Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

EAST INDIAMAS. 311
seven days they cleared the channel, during
which time Captain Samson perceived that
his ship sailed faster that any of the others.
Unwilling to lose the benefit of this superi¬
ority, by keeping company with the rest, he
stood on alone, and soon lost sight of them.
On the 20th of May, he made Bonavista, one
of the Cape de Verd Islands, in 16° of north
latitude, and on the 21st got into Porto Pryor
(Praya) Bay. It now appeared that he had
either been mistaken in supposing his ship to
outsail the rest of the fleet, or that he had
lost time by the course he had steered, for
the Pelham and the Streatham, he found, had
reached the bay two days before him. The
Houghton arrived soon afterwards, but the
Edgecourt did not come in till the 26th.
On the 27th the Doddington, Pelham,
Streatham, and Houghton, having taken in
their water, proceeded on the voyage together,
leaving the Edgecourt in the road. They con¬
tinued in company until the 28th, when Captain
Samson thinking the course too far easterly,
ordered the Doddington to be kept south, which
again separated her from the rest of the fleet;
and after a fine voyage of seven weeks, she
made the land of the Cape of Good Hope.