5.'}6 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



■with a tremendous explosion.* 

 Capt. Sutton having with great 

 judgment, and much to my satis- 

 faction, placed himself to leeward 

 of that ship, the escape of the Spa- 

 nish admual's ship was rendered al- 

 most impossible; in less than half 

 an hour she struck, as did the oppo- 

 Dent of the Lively. Perceiving at 

 this moment the Spanish commodore 

 was making off, and seeming to have 

 the heels of the Medusa, I made the 

 signal for the Lively to join in the 

 chace, having before noticed the su- 

 perior sailing of that ship. Capt. 

 Hammond did not lose an instant; 

 and we had the satisfaction, long be- 

 fore sun-set, to see from our mast 

 head that the only remaining ship 

 had surrendered to the Medusa and 

 Lively. As soon as our boats had 

 taken possession of the rear-admi- 

 ral, we made sail for the floating 

 fragments of the unfortunate Spanish 

 frigate which blew up ; but, except- 

 ing forty taken up by the Amphion's 

 boats, all on board perished. This 

 squadron was commanded by Don 

 Joseph Bustamente, knight of the 

 order of St. James, and a rear-ad- 

 miral. They are from Monte Vi- 

 deo, Rio de la Plata, and, from 

 the information of the captain of the 

 flag-ship, contained about four 

 millions of dollars, 800,000 of 

 which were on board the Mercedes 

 which blew up. Other accounts 

 state the quantity of specie to be 

 much greater, public and private ; 

 and there is besides much valuable 

 merchandize on board the captured 

 ships. Our loss has been very tri- 

 fling. I have not yet had the re- 

 turns from other ships, but the In- 

 defatigable did not lose a man. The 

 Spaniards sufi'ered chiefly in their 



rigging, which was our obje6l. The 

 captains of the different ships con- 

 ducted themselves so ably, that no 

 honour accrues' to me but the for- 

 tunate accident of being senior of- 

 ficer. G. Moore. 



Force of the Spanhh Squadron. 



La Medee (flag ship) 42 gunsj 

 18-pounders, and 300 men, taken; 

 2 men killed and 10 Avoundcd. — 

 La Fama, 35 guns, 12-pounders, 

 and 280 men, taken; 11 killed, and 

 50 wounded. — La Clara, 36 guns, 

 12-pounders, and 300 men, taken; 

 7 killed, and 20 wounded. — La 

 Mercedes, 36 guns, 12-pounders, 

 and 280 men, blew up ; second cap- 

 tain and 40 men saved. 



Statement of the Goods and Effects 

 on board the Spanish Squadron, 

 On account of the king, total 75 

 sacks of Vienna wool, 60 chests of 

 cascarilla, 4732 bars of tin, 1735 

 pigs of copper, 28 planks of wood, 

 and 1,307,634 dollars in silver. — 

 On account of the merchants, 32 

 chests of ratinia, 1,852,216 dol- 

 lars in silver, 1,119,658 gold, re- 

 duced into dollars, and 150,011 in- 

 gots in gold, reduced into dollars. 

 — On account of the marine com- 

 pany, 26,925 seal-skins, and 10 

 pipes of seal oil. — -On board the 

 Mercedes, which blew up, were 20 

 sacks of Vienna wool, 20 chests of 

 cascarilla, 1139 bars of tin, 961 

 pigs of copper, and 221,000 dol- 

 lars in silver. 



Killed and zcounded on board his 

 Mojesfij^s squadron. — Indefatigable, 

 none. — -Medusa, return not receiv- 

 ed. — Amphion, lieut. W. Bennett, 

 wounded ; three seamen and one 



* For a most affecting and mdancholy incident attendant on this calamitous 

 event, \ade Chronicle, page 424. 



marine, 



