THE ADVENTURES OF ROBERT DRURY. (continued 8)

Not long after this we had the misfortune to run foul of the Winchelsea, which, tacking about unexpectedly, staved our bow to the water’s edge, and carried our foremast quite away; the man-of-war lost his head and sprit-sail-yard. We must all have been inevitably 309lost had the sea run high, but by good providence it was fair weather; so by the assistance of the Winchelsea’s crew and some others, we kept the water out, but were forced to go back to the Crooked Islands, and they accompanied us, where by the help of them, and some other ships, our breach being made up, we proceeded on our voyage; and on Saturday, September 9, 1717, arrived in the Downs, after I had been absent from my native country sixteen years and about nine months. Here, by the captain’s direction, I went ashore, he having first supplied me with what was necessary for my journey to London; yet did I not set forward till I had returned God thanks in the most solemn manner for my safe arrival, and for my deliverance from the many dangers I had escaped, and from the miseries I had so long undergone.

It may not be improper in this place to inform my readers by what a wonderful providence my father came to hear of my being alive in Madagascar. My brother was one day at the Crown alehouse, at Cherrygarden-stairs, in Rotherhithe, where William Thornbury was in the next box; and hearing him talk of that island to his friend, he said, he had a brother cast away there several years before, and should be glad to hear some tidings of him. Thornbury replied, he had never seen but one white man upon the island, and his name he had forgotten. My brother thereupon mentioned several names, and at last Robert Drury, which Thornbury no sooner heard, but said, that was it, and that his father lived at the King’s-head, in the Old Jewry.

When I came to London, (it being Sunday about three o’clock in the afternoon,) I thought it improper to go in sermon-time to the King’s-head, in the Old Jewry, the house in which my father lived before he retired into the country, but went to the Bell alehouse, (then the British coffeehouse,) at the lower end, and desired to be admitted; assuring the master I was but just come on shore. He seeing me in a sea jacket, and hearing me speak in broken English, took me for a foreigner, and let me in; asking me what countryman 310I was, and from whence I came? I told him an Englishman, which at first he would scarcely believe, till he recollected me by the questions I asked; namely, who kept the King’s-head? Whether John Drury did not keep it some years ago? He told me, that John Drury went to live in the country, and left it to his brother William, who died some time since; and that his widow kept the house. “How!” said I, “is William Drury dead?” “Yes,” answered he, “and John Drury his brother too died about a year ago.” This news so dejected me, that I burst out into tears, and afterwards bemoaned my hard fate before him; by this he perceived who I was, having heard of my being abroad, and of my friends expecting me soon in England. Hereupon he asked me, if my name was not Drury? I answered, it was, and that I had been unfortunate for many years; I was like to continue so, since my father was dead. As an addition to my sorrow, he told me, moreover, that my mother died with grief not long after she heard of our shipwreck, and that my father had married again. After sermon I went to the King’s-head, where they soon discovered who I was, and were overjoyed to see me; and there I had a full account of our whole family affairs. I found my father had left me two hundred pounds, and also the reversion of a house at Stoke Newington, then in the occupation of Mr Richard Beardsley. I stayed in town till I had visited all the friends I could remember, and then went to Loughborough to see my sister, and other relations, where I met with a very friendly reception, after they imagined I had been lost so many years before.

As soon as I had settled my affairs there, I returned to London. Captain Macket continued still as kind to me as ever, and said he would take care of me if things did not answer my expectations. He asked me to go with him again to Madagascar, but I had then agreed to live with a relation in the capacity of clerk, or bookkeeper. After captain Macket was gone, and things did not answer as I expected, I agreed with captain 311White, captain Macket’s friend, who was bound for Madagascar likewise, to go the voyage with him, and assist him in the trade, which my knowledge of the language and customs of the country had sufficiently qualified me for. So having left all my effects in a friend’s hands (except what I thought proper to take with me) I went on board the Mercury, and we sailed from the Downs, September 13, 1718.