Not ye like of ye French ships was never seen before, for ye whole coast is full of them.

For my part I can give no guess when I shall get away, for I purchast but 27 slaves since I have been here, for slaves is very scarce.

We have had nineteen Sail of us at one time in ye Road, so that ships that used to carry pryme slaves off is now forced to take any that comes.

Here is seven sail of us Rum men that are ready to devour one another, for our case is desprit." Two hundred years of wickedness unspeakable and human torture beyond all computation, justified by Christian men and sanctioned by governments, at length rending the nation asunder in civil war and bequeathing a problem still unsolved--all this followed in the wake of those first voyages in search of labor which could be bought and sold as merchandise.

It belonged to the dark ages with piracy and witchcraft, better forgotten than recalled, save for its potent influence in schooling brave seamen and building faster ships for peace and war.
These colonial seamen, in truth, fought for survival amid dangers so manifold as to make their hardihood astounding.