Land, if possible, at Sayda, and, on reaching the harbour, leave your family in the ship, take an ass at my farrier’s, and come here to Djoun. This is all, I believe, that is necessary for me to say, should you not have received my letters, written at the beginning of the year. If you have received them, and things do well, the case is rather altered.
I cannot express my gratitude. May God reward you hereafter!
I hope Mrs. ——- has plenty of rings on her fingers, as that is very necessary in this country, and the greatest of possible ornaments in the eyes of women.
[Not signed.]
No eligible opportunity offered for sailing until the end of August, when, having concluded an agreement with the owners of a merchant brig, we betook ourselves to Leghorn, and set sail in the Fortuna, Lupi master, for Cyprus, on the 7th of September, 1827. There were four Franciscan friars passengers besides ourselves, bound to the Holy Land, with money annually sent from some of the Italian states for the maintenance of the sacred places.
On the 15th of September, being about thirty leagues from the island of Candia, a tall-masted schooner was seen bearing down upon us, and was soon recognized as a Greek. On nearing us, she hoisted Greek colours, and ran under our stern, presenting a formidable battery of twelve guns, with the heads of sixty or eighty fierce-featured fellows eyeing us over the gunwale. A scaramouch-looking mate hailed us in good Italian, and ordered our captain to hoist out his boat and come on board. Whilst the boat was getting ready, our captain told us to do the best we could for ourselves, for that he had no doubt we should be plundered. “As for you,” he added, addressing himself to me, “make yourself as smart as you can, assume an air of authority, and pass yourself off as a consul.” We were all greatly alarmed. I hastened to follow the captain’s advice, whilst the friars were busy in stuffing their gold, their watches, and their small valuables, into their under-garments and other hiding-places.
The Greeks, however, gave us little time; for, in a quarter of an hour, fifteen or twenty were on board, headed by their lieutenant. On getting over the side, he advanced towards me, and, in a very civil way, told me that, as Cyprus was blockaded, and as our vessel was bound to that place, no doubt with succours to the Turks in some shape or other, his captain found himself under the disagreeable necessity of taking possession of the cargo. “You,” he added, “being an Englishman, will meet with no molestation; the English are our friends, and we are not incapable of gratitude.”
In an instant the hatches were forced open; and, as quick as stout shoulders and tackles could do it, the Greeks hoisted upon deck, and cut or broke open every bale, cask, or case that was in the hold, whilst the lieutenant, holding the bill of lading in his hand, noted off every one according to its mark. I had various articles of luggage, and as each was hoisted up, I had to say it was mine, when it was put aside on the quarter-deck. The same was done with the effects of the friars. Each launch-load of goods that was sent off to the schooner brought back a launch-load of stout Greeks, who, with hammers and hatchets, broke down the wainscoting, cut through the ceiling, searched the berths, and left not a single cranny of the vessel unransacked.
When the cargo was out, the lieutenant summoned the four, as I supposed, poor friars to the quarter-deck, and told them their trunks must next undergo an examination. Each trunk had a cross on its lid. What was my surprise when, on opening them, the Greeks found fifty or sixty pounds of chocolate, bottles of rum and rosolio, hams, tongues, Bologna sausages, sugar, and a large box of sugared almonds; also seven or eight veils, (such as are worn in the Levant) for women, fine flannel waistcoats and drawers, good calico shirts, &c.; 200 Venetian ducats, three or four rouleaus of doubloons, and 5,000 Spanish dollars. The way in which the Greek sailors scrambled for the sugared almonds was really quite laughable, making a strange contrast to the ruin they were perpetrating at the moment on these inoffensive individuals; but, when they discovered the money, amounting in all, with what was taken from the friars’ persons, to no less than 14,000 dollars, they set up a shout, which so effectually frightened the poor friars, that they fell down on their knees, and invoked all the saints in the calendar to their aid. But the cupidity of the Greeks was excited rather than satisfied by the sight of so much gold and silver, and they immediately proceeded to strip their victims, an office which they performed with greater agility than could have been exhibited by the most expert valet. This humiliating operation disclosed fresh booty; the capacious sleeves, drawers, and hoods, all afforded something. One had a repeater-watch, and all had money.