As the waves were running high, there was no chance of getting it, for we could not see it from the ship. Yet the whole voyage must be delayed, three seamen be sent roving at the risk of their lives, and Ave, with all the rest, must work fruitlessly for an hour and a half, and all that merely to satisfy and phase the miserable covetousness of Margaret." Within a comparatively few years after his marriage to Margaret, Frederick Philipse had become by far the wealthiest man in New York. During the Dutch interregnum, in 1674, his possessions were valued by commissioners appointed by Governor Colve at 80,000 guilders, an amount which, though large for the times, was small compared with the wealth that he ultimately amassed. In 1002, Mar garet having died, li<- married for his second wife Catherina, daughter of Oloff Stevense Van Cortlandt and widow of John Dervall -- another fine alliance from the substantial point of view. His commercial and financial operations continually grew in magnitude and profitableness. He was the largest trader with the Five Nations at Albany, sent ships to both the Fast and West Indies, imported slaves from Africa, and, besides enjoying the profits of irregular commerce, shared, as has been with good reason alleged, in the gains of piratical cruises. All the time he maintained his former judicious relations with the government. He was a member of the governor's council for twenty years, extending from the administration of Andros to that of Bellomont. He resigned from the council in 1698, in anticipation of his removal by the home government in England, which followed, in fact, not long after. This removal was the result of satisfactory evidence that he was interested in the piratical East Indian trade, having its rendezvous in Madagascar -- evidence upon which a number of New York citizens had based a petition, praying that "Frederick Philips, whose great concerns in illegal trade are not only the subject of common fame, but are fully and