tor seemed no less embarrassed than I was, and informed me, that the officers of the ship said they
would not land us on the Western Shore, within less
than two weeks. I was obliged to content myself in
the best way I could, in my confinement on shipboard; and amused myself by talking to the sailors,
and giving them an account of the way in which I
had passed my life on the tobacco and cotton plantations; in return for which, the seamen gave many
long stories of their adventures at sea, and of the
battles they had been engaged in.
I lived well whilst on board this ship, as they allowed me to share in a mess. In compensation for their civility, I gave them many useful instructions in the art of taking fish in the Bay.
This great ship lay at anchor like a vast castle, moored by the cable; but there were many small vessels, used as tenders to the fleet, that were continually sailing up and down the Bay, by night, as well as by day, in pursuit of any thing that they might fall in with, that they could take from the Americans. Whilst I was on board, I saw more than thirty vessels, chiefly Bay craft, brought to our anchorage, and there burned, after being stripped of every thing valuable that could be taken from them. The people who manned and navigated these vessels, were made prisoners, and dispersed amongst the several ships of the fleet, until they could be removed to Halifax, or the West Indies. One day a small schooner was seen standing out of the mouth of Nanticoke river, and beating up the Bay. Chase was
