14th, Friday. Our ship was entirely laden, that is, with the goods she had to take, for there was a large quantity of them which had come out of her, remaining for the other ship which Margaret had bought there, and which was to be made ready there to go to the Isle of May,[78] and thence to Barbados. She was a large but very weak ship, short and high, small and meagre as regards bulk, not altogether old, but misbuilt. She sailed tolerably well, but was very lank. Two of our crew went with her, namely, Titus, who was to be boatswain, and one of our carpenters, named Herman, who was the best one we had. They went, from the first, to work upon her, for she was lying in winter quarters. Our ship being laden, our captain went on board the large one with an English lad, the cabin boy, and his, the captain's wife. This captain had obtained a Quaker for his mate, a young man and a very poor seaman, as I have been able to observe. Hereupon our English mate, named Robert, who also was a Quaker, became captain in the place of the other, and our Dutch mate, or rather New Netherland mate, named Evert van Duike—for he was a New Netherlander born, and his parents and relations were still there, though he had married at Amsterdam and had lived there a long time, but was now taking his wife and children with him to New Netherland—became mate in place of the other.[79] In return for the three persons and the boy who had gone from our crew, we obtained only one in their place, a poor creature, called Jan, the doctor, of Boston, who seemed more a charlatan in his behavior and gestures than a good seaman. Meanwhile we went walking, to see the country, and in the afternoon came to the east castle, where a soldier conducted us from the gate and took us before the governor,[80] who asked us who we were, where we came from, what flag our ship bore, when and with whom we had arrived, and for what purpose we had come to the castle. We answered him politely; but we could not make ourselves well understood by him, for he spoke nothing but English, which we could not do, or very little, though we could understand it pretty well. He finally ordered the soldier to conduct us around the castle, in order that we might look at it. Having satisfied the soldier, we left, and went down the hill. The beer brewed at the castle is very poor; there is little or no fresh water up there, and what there is, does not amount to much. The castle is otherwise strong and well provided, having over an hundred guns in different batteries, which command the harbor and the entire roadstead. When we reached the ship she was laden.
15th, Saturday. As our ship was now full, and orders had come to haul the ship at high water from before the warehouse and off from the ground, they did so this morning. We went to Penryn to buy some butter, and when we returned the boat was sent for fresh water, which was brought on board, and the ship then towed to the roadstead below, where she arrived in the evening, somewhat late, and was moored at once.
16th, Sunday. The weather was misty and rainy. We went ashore with one of the passengers and one of the sailors, a young fellow, a Scotchman, by birth, from the Orkneys, and a Presbyterian by profession, named Robert,[81] who took us, at our request, to the Presbyterian meeting, which we left quite satisfied with the zeal of the preacher. Their mode of service is not different from that of the Reformed in Holland, but the common people sat there with very little reverence. At noon we went to dine at a very good inn, called The Golden Fleece, and in the afternoon we attended the meeting of the Episcopalians, of whose church service we have before spoken, and so in the evening returned on board the ship.
17th, Monday. We went this morning again with some passengers to Penryn, where the yearly market day was held, with the intention of laying out a little money in some purchases, having rid ourselves of Mr. Jan, who had sought to get it out of our hands, and would by that means have cheated us. He promised us, if we would let him have the money, thirty per cent. interest payable in New York, or ducats[82] there at twelve guilders of zeewan each; but the Lord, who has care over the least of His children, saved us from this fox, and excited the attention of another passenger, namely, Jan Theuniesen, who lived on Long Island, and who advised us what to do.[83]
We bought several things on which we thought we could make a profit, because the peril of the sea was to be encountered. The Lord, who, as I have said, takes care of the least of His children, so ordered it that we not only did not lose any thing by our Dutch money, which commonly brings not more than five shillings for a ducat; but we received for almost all that we used, five shillings and six pence, that is 67 stivers.[84] The reason of this was, that the man who took our money was about going to Norway, for timber, where he could pay it out at a higher rate than English money. Having made our purchases, we went to Falmouth, but as we could not take our goods on board the ship without first declaring them, we had to take them to Mr. Roggers's, where one Mr. Jacobs lived, who had assisted in inspecting the ship's lading, and who would do the same with these. Thinking over the purchases we had made at Penryn, we discovered there was a mistake in the payment of a bill, arising from the counting of the money by our Dutch mate and Jan Theunissen. The difference amounted to one pound sterling. We, or our friends on our account, had paid the bill. We discovered the mistake at Falmouth, and immediately went back to Penryn, informed the merchant of the mistake, which he did not have much trouble in comprehending. He gave us back the money, for which we were glad, and returning, arrived by evening on board the ship.
18th, Tuesday. One Mr. Lucas, the most rigid of the inspectors and custom house officers, came on board this morning. We spoke to him, told him what we had bought, and requested him to examine them. We said we might buy something more and he could assess them all together. He replied he did not wish to examine our chest, or what we might have bought previously; but would go ashore with us and look at what we had there. He told us also that he had a small piece or two of stuffs, which, if we would buy, he would let us have at a bargain. We went to Mr. Jacobs's where he looked over what we had bought. He told us we had paid dear for them, although we thought we had bought them cheap. Mr. Jacobs said he had a remnant of tin which he would sell us for ten stivers a foot, and we had paid twelve for ours. We were directed to pay Mr. Jacobs three shillings English for duties upon the goods we had there, whenever we should have all our merchandise together. Mr. Lucas went with us to a shop over the door of Mr. Roggers, where he bought several things for us at a low price; he even compelled the merchant almost to give us the goods for what he chose, for the merchant did not dare to refuse or disoblige him. They were always good purchases. He also brought us something of his own which he sold us on favorable terms. I supposed these were confiscated goods, which they wanted to get rid of, and that this was the reason they were so accommodating to us.[85] Our purchases being completed, he took us to an inn where we regaled him for the trouble he had taken with the above-mentioned merchant. We were compelled this evening to eat and sleep ashore, which we did at the inn, The Golden Fleece.
We had heard a great deal said for some days past, and to-day, of great danger from the Turks, who had taken four Dutch ships. This caused no small apprehension in our ship, and especially in Mr. Jan.
19th, Wednesday. My companion wrote a letter home from on board the ship. We did our best this whole day to get our little merchandise on board, but without success, because it was not yet declared. However, every thing concerning the ship and the lading was finished to-day; and the passengers obtained the bills of their goods, and paid them. Having accomplished nothing the whole day, we returned on board the ship.
20th, Thursday. My comrade having finished the letters, we went on shore to Mr. Roggers's, in order to post them in time, and paid the postage to London. We bought also some brandy, vinegar and other articles, for we began to see it would go slim with us on the voyage. We were engaged the whole day in declaring our goods and carrying them on board, which was completed early in the evening, and the goods stowed away. We then paid Mr. Lucas a ducaton[86] for the duties on our goods. He told us what the duties on the whole of the ship's cargo amounted to, and gave us various other information, all very willingly, because, after he heard that I was somewhat acquainted with the wine business, he desired some particulars in regard to it from me, which I gave him in writing to his satisfaction. We were now all cleared....[87]