PORTER'S JOURNAL, 



103 



sne such information as would render my falling in with 

 them probable while running along the coast. He repre- 

 sented our whale-fishers, vrhich were very numerous, as in a 

 helpless and unprotected state, entirely exposed to attack 

 and capture by the armed English ships in those seas, car- 

 rying from fourteen to twenty guns, and well manned : he 

 stated that, as our whale-ships sometimes kept the sea for 

 sis months at a time, most of them were ignorant of the war, 

 and would fail an easy and unsuspecting prey to the British 

 ships : he informed me that he had heard of the capture of 

 one American ship, which had been taken by a British letter 

 of marque, and carried to Lima ; but that the government had 

 not permitted her to remain there, and that she had pro- 

 ceeded for St. Helena to take convoy for England. After 

 receiving this intelligence, I got under way, and proceeded 

 to sea, with a fresh breeze from the southward, steering 

 northwest to get an offing from the land. 



From my extreme occupation with my duty, and the ra- 

 pidity of the events which took place during the week I re- 

 mained at Valparaiso, it could scarcely be supposed that I 

 could have an opportunity of making many observations on 

 the place, the manners and customs of the people, or the 

 political state of the country. Perhaps no week of my life 

 was ever more actively employed, both in labour and in 

 pleasure 5 and had not a strong desire of serving our country 

 to the utmost overcome every other consideration, we 

 should have left Valparaiso with much regret. But during 

 our stay there two Spanish ships had sailed for Lima, and 

 tiie certainty that they would give intelligence of us to the 

 enemy, made our speedy departure the more necessary, as 

 it had always been my intention to visit that coast previous 

 to my going to any other place. From all accounts, the 

 coast of Peru, and from there to the Gallipagos, is the fa- 

 vourite fishing-ground of the British whalers. From thence 

 I intended proceeding to the latter place, and to endeavour 

 to arrive at their general rendezvous at Albemarle island, 

 before the British agent at Lima could have an opportuni- 

 ty of giving them intelligence of my arrival in this sea ; for 

 it seemed beyond a doubt that they would conjecture that 

 my designs were not confined to the doubling Cape Horn 

 merely for the pleasure of visiting Valparaiso. 



While we lay at Valparaiso, I estabhshed it as a genera! 



