The removal of the sentries guarding their lodgings in Mogador at the end of July 1790 finally signalled their freedom. Irving described how they were all summoned before the Governor of Mogador and ‘delivered up to the Vice Consul as British subjects, to his disposal’. The exact reasons that led Mawlay al-Yazid to free the crew of the Anna after 14 months in captivity are not clear, but the persistence of diplomatic endeavour undoubtedly played a part. Hutchison, who had played such a central role in negotiations for their release, arranged a celebration. As Irving pointed out in his journal ‘Our good vice Consul bountifully enabled us to make merry and the evening was spent conviviably’.

After months of reassuring his wife that he would soon be with her, Irving was at last able to say with some certainty that ‘I and my Crew have at last obtained our final discharge from this Country’. On 9 August 1790 he joyously reported the ‘termination of my bondage, which I have weathered with ten Thousand difficultys’. Quite a touching aspect of this letter is the way in which Irving listed his clothes on a folded down part of the manuscript, giving the impression of preparing for home. Included in the list are black satin breeches, black silk stockings, eight silk handkerchiefs and a number of the items that Hutchison had sent to Irving on his arrival in Marrakesh.