The Perils of Certain English Prisoners (annotated)

The Perils of Certain English Prisoners is a classic Charles Dickens history essay. It was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty- four, that I, Gill Davis to command, His Mark, having then the honour to be a private in the Royal Marines, stood a-leaning over the bulwarks of the armed sloop Christopher Columbus, in the South American waters off the Mosquito shore.