The letter relates how the crew boasted that they had, each man, twelve hundred pounds in gold and silver, besides a great store of diamonds and many rich goods.

Of the sharing of these diamonds, Johnson tells a story how one man, being given for his share one big diamond instead of a number of small ones, broke it up with a hammer, so that he might have as many 'sparks' as the others.
Macrae's defence of the _Cassandra_, and the boldness and ability he displayed in his dealings with the pirates, brought him into prominent notice.

The son of a poor Ayrshire cottager, he had worked himself up, from before the mast, to the command of a ship.

Soon after his return to England, the Directors appointed him to be their supervisor on the west coast of Sumatra, and, before he sailed, a provisional commission was given him to succeed to the Presidentship of Madras, on a vacancy occurring.

Eighteen months later, he took his seat as Governor at Fort St.
George.