Page:The history of yachting.djvu/260

 124 The skipper of this craft, it appears, "conceived a suspicion that the expedition for which the smack had been hired was of a political rather than of a commercial nature," and it occurred to him that more might be realized by informing against his passengers than by performing the service he had been engaged for.

He accordingly gave information of what was going on—probably through the usual channels—to the Duke of Leeds, then Lord President, "who took his measures with his usual energy and dexterity and put a trusty officer named Billop in charge of his eldest son's yacht to intercept Preston and his fellow-conspirators."

Now, it appears that this son of the Duke of Leeds was Caermarthen, Earl of Danby, and, as we shall presently see, was a friend of Peter the Great. According to Macaulay, he was a "bold, volatile, and somewhat eccentric young man, fond of the sea and lived much among sailors, and was the proprietor of a small yacht of marvellous speed."

Billop and a crew of picked men went down the river in the yacht, "as if for the purpose of pressing mariners," and "at dead of night," on New Year's Eve, 1691, Preston and his companions went on board the smack near the Tower, and made sail down the river in "great dread" lest they be stopped by the frigate at Greenwich, or by the guard at the block-house at Gravesend. Having escaped these difficulties, their spirits naturally rose, and their appetites became keen. So they unpacked a hamper, containing "roast beef, mince