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A LETTER FROM Captain Iohn Toſier, Commander of His Majeſties Ship the HUNTER at JAMAICA.
With a Narrative of his Embaſſy and ComHavannah; to demand His MaGreat Brittains Subjects kept Priſoners there:
The Account and manner of their Delivery, with a Liſt of their Names, and Times of Bondage.
AS ALSO,
The Miraculous Preſervation of Fifteen Engliſh His Majeſties Subjects, caſt away and remaining Eighteen Days in a Long Boat at Sea in a ſad condition, taken up by the ſaid Captain John Toſier.
Printed in the Year 1679
I Have received your moſt welcom Letters, and they came not to my hand till the 20th. Inſtant, becauſe of my being at Sea: For by vertue of his Exellencies the Earl of Carliſle Captain General and Governor of Jamaica's order, I failed from hence the 25th. of January laſt, (as well in Quality of Embaſſador, as that of my Command) for Havannah to demand from the Captain General of that place His Majeſties Subjects of Great Brittain, which were kept worſe Slaves then thoſe of Argiers, and ſo often denyed to ſeveral perſons of Quality, which have been ſent Embaſſadors from time to time, with Frigats of Fifty Guns and upwards. I gave you ſome account of this my laſt; and was much troubled in order to the management of ſo great an affair and of a concern as that was, (but God be thanked) to the honour of my Maſter the King of England, for whoſe ſervice, if I had a 1000 lives, I would ſacrifice them all, I obtained that ſucceſs which was not expected from me by any: For the Spaniards were never known to have delivered any Engliſh that they took in the Weſt Indies before now. And thouſands of people would have ventured moſt of their Eſtates againſt that ſucceſs
Engliſh Nation, and the great ſatisfaction of my Lord and all Jamaica; all which has here been acknow
The next day after I received the Priſoners on board, It pleaJoſeph Graves and 14 of his men (all His Majeſties SubHavannah, and expected nothing but to be utterly loſt, or to be Slaves in the Havannah at the beſt. Captain Graves ſailed hence a Month beLondon; I believe he will come and ſee you, and give you thanks for my kindneſs to him which he owned here.
The great goodneſs of God is to be obſerved herein, for the firſt time I ſaw this man, he was Dr— and did ſo much abuſe me, that I could hardly endure it, but I was withheld: Yet that it ſo happened I ſhould be an Inſtrument to preſerve him, you may imagine the great joy we had on Board, I for my good fortune in this undertaking; the poor Slaves for their deliverance, and Captain Graves with his fourteen men for their preſervation in all their perils. Between them our Ship got two Names in two dayes, the firſt was the Bleſſing of England by the Slaves of Havannah, and the ſecond the Preſervation by the Wrackt men.
And though this Voyage is never made in leſs then three Months and ſometimes in four: We (putting our ſelves to ½. al&c.
ON the 25th. of January 1678/9. I Sailed from Port-Royal in Jamaica for the Havannah, upon the North-ſide of Cuba, with Orders to demand His Majeſties Subjects that were there Priſoners. On the 11th. of February I arrived upon the Coaſt, where I lay off and on two dayes for a ſettled Weather; on the 13th. I Sailed within two Miles of the Moors Caſtle, with our Courſes in the Brailes, and our Top Sails a Trip, Jack, Ancient and Pendant flying, and ſent in my Boat aſhore with my Liſt, and Mr. Richard Bere his Excellency the Earl of Carliles GentleMoors Caſtle commanded them aſhore, and put a Serjeant and Souldiers on Board them, who Guarded them up to the GoverHavannah with the King of Englands Frigat under my Command at my pleaſure, and to have my Salutes anſwered Gun for Gun: As ſoon as this was read, the Governour anſwered them, that all thoſe of the Kings Subjects there, were Pirats, and therefore would deliver none; and as to my coming in, he was very willing, but he muſt put a Guard upon the Kings Ship; and Salutes, he could not anſwer ſo much as one Gun; and then bidding them go three times out of his houſe, ſent them Guarded away to the Boat, and ſo forced them to Sea at ſeven a Clock at Night, and very dark upon a dangerous Coaſt, where they Boagged all Night, whilſt I ſtood off and in, not thinking they would turn them out ſo late: The next Morning at ſix a Clock I took up the Boat with this anſwer, and at Nine ſent them a ſhore again, with full Power and Inſtruction to tell him, that His MaEngland never ſpared his Powder to anſwer Civilities, nor received ſuch Indignities as
Charles Earl of Carliſle, Captain General and Governour of Jamaica, hath comGreat Brittains Ships of War, attending that His Majeſties Iſland of Jamaica, to deſire his Excellency in the King of England's Name, and in obeHavannah, that they be forthwith ſet at Liberty, and delivered to me, to be Tranſported to the Territories of the King of England.
With ſOld Spain, and there to be Tryed, and not to be kept in perpetual Slavery; relating the ſeveral Complaints made to the King and Councel, of their moſt barbarous uſage to our Nation here with the force of Authority, when at the ſame time we treat them with all tender kindneſs in the World, &c.
But before this Latter diſcourſe was ended, the Governour cauſed the Priſoners to be called over in a back Court near his houſe, and examined ſome of them, one after another; who beEngland, which they called our Ship; immediatly I hoiſted out the long Boat, and had them all on Board in leſs then three hours: Whereupon I ſet Sail the next day for the Bay of Mettances to Water, and ſo to Port-Royal, where I arrived the 20th day of March following, to the great ſatisfaction of all men here.