The voyage must have been taken somewhere about the year 1747-8.

At that period there were perils of the sea to which the mariner is not often exposed at the present day.

The waters of the Gulf of Mexico, in particular, were covered with pirates.

The rich produce of New Spain, the West Indies, and the Southern Colonies of the English, were rare temptations.

The privateers of Spain and France, a sort of legalized pirates, hung about the ports of Carolina, frequently subjecting them to a condition of blockade, and sometimes to forced contributions.