l?o ' The V O Y 
Money, and upwards of 400 Jars of Wine and Brandy, 
which were Articles very much wanted. Captain Clipper- 
ton defired the Countefs to inform him, whether fhe was 
inclined to ftay on board the Prize, or accept of the Ac- 
commodations they were able to afford her on board the 
Succefs. She made the former her Choice, and the Cap- 
tain vety politely fent an Officer of Marines, with a Guard, 
on board the Prize, to prevent her being molefted ■, and 
with ftrict Orders, to fuffer nobody to enter her Cabin but 
her own Domeftics : And he likewife fent Part of the Wine 
and Brandy on board the other Prizes, for the Ufe of his 
Seamen, who were in Poffeffion of them, and to whom, no 
doubt, this was a very welcome Refrefhment. 
11. It is a Miftake that many able Officers, both by Sea 
and Land, have committed, and therefore we need the lefs 
wonder at it in Captain Clipper ton \ that the Defire of Ac- 
quiring grows with Acquifition, till the Power of preferv- 
ing is ablblutely loft : He had already detached feveral Of- 
ficers, and above a Third-part of his Company, to take 
care of his Prizes •, and yet was as eager to take more, 
as if, inftead of a Privateer weakly manned, he had com- 
manded a Squadron of Ships of War. On the 12th, they 
difcovered a Veffel at fome Diftance, which was a London 
built Pink, of 200 Tons Burden, bound from Panama to 
Lima , with Wood, a Cargo of very little Value to them ; 
-yet this Prize they added to their Number. The Name 
of her was the Rofario ; and her Mafter, who was a very 
cunning Fellow, foon faw the Error that Clipperton had 
committed, and refolved to take Advantage of it : He 
guefTedj by the Number of Prizes that were already with 
the Englijh Commodore, he could not fend many Men 
on board his Ship ; and, having about a dozen Paffengers, 
he directed them, under the Command of a French Boat- 
fwain, to hide themfelves in the Hold, with Orders, on 
his making a certain Signal, to feize as many of the Englijh 
as came down ; alluring them, that he, with the Ship’s 
Company, would be able to manage the reft. As foon as 
the Ship ftruck, Captain Clipperton fent Lieutenant Ser- 
jeantfon , with eight Men, to take Poffeffion of her ; who, 
as foon as he came on board, ordered all that appeared to 
him, fuch as Seamen, Indians , and Negroes, into the great 
Cabin, and placed a Centinel at the Door of it. Thinking 
that all Things were now fecure, he commanded the Top- 
fails to be hoifted, in order to (land to the Commodore : 
1 he Men, not in the leaft apprehenfive of Danger, went 
down into the Hold to fee what was in the Ship ; upon 
which the Paffengers, who were concealed, fallied out ; 
knocked molt of them down ; and the French Boatfwain, 
coming behind Mr. Serjeantfon , knocked him down like- 
wife, and then ordered them to be all bound. The Spa- 
niards in the great Cabin, in the mean time, fecured the 
Centinel , and, having thus recovered their Ship, began next 
to confider what they fhould do with her. The Captain 
was for getting afhore at all Events ; which Defign of his 
he purfued fo eagerly, as to run his Ship upon the Rocks, 
where himfelf, his Company, and his Prifoners, were all 
in equal Danger ; which he no fooner perceived, than he 
ordered all the Englijh to be unbound, and, by good For- 
tune, every Man of them got fafe on ffiore ; after which. 
Lieutenant Serjeant Jon, and his People, were fent away di- 
rectly Priloners to Lima. The Viceroy of Peru was no 
fooner acquainted with this hardy ACtion, than he gave 
Orders for the building a new Ship at Guiaquil for the Cap- 
tain, and ordered all the Traders to be taxed towards the 
Expence of her ; intending this as a Reward for the Ser- 
vice he had rendered to the Public, and hoping thereby to 
encourage others to behave as he had done. On the Ar- 
rival of the Prifoners at Lima , they were clofely examined ; 
and one of them gave a full Account of every thing 
he knew, and particularly of the two Men left upon the 
Ifland of Juan Fernandez , and of the leaving there a Bot- 
tle, with a Letter in it for his Confort : Upon which, the 
Viceroy ordered a fmall Veffel to be fitted out, to fetch 
away thofe two Men, and the Bottle containing the Sig- 
nals ; and this was accordingly performed. I have drawn 
the Whole of this Relation together, that the Reader might 
have it in one View j and ftiall now return to Captain Clip- 
perton , and the manner in which he profecuted his Voyage 
after this unlucky Accident. 
AGES of Book I. 
12. It was the 20th, about three in the Afternoon, when 
he perceived, that his laft Prize was retaken ; for, making 
a Signal to attack, and obferving that the Pink, inftead of 
obeymg it, made all the Sail fhe could for the Shore, he 
immediately fufpedted what had happened 4 and, finding it 
impoffible to come up with her, began to confider next 
what was fitt. ft for him to do, to prevent the bad Effects 
that might be reafonably apprehended from her Crew get- 
ting on ffiore : And therefore the next Morning he very 
prudently detei mined to let all his Spanijh Prifoners at 
Liberty, as well to fave Provifions, which, at that time, 
he could very ill fpare •, as that their good Ufage rmo-ht be 
fpeediiy known, and returned to fuch of his Men at were 
in their Power. It is not eafy to conceive, how a wifer, 
or a better. Expedient could be thought of at fuch a Jun- 
d:ure j and therefore it is but doing juftice to this Officer 
to remark, that his fo fuddehly recollecting himfelf, and 
correcting his Error, was Efficient to excufe him 5 especi- 
ally if we refieCt, that, for one Officer, capable of make- 
ing luch an Amends for it, there might be twenty found, 
who, after falling into fuch a Miftake, could never think 
of making any Amends at all, but rather employ their 
Wits in framing FiCtions to conceal it. On the 24th, they 
took another Prize, called Cayetan , of about 200 d ons 
Burden, laden with WT>od from Panama for Lima , having 
on board forty Negroes, and thirty Spaniards , moft of them 
PaiTengers. On the 27th, they came to an Anchor with 
all their Prizes at the Ifland La Plata , where the Captain 
began ferioufly to confider, how he ffiould make the moft: 
of this Expedition for his Owners, as well as himfelf, and 
his Company. He knew that all the Coaft was alarmed ; 
and that two Men of War, one of fifty, the other of thirty 
Guns, were fitted out on Purpofe to take him : He was 
fenfible, that the Goods he had on board were not likely 
to be ranfomed in that Part of the Wffirld ; and that they 
would prove mere Drugs, if brought into this ; and there- 
fore laid all thefe Things together j and, reflecting on a Pro- 
pofiticn formerly made by Captain IVoodes Rogers , to fend 
a Cargo of fuch kind of Prize-goods to Brajil, he refolved 
to try the Experiment ; and according he fitted out the 
Bark, in which he took the Countefs of Laguna ; mounted 
her with eight Guns ; and, putting on board her thirteen 
Englijhmen , and ten Negroes, with what Provifions and 
other Neceffanes he could fpare, he called her the Chickly . 
Into this Veffel he put a Cargo of European Commodities, 
valued at 10,000 Pounds and upwards ; and, on the 27th, 
fhe failed for Brafil , under the Command of Captain 
Mitchell. As foon as fhe was gone, the Captain deter- 
mined to part with his other Prizes, both of which he pre- 
fented to the Spaniards , after taking out of them what he 
thought valuable, and detaining only the Captain of one 
of them for his Pilot, and all the Negroes ; after which he 
failed from that Ifland, in order to cruife in his former 
Station. > 
13. On December 12. they faw a Sail about five in the 
Evening, and, at feven, took her. She was called th eRofary, 
bound from Cherripe for Panama, laden with Provifions. 
Their Launch and Pinnace were all Day employed in bring- 
ing on board the Flour, and other Provifions, in order to 
difcharge her. Having got as much Flour out of her as 
they could well flow away, they cut her Main-mail by the 
Board, left fhe fhould overfet, and fo let her go. The Pri- 
foners informed them, that their Men, who were lately 
taken by the Spaniards , were fent to Lima by Land. Here 
they continued to cruife, Handing off all Day, and towards 
the Shore at Night ; but nothing happened till the 27th, 
that they anchored in GuanchacoPay , in nine Fathom, clay 
Ground, and found two Ships at Anchor. They fired a 
Shot at each j but they made no Return. Sending then 
their Boats aboard, they found them abandoned, and could 
difeover, that all the Lading had been juft taken out, and 
nothing left aboard, except feme Bread, and a lew jars of 
Water. They hung out a Flag of Truce, and fired two 
Guns at half an Hour’s Interval, hoping they would have 
come aboard to ranfom their Ships. Tiiey aniwered from 
Shore 1 but, no Boat coming, they fired again, and remain- 
ed there till the next Day, when, feeing it was in vain to 
wait any longer, and that they would neither ranfom nor 
beg their Ships, they pulled down the Flag, and let the 
6 Ships 
