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 sh.o.r.e 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 sh.o.r.e. 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 princ.i.p.al officers being on sh.o.r.e, 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 sh.o.r.e 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 circ.u.mstances 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 sh.o.r.e 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage; 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 surpa.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sengers.

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 pa.s.sengers, 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, a.s.suring 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 pa.s.sengers 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 quant.i.ties of blue cloth made in the province of Quito, somewhat resembling our English coa.r.s.e broad-cloths, but inferior to them. They had, besides, several bales of a coa.r.s.er 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 princ.i.p.al 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 a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sage to Port St. Julian. And we had, at the same time, the satisfaction to find that Pizarro, after his utmost endeavours to gain his pa.s.sage 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 sh.o.r.e. 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 a.s.sured 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 circ.u.mstances 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.sengers and twenty-three seaman to a.s.sist 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 lat.i.tude of 5 degrees south, and there to cruise off the high land of Paita, at such a distance from sh.o.r.e 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 a.s.sisting 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 pet.i.tioned 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 a.s.sist 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 un.o.bserved. 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 a.s.sured 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 sh.o.r.e 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 gra.s.s) Quito cloth, wax, etc. The specie on board her was inconsiderable, being princ.i.p.ally 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 pa.s.sing us un.o.bserved; 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 lat.i.tude 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 sh.o.r.e, and to windward, plying up to the coast. She had pa.s.sed 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 cutla.s.ses, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage 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 embarra.s.sed 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.