(Note. 'The buccaneers.' The name "buccaneer" originally meant one who dried or smoked flesh on a "boucan," a kind of hurdle used for this purpose by the natives of Central and South America. The English, French, and Dutch smugglers who, in spite of the monopoly so jealously guarded by the Spaniards (see Introduction above) traded in the Caribbean seas, used to provision at St. Domingo largely with beef, jerked or sun-dried on the boucans. These men formed an organised body, under a chief chosen by themselves, and, under the name of the buccaneers, were for three-quarters of a century the terror of the Spaniards. In 1655 they were powerful enough to give material assistance to the English fleet which conquered Jamaica. In 1671 they raised a force of 2,000 men, marched across the isthmus, and besieged and took Panama; their success, as usual, being marked by horrible atrocities. In 1685 a Spanish fleet of fourteen sail, which had been fitted out to put them down, found ten buccaneer ships in the bay of Panama, but dared not give them battle. The war between France and England after 1688 dissolved the alliance between the French and English buccaneers; and the last conspicuous event in their history was the capture of Cartagena in 1697. Soon after this date they disappeared as an organised body, though for many years members of the band remained as pirates in the South Seas.)

Goats' flesh being scarce, we rarely being able to kill above one a day, and our people growing tired of fish (which abounds at this place), they at last condescended to eat seals, which by degrees they came to relish, and called it lamb. But there is another amphibious creature to be met with here, called a sea-lion, that bears some resemblance to a seal, though it is much larger. This, too, we ate, under the denomination of beef. In general there was no difficulty in killing them, for they were incapable either of escaping or resisting, their motion being the most unwieldy that can be conceived, their blubber, all the time they were moving, being agitated in large waves under their skins. However, a sailor one day being carelessly employed in skinning a young sea-lion, the female from which he had taken it came upon him unperceived, and getting his head in her mouth, she with her teeth scored his skull in notches in many places, and thereby wounded him so desperately that though all possible care was taken of him, he died in a few days.

CHAPTER 10. REAPPEARANCE OF THE GLOUCESTER—DISTRESS ON BOARD—HER EFFORTS TO ENTER THE BAY.

The arrival of the Trial sloop at this island so soon after we came there ourselves gave us great hopes of being speedily joined by the rest of the squadron; and we were for some days continually looking out in expectation of their coming in sight. But near a fortnight being elapsed without any of them having appeared, we began to despair of ever meeting them again.

RETURN OF THE GLOUCESTER.

But on the 21st of June some of our people, from an eminence on shore, discerned a ship to leeward, with her courses even with the horizon. However, after viewing her for a short time, the weather grew thick and hazy, and they lost sight of her. On the 26th, towards noon, we discerned a sail in the north-east quarter, which we conceived to be the very same ship that had been seen before, and our conjectures proved true; and about one o'clock she approached so near that we could distinguish her to be the Gloucester. As we had no doubt of her being in great distress, the Commodore immediately ordered his boat to her assistance, laden with fresh water, fish, and vegetables, which was a very seasonable relief to them; for perhaps there never was a crew in a more distressed situation. They had already thrown overboard two-thirds of their complement, and of those that remained alive scarcely any were capable of doing duty except the officers and their servants. They had been a considerable time at the small allowance of a pint of fresh water to each man for twenty-four hours, and yet they had so little left that, had it not been for the supply we sent them, they must soon have died of thirst.

The ship plied in within three miles of the bay, but, the winds and currents being contrary, she could not reach the road. However she continued in the offing the next day, but had no chance of coming to an anchor unless the wind and current shifted; and therefore the Commodore repeated his assistance, sending to her the Trial's boat manned with the Centurion's people, and a further supply of water and other refreshments. Captain Mitchel, the captain of the Gloucester, was under a necessity of detaining both this boat and that sent the preceding day; for without the help of their crews he had no longer strength enough to navigate the ship. In this tantalising situation the Gloucester continued for near a fortnight, without being able to fetch the road, though frequently attempting it, and at some times bidding very fair for it. On the 9th of July we observed her stretching away to the eastward at a considerable distance, which we supposed was with a design to get to the southward of the island; but as we soon lost sight of her and she did not appear for near a week, we were prodigiously concerned, knowing that she must be again in extreme distress for want of water. After great impatience about her, we discovered her again on the 16th, endeavouring to come round the eastern point of the island; but the wind, still blowing directly from the bay, prevented her getting nearer than within four leagues of the land. On this captain Mitchel made signals of distress, and our long-boat was sent to him with a store of water and plenty of fish and other refreshments; and the long-boat being not to be spared, the coxswain had positive orders from the Commodore to return again immediately; but the weather proving stormy the next day, and the boat not appearing, we much feared she was lost, which would have proved an irretrievable misfortune to us all. But the third day after we were relieved from this anxiety by the joyful sight of the long-boat's sails upon the water, and we sent the cutter immediately to her assistance, which towed her alongside in a few hours. The crew of our long-boat had taken in six of the Gloucester's sick men to bring them on shore, two of whom had died in the boat. And now we learned that the Gloucester was in a most dreadful condition, having scarcely a man in health on board, except those they received from us; and numbers of their sick dying daily, we found that, had it not been for the last supply sent by our long-boat, both the healthy and diseased must have all perished together for want of water. And these calamities were the more terrifying, as they appeared to be without remedy, for the Gloucester had already spent a month in her endeavours to fetch the bay, and she was now no farther advanced than at the first moment she made the island; on the contrary, the people on board her had worn out all their hopes of ever succeeding in it by the many experiments they had made of its difficulty. Indeed, the same day her situation grew more desperate than ever, for after she had received our last supply of refreshments, we again lost sight of her, so that we in general despaired of her ever coming to an anchor.

Thus was this unhappy vessel bandied about within a few leagues of her intended harbour, whilst the neighbourhood of that place, and of those circumstances which could alone put an end to the calamities they laboured under, served only to aggravate their distress by torturing them with a view of the relief it was not in their power to reach.

THE GLOUCESTER COMES TO ANCHOR.

But she was at last delivered from this dreadful situation, at a time when we least expected it, for, after having lost sight of her for several days, we were pleasingly surprised, on the morning of the 23rd of July, to see her open the north-west point of the bay with a flowing sail; when we immediately despatched what boats we had to her assistance, and in an hour's time from our first perceiving her she anchored safe within us in the bay.

CHAPTER 11. TRACES OF SPANISH CRUISERS—ARRIVAL OF THE ANNA PINK.

During the interval of the Gloucester's frequent and ineffectual attempts to reach the island, our employment was cleansing our ship and filling our water. The first of these measures was indispensably necessary to our future health, as the numbers of sick and the unavoidable negligence arising from our deplorable situation at sea, had rendered the decks most intolerably loathsome; and the filling of our water was a caution that appeared not less essential to our future security, as we had reason to apprehend that accidents might oblige us to quit the island at a very short warning. For some appearances, which we had discovered on shore upon our first landing, gave us grounds to believe that there were Spanish cruisers in these seas, which had left the island but a short time before our arrival, and might possibly return there again in search of us; for we knew that this island was the likeliest place, in their own opinion, to meet with us. The circumstances which gave rise to these reflections were our finding on shore several pieces of earthen jars, made use of in those seas for water and other liquids, which appeared to be fresh broken. We saw, too, many heaps of ashes, and near them fish-bones and pieces of fish, besides whole fish scattered here and there, which plainly appeared to have been but a short time out of the water, as they were but just beginning to decay. These appearances were certain indications that there had been ships at this place but a short time before we came there; and as all Spanish merchantmen are instructed to avoid the island on account of its being the common rendezvous of their enemies, we concluded those who had touched here to be ships of force; and not knowingthat Pizarro was returned to Buenos Ayres, and ignorant what strength might have been fitted out at Calla, we were under some concern for our safety, being in so wretched and enfeebled a condition that, notwithstanding the rank of our ship and the sixty guns she carried on board, which would only have aggravated our dishonour, there was scarcely a privateer sent to sea that was not an overmatch for us. However, our fears on this head proved imaginary, and we were not exposed to the disgrace which might have been expected to have befallen us had we been necessitated to fight our sixty-gun ship with no more than thirty hands.

After the Gloucester's arrival we were employed in earnest in examining and repairing our rigging.

Towards the middle of August our men being indifferently recovered, they were permitted to quit their sick tents and to build separate huts for themselves; as it was imagined that by living a part they would be much cleanlier, and consequently likely to recover their strength the sooner; but at the same time particular orders were given that on the firing of a gun from the ship they should instantly repair to the waterside.

I should have mentioned that the Trial sloop at her arrival had informed us that on the 9th of May she had fallen in with our victualler not far distant from the continent of Chili, and had kept company with her for four days, when they were parted in a hard gale of wind. This gave us some room to hope that she was safe, and that she might soon join us; but all June and July being past without any news of her, we suspected she was lost, and at the end of July the Commodore ordered all the ships to a short allowance of bread.* And it was not in our bread only that we feared a deficiency, for since our arrival at this island we discovered that our former purser had neglected to take on board large quantities of several kinds of provisions which the Commodore had expressly ordered him to receive; so that the supposed loss of our victualler was on all accounts a mortifying consideration.

THE ANNA PINK.

However, on Sunday, the 16th of August, about noon, we espied a sail in the northern quarter, and a gun was immediately fired from the Centurion to call off the people from shore, who readily obeyed the summons and repaired to the beach, where the boats waited to carry them on board. And now being prepared for the reception of this ship in view whether friend or enemy, we had various speculations about her; but about three in the afternoon our disputes were ended by unanimous persuasion that it was our victualler, the Anna pink. This ship, though, like the Gloucester, she had fallen in to the northward of the island, had yet the good fortune to come to an anchor in the bay at five in the afternoon. Her arrival gave us all the sincerest joy, for each ship's company was now restored to its full allowance of bread, and we were now freed from the apprehensions of our provisions falling short before we could reach some amicable port—a calamity which, in these seas, is of all others the most irretrievable. This was the last ship that joined us.

(*Note. The flour was on board the Anna pink.)

CHAPTER 12. THE WRECK OF THE WAGER—A MUTINY.

The remaining ships of the squadron were the Severn, the Pearl, and the Wager, store-ship. The Severn and Pearl parted company with the squadron off Cape Noir and, as we afterwards learned, put back to the Brazils, so that of all the ships which came into the South Seas the Wager, Captain Cheap, was the only one that was missing. This ship had on board some field-pieces mounted for land service, together with some Cohorn mortars, and several kinds of artillery, stores, and tools, intended for the operations on shore; and therefore, as the enterprise on Baldivia had been resolved on for the first undertaking of the squadron, Captain Cheap was extremely solicitous that these materials, which were in his custody, might be ready before Baldivia, that if the squadron should possibly rendezvous there, no delay nor disappointment might be imputed to him.

But whilst the Wager, with these views, was making the best of her way to her first rendezvous off the island of Socoro, she made the land on the 14th of May, about the latitude of 47 degrees south, and the captain, exerting himself on this occasion in order to get clear of it, he had the misfortune to fall down the after-ladder, and thereby dislocated his shoulder, which rendered him incapable of acting. This accident, together with the crazy condition of the ship, which was little better than a wreck, prevented her from getting off to sea, and entangled her more and more with the land, so that the next morning at daybreak she struck on a sunken rock, and soon after bilged and grounded between two small islands at about a musket-shot from the shore.

DISORDER AND ANARCHY.

In this situation the ship continued entire a long time, so that all the crew had it in their power to get safe on shore, but a general confusion taking place, numbers of them, instead of consulting their safety or reflecting on their calamitous condition, fell to pillaging the ship, arming themselves with the first weapons that came to hand and threatening to murder all who should oppose them. This frenzy was greatly heightened by the liquors they found on board, with which they got so extremely drunk that some of them, tumbling down between decks, were drowned as the water flowed in, being incapable of getting up and retreating to other places where the water had not yet entered, and the captain, having done his utmost to get the whole crew on shore, was at last obliged to leave these mutineers behind him and to follow his officers and such as he had been able to prevail on; but he did not fail to send back the boats to persuade those who remained to have some regard to their preservation, though all his efforts were for some time without success. However the weather next day proving stormy, and there being great danger of the ship's parting, they began to be alarmed with the fears of perishing, and were desirous of getting to land; but it seems their madness had not yet left them, for the boat not appearing to fetch them off as soon as they expected, they at last pointed a four-pounder which was on the quarter-deck against the hut where they knew the captain resided on shore, and fired two shots, which passed but just over it.

From this specimen of the behaviour of part of the crew it will not be difficult to frame some conjecture of the disorder and anarchy which took place when they at last got all on shore.

There was another important point which set the greatest part of the people at variance with the captain: this was their differing with him in opinion on the measures to be pursued in the present exigency, for the captain was determined, if possible, to fit up the boats in the best manner he could and to proceed with them to the northward; for having with him above a hundred men in health, and having got some firearms and ammunition from the wreck, he did not doubt that they could master any Spanish vessel they should meet with in those seas, and he thought he could not fail of meeting with one in the neighbourhood of Chiloe or Baldivia, in which, when he had taken her, he intended to proceed to the rendezvous at Juan Fernandez; and he further insisted, that should they meet with no prize by the way, yet the boats alone would easily carry them there. But this was a scheme that, however prudent, was no ways relished by the generality of his people, for, being quite jaded with the distresses and dangers they had already run through, they could not think of prosecuting an enterprise further which had hitherto proved so disastrous, and, therefore, the common resolution was to lengthen the long-boat, and with that and the rest of the boats to steer to the southward, to pass through the Straits of Magellan, and to range along the east side of South America till they should arrive at Brazil, where they doubted not to be well received, and to procure a passage to Great Britain. This project was at first sight infinitely more hazardous and tedious than what was proposed by the captain, but as it had the air of returning home, and flattered them with the hopes of bringing them once more to their native country, this circumstance alone rendered them inattentive to all its inconveniences, and made them adhere to it with insurmountable obstinacy, so that the captain himself, though he never changed his opinion, was yet obliged to give way to the torrent, and in appearance to acquiesce in this resolution, whilst he endeavoured underhand to give it all the obstruction he could, particularly in the lengthening of the long-boat, which he contrived should be of such a size that, though it might serve to carry them to Juan Fernandez, would yet, he hoped, appear incapable of so long a navigation as that to the coast of Brazil.

AN UNHAPPY ACCIDENT.

But the captain, by his steady opposition at first to this favourite project, had much embittered the people against him, to which, likewise, the following unhappy accident greatly contributed. There was a midshipman whose name was Cozens, who had appeared the foremost in all the refractory proceedings of the crew. He had involved himself in brawls with most of the officers who had adhered to the captain's authority, and had even treated the captain himself with great abuse and insolence. As his turbulence and brutality grew every day more and more intolerable, it was not in the least doubted but there were some violent measures in agitation in which Cozens was engaged as the ringleader, for which reason the captain and those about him constantly kept themselves on their guard. But at last the purser having, by the captain's order, stopped the allowance of a fellow who would not work, Cozens, though the man did not complain to him, intermeddled in the affair with great eagerness, and grossly insulting the purser, who was then delivering our provisions just by the captain's tent, and was himself sufficiently violent, the purser, enraged by his scurrility, and perhaps piqued by former quarrels, cried out—"A mutiny!" adding "that the dog had pistols," and then himself fired a shot at Cozens, which, however, missed him. But the captain, on this outcry and the report of the pistol, rushed out of his tent, and, not doubting but it had been fired by Cozens as the commencement of a mutiny, he immediately shot him in the head without further deliberation, and though he did not kill him on the spot, yet the wound proved mortal, and he died about fourteen days after.

This incident, however displeasing to the people, did yet for a considerable time awe them to their duty, and rendered them more submissive to the captain's authority. But at last, when towards the middle of October the long-boat was nearly completed and they were preparing to put to sea, the additional provocation he gave them by covertly traversing their project of proceeding through the Straits of Magellan, and their fears that he might at length engage a party sufficient to overturn this favourite measure, made them resolve to make use of the death of Cozens as a reason for depriving him of his command, under pretence of carrying him a prisoner to England to be tried for murder, and he was accordingly confined under a guard. But they never intended to carry him with them, as they too well knew what they had to apprehend on their return to England if their commander should be present to confront them, and therefore, when they were just ready to put to sea, they set him at liberty, leaving him and the few who chose to take their fortunes with him no other embarkation but the yawl, to which the barge was afterwards added by the people on board her being prevailed on to return back.

CHAPTER 13. THE WRECK OF THE WAGER (CONTINUED)—THE ADVENTURES OF THE CAPTAIN'S PARTY.

When the ship was wrecked there remained alive on board the Wager near a hundred and thirty persons; of these, above thirty died during their stay upon the place, and near eighty went off in the long-boat and the cutter to the southward; so that there remained with the captain, after their departure, no more than nineteen persons, which, however, was as many as the barge and the yawl—the only embarkations left them—could well carry off. It was on the 13th of October, five months after the shipwreck, that the long-boat, converted into a schooner, weighed and stood to the southward, giving the captain who, with Lieutenant Hamilton, of the land forces, and the surgeon, was then on the beach, three cheers at their departure. It was the 29th of January following before they arrived at Rio Grande, on the coast of Brazil; and having by various accidents, left about twenty of their people on shore at the different places they touched at, and a greater number having perished by hunger during the course of their navigation, there were no more than thirty of them left when they arrived in that port. Indeed, the undertaking of itself was a most extraordinary one, for, not to mention the length of the run, the vessel was scarcely able to contain the number that first put to sea in her; and their stock of provisions (being only what they had saved out of the ship) was extremely slender; and the cutter, the only boat they had with them, soon broke away from the stern and was staved to pieces; so that when their provision and their water failed them, they had frequently no means of getting on shore to search for a fresh supply.

When the long-boat and cutter were gone, the captain and those who were left with him proposed to pass to the northward in the barge and yawl; but the weather was so bad, and the difficulty of subsisting so great, that it was two months after the departure of the long-boat before he was able to put to sea. It seems the place where the Wager was cast away was not a part of the continent, as was first imagined, but an island at some distance from the main, which afforded no other sorts of provision but shellfish and a few herbs; and as the greatest part of what they had got from the ship was carried off in the long-boat, the captain and his people were often in great necessity, especially as they chose to preserve what little sea-provisions remained for their store when they should go to the northwards.

Upon the 14th of December the captain and his people embarked in the barge and the yawl in order to proceed to the northward, taking on board with them all the provisions they could amass from the wreck of a ship; but they had scarcely been an hour at sea when the wind began to blow hard, and the sea ran so high that they were obliged to throw the greatest part of their provisions overboard to avoid immediate destruction.

STRUGGLING WITH DISASTER.

This was a terrible misfortune in a part of the world where food is so difficult to be got; however, they still persisted in their design, putting on shore as often as they could to seek subsistence. But, about a fortnight after, another dreadful accident befell them, for the yawl sank at an anchor, and one of the men in her was drowned; and as the barge was incapable of carrying the whole company, they were now reduced to the hard necessity of leaving four marines behind them on that desolate shore. But they still kept on their course to the northward, struggling with their disasters, and greatly delayed by the perverseness of the winds and frequent interruptions which their search after food occasioned; till at last, about the end of January, having made three unsuccessful attempts to double a headland which they supposed to be what the Spaniards called Cape Tres Montes, it was unanimously resolved to give over this expedition, the difficulties of which appeared insuperable, and to return again to wager Island, where they got back about the middle of February, quite disheartened and dejected with their reiterated disappointments and almost perishing with hunger and fatigue.

However, on their return they had the good luck to meet with several pieces of beef which had been washed out of the ship and were swimming in the sea. This was a most seasonable relief to them after the hardships they had endured; and to complete their good fortune, there came in a short time two canoes of Indians, amongst whom was a native of Chiloe who spoke a little Spanish; and the surgeon who was with Captain Cheap understanding that language, he made a bargain with the Indian, that if he would carry the captain and his people to Chiloe in the barge, he should have her and all that belonged to her for his pains. Accordingly, on the 6th of March, the eleven persons, to which the company was now reduced, embarked in the barge on this new expedition; but after having proceeded for a few days, the captain and four of his principal officers being on shore, the six, who together with an Indian remained in the barge, put off with her to sea and did not return.

By this means there were left on shore Captain Cheap, Mr. Hamilton, lieutenant of marines; the Honourable Mr. Byron and Mr. Campbell, midshipman; and Mr. Elliot, the surgeon. One would have thought their distresses had long before this time been incapable of augmentation, but they found, on reflection, that their present situation was much more dismaying than anything they had yet gone through, being left on a desolate coast without any provisions or the means of procuring any, for their arms, ammunition, and every conveniency they were masters of, except the tattered habits they had on, were all carried away in the barge. But when they had sufficiently revolved in their own minds the various circumstances of this unexpected calamity, and were persuaded that they had no relief to hope for, they perceived a canoe at a distance, which proved to be that of the Indian who had undertaken to carry them to Chiloe, he and his family being then on board it. He made no difficulty of coming to them, for it seems he had left Captain Cheap and his people a little before to go a-fishing, and had in the meantime committed them to the care of the other Indian, whom the sailors had carried to sea in the barge. But when he came on shore and found the barge gone and his companion missing, he was extremely concerned, and could with difficulty be persuaded that the other Indian was not murdered; but being at last satisfied with the account that was given him, he still undertook to carry them to the Spanish settlements, and (as the Indians are well skilled in fishing and fowling) to procure them provisions by the way.

CHILOE.

About the middle of March, Captain Cheap and the four who were left with him set out for Chiloe, the Indian having procured a number of canoes, and got many of his neighbours together for that purpose. Soon after they embarked, Mr. Elliot, the surgeon, died, so that there now remained only four of the whole company. At last, after a very complicated passage by land and water, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr. Campbell arrived, in the beginning of June, at the island of Chiloe, where they were received by the Spaniards with great humanity; but, on account of some quarrel among the Indians, Mr. Hamilton did not get thither till two months after. Thus, above a twelvemonth after the loss of the Wager, ended this fatiguing peregrination, which by a variety of misfortunes had diminished the company from twenty to no more than four, and those, too, brought so low that had their distresses continued but a few days longer, in all probability none of them would have survived. For the captain himself was with difficulty recovered and the rest were so reduced by the severity of the weather, their labour, and their want of all kinds of necessaries, that it was wonderful how they supported themselves so long. After some stay at Chiloe, the captain and the three who were with him were sent to Valparaiso, and thence to Santiago, the capital of Chile where they continued above a year; but on the advice of a cartel being settled betwixt Great Britain and Spain, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr. Hamilton were permitted to return to Europe on board a French ship. The other midshipman, Mr. Campbell, having changed his religion whilst at Santiago, chose to go back overland to Buenos Ayres with Pizarro and his officers, with whom he went afterwards to Spain on board the Asia; and there having failed in his endeavours to procure a commission from the Court of Spain, he returned to England, and attempted to get reinstated in the British Navy, and has since published a narration of his adventures, in which he complains of the injustice that had been done him and strongly disavows his ever being in the Spanish service. But as the change of his religion and his offering himself to the Court of Spain (though not accepted) are matters, which he is conscious, are capable of being incontestably proved, on these two heads he has been entirely silent. And now, after this account of the catastrophe of the Wager, I shall again resume the thread of our own story.

CHAPTER 14. THE LOSSES FROM SCURVY—STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE SQUADRON.

EXTRAORDINARY MORTALITY.

Our people by the beginning of September were so far recovered of the scurvy that there was little danger of burying any more at present; and therefore I shall now sum up the total of our loss since our departure from England, the better to convey some idea of our past sufferings and of our present strength. We had buried on board the Centurion since our leaving St. Helens 292, and had now remaining on board 214. This will doubtless appear a most extraordinary mortality; but yet on board the Gloucester it had been much greater, for out of a much smaller crew than ours they had buried the same number, and had only eighty-two remaining alive. It might be expected that on board the Trial the slaughter would have been the most terrible, as her decks were almost constantly knee-deep in water; but it happened otherwise, for she escaped more favourably than the rest, since she only buried forty-two, and had now thirty-nine remaining alive. The havoc of this disease had fallen still severer on the invalids and marines than on the sailors; for on board the Centurion, out of fifty invalids and seventy-nine marines there remained only four invalids, including officers, and eleven marines; and on board the Gloucester every invalid perished, and out of forty-eight marines only two escaped. From this account it appears that the three ships together departed from England with 961 men on board, of whom 626 were dead before this time; so that the whole of our remaining crews, which were now to be distributed among three ships, amounted to no more than 335 men and boys, a number greatly insufficient for manning the Centurion alone, and barely capable of navigating all the three with the utmost exertion of their strength and vigour. This prodigious reduction of our men was still the more terrifying as we were hitherto uncertain of the fate of Pizarro's squadron, and had reason to suppose that some part of it at least had got round into these seas. Indeed we were satisfied from our own experience that they must have suffered greatly in their passage; but then every port in the South Seas was open to them, and the whole power of Chile and Peru would doubtless be united in refreshing and refitting them, and recruiting the numbers they had lost. Besides, we had some obscure knowledge of a force to be fitted out at Callao; and, however contemptible the ships and sailors of this part of the world may have been generally esteemed, it was scarcely possible for anything bearing the name of a ship of force to be feebler or less considerable than ourselves. And had there been nothing to be apprehended from the naval power of the Spaniards in this part of the world, yet our enfeebled condition would nevertheless give us the greatest uneasiness, as we were incapable of attempting any of their considerable places; for the risking of twenty men, weak as we then were, was risking the safety of the whole. So that we conceived we should be necessitated to content ourselves with what few prizes we could pick up at sea before we were discovered, after which we should in all probability be obliged to depart with precipitation, and esteem ourselves fortunate to regain our native country, leaving our enemies to triumph on the inconsiderable mischief they had received from a squadron whose equipment had filled them with such dreadful apprehensions. It is true the final event proved more honourable than we had foreboded; but the intermediate calamities did likewise greatly surpass our most gloomy apprehensions, and could they have been predicted to us at this island of Juan Fernandez, they would doubtless have appeared insurmountable.

CHAPTER 15. A PRIZE—SPANISH PREPARATIONS—A NARROW ESCAPE.

A CHASE.

In the beginning of September, as has been already mentioned, our men were tolerably well recovered; and now the time of navigation in this climate drawing near, we exerted ourselves in getting our ships in readiness for the sea. On the 8th, about eleven in the morning, we espied a sail to the north-east, which continued to approach us till her courses appeared even with the horizon. In this interval we all had hopes she might prove one of our own squadron; but at length, finding she steered away to the eastward without hauling in for the island, we concluded she must be a Spaniard. It was resolved to pursue her; and the Centurion being in the greatest forwardness, we immediately got all our hands on board, set up our rigging, bent our sails, and by five in the afternoon got under sail. We had at this time very little wind, so that all the boats were employed to tow us out of the bay; and even what wind there was lasted only long enough to give us an offing of two or three leagues, when it flattened to a calm. The night coming on, we lost sight of the chase, and were extremely impatient for the return of daylight, in hopes to find that she had been becalmed as well as we, though I must confess that her greater distance from the land was a reasonable ground for suspecting the contrary, as we indeed found in the morning, to our great mortification; for though the weather continued perfectly clear, we had no sight of the ship from the mast-head. But as we were now satisfied that it was an enemy, and the first we had seen in these seas, we resolved not to give over the search lightly; and a small breeze springing up from the west-north-west, we got up our top-gallant masts and yards, set all the sails, and steered to the south-east, in hopes of retrieving our chase, which we imagined to be bound to Valparaiso. We continued on this course all that day and the next; and then, not getting sight of our chase, we gave over the pursuit, conceiving that by that time she must in all probability have reached her port.

And now we prepared to return to Juan Fernandez, and hauled up to the south-west with that view, having but very little wind till the 12th, when, at three in the morning, there sprang up a fresh gale from the west-south-west, and we tacked and stood to the north-west; and at daybreak we were agreeably surprised with the sight of a sail on our weather-bow, between four and five leagues distant. On this we crowded all the sail we could, and stood after her, and soon perceived it not to be the same ship we originally gave chase to. She at first bore down upon us, showing Spanish colours, and making a signal as to her consort; but observing that we did not answer her signal, she instantly luffed close to the wind and stood to the southward. Our people were now all in spirits, and put the ship about with great alacrity; and as the chase appeared to be a large ship, and had mistaken us for her consort, we conceived that she was a man-of-war, and probably one of Pizarro's squadron. This induced the Commodore to order all the officers' cabins to be knocked down and thrown overboard, with several casks of water and provisions which stood between the guns; so that we had soon a clear ship, ready for an engagement. About nine o'clock we had thick, hazy weather, and a shower of rain, during which we lost sight of the chase; and we were apprehensive, if the weather should continue, that by going upon the other tack, or by some other artifice, she might escape us; but it clearing up in less than an hour, we found that we had both weathered and forereached upon her considerably, and now we were near enough discover that she was only a merchantman, without so much as a single tier of guns. About half an hour after twelve, being then within a reasonable distance of her, we fired four shot amongst her rigging, on which they lowered their topsails and bore down to us, but in very great confusion, their top-gallant-sails and stay-sails all fluttering in the wind. This was owing to their having let run their sheets and halyards just as we fired at them, after which not a man amongst them had courage enough to venture aloft (for there the shot had passed but just before) to take them in.

As soon as the vessel came within hail of us, the Commodore ordered them to bring to under his lee-quarter, and then hoisted out the boat and sent Mr. Suamarez, his first lieutenant, to take possession of the prize, with directions to send all the prisoners on board the Centurion, but first the officers and passengers.

A TERRIFIED CREW.

When Mr. Suamarez came on board them, they received him at the side with the strongest tokens of the most abject submission, for they were all of them (especially the passengers, who were twenty-five in number), extremely terrified and under the greatest apprehensions of meeting with very severe and cruel usage. But the lieutenant endeavoured with great courtesy to dissipate their fright, assuring them that their fears were altogether groundless, and that they would find a generous enemy in the Commodore, who was not less remarkable for his lenity and humanity than for his resolution and courage. The passengers who were first sent on board the Centurion informed us that our prize was called "Nuestra Senora del Monte Carmelo", and was commanded by Don Manuel Zamorra. Her cargo consisted chiefly of sugar, and great quantities of blue cloth made in the province of Quito, somewhat resembling our English coarse broad-cloths, but inferior to them. They had, besides, several bales of a coarser sort of cloth, of different colours, called by them Pannia da Tierra, with a few bales of cotton and tobacco, which though strong was not ill-flavoured. These were the principal goods on board her; but we found, besides, what was to us much more valuable than the rest of the cargo. This was some trunks of wrought plate, and twenty-three serons of dollars, each weighing upwards of 200 pounds avoirdupois. The ship's burthen was about 450 tons; she had fifty-three sailors on board, both whites and blacks; she came from Callao, and had been twenty-seven days at sea before she fell into our hands. She was bound to the port of Valparaiso, in the kingdom of Chili, and proposed to have returned thence loaded with corn and Chili wine, some gold, dried beef, and small cordage, which at Callao they convert into larger rope. The prisoners informed us that they left Callao in company with two other ships, which they had parted with some days before, and that at first they conceived us to be one of their company; and by the description we gave them of the ship we had chased from Juan Fernandez, they assured us she was of their number, but that the coming in sight of that island was directly repugnant to the merchants' instructions, who had expressly forbid it, as knowing that if any English squadron was in those seas, the island of Fernandez was most probably the place of their rendezvous.

And now it is necessary that I should relate the important intelligence which we met with on board her, partly from the information of the prisoners, and partly from the letters and papers which fell into our hands. We here first learned with certainty the force and destination of that squadron which cruised off Madeira at our arrival there, and afterwards chased the Pearl in our passage to Port St. Julian. And we had, at the same time, the satisfaction to find that Pizarro, after his utmost endeavours to gain his passage into these seas, had been forced back again into the River of Plate, with the loss of two of his largest ships; and besides this disappointment of Pizarro, which considering our great debility, was no unacceptable intelligence, we further learned that an embargo had been laid upon all shipping in these seas by the Viceroy of Peru, in the month of May preceding, on a supposition that about that time we might arrive upon the coast. But on the account sent overland by Pizarro of his own distresses, part of which they knew we must have encountered, as we were at sea during the same time, and on their having no news of us in eight months after we were known to set sail from St. Catherine's, they were fully persuaded that we were either shipwrecked, or had perished at sea, or at least had been obliged to put back again; for it was conceived impossible for any ships to continue at sea during so long an interval, and, therefore, on the application of the merchants and the firm persuasion of our having miscarried, the embargo had been lately taken off.

A NARROW ESCAPE.

This last article made us flatter ourselves that, as the enemy was still a stranger to our having got round Cape Horn, and the navigation of these seas was restored, we might meet with some considerable captures, and might thereby indemnify ourselves for the incapacity we were now under of attempting any of their considerable settlements on shore. And thus much we were certain of, from the information of our prisoners, that whatever our success might be as to the prizes we might light on, we had nothing to fear, weak as we were, from the Spanish force in this part of the world; though we discovered that we had been in most imminent peril from the enemy when we least apprehended it, and when our other distresses were at the greatest height. For we learned from the letters on board that Pizarro, in the express he dispatched to the Viceroy of Peru after his return to the River of Plate, had intimated to him that it was possible some part at least of the English squadron might get round, but that, as he was certain from his own experience that if they did arrive in those seas it must be in a very weak and defenceless condition, he advised the Viceroy, in order to be secure at all events, to fit out what ships of force he had, and send them to the southward, where in all probability they would intercept us singly and before we had an opportunity of touching anywhere for refreshment, in which case he doubted not but we should prove an easy conquest. The Viceroy of Peru approved of this advice, and immediately fitted out four ships of force from Callao, one of 50 guns, two of 40 guns, and one of 24 guns. Three of them were stationed off the port of Concepcion,* and one of them at the Island of Juan Fernandez; and in these stations they continued cruising for us till the 6th of June, when, not seeing anything of us, and conceiving it to be impossible that we could have kept the seas so long, they quitted their cruise and returned to Callao, fully satisfied that we had either perished or at least had been driven back. As the time of their quitting their station was but a few days before our arrival at the island of Fernandez, it is evident that had we made that island on our first search for it on the 28th of May, when we first expected to see it, and were in reality very near it, we had doubtless fallen in with some part of the Spanish squadron; and in the distressed condition we were then in the meeting with a healthy, well-provided enemy was an incident that could not but have been perplexing and might perhaps have proved fatal. I shall only add that these Spanish ships sent out to intercept us had been greatly shattered by a storm during their cruise, and that, after their arrival at Callao, they had been laid up. And our prisoners assured us that whenever intelligence was received at Lima of our being in these seas, it would be at least two months before this armament could be again fitted out.

(*Note. La Concepcion in Chili, about 270 miles south of Valparaiso.)

The whole of this intelligence was as favourable as we in our reduced circumstances could wish for; and now we were fully satisfied as to the broken jars, ashes, and fish-bones which we had observed at our first landing at Juan Fernandez, these things being doubtless the relics of the cruisers stationed off that port. Having thus satisfied ourselves in the material articles, and having got on board the Centurion most of the prisoners and all the silver, we, at eight in the same evening, made sail to the northward, in company with our prize, and at six the next morning discovered the island of Juan Fernandez, where the next day both we and our prize came to an anchor. And here I cannot omit one remarkable incident which occurred when the prize and her crew came into the bay where the rest of the squadron lay. The Spaniards in the Carmelo had been sufficiently informed of the distresses we had gone through, and were greatly surprised that we had ever surmounted them; but when they saw the Trial sloop at anchor they were still more astonished, and it was with great difficulty they were prevailed on to believe that she came from England with the rest of the squadron, they at first insisting that it was impossible such a bauble as that could pass round Cape Horn when the best ships of Spain were obliged to put back.

CHAPTER 16. THE COMMODORE'S PLANS—ANOTHER PRIZE—THE TRIAL DESTROYED.

By the time we arrived at Juan Fernandez the letters found on board our prize were more minutely examined; and it appearing from them and from the accounts of our prisoners that several other merchantmen were bound from Callao to Valparaiso, Mr. Anson despatched the Trial sloop the very next morning to cruise off the last-mentioned port, reinforcing her with ten hands from on board his own ship. Mr. Anson likewise resolved, on the intelligence recited above, to separate the ships under his command and employ them in distinct cruises, as he thought that by this means we should not only increase our chance for prizes, but that we should likewise run less risk of alarming the coast and of being discovered.

THE LAST LEAVE OF JUAN FERNANDEZ.

And now, the spirits of our people being greatly raised and their despondency dissipated by this earnest of success, they forgot all their past distresses and resumed their wonted alacrity, and laboured indefatigably in completing our water, receiving our lumber, and preparing to take our farewell of the island. But as these occupations took us up four or five days, with all our industry, the Commodore in that interval directed that the guns belonging to the Anna pink*, being four 6-pounders, four 4-pounders, and two swivels, should be mounted on board the Carmelo, our prize; and having sent on board the Gloucester six passengers and twenty-three seaman to assist in navigating the ship, he directed Captain Mitchel to leave the island as soon as possible, the service requiring the utmost despatch, ordering him to proceed to the latitude of 5 degrees south, and there to cruise off the high land of Paita, at such a distance from shore as should prevent his being discovered. On this station he was to continue till he should be joined by the Commodore, which would be whenever it should be known that the Viceroy had fitted out the ships at Callao, or on Mr. Anson's receiving any other intelligence that should make it necessary to unite our strength. These orders being delivered to the captain of the Gloucester, and all our business completed, we on the Saturday following, being the 19th of September, weighed our anchor in company with our prize, and got out of the bay, taking our last leave of the island of Juan Fernandez, and steering to the eastward, with an intention of joining the Trial sloop in her station off Valparaiso.

(*Note. The Anna pink being no longer seaworthy, was broken up at Juan Fernandez.)

On the 24th, a little before sunset, we saw two sail to the eastward, on which our prize stood directly from us, to avoid giving any suspicion of our being cruisers; whilst we in the meantime made ourselves ready for an engagement, and steered towards the two ships we had discovered with all our canvas. We soon perceived that one of these which had the appearance of being a very stout ship made directly for us, whilst the other kept at a very great distance. By seven o'clock we were within pistol-shot of the nearest, and had a broadside ready to pour into her, the gunners having their matches in their hands, and only waiting for orders to fire; but as we knew it was now impossible for her to escape us, Mr. Anson, before he permitted them to fire, ordered the master to hail the ship in Spanish, on which the commanding officer on board her, who proved to be Mr. Hughes, lieutenant of the Trial, answered us in English, and informed us that she was a prize taken by the Trial a few days before, and that the other sail at a distance was the Trial herself, disabled in her masts. We were soon after joined by the Trial and Captain Saunders, her commander, came on board the Centurion. He informed the Commodore that he had taken this ship the 18th instant, that she was a prime sailer, and had cost him thirty-six hours' chase before he could come up with her; that for some time he gained so little upon her that he began to despair of taking her; and the Spaniards, though alarmed at first with seeing nothing but a cloud of sail in pursuit of them, the Trial's hull being so low in the water that no part of it appeared, yet knowing the goodness of their ship, and finding how little the Trial neared them, they at length laid aside their fears, and recommending themselves to the blessed Virgin for protection, began to think themselves secure. And indeed, their success was very near doing honour to their Ave Marias;* for altering their course in the night and shutting up their windows to prevent any of their lights from being seen, they had some chance of escaping. But a small crevice in one of the shutters rendered all their invocations ineffectual, for through this crevice the people on board the Trial perceived a light, which they chased till they arrived within gun shot, and then Captain Saunders alarmed them unexpectedly with a broadside when they flattered themselves they were got out of his reach. However, for some time after, they still kept the same sail abroad, and it was not observed that this first salute had made any impression on them; but just as the Trial was preparing to repeat her broadside, the Spaniards crept from their holes, lowered their sails, and submitted without any opposition. She was one of the largest merchantmen employed in those seas, being about six hundred tons burthen, and was called the "Arranzazu". She was bound from Callao to Valparaiso, and had much the same cargo with the Carmelo we had taken before, except that her silver amounted only to about 5000 pounds sterling.

(*Note. Ave Maria (Hail Mary!) are the opening words of a Roman Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary.)

THE TRIAL DISABLED.

But to balance this success we had the misfortune to find that the Trial had sprung her mainmast, and that her maintopmast had come by the board; and as we were all of us standing to the eastward the next morning, with a fresh gale at south, she had the additional ill-luck to spring her foremast; so that now she had not a mast left on which she could carry sail. These unhappy incidents were still further aggravated by the impossibility we were just then under of assisting her; for the wind blew so hard, and raised such a hollow sea, that we could not venture to hoist out our boat, and consequently could have no communication with her; so that we were obliged to lie to for the greatest part of forty-eight hours to attend her.

The weather proving somewhat more dominate on the 27th, we sent our boat for the captain of the Trial, who, when he came on board us, produced an instrument, signed by himself and all his officers, representing that the sloop, besides being dismasted, was so very leaky in her hull that even in moderate weather it was necessary to keep the pumps constantly at work, and that they were then scarcely sufficient to keep her free; so that in the late gale, though they had all been engaged at the pumps by turns, yet the water had increased upon them; and, upon the whole, they apprehended her to be at present so very defective that if they met with much bad weather they must all inevitably perish, and therefore they petitioned the Commodore to take some measures for their future safety. But the refitting of the Trial and the repairing of her defects was an undertaking that in the present conjuncture greatly exceeded his power; and besides, it would have been extreme imprudence in so critical a juncture to have loitered away so much time as would have been necessary for these operations. The Commodore, therefore, had no choice left him but that of taking out her people and destroying her; but at the same time, as he conceived it necessary for His Majesty's Service to keep up the appearance of our force, he appointed the Trial's prize (which had been often employed by the Viceroy of Peru as a man-of-war) to be a frigate in His Majesty's Service, manning her with the Trial's crew and giving new commissions to the captain and all the inferior officers accordingly. This new frigate, when in the Spanish service, had mounted thirty-two guns, but she was now to have only twenty, which were the twelve that were on board the Trial, and eight that had belonged to the Anna pink. When this affair was thus far regulated, Mr. Anson gave orders to Captain Saunders to put it in execution, directing him to take out of the sloop the arms, stores, ammunition, and everything that could be of any use to the other ships, and then to scuttle her and sink her. And after Captain Saunders had seen her destroyed he was to proceed with his new frigate (to be called the Trial's prize) and to cruise off the high land of Valparaiso, keeping it from him north-north-west, at the distance of twelve or fourteen leagues. For as all ships bound from Valparaiso to the northward steer that course, Mr. Anson proposed by this means to stop any intelligence that might be despatched to Callao of two of their ships being missing, which might give them apprehensions of the English squadron being in their neighbourhood. The Trial's prize was to continue on this station twenty-four days and if not joined by the Commodore at the expiration of that term, she was then to proceed down the coast to Pisco, or Nasca, where she would be certain to meet with Mr. Anson. The Commodore likewise ordered Lieutenant Suamarez who commanded the Centurion's prize, to keep company with Captain Saunders both to assist him in unloading the sloop, and also that, by spreading in their cruise, there might be less danger of any of the enemy's ships slipping by unobserved. These orders being despatched, the Centurion parted from them at eleven in the evening on the 27th of September, directing her course to the southward, with a view of cruising for some days to the windward of Valparaiso.

CHAPTER 17. MORE CAPTURES—ALARM OF THE COAST—PAITA.

DISAPPOINTMENT.

Though, after leaving Captain Saunders, we were very expeditious in regaining our station, where we got the 29th at noon, yet in plying on and off till the 6th of October we had not the good fortune to discover a sail of any sort, and then, having lost all hopes of making any advantage by a longer stay, we made sail to the leeward of the port in order to join our prizes; but when we arrived on the station appointed for them we did not meet with them, though we continued there four or five days. We supposed that some chase had occasioned their leaving the station, and therefore we proceeded down the coast to the high land of Nasca, where Captain Saunders was directed to join us. Here we arrived on the 21st, and were in great expectation of meeting with some of the enemy's ships on the coast, as both the accounts of former voyages and the information of our prisoners assured us that all ships bound to Callao constantly make this land, to prevent the danger of running to the leeward of the port. But notwithstanding the advantages of this station we saw no sail till the 2nd of November, when two ships appeared in sight together. We immediately gave them chase, but soon perceived that they were the Trial's and Centurion's prizes. We found they had not been more fortunate in their cruise than we were, for they had seen no vessel since they separated from us.

We bore away the same afternoon, taking particular care to keep at such a distance from the shore that there might be no danger of our being discovered from thence.

By the 5th of November, at three in the afternoon, we were advanced within view of the high land of Barranca, and an hour and a half afterwards we had the satisfaction we had so long wished for, of seeing a sail. She first appeared to leeward, and we all immediately gave her chase; but the Centurion so much out sailed the two prizes that we soon ran them out of sight, and gained considerably on the chase. However, night coming on before we came up to her, we about seven o'clock lost sight of her, and were in some perplexity what course to steer; but at last Mr. Anson resolved, as we were then before the wind, to keep all his sails set and not to change his course. For though we had no doubt but the chase would alter her course in the night, yet, as it was uncertain what tack she would go upon, it was thought more prudent to keep on our course, as we must by this means unavoidably near her, than to change it on conjecture, when, if we should mistake, we must infallibly lose her. Thus, then, we continued the chase about an hour and a half in the dark, someone or other on board us constantly imagining they discerned her sails right ahead of us; but at last Mr. Brett, then our second lieutenant, did really discover her about four points on the larboard-bow, steering off to the seaward. We immediately clapped the helm a-weather and stood for her, and in less than an hour came up with her, and having fired fourteen shots at her, she struck. Our third lieutenant, Mr. Dennis, was sent in the boat with sixteen men to take possession of the prize and to return the prisoners to our ship. This ship was named the "Santa Teresa de Jesus", built at Guayaquil, of about three hundred tons burthen, and was commanded by Bartolome Urrunaga, a Biscayer. She was bound from Guayaquil to Callao; her loading consisted of timber, cacao, cocoa-nuts, tobacco, hides, Pito thread (which is very strong and is made of a species of grass) Quito cloth, wax, etc. The specie on board her was inconsiderable, being principally small silver money and not amounting to more than 170 pounds sterling. It is true her cargo was of great value, could we have disposed of it, but the Spaniards having strict orders never to ransom their ships, all the goods that we took in these seas, except what little we had occasion for ourselves, were of no advantage to us. Indeed, though we could make no profit thereby ourselves, it was some satisfaction to us to consider that it was so much really lost to the enemy, and that the despoiling them was no contemptible branch of that service in which we were now employed by our country.

I have before observed that at the beginning of this chase the Centurion ran her two consorts out of sight, for which reason we lay by all the night, after we had taken the prize, for Captain Saunders and Lieutenant Suamarez to join us, firing guns and making false fires every half-hour to prevent their passing us unobserved; but they were so far astern that they neither heard nor saw any of our signals and were not able to come up with us till broad daylight. When they had joined us we proceeded together to the northward, being now four sail in company.

DESPOILING THE SPANIARDS.

On the 10th of November we were three leagues south of the southernmost island of Lobos, lying in the latitude of 6 degrees 27 minutes south. We were now drawing near to the station appointed to the Gloucester, for which reason, fearing to miss her, we made an easy sail all night. The next morning at daybreak, we saw a ship in shore, and to windward, plying up to the coast. She had passed by us with the favour of the night, and we, soon perceiving her not to be the Gloucester, gave her chase; but it proving very little wind, so that neither of us could make much way, the Commodore ordered the barge, his pinnace, and the Trial's pinnace to be manned and armed, and to pursue the chase and board her. Lieutenant Brett, who commanded the barge, came up with her first, about nine o'clock, and running alongside of her, he fired a volley of small shot between the masts, just over the heads of the people on board, and then instantly entered with the greatest part of his men; but the enemy made no resistance, being sufficiently frightened by the dazzling of the cutlasses, and the volley they had just received. Lieutenant Brett ordered the sails to be trimmed, and bore down to the Commodore, taking up in his way the two pinnaces. When he was arrived within about four miles of us, he put off in the barge, bringing with him a number of prisoners who had given him some material intelligence, which he was desirous the Commodore should be acquainted with as soon as possible. On his arrival we learned that the prize was called "Nuestra Senora del Carmen", of about two hundred and seventy tons burthen; she was commanded by Marcos Morena, a native of Venice, and had on board forty-three mariners. She was deep laden with steel, iron, wax, pepper, cedar, plank, snuff, rosaries, European bale goods, powder-blue, cinnamon, Romish indulgences, and other species of merchandise. And though this cargo, in our present circumstances was but of little value to us, yet with respect to the Spaniards it was the most considerable capture that fell into our hands in this part of the world; for it amounted to upwards of 400,000 dollars prime cost at Panama. This ship was bound to Callao, and had stopped at Paita in her passage to take in a recruit of water and provisions, and had not left that place above twenty-four hours before she fell into our hands.

IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE.

I have mentioned that Mr. Brett had received some important intelligence from the prisoners, which he endeavoured to acquaint the Commodore with immediately. The first person he received it from (though upon further examination it was confirmed by the other prisoners) was one John Williams, an Irishman, whom he found on board the Spanish vessel. Williams was a Papist, who worked his passage from Cadiz, and had travelled over all the kingdom of Mexico as a pedlar. He pretended that by this business he got 4,000 or 5,000 dollars; but that he was embarrassed by the priests, who knew he had money, and was at last stripped of all he had. He was, indeed, at present all in rags, being but just got out of Paita gaol, where he had been confined for some misdemeanour; he expressed great joy upon seeing his countrymen, and immediately informed them that a few days before a vessel came into Paita, where the master of her informed the Governor that he had been chased in the offing by a very large ship, which, from her size and the colour of her sails, he was persuaded must be one of the English squadron. This we then conjectured to have been the Gloucester, as we afterwards found it was. The Governor, upon examining the master, was fully satisfied of his relation, and immediately sent away an express to Lima to acquaint the Viceroy therewith; and the royal officer residing at Paita, being apprehensive of a visit from the English, was busily employed in removing the King's treasure and his own to Piura, a town within land about fourteen leagues distant. We further learned from our prisoners that there was a very considerable sum of money, belonging to some merchants at Lima, that was now lodged at the custom-house at Paita; and that this was intended to be shipped on board a vessel which was then in the port of Paita, and was preparing to sail with the utmost expedition, being bound for the Bay of Sonsonnate, on the coast of Mexico, in order to purchase a part of the cargo of the Manila ship.* This vessel at Paita was esteemed a prime sailer, and had just received a new coat of tallow on her bottom; and, in the opinion of the prisoners, she might be able to sail the succeeding morning.

(*Note. A full account of the Manila ship will be found in Chapter 22 below.)

The character they gave us of this vessel, on which the money was to be shipped, left us little reason to believe that our ship, which had been in the water near two years, could have any chance of coming up with her, if we once suffered her to escape out of the port. And therefore, as we were now discovered, and the coast would be soon alarmed, and as our cruising in these parts any longer would answer no purpose, the Commodore resolved to surprise the place, having first minutely informed himself of its strength and condition, and being fully satisfied that there was little danger of losing many of our men in the attempt.

CHAPTER 18. THE ATTACK ON PAITA.

The town of Paita is situated in the latitude of 5 degrees 12 minutes south, in a most barren soil, composed only of sand and slate; the extent of it is but small, containing in all less than two hundred families. The houses are only ground floors, the walls built of split cane and mud, and the roofs thatched with leaves. These edifices, though extremely slight, are abundantly sufficient for a climate where rain is considered as a prodigy, and is not seen in many years; so that it is said that a small quantity of rain falling in this country in the year 1728, it ruined a great number of buildings, which mouldered away, and, as it were, melted before it. The inhabitants of Paita are principally Indians and black slaves, or at least a mixed breed, the whites being very few. The port of Paita, though in reality little more than a bay, is esteemed the best on that part of the coast, and is indeed a very secure and commodious anchorage. It is greatly frequented by all vessels coming from the north, since it is here only that the ships from Acapulco, Sonsonnate, Realejo and Panama can touch and refresh in their passage to Callao; and the length of these voyages (the wind for the greatest part of the year being full against them) renders it impossible to perform them without calling upon the coast for a recruit of fresh water. It is true, Paita is situated on so parched a spot that it does not itself furnish a drop of fresh water, or any kind of greens or provisions, except fish and a few goats; but there is an Indian town called Colan, about two or three leagues distant to the northward, whence water, maize, greens, fowls, etc., are brought to Paita on balsas, or floats, for the convenience of the ships that touch here; and cattle are sometimes brought from Piura, a town which lies about fourteen leagues up in the country. The town of Paita is itself an open place; its sole protection and defence is a small fort near the shore of the bay. It was of consequence to us to be well informed of the fabric and strength of this fort; and by the examination of our prisoners we found that there were eight pieces of cannon mounted in it, but that it had neither ditch nor out work, being only surrounded by a plain brick wall; and that the garrison consisted of only one weak company, but the town itself might possibly arm three hundred men more.

PREPARING FOR A NIGHT ATTACK.

Mr. Anson having informed himself of the strength of the place, resolved to attempt it that very night. We were then about twelve leagues distant from the shore, far enough to prevent our being discovered, yet not so far but that, by making all the sail we could, we might arrive in the bay with our ships in the night. However, the Commodore prudently considered that this would be an improper method of proceeding, as our ships, being such large bodies, might be easily discovered at a distance even in the night, and might thereby alarm the inhabitants and give them an opportunity of removing their valuable effects. He therefore, as the strength of the place did not require our whole force, resolved to attempt it with our boats only, ordering the eighteen-oared barge and our own and the Trial's pinnaces on that service; and having picked out fifty-eight men to man them, well provided with arms and ammunition, he gave the command of the expedition to Lieutenant Brett, and gave him his necessary orders. And the better to prevent the disappointment and confusion which might arise from the darkness of the night and the ignorance of the streets and passages of the place, two of the Spanish pilots were ordered to attend the lieutenant and to conduct him to the most convenient landing-place, and were afterwards to be his guides on shore. And that we might have the greater security for their faithful behaviour on this occasion, the Commodore took care to assure all our prisoners that if the pilots acted properly they should all of them be released and set on shore at this place; but in case of any misconduct or treachery, he threatened them that the pilots should be instantly shot and that he would carry all the rest of the Spaniards who were on board him prisoners to England.

During our preparations the ships themselves stood towards the port with all the sail they could make, being secure that we were yet at too great a distance to be seen. But about ten o'clock at night, the ships being then within five leagues of the place, Lieutenant Brett, with the boats under his command, put off, and arrived at the mouth of the bay without being discovered; but no sooner had he entered it than some of the people on board a vessel riding at anchor there perceived him, who instantly put off in their boat, rowing towards the fort, shouting and crying, "The English! the English dogs!" by which the whole town was suddenly alarmed; and our people soon observed several lights hurrying backwards and forwards in the fort and other marks of the inhabitants being in great motion. Lieutenant Brett on this encouraged his men to pull briskly up to the shore, that they might give the enemy as little time as possible to prepare for their defence. However, before our boats could reach the shore, the people in the fort had got ready some of their cannon and pointed them towards the landing-place; and though in the darkness of the night it might be well supposed that chance had a greater share than skill in their direction, yet the first shot passed extremely near one of the boats, whistling just over the heads of the crew. This made our people redouble their efforts, so that they had reached the shore, and were in part disembarked by the time the second gun fired. As soon as our men landed they were conducted by one of the Spanish pilots to the entrance of a narrow street, not above fifty yards distant from the beach, where they were covered from the fire of the fort; and being formed in the best manner the shortness of the time would allow, they immediately marched for the parade, which was a large square at the end of this stree, the fort being one side of the square and the Governor's house another. In this march (though performed with tolerable regularity) the shouts and clamours of three-score sailors who had been confined so long on ship-board, and were now for the first time on shore in an enemy's country—joyous as they always are when they land, and animated besides in the present case with the hopes of an immense pillage—the huzzahs, I say, of this spirited detachment, joined with the noise of their drums and favoured by the night, had augmented their numbers, in the opinion of the enemy, to at least three hundred; by which persuasion the inhabitants were so greatly intimidated that they were much more solicitous about the means of their flight than of their resistance. So that though upon entering the parade our people received a volley from the merchants who owned the treasure then in the town, and who, with a few others, had ranged themselves in a gallery that ran round the Governor's house, yet that post was immediately abandoned upon the first fire made by our people, who were thereby left in quiet possession of the parade.

A SMART PIECE OF WORK.

On this success Lieutenant Brett divided his men into two parties, ordering one of them to surround the Governor's house, and, if possible, to secure the Governor, whilst he himself with the other marched to the fort with an intent to force it. But, contrary to his expectation, he entered it without opposition; for the enemy, on his approach, abandoned it, and made their escape over the walls. By this means the whole place was mastered in less than a quarter of an hour's time from the first landing, with no other loss than that of one man killed on the spot and two wounded, one of whom was the Spanish pilot of the Teresa, who received a slight bruise by a ball which grazed on his wrist. Indeed, another of the company, the Honourable Mr. Keppel. son to the Earl of Albemarle, had a very narrow escape; for having on a jockey cap, one side of the peak was shaved off close to his temple by a ball, which, however, did him no other injury. And now Lieutenant Brett, after this success, placed a guard at the fort, and another at the Governor's house, and appointed sentinels at all the avenues of the town, both to prevent any surprise from the enemy, and to secure the effects in the place from being embezzled. And this being done, his next care was to seize on the custom-house where the treasure lay, and to examine if any of the inhabitants remained in the town, that he might know what further precautions it was necessary to take. But he soon found that the numbers left behind were no ways formidable; for the greatest part of them (being in bed when the place was surprised) had run away with so much precipitation that they had not given themselves time to put on their clothes. And in this precipitate rout the Governor was not the last to secure himself for he fled betimes, half-naked. The few inhabitants who remained were confined in one of the churches under a guard, except some stout Negroes who were found in the place. These, instead of being shut up, were employed the remaining part of the night to assist in carrying the treasure from the custom-house and other places to the fort. However, there was care taken that they should be always attended by a file of musketeers.

The transporting the treasure from the custom-house to the fort was the principal occupation of Mr. Brett's people after he had got possession of the place. But the sailors, while they were thus employed, could not be prevented from entering the houses which lay near them in search of private pillage. And the first things which occurred to them being the clothes which the Spaniards in their flight had left behind them, and which, according to the custom of the country, were most of them either embroidered or laced, our people eagerly seized these glittering habits, and put them on over their own dirty trousers and jackets; not forgetting, at the same time, the tie or bag-wig, and laced hat, which were generally found with the clothes. When this practice was once begun there was no preventing the whole detachment from imitating it; and those who came latest into the fashion, not finding men's clothes sufficient to equip themselves, were obliged to take up with women's gowns and petticoats, which (provided there was finery enough) they made no scruple of putting on and blending with their own greasy dress. So that, when a party of them thus ridiculously metamorphosed first appeared before Mr. Brett, he was extremely surprised at their appearance and could not immediately be satisfied they were his own people.

CHAPTER 19. THE ATTACK ON PAITA (CONTINUED)—KIND TREATMENT AND RELEASE OF THE PRISONERS—THEIR GRATITUDE.

These were the transactions of our detachment on shore at Paita the first night; and now to return to what was done on board the Centurion in that interval. I must observe that after the boats were gone off we lay by till one o'clock in the morning, and then, supposing our detachment to be near landing, we made an easy sail for the bay. About seven in the morning we began to open the bay, and soon after we had a view of the town; and though we had no reason to doubt of the success of the enterprise, yet it was with great joy that we first discovered an infallible signal of the certainty of our hopes: this was by means of our perspectives, for through them we saw an English flag hoisted on the flagstaff of the fort, which to us was an incontestable proof that our people had got possession of the town. We plied into the bay with as much expedition as the wind, which then blew off shore, would permit us, and at eleven the Trial's boat came on board us, laden with dollars and church-plate; and the officer who commanded her informed us of the preceding night's transactions, such as we have already related them. About two in the afternoon we came to an anchor in ten fathoms and a half, at a mile and a half distance from the town, and were consequently near enough to have a more immediate intercourse with those on shore.

COLLECTING THE TREASURE.

And now we found that Mr. Brett had hitherto gone on in collecting and removing the treasure without interruption; but that the enemy had rendezvoused from all parts of the country on a hill at the back of the town, where they made no inconsiderable appearance; for, amongst the rest of their force, there were two hundred horse, seemingly very well armed and mounted, and, as we conceived, properly trained and regimented, being furnished with trumpets, drums, and standards. These troops paraded about the hill with great ostentation, sounding their military music and practising every art to intimidate us (as our numbers on shore were by this time not unknown to them), in hopes that we might be induced by our fears to abandon the place before the pillage was completed. But we were not so ignorant as to believe that this body of horse, which seemed to be what the enemy principally depended on, would dare to venture in streets and among houses, even had their numbers been three times as great; and therefore, notwithstanding their menaces, we went on, as long as the daylight lasted, calmly, in sending off the treasure and in employing the boats to carry on board the refreshments such as hogs, fowls, etc., which we found here in great abundance. But at night, to prevent any surprise, the Commodore sent on shore a reinforcement, who posted themselves in all the streets leading to the parade; and for their greater security they traversed the streets with barricades six feet high; and the enemy continuing quiet all night, we at daybreak returned again to our labour of loading the boats and sending them off.

On the second day of our being in possession of the place, several negro slaves deserted from the enemy on the hill, and coming into the town, voluntarily entered into our service. One of these was well known to a gentleman on board, who remembered him formerly at Panama. And the Spaniards without the town being in extreme want of water, many of their slaves crept into the place by stealth and carried away several jars of water to their masters on the hill; and though some of them were seized by our men in the attempt, yet the thirst amongst the enemy was so pressing that they continued this practice till we left the place. And now, on this second day, we were assured, both by the deserters and by these prisoners we took, that the Spaniards on the hill, who were by this time increased to a formidable number, had resolved to storm the town and fort the succeeding night, and that one Gordon, a Scotch Papist and captain of a ship in those seas, was to have the command of this enterprise. But we, notwithstanding, continued sending off our boats, and prosecuted our work without the least hurry or precipitation till the evening; and then a reinforcement was again sent on shore by the Commodore, and Lieutenant Brett doubled his guards at each of the barricades; and our posts being connected by means of sentinels placed within call of each other, and the whole being visited by frequent rounds, attended with a drum, these marks of our vigilance cooled their resolution and made them forget the vaunts of the preceding day; so that we passed the second night with as little molestation as we had done the first.

We had finished sending the treasure on board the Centurion the evening before, so that the third morning, being the 15th of November, the boats were employed in carrying off the most valuable part of the effects that remained in the town. And the Commodore intending to sail this day, he about ten o'clock, pursuant to his promise, sent all his prisoners, amounting to eighty-eight, on shore, giving orders to Lieutenant Brett to secure them in one of the churches under a strict guard till he was ready to embark his men.

THE BURNING OF PAITA.

Mr. Brett was at the same time ordered to set the whole town on fire, except the two churches (which by good fortune stood at some distance from the other houses), and then he was to abandon the place and to come on board. These orders were punctually complied with, for Mr. Brett immediately set his men to work to distribute pitch, tar, and other combustibles (of which great quantities were found here) into houses situated in different streets of the town, so that, the place being fired in many quarters at the same time, the destruction might be more violent and sudden, and the enemy, after our departure, might not be able to extinguish it. These preparations being made, he in the next place ordered the cannon which he found in the fort to be nailed up; and then, setting fire to those houses which were most windward, he collected his men and marched towards the beach, where the boats waited to carry them off. And the part of the beach where he intended to embark being an open place without the town, the Spaniards on the hill, perceiving he was retreating, resolved to try if they could not precipitate his departure. For this purpose a small squadron of their horse, consisting of about sixty, picked out as I suppose for this service, marched down the hill with much seeming resolution; so that, had we not been prepossessed with a juster opinion of their prowess, we might have suspected that, now we were on the open beach with no advantage of situation, they would certainly have charged us. But we presumed (and we were not mistaken) that this was mere ostentation; for, notwithstanding the pomp and parade they advanced with, Mr. Brett had no sooner ordered his men to halt and face about, but the enemy stopped their career and never dared to advance a step farther.

Our detachment under Lieutenant Brett having safely joined the squadron, the Commodore prepared to leave the place the same evening.

ENGLISH HUMANITY.

There remains, before I take leave of this place, another particularity to be mentioned, which, on account of the great honour which our national character in those parts has thence received, and the reputation which our Commodore in particular has thereby acquired, merits a distinct and circumstantial discussion. It has been already related that all the prisoners taken by us in our preceding prizes were put on shore and discharged at this place; amongst which there were some persons of considerable distinction, particularly a youth of about seventeen years of age, son of the Vice-President of the Council of Chili. As the barbarity of the buccaneers, and the artful use the ecclesiastics had made of it, had filled the natives of those countries with the most terrible ideas of the English cruelty, we always found our prisoners at their first coming on board us, to be extremely dejected and under great horror and anxiety. In particular, this youth whom I last mentioned, having never been from home before, lamented his captivity in the most moving manner, regretting in very plaintive terms his parents, his brothers, his sisters, and his native country, of all which he was fully persuaded he had taken his last farewell, believing that he was now devoted for the remaining part of his life to an abject and cruel servitude; nore was he singular in his fears, for his companions on board, and indeed all the Spaniards that came into our power, had the same desponding opinion of their situation. Mr. Anson constantly exerted his utmost endeavours to efface these in human impressions they had received of us, always taking care that as many of the principal people among them as there was room for should dine at his table by turns, and giving the strictest orders, too, that they should at all times and in every circumstance be treated with the utmost decency and humanity. But, notwithstanding this precaution, it was generally observed that for the first day or two they did not quit their fears, but suspected the gentleness of their usage to be only preparatory to some unthought-of calamity. However, being confirmed by time, they grew perfectly easy in their situation and remarkably cheerful, so that it was often disputable whether or no they considered their being detained by us as a misfortune. For the youth I have above mentioned, who was near two months on board us, had at last so far conquered his melancholy surmises, and had taken such an affection to Mr. Anson, and seemed so much pleased with the manner of life, totally different from all he had ever seen before, that it is doubtful to me whether if his opinion had been taken, he would not have preferred a voyage to England in the Centurion to the being set on shore at Paita, where he was at liberty to return to his country and his friends.