Our ship was about one hundred and twenty tons burden, carried six guns, and fourteen men, besides the master, his boy, and myself. We had on board no large cargo of goods except of such toys as were fit for our trade with the Negroes; beads, bits of glass, shells, and odd trifles, little looking-glasses, knives, scissars, hatchets, and the like. I had explain'd to the ship's master through polite discourse my occasional "fits" which would require him locking me in my cabin on some nights, and that it would please me if he and his crew paid no heed to the sounds made at these times, as I was most embarass'd by the state to which these "fits" reduced me. While he thought this odd he did not question it.
The same day I went on board, we set sail with design to stretch over for the Africkan coast. Keeping farther off at sea we lost sight of land and steered as if we were bound for the isle Fernando de Noronha, holding our course. In this course we passed the line in about twelve days' time, and were in northern latitude when a violent tornado took us quite out of our knowledge. It blew in such a terrible manner that for twelve days together we could do nothing but drive and let it carry us whither ever fate and the fury of the winds directed. During these twelve days, I need not say I expected every day to be swallowed up.
In this distress we had, besides the terror of the storm, one of our men died of the calenture and one man and the boy washed overboard. About the twelfth day, the weather abating a little, the master made an observation as well as he could and found he was in about 11 degrees north latitude, but he was 22 degrees of longitude difference, west from Cape St. Augustino. He was got upon the north part of Brasil, beyond the river Amazons, toward that of the river Oroonoque, commonly called the Great River. He consult'd with me what course he should take, for the ship was leaky and very much disabled, and he was going back to the coast of Brasil.
I was positively against that. Looking over the charts of the sea-coast of America with him, we concluded there was no inhabited country for us to have recourse to till we came within the circle of the Caribbee islands, and therefore resolv’d to stand away for Barbadoes. We could not make our voyage to the coast of Africa without some assistance, both to our ship and ourselves.
With this design, we chang’d our course, and steer’d away in order to reach some of our English islands, where I hoped for relief. But our voyage was otherwise determined, for a second storm came upon us, which carry’d us away with the same impetuosity westward and drove us so out of the very way of all human commerce. Had all our lives been saved, we were rather in danger of being devoured by savages than ever returning to our own country.
In this distress, the wind still blowing very hard, one of our men late in the day cried out, “Land!” We had no sooner run out of the cabin in hopes of seeing whereabouts in the world we were, but the ship struck upon a sand. In a moment, her motion being so stopped, the sea broke over her in such a manner we expected we should all have perish’d. We were driven into our close quarters to shelter us from the very foam and sprye of the sea.
It is not easy for any one who has not been in the like condition to describe or conceive the consternation of men in such circumstances. In a word, we sat looking upon one another and expecting death every moment, and every man acting accordingly, as preparing for another world. There was little or nothing more for us to do in this. Our present comfort, and all the comfort we had, was that, contrary to our expectation, the ship did not break, and the master said the wind began to abate.