, if I would have let him, he would have burst himself. After
this I went on board; but the first sight I met with was two men drowned
in the cook-room, or forecastle of the ship, with their arms fast about
one another. I concluded, as is indeed probable, that when the ship
struck, it being in a storm, the sea broke so high and so continually
over her, that the men were not able to bear it, and were strangled with
the constant rushing in of the water, as much as if they had been under
water. Besides the dog, there was nothing left in the ship that had
life; nor any goods, that I could see, but what were spoiled by the
water. There were some casks of liquor, whether wine or brandy I knew
not, which lay lower in the hold, and which, the water being ebbed out, I
could see; but they were too big to meddle with. I saw several chests,
which I believe belonged to some of the seamen; and I got two of them
into the boat, without examining what was in them. Had the stern of the
ship been fixed, and the forepart broken off, I am persuaded I might have
made a good voyage; for by what I found in those two chests I had room to
suppose the ship had a great deal of wealth on board; and, if I may guess
from the course she steered, she must have been bound from Buenos Ayres,
or the Rio de la Plata, in the south part of America, beyond the Brazils
to the Havannah, in the Gulf of Mexico, and so perhaps to Spain. She
had, no doubt, a great treasure in her, but of no use, at that time, to
anybody; and what became of the crew I then knew not.

I found, besides these chests, a little cask full of liquor, of about
twenty gallons, which I got into my boat with much difficulty. There
were several muskets in the cabin, and a great powder-horn, with about
four pounds of powder in it; as for the muskets, I had no occasion for
them, so I left them, but took the powder-horn. I took a fire-shovel and
tongs, which I wanted extremely, as also two little brass kettles, a
copper pot to make chocolate, and a gridiron; and with this cargo, and
the dog, I came away, the tide beginning to make home again--and the same
evening, about an hour within night, I reached the island again, weary
and fatigued to the last degree. I reposed that night in the boat and in
the morning I resolved to harbour what I had got in my new cave, and not
carry it home to my castle. After refreshing myself, I got all my cargo
on shore, and began to examine the particulars. T