Chap. I. Captain George 
here. I {hall therefore obferve, that, according to the new 
Scheme of the Voyage, Captain Shelvocke retained the 
Command of the Speedwell a Ship of 24 Guns, and 106 
Men his fecond Captain was Mr. Simon Hatley , who has 
a very good Charafter in Captain Rogers's Voyage ; and 
Mr. William Betagh was Captain of Marines. The Cap- 
tain himfelf has written an Account of the Expedition, and 
therefore I have it in my Choice to make ufe of it as far 
as it is in my Power ; adding, as Occafion requires, fuch 
explanatory Circumftances from Captain Betagh' s Account, 
as may let the Reader into the whole Affair. On the 13th 
of February 1719. we failed, fays Captain Shelvocke , in 
Company with the Succefs , from Plymouth , and kept Com- 
pany together no longer than to the 19th, when, between 
nine and ten o’Clock at Night, there came on a violent 
Storm of Wind at South-weft, which obliged us to take in 
our Top-fails : The Gale increafmg upon us, and being 
very much preffed, I haled up my Fore-fail under the 
Succefs' s Lee •, upon which they made a Signal for bring- 
ing-to : By eleven o’clock we were under bare Poles, 
with our Yards a-portland, not being able to fuffer one 
Knot of Canvas all Night, except for a little while a reefed 
Mizen. About Midnight, a Sea ftruck us upon the 
Quarter, and drove in one of our Quarter’s, and one of 
our Stern dead Lights, where we fhipped great Quantities 
of Water before we were able to flop them again, and 
were, for a confiderable time, under continual Apprehen- 
lions of foundering. This Accident expofed us to the greateft 
Danger ; we were not able to get the Ship before the 
Wind, nor could we work the Pumps upon Deck, the 
Lee one being all the time under Water •, and, befides 
this, had a Succeffton of prodigious Seas driving over us, 
fo that none could ftand on their Legs. In thefe melan- 
choly Streights, the Chain-pump was the only thing we 
could have recourfe to, by means of which it pleafed 
God that we were delivered from impending Deftrudtion. 
On the 20th, we had no Sight of the Succefs , or any other 
Veflel, fo that at Noon we fet the Main-fail double-reefed, 
at Midnight fet the Top-fails, and ftood to the North-weft. 
In the Morning, the Helm-coat was wafhed away, which 
was not fecured again without much Difficulty. This 
Storm fo terrified the greateft Part of our Ship’s Company, 
that I was informed, that feventy of them were refolved 
upon bearing away for England , and that they had formed 
a Complaint againft the Ship ; for they alleged, that Ihe 
was fo very crank, that fhe would never be able to carry 
us to the South Seas. I endeavoured to appeafe thefe 
Mutineers by Reafon, and fair Ufage ; but to very little 
Putpofe : They continued, infpite of all I could fay, in a 
firm Refolution of purfuing their firft Defign, and return- 
ing to England ; but, having recourfe to my Officers, 
who, appearing upon the Quarter-deck, well armed, and 
appearing refolute, the Mutineers loft their Spirits, and 
fcemed inclinable to do their Duty, except two or three 
hardy ftubborn Fellows, whom I ordered to the Geers ; but 
the reft of the Crew interpofed, and, promifing to wipe off 
all Memory of paft Offences, by the Regularity of their 
future Condudt, obtained their Pardon. 
2. As the Canaries was the firft Place of our Ren- 
defvous, we continued our Courfe thither •, and, meeting 
feveral Ships in our Railage, inquired carefully after the 
Succefs , but were able to gain no Intelligence of her what- 
ever. On the 17th of March , we arrived at the Canaries, 
and cruifed there the Time appointed by our InftruCtioHs ; 
in which Time there happened- very little remarkable, ex- 
cept the taking a fmail Prize of fixteen Ton, with a little 
Salt, and fome Wine, on board ; and the beft Part of the 
latter the Boat’s Crew drank, before they brought the 
Prize to the Ship. The next Place I thought of going to 
was the Cape de Verde Hands, in Hopes, that, amongft 
them, we might either meet with, or at leaft gain fome 
Intelligence of, Captain Clipper ton. We arrived on the 
14th of April in the Road of the Ifle of ,May , where we 
faw a WiecK, and an Englifh Enfign flying near a great 
Smoke on toe Land. As we ftood in tor Information, a 
Boat came oil, and acquainted 11s, that it was the Vanzitern 
Eajl . Indiaman , Captain Hide Commander, who had the 
Misfortune of running affiore about three Weeks before., 
Upon which, I began to think, that this might be a good 
6 
Shelvocke. ipy 
Opportunity of fupplying myfelf with fuch Neceffaries as 
we wanted ; and therefore asked the Mate, If I could 
have any Planks or Nails out of the Wreck ? He told me, 
that the Ships in the Road to Leeward had got every 
thing that could be faved out of her. But, when I camp 
to enter the Road, all the Ships that were there, being 
thirteen in Number, oppofed it, from a Supposition, that 
I was a Free-booter ; but, being convinced, the Commo- 
dore, and the reft of the Mafters, came on board, and 
made their Excufes, promifing I Should have whatever I 
wanted. But, after all, I was able to obtain nothing more 
than two or three Sheathing-boards, and a few Tons of 
Salt. A little before we arrived here, my Gunner, whofe 
Name was Turner Stevens , very gravely propofed to me, 
and the reft of the Officers, cruifmg in the Red Sea : 
For, faicl he, there can be no harm in robbing thofe Ma- 
homedans : The poor Spaniards they are good Chriftians, 
and it would, doubtlefs, be a Sin to injure them. Upon 
which, I immediately ordered him into Confinement, 
After this, he, in a very outrageous Manner, threatened 
to blow up the Ship. Therefore, for thefe, and many other 
Reafons, I difcharged him, at his own Requeft, being very - 
glad to fee every body elfe as well pleafed as myfelf at his 
Departure : I alfo left my chief Mate here, at his own 
Defire, having been guilty of feveral Mifdemeanours ; but 
particularly, the Night after we anchored, he had the Im- 
prudence to quarrel with Mr. Brooks , the firft Lieutenant, 
and to fight with him ; which caufed no fmail Difturbance 
on board •, for which I corrected him, and was very well 
fatisfted to find him fo inclinable to leave us, he having 
been a very troublefome Perfon. On the 1 8th, we weighed 
from the Ifland of May, and arrived the fame Day in the 
Road of Porto Praya, on the Ifland of St. Iago, which is 
the chief of the Cape de V erdes, and had Abundance of fair 
Promifes from the commanding Officer ;*■ which ended, 
however, in nothing more than getting a little Provifions : 
And here I fold our fmail Prize for 150 Dollars to the Go? 
vernor (Captain Betagh affirms, the Purchafe- money was 
but eighty Dollars) ; and finding, after repeated Experi- 
ments, that there was no fort of Dependence to be made 
on this Portuguefe Officer, I refolved to quit this Ifland 
without Delay j the rather, becaufe I had thought of an- 
other Place, where I had Hopes of obtaining whatever was 
neceffary for our Paffage into the South Seas. The Place 
I intended for was the Hand of St. Catharine's , on the. Coaft 
of Brafil, in the Latitude of 20° 39' South ; which, ac- 
cording to the Account given of it by Mr .Frezier, abounds 
with all the Neceffaries of Life, and with fuch Convenient 
cies eipecially as are requifite in long Voyages. On the 
20th, we failed from St. Iago , from whence we had a very 
bad Paffage, being twenty-one Days before we crofted the 
Equinoctial : While we were between the two Trade- 
winds, we had generally little variable Breezes all round 
theCompafs, fornetimes great Squalls of Wind and Rain, 
with Thunder, Lightning, fAc. and, in ffiort, the moft 
uncertain Weather imaginable. We were fifty-five Days 
in going to St. Catharine's, during which, little remarkable 
happened ; except that, on the 4th of June, we made 
Cape Frio, bearing Weft feven Leagues diftant at Noon, 
Latitude, per Obfervation, 23 0 41' .South 5 and, on the 
5th in the Afternoon, we faw a Ship ftemming with us, 
whom we fpoke with. I ordered the ftve-oar’d Boat to be 
hoifted out, and fent Captain Hatley in her, to inquire 
what News on the Coaft ^ and gave him Money to buy 
fome Tobacco ; for the Succefs had got our Stock on board 
of that, as well as other Things, which created a Weft- 
country Famine among us. When Hatley returned, he 
told me, flie was a Portuguefe from Rio Janeiro , and bound 
to Pernambuco - s that he could get no Tobacco j and had 
therefore laid out my Money in unneceffary Trifles, viz . 
China Cups and Plates, a little Hand-neft of Drawers, four 
or five Pieces of China Silks, Sweet-meats, Bananas, Plan- 
tains, and Pompions, &c. I gave him. to underftand, 
that I was not at all pleafed with him for fquandering away 
my Money in fo filly a Manner: He anfwered, “ That he 
“ thought what he did was. for the beft ; that he had laid 
“ out his own Money as well as mine, and, in his Opr- 
“ nion, to a good Advantage •, and that, to his Know- 
“ ledge, the Things he bought, would fell for double thq 
“ Money 
