value to anybody but myself.

After lying several weeks at Almeria, the ship got under way for England
again. We had fresh westerly gales, and beat to and fro, between Europe
and Africa, for some time, when we got a Levanter that shoved us out into
the Atlantic at a furious rate. In the Straits we passed a squadron of
Portuguese frigates, that was cruising against the Algerines. It was the
practice of these ships to lie at the Rock until it blew strong enough
from the eastward to carry vessels through the Gut, when they weighed and
kept in the offing until the wind shifted. This was blockading the
Atlantic against their enemies, and the Mediterranean against their
own ships.

We had a long passage and were short of salt provisions. Falling in with
an American in the Bay of Biscay, we got a barrel of beef which lasted us
in. When near the chops of the channel, with a light southerly wind, we
made a sail in our wake, that came up with us hand over hand. She went
nearly two feet to our one, the barilla pressing the Sterling down into
the water, and making her very dull, more especially in light airs. When
the stranger got near enough, we saw that he was pumping, the water
running out of his scuppers in a constant stream. He was several hours in
sight, the whole time pumping. This ship passed within a cable's-length of
us, without taking any more notice of us than if we had been a mile-stone.
She was an English two-decker, and we could distinguish the features of
her men, as they stood in the waist, apparently taking breath after their
trial at the pumps. She dropped a hawse-bucket, and we picked it up, when
she was about half a mile ahead of us. It had the broad-arrow on it, and a
custom-house officer seeing it, some time after, was disposed to seize it
as a prize.