at night the viceroy's grandmother solicited their liberty, at a feast, to which she was invited on his safe return, and the viceroy promised that he would release them on the morrow.
On the morrow, about five in the morning, they were waked, and told that the viceroy would in a few minutes pass by to his palace of Mooteejeel. Upon this intelligence they got up, and when the viceroy came in sight, they paid him the usual homage, and uttered their benediction aloud. He looked at them with strong marks of compassion in his countenance, and ordering his litter to stop, he called them to him, and having heard a short extemporary petition, which was spoken by Mr. Holwell, he made no reply, but ordered two of his officers to see their irons instantly struck off, and conduct them safely wherever they chose to go, giving them a strict charge to see that they suffered no injury or insult by the way.
This act of mercy, however late, or from whatever motive, was the more meritorious, as great pains were taken by some time-serving sycophants to prevent it: they told the viceroy, that Mr. Holwell, notwithstanding his losses, was still possessed of enough to pay a considerable sum for his freedom; to which the viceroy nobly replied, "If he has any thing left, let him keep it; his sufferings have been great, and he shall have his liberty."
Mr. Holwell and his friends being thus dismissed, immediately took boat, and soon after arrived safe at the Dutch settlement at Corcemadad, where he afterwards embarked for England.
An authentic narrative of the loss of the Doddington Indiaman, and of the adventures of those on board who survived the shipwreck; from the fournal of one of the surviving officers.
The Doddington, Captain Samson, sailed from the Downs on the 23d of April 1755, in company with the Pelham, the Houghton, the Streatham, and the Edgecourt, all inthe service of the East India Company, and in about seven days got clear of the channel; during this time Captain Samson perceived that his ship sailed faster than any of the others, and he was unwilling to lose the advantage of this superiority by keeping them company: he therefore stood on along, and having very soon lost sight of them, he made Bonavista, one of the Cape de Verd islands, lat. 16 North, on the 20th of May, and on the 21st he got into Porto Prior bay. It now appeared either that he had been mistaken in supposed his ship to out said the rest of the fleet, or that he had lost time by the course he had steered, for he found the Pelham and the Streatham had reached the bay two hours before him. The Houghton arrived soon afterwards, but the Edgecourt did not come in till the 26th.
On the 27th of May, the Doddington, Pelham, Streatham, and Houghton, having taken in their water, proceeded on the voyage together, leaving the Edgecourt in the road; the continued in company steering S. by E. 1/4 E. till the 28th, when Capt. Samson thinking the course too far easterly, ordered the Doddington to be kept South,
which
