170 The VOYAGES of Book I. 
among the Ship J s Company. The fame Night, our La- 
zareto-door being broken open, and lofing Bread and Sugars, 
this Morning I ordered a Search, and found the Thief. I 
blamed the Steward for his Remiffnefs : He told me, he lay 
next the Door, with the Key faftened to his privy Parts, 
becaufe he had it once ftolen out of his Pocket ; I fuppofe 
by the fame Thief, who was fo dexterous as to get it now, 
without difturbing him •, but, not being ingenious enough 
to fallen it to the fame Place, he was difcovered : His 
Mefs-mate was* alfo guilty, but, knowing his Friends at 
Brijiol, I was unwilling to punifli him, though, Pro- 
vifions being fcarce, it made the Crime the greater ; for 
we expected no Recruit till we got to the Fajl Indies. I or- 
dered the firft to be feverely whipt at the Geers, and the 
other, and a Dutchman , to be afterwards left with him in 
Irons. On the 9th of December , Mr. Duck> the Mailer 
of the Bark, came aboard, and prefented me with fome 
Dolphins he had from the Indians. I ordered our Mailer 
to go with him, and endeavour, if polfible, to difcover 
the Shore along to the Northward, to find out a better 
Harbour than that where the Indians lived ; and, if they 
met with the Duchefs , to tell Captain Courtney , I thought 
it convenient for one of the Ships to go into the Bay we 
had already difcovered, and there to take in Water and 
Wood, CtV. fo to fit our Ships by turns, to faveTime, 
and, confequently, Provifions, which began now to grow 
ihort with us. We were alfo fomething dubious of feeing 
the Manilla Ships, becaufe it was near a Month after the 
Time they generally fall in with this Coall that we were 
here cruifing for them •, but, what embaralfed us molt 
was, the Impolfibility of procuring any Intelligence which 
might deliver us from this Perplexity. To ad: with 
Judgment and Spirit in fo nice a Conjuncture, it was re- 
folved on the 4th, that the Marquis fhould go into the 
Harbour, in order to refit ; that I and the Duke Ihould 
keep the outward Birth, and the Duchefs remain between 
us and the Shore. It was likewife fixed, that we Ihould 
eruife but eight Days longer in hopes of this Manilla Ship. 
On confidering our Provifions, we found the Bread on 
board all the Ships, at our prefent Ihort Allowance, for 
about feventy Days at moll. Our Run to Guam , one of the 
Ladrones , could not pofiibly be performed in lefs than fifty 
Days ; which, added to the Time we were Hill to remain 
here, made it evident, that, on our Arrival there, we 
fhould have Bread only for eleven Days : And, even then, 
we ran two Hazards ; the firft, that our Voyage might be 
longer, and, in that cafe, our Bread mull fail, before we 
arrived at Guam ; the other, that, in cafe we had fuch a 
Remainder of Bread when we came there, it was not 
quite certain, that we Ihould obtain a Supply. Yet, at all 
Events, we were obliged to relblve upon this Courfe, be- 
caufe it was limply impoffible for us to go round by Cape 
Horn , and fo to the Brajils , where we might have fold our 
Goods to vail Advantage, and made our Voyage back to 
Great Britain in much lefs Time. 
31. The Thoughts of all thefe Difficulties naturally made 
us a little melancholy : However, on the 21ft of December , 
we bore away for the Port where the Marquis was refitting ; 
but, about nine in the Morning, the Man at the Mail- 
head cry’d out, that he faw a Sail, belides the Duchefs and 
Bark, biftant about feven Leagues from us. We hoifted 
our Enfign immediately, and bore away after her; the 
Duchefs did the like; but, it falling calm, I ordered the 
Pinnace to be manned, and fent out, to make what lhe 
was. In the mean time, our Ship’s Company were 
ftrangely divided in their Opinions : Some were very po- 
fitive, that it was the Marquis come out of Port ; and, to 
confirm this, they alferted, that the Sail had no Fore-top- 
maft ; upon which we recalled the Pinnace, put a Cap 
aboard her for ther Marquis, , and then fent her away again ; 
and by this time it was Noon. All the reft of the Day we 
had very little Wind, fo that we made no great Way ; and 
the Boat not returning, kept us in a languishing Condition, 
not being able to determine, whether the Sail was our 
Confort the Marquis , or the Acapulco Ship. Our Pinnace 
was Hill in Sight, and we had nothing to do but to watch 
her Motions : We could fee, that lhe made towards the 
Duchefs’ s Pinnace, which rowed to meet her : They lay 
together fome time, and then, the Duchefs’ s Pinnace went 
back to their Ship, which gave us great Hopes. In order 
to obtain fome Certainty, I ordered Mr. Fry on board the 
Duchefs , in our Yawl, to know what that Ship was, and 
to agree, if lhe was not the Marquis , how to engage her : 
As loon as the Yawl was gone, we hoifted French Colours, 
and fired a Gun, which the Stranger anfwered ; and this, 
in fome meafure, cleared the Doubt. Mr. Fry , however, 
quickly returned, with the joyful News, that this was 
really the Manilla Ship, for which we had waited fo long, 
and of feeing which we now began to defpair. This 
revived all our Courage, and every body was as aClive in 
preparing for the Engagement, as we could pofiibly defire. 
The Thoughts of being made at once, difperfed all our 
melancholy Reflections on the Shortnefs of our Provifions, 
and our long Run to Guam : We had now nothing in our 
Heads, but being Mailers of the mighty Treafure onboard 
this India Ship ; and every Moment feemed an Hour, till 
we came up with her. We agreed the two Pinnaces Ihould 
tend her all Night, and keep Ihewing falfe Fires, that we 
might know whereabout they and the Chace were ; and, 
if we were fo fortunate as to come up with her together, 
we agreed to board her at once. We made a clear Ship 
before Night, had every thing in Readinefs to engage her 
at Day-break, and kept a very good Look-out all Night 
for the Boat’s falle Fires, which we faw, and anfwered fre- 
quently. At Day-break we faw the Chace upon our Wea- 
ther-bow, about a League from us, the Duchefs a-head of 
her to Leeward, near about half as far. Towards fix our 
Boat came aboard, having kept very near the Chace all the 
Night, and received no Damage ; but told us, the Duchefs 
paffed by her in the Night, and lhe fired two Shot at them, 
but they returned none. We had no Wind, but got out 
eight of our Ship’s Oars, and rowed above an Hour ; then 
there fprung up a fmall Breeze. I ordered a large Kettle 
of Chocolate to be made for our Ship’s Company (having 
no fpirituous Liquor to give them) ; then we went to 
Prayers, and, before we had concluded, were difturbed by 
the Enemy’s firing at us. They had Barrels hanging at 
each Yard-arm, that looked like Powder-barrels, to deter 
us from boarding them. About eight o’Clock we began 
to engage her by ourfelves ; for the Duchefs , being to Lee- 
ward, and having little Wind, did not come up. The 
Enemy fired her Stern-chace upon us firft, which we re- 
turned with our Fore-chace feveral times, till we came 
nearer ; and, when clofe aboard each other, we gave her 
feveral Broadfides, plying our fmall Arms very brifkly ; 
which they returned as thick for awhile, but did not ply 
their great Guns half fo fall as we. After fome time, we 
fhot a little a-head of them, lying thwart her Hawfe, dole 
aboard ; and plied them fo warmly, that lhe foon ftruck 
her Colours two-thirds down. By this time the Duchefs 
came up, and fired about five Guns, with a Volley of fmall 
Shot ; but the Enemy, having fubmitted, made no Return. 
We fent our Pinnace aboard, and brought the Captain, 
with the Officers, away ; and, having examined them, 
found there was another Ship come out of Manilla with 
them, of larger Burden, having about forty brafs Guns 
mounted, and as many Pattereroes ; but, they told us, 
they loft her Company three Months ago, and reckoned 
lhe was got to Acapulco before this time, fhe failing better 
than this Ship. This Prize was called by the fwelling Name 
of Noftra Seniora de la Incarnacion Difenganio , Sir John 
Bichberty Commander ; lhe had twenty Guns, twenty Pa- 
tereroes, and 1 93 Men aboard, whereof nine were killed, 
ten wounded, and feveral blown up with Powder. We 
engaged them about three Glaffes ; in which time, we had 
only myfelf and another Man wounded. I was fhot through 
the Left Cheek ; the Bullet ftruck away great Part of my 
upper Jaw, and feveral of my Teeth, Part of which dropt 
down upon the Deck, where I fell : The other, William 
Powell , an Irifh Landman, was fiightly wounded in the 
Buttock. They did us no great Damage in our Rigging, 
but a Shot difabled our Mizen-maft. I was forced to write 
what I would fay, to prevent the Lofs of Blood, and be- 
caufe of the Pain I fuffered by fpeaking. On the 23d of 
September , after we had put our Ships to rights, we flood 
in for the Harbour, which was diftant about feven Leagues 
to the North-eaft. Our Surgeons went on board the Prize, 
to drefs their wounded Men, About four in the Afternoon 
we 
