on Board, for it was high Time to put their Project in Execution.
As ſoon as Maſſey received this Letter, he went to the Soldiers at the Barracks, and ſaid to them, and others, You that have a Mind to go to England, now is your Time
; and they generally conſenting, Maſſey went to the Store-Room, burſt open the Door, ſet two Centinels upon it, and ordered that no Body ſhould come near it; then he went to the Governor’s Apartment, and took his Bed, Baggage, Plate and Furniture, (in Expectation that the Governor himſelf, as he had promiſed Maſſey, would have gone on Board, which he afterwards refuſed, by Reaſon, as he ſaid, he believed they were going a-pyrating; which at firſt, whatever Lowther deſigned, Maſſey certainly propoſed only the going to England;) when this was done, he ſent the Boat off to the chief Mate, with this Meſſage, That he ſhould get the Guns ready, for that the King of Barro
[a Negro Kingdom near the Royal African Settlement] would come aboard to Dinner.
But Lowther underſtanding beſt, the meaning of thoſe Orders, he confined the chief Mate, ſhotted the Guns, and put the Ship in a Condition for ſailing. In the Afternoon Maſſey came on Board with the Governor’s Son, having ſent off all the Proviſions of the Iſland, and eleven Pipes of Wine, leaving only two half Pipes behind in the Store-Houſe, and diſmounted all the Guns of the Fort.
In the Afternoon they weigh’d one Anchor, but fearing to be too late to get out of the River, they ſlipp’d the other, and ſo fell down; in doing of which, they run the Ship a-ground. Maſſey ſhew’d himſelf a Soldier upon this Accident, for as ſoon as the Miſfortune happen’d, he left the Ship with about ſixteen Hands, and rows directly to the Fort, remounts the Guns, and keeps Garriſonthere
