To this he added that Mr.
Sheriff, one of the mates of the latter vessel, was unhappy also on this account.

Sheriff had been a mate in the West India trade, and was a respectable man in his line.

He had been enticed by the captain of the Africa, under the promise of peculiar advantages, to change his voyage.
Having a wife and family at Bristol, he was willing to make a sacrifice on their account.

But when he himself was not permitted to read the articles, he began to suspect bad work, and that there would be nothing but misery in the approaching voyage.

Thompson entreated me to extricate him, if I could.
He was sure, he said, if he went to the Coast with that man, meaning the captain, that he would never return alive.
I was very unwilling to refuse any thing to Thompson.