This probably was the beginning of his great prosperity, though his wealth did not become sensational until nearly five years later.

Fortunes were constantly being made in prize ships in those days, and you may be sure that our enterprising sea-fighter was not behind other men in this or in anything else calling for initiative and daring! At all events the records seem to show that he bought his lands in the Green Village,--Greenwich,--about 1740, when he was thirty-seven.

Whether he built his house at that early date is not clear, but he probably didn't have money enough yet, for when he did build, it was on a magnificent scale.

In 1744, however, came his golden harvest time! It was a little after midwinter of that year that Sir.

Chaloner Ogle made him commodore of a sixteen-ship squadron in the waters of the Leeward Islands where there was decidedly good hunting in the way of prize ships.