at,
you have deeper water and softer bottom; and you must then look out
that you do no damage to the shipping, for the roadstead commences
there, and you can see the town or village of Falmouth lying upon the
west side of the bay, and appearing somewhat prettier than it is in
fact. When we arrived, we found a large number of vessels lying there;
but being desirous of sailing high up, several ships received good
thumps from us, in passing by them, and our endeavoring to keep off
the shoals. It would have resulted much worse, if our sheet anchor,
which was lying up forward, had not caught between the rails of a
small vessel, whose mizzenmast we also came foul of, whereby our ship
turned round, and at the same time our anchor fell, and we touched
bottom in the mud, with fine weather and still water. We thanked our
God again, with our whole hearts, for the double mercy shown us this
morning, having not only in a fatherly manner preserved us from an
apprehended danger, but delivered us from this one into which we had
truly fallen, and had then caused us to arrive so well. To Him belongs
all praise and glory, from all His children, and especially from us,
to all eternity. Amen.

[Footnote 74: Falmouth, which had come into existence in 1613,
numbered in 1679 some two hundred and fifty houses. The two castles
alluded to as commanding the harbor were Pendennis castle on the west
(southeast of the town), famous for its obstinate defence in 1646 by
the royalists under Lord Arundell, and St. Mawes on the east.]

Our anchor had not yet touched bottom when the inspectors or
tide-waiters all came on board to examine. Our captain and Margaret
went immediately ashore; and after the cook had served the breakfast,
almost all the passengers, both old and young, putting on their best
clothes, did the same. My comrade also went to see if any letters had
arrived for us, whilst I remained on board to look after things a
little; for all our goods were in the berth, and otherwise within
reach, and the ship was constantly full of strange people. My comrade
soon returned, but brought no letters. This morning while we were
launching the boat, I hurt myself in the loins, on my left side; the
pain extended through the whole of that side of my body, to my left
breast, and across the middle to the right breast. I was all bent up
while standing, and had to sit down. I could scarcely draw a breath or
move myself; but I felt it was my old complaint, for