday; where, after being pinioned like a thief, I was thusrt down into the hold among a parcel of miserable wretches. As the commanding officer had not humanity enough to order my wounds to be dressed, and I could not use my hands, I desired a fellow captive to take a handkerchief out of my pocket, and tie it round my head to stop the bleeding. He pulled it out, but instead of applying it to the use designed, went to the grating of the hatchway, and with astonishing composure, sold it before my face for a quart of gin, and treated his companions therewith.—I complained of the robbery to the midshipman on deck. who squirting a mouthful of dissolved tobacco upon me through the gratings, told me I was a mutinous dog, and I might be d——d. In the mean time, loss of blood, and want of food, threw me into a swoon out of which I was recovered by a tweak of the nose, administered by the tar who stood centinel over us, who at the same
