95-year antedating of "high and dry"

[Hugo]

"high and dry" (OED 1822)

I found an antedating almost a century earlier. It appears in _A new account of the East Indies: being the observations and Remarks of Capt. Alexander Hamilton_ (1727, Volume 1, page 254):

[Begin]
And the Virgin Mary, to shew her Kindness, and Skill in Navigation, stood a whole Night on the Forecastle, directing the Devil how he mould steer, and behold, to the great Admiration of all concerned, the Ship was high and dry in the Morning, in a Valley on the South Side of the River ofGoa, about half a Mile within the land.
[End]

Read the whole page, it's quite a tale!

Google Books full view: http://goo.gl/XxcKmq

Or just a screenshot: http://english.stackexchange.com/a/124562/9001

The church is A Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Ajuda (or The Church of Our Lady of Help) in Ribandar, on the banks of the Goa river. The Ribandar website tells the same tale.  http://www.ribandar.com/client/Article.php?id=1

Hugo

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