424 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



in with a launch laden with jars of cotton. The people on 

 board said they were very poor ; but, as they were found dining 

 on pigeon pie served up in silver dishes, it was thought advisable 

 to search for the sources of this opulence. The jars of cotton 

 were found to contain sixty thousand dollars in double doubloons. 



Anson now determined to steer for the southern parts of Cali- 

 fornia, there to cruise for the galleon due at Acapulco from Ma- 

 nilla towards the middle of January. He did not arrive there 

 till the 1st of February, 1742 ; but, being assured by some of his 

 Spanish prisoners that the galleon was often a month behind 

 her average time, he stood on and off, waiting with feverish 

 impatience for an arrival whose value he estimated in round 

 millions. He soon learned, from some negroes whom he cap- 

 tured, that the galleon had arrived on the 9th of January. 

 They added, however, that she had delivered her cargo, and 

 that the Viceroy of Mexico had fixed her departure from Aca- 

 pulco, on her return, for the 14th of March. This news was 

 joyfully received by Anson and his men, as it was much more 

 advantageous for them to seize the specie which she had received 

 for her cargo than to seize the cargo itself. 



It was now the 19th of February, and the galleon was not to 

 leave port till the 14th of March, or, according to the old style 

 followed by Anson, the 3d of March. The interval was em- 

 ployed in scrubbing the ships' bottoms, in bringing them into 

 the most advantageous trim, and in regulating the orders, 

 signals, and positions to be observed when the famous ship 

 should appear in sight. The positions held were as follows. 

 The squadron was stationed forty miles from shore, — an offing 

 quite sufficient to escape observation: it consisted of the Centu- 

 rion, the Gloucester, and three armed prizes : these were ar- 

 ranged in a circular line, and each ship was nine miles distant 

 from the next, the two vessels at the extremes being, therefore, 

 thirty-six miles apart. As the galleon could be easily discerned 

 twenty miles outside of either extremity, the whole sweep of 



