Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 2.djvu/258

 Providence was the island selected for "his: residence by Blackbeard, the famous pirate; the citadel that stands on the hill above the town of Nassau, is built on the scite of the fortress which contained the treasure of that famous freebooter. A curious circumstance occurred during my stay on this island, and. which, beyond all doubt, was connected with the adventures of those extraordinary people, known by the appellation of Buccaneers. Some workmen were digging near the foot of the hill under the fort, when they discovered some quicksilver, and on inspection, a very considerable quantity was found; it had evidently been a part of the plunder of the pirates, buried in casks or skins, and these having decayed, the liquid ore naturally escaped down the hill.

Though not indifferent to the: pleasures of the table, I was far from resigning myself to the Circean life led by the generality of young military men in the Bahamas.

The education which I had received, and