So now he was Captain Phips of the English navy.
Captain Phips sailed from England in the Rose Algier, and cruised for nearly two years in the West Indies, endeavoring to find the wreck of the Spanish ship.

But the sea is so wide and deep, that it is no easy matter to discover the exact spot where a sunken vessel lies.

The prospect of success seemed very small; and most people would have thought that Captain Phips was as far from having money enough to build a "fair brick house," as he was while he tended sheep.
The seamen of the Rose Algier became discouraged, and gave up all hope of making their fortunes by discovering the Spanish wreck.

They wanted to compel Captain Phips to turn pirate.

There was a much better prospect, they thought, of growing rich by plundering vessels, which still sailed the sea, than by seeking for a ship that had lain beneath the waves full half a century.