Hardly had the fleet anchored when Captain Poynings boarded the flagship and obtained, with little ado, permission to part company. We then revictualled, took in fresh powder, and weighed, steering a westerly course till Negrille Point was well abeam.  Thereupon we stood nor’-westward, passing close to Grand Cayman. Here misfortune dogged us. For days we were becalmed, the _Gannet_ wallowing motionless in the oily sea within one hundred leagues of our destination.  Then the dreaded "yellow jack" made its appearance amongst us, and forty men lay sick to death on the ballast, of whom, I grieve to relate, more than half died.