Page:Life and unparalleled voyages and adventures of Ambrose Gwinnett (1).pdf/23

 service, with all that had happened to me among them, my prevarication made them suspect my veracity, and I was two years in prison; when, by what means I know not, some of the wretches with whom I left our island having been taken as pirates upon the Spanish coast of Europe, an order came to bring me over to Cadiz, in Old Spain, in order to be evidence. When I came there, I was detained for many months; but at length, when the pirates were brought up for trial, instead of being summoned for evidence, I found myself treated as a delinquent, and, with two others, condemned to the galleys for life.

I worked on board of them for several years, when a galley I belonged to was ordered to sea against an Algerine rover that infested the coast; but, instcad of one, met with three of them. The issue of an engagement was fatal to us. The greater part of the crew were killed, and the rest taken prisoners, among which last I was one, having lost my leg in the action.

After this, I passed a long and painful slavery in Algiers, till, with many other English captives, I was released, by agreement between the Dey of Algiers and his Britannic Majesty’s agent. In the year 1730, I returned to England. The first thing I did was to inquire after my relations, but all those nearest to me were dead; and I found that Mr Collins had never returned home; so I suppose he died on his passage. Though not an old man, I was so cnfeebled by hardships that I was unable to work; and being without any manner of support, I could think of no way of getting my living but by sweeping the crossing between the Mews-gate and Spring Gardens, Charing-Cross, London; and ultimately, being even unable for this employment, I depended on the generosity of a feeling and benevolent public.

The history of Ambrose Gwinnett is one which