I., as Master's-mate, on
board a privateer called the Chance, commanded by Captain Daniel
Aborn, mounting 12 six-pound cannon, and having a crew of 65 men."
This vessel was captured in a few days by the Belisarius, of 26 guns,
commanded by Captain Graves. The prisoners were brought to New York
and the Belisarius dropped her anchor abreast of the city. A large
gondola soon came alongside, in which was seated David Sproat, the
much-hated British Commissary of Naval Prisoners. He was an American
refugee, universally detested for the insolence of his manners, and
the cruelty of his conduct. The prisoners were ordered into the boats,
and told to apply themselves to the oars, but declined to exert
themselves in that manner, whereupon he scowled at them and remarked,
"I'll soon fix you, my lads!"
David Sproat found America too hot for him after the war and died at
Kirkcudbright, Scotland, in 1799.
Dring says: "My station in the boat as we hauled alongside, was
exactly opposite one of the air-ports in the side of the ship. From
this aperture proceeded a strong current of foul vapor of a kind to
which I had been before accustomed while confined on board the Good
Hope, the peculiar disgusting smell of which I then recollected, after
a lapse of three years. This was, however, far more foul and loathsome
than anything which I had ever met with on board that ship, and it
produced a sensation of nausea far beyond my powers of description.
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