PORTER S JOURNAL. 



Ill 



clothing, and various other articles ; and was informed bj 

 her officers that they were cruising, as the allies of Great 

 Britain, to capture and send in for adjudication all Ameri- 

 can vessels they should meet with, alleging, at the same 

 time, that they had not your excellency's authority for such 

 proceedings. 



I have, therefore, to preserve the good understanding 

 which should ever exist between the government of the 

 United States and the provinces of Spanish America, deter- 

 mined to prevent in future such vexatious and piratical 

 conduct ; and with this view have deprived the Nereyda of 

 the means of doing the American commerce any farther in- 

 jury for the present, and have sent her to Lima in order 

 that her commander may meet with such punishment from 

 jour excellency as his offence may deserve. 



I have the honour to be, with the highest respect and 

 consideration, your excellency's obedient humble servant, 

 (Signed) D. PORTER. 



His excellency the viceroy of Peru, Lima. 



I then left the Nereyda, and looked into Tongue Bay ; 

 but perceiving no vessels, I stood on for Coquimbo, and at 

 sundown arrived within five miles of some small rocks, call- 

 ed the Chinques, which lay off the mouth of the bay. I 

 then caused one of the whale-boats to be manned, (both of 

 which I had taken from the Nereyda, as they belonged to 

 the captured ships,) and sent her in with lieutenant Downes 

 and captain West to reconnoitre the harbour, lying off and 

 on with the ship until they returned, which was not until 

 eleven o'clock that night. I had fixed on signals, by which 

 lieutenant Downes was to inform me whether the ships 

 were in the port, as well as such by which the boat could 

 find the Essex : the latter were observed from the shore ; 

 for immediately after we had made them, several alarm 

 guns were fired from the battery, which consisted, as I was 

 informed, of six guns, without platform or breastwork. 

 The boat had entered the harbour, and gone all around it, 

 and had approached so near the shore and battery as to 

 hear the people talking, without being discovered. Find- 

 ing that the Nimrod was not at this place, I thought it pro» 

 bable that she had proceeded with a view of intercepting 

 the Barclay on hex way to Lima ; and this I was the more 



