A. BURR.
TO THEODOSIA.
Albany, 4th August, 1794.
MY DEAR THEO.,
We arrived here yesterday, after a hot, tedious passage of _seven
days_. We were delayed as well by accidents as by calms and contrary
winds, The first evening, being under full sail, we ran ashore at
Tappan, and lay there aground, in a very uncomfortable situation,
twenty-four hours. With great labour and fatigue we got off on the
following night, and had scarce got under sail before we missed our
longboat. We lost the whole tide in hunting for it, and so lay till
the morning of Wednesday. Having then made sail again, with a pretty
strong head wind, at the very first tack the Dutch horse fell
overboard. The poor devil was at the time tied about the neck with a
rope, so that he seemed to have only the alternatives of hanging or
drowning (for the river is here about four miles wide, and the water
was very rough); fortunately for him, the rope broke, and he went
souse into the water. His weight sunk him so deep that we were at
least fifty yards from him before he came up. He snorted off the
water, and turning round once or twice, as if to see where he was,
then recollecting the way to New-York, he immediately swam off down
the river with all force. We fitted out our longboat in pursuit of
him, and at length drove him on shore on the Westchester side, where I
hired a man to take him to Frederick's.
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