174 



porter's journai.. 



sive language against our government, the ship and her of- 

 ficers, lavishing on me in particular the most scurrilous epi- 

 thets, and giving me appellations that would have suited a 

 * buccanier. They really appeared to have forgotten they 

 were prisoners and in my power, and that it would be 

 more to their advantage to trust entirely to my generosity, 

 than to irritate me by such unprovoked abuse. However, 

 I determined next day to make them sensible of the impro- 

 priety of their conduct, and did so without violating either 

 the principles of humanity or the rules of war. I let them 

 feel that they were dependent entirely on my generosity ; 

 and this haughty Englishman, who thought to have terrified 

 lis with the name of a Briton, and this renegade, who would 

 have sacrificed the interests of his country, were now so 

 humbled by a sense of their own conduct, and of what they 

 merited, that they would have licked the dust from my 

 feet, had it been required of them to do so. 



The whole of the next day was occupied in arranging 

 the crews of our new prizes, and getting the baggage of the 

 prisoners out of them. It afforded me no small degree of 

 pleasure to discover, that the Atlantic had on board about 

 one hundred tons. of water, an article of more value to us 

 than any thing else; for we scarcely had water remainingj 

 on board our own ship, to take us even to the island of 

 Cocos. Some of our prizes were very far short of the ne- 

 cessary supply ; and none of the others had more than suffi- 

 cient to answer their pursose. It was also a consolation to 

 find, that by these two last vessels we had obtained the 

 most abundant supply of provisions of every description^ 

 and naval stores, such as cordage, canvas, paints, tar, &;c. 

 &c., more than we required ; also seamen's clothing in 

 considerable quantities, and of a superior quality, for our 

 people. As these vessels had been only a fev/ days from 

 James' Island, we found on board them eight hundred tor- 

 toises of a very large size, and sufficient to furnish all the 

 ships with fresh provisions for one month. 



Our fleet now consisted of six sail of vessels, without in- 

 cluding the Georgiana. On board of the last captured 

 vessels I put a sufficient number of men to fight their guns, 

 giving lieutenant M'Knight charge of the Atlantic, and, for 

 want of sea-officers, I put lieutenant Gamble of the marines 

 in charge of the Greenwich. I had much confidence in the 



