l^ORTEiVS JOURNAL, 175 



discretion of this gentleman ; and, to make up for his want 

 of nautical knowledge, I put two expert seamen with him 

 9.S mates, one of whom was a good navigator. 



Volunteers continued to ofler from the captured vessels, 

 and mj whole effective force in those seas now consisted of 



The Essex, mounting 46 guns, and 245 men, 

 Georgiana, 16 do, 42 do. 



Atlantic, 6 do. 12 do, 



Greenwich, 1,0 do. 14 do. 



Montezuma, 2 do. 10 do. 



Policy, 10 do. 



Making in all, 80 guns, 333 men ; 



together with one midshipman and six men on board ilm 

 Barclay. My prisoners amounted in number to eighty ; 

 but as I had divided them among the different ships, allow- 

 ing them full allowance of provisions on condition of their 

 giving their assistance in working, we found them as useful 

 as our own men in navigating the prizes. Thus our whole 

 number, including the prisoners, amounted to four hundred 

 and twenty, and all in good health, with the exception of some 

 of the latter, who were slightly affected with the scurvy. 



The capture of those vessels, in consequence of the sup- 

 ply of water they afforded, induced me to change my inten- 

 tions of going to the island of Cocos for a stock. As they 

 were such prime sailers, I hoped that by their taking in 

 tow the Barclay and Policy, while 1 took care of the Mon- 

 tezuma, we should be enabled to get to windward of the 

 islands, so as to fall in with the track of vessels bound from 

 the continent to the Gallipagos, or, at all events, to reach 

 Charles' Island, where I hoped to join the Georgiana, or, if 

 she should not have arrived there, to leave different instruc- 

 tions for her commander. As we had been swept by the cur- 

 rent, for the last two days, considerably to the southward, I 

 believed we should be greatly assisted thereby, and suc- 

 ceed in executing my intentions without much difficulty. The 

 dull-sailing vessels were therefore taken in tow, and every 

 exertion made to get to windward, with the hope of weather- 

 ing the south point of Albemarle. But although the wind 

 favoured us on every tack, we found it impossible to get 

 around it, as the current, which (until we had brought it to 



