J 
208 The V OY 
Pears, Cherries, arid other Fruits, for the Conception Mar- 
ket. This Veffel" belonged to a Prieft, who had been ga- 
thering Fruits, arid was now made a Prifoner in her •, for; 
having the Curio fity to advance too near my People,, in 
order to difcover what they were, he arid his Cargo unluck- 
ily fell into their Hands, together with tour or five Indians . 
Immediately after they had taken this, there was another 
fmall Boat, which came in between the Bland of Quiriquine 
and Talgaguana. I perceived by my Glafs, that fhe paffed 
■#ithin lefs than Piflol-fhot of my Pinnace, and yet Captain 
Hatley did not engage her ; for which he made no other 
Excufe when he came aboard, but that he did not mind her, 
tho’ his Boat’s- Crew all agreed, that fhe was full of Men. 
On the 26th about Noon, Mr. Brooks brought down the 
Ship they had taken, and anchored about half a Mile fhort 
of us. The Boatfwain of her had not been aboard of us 
above two Hours, before he gave an Information of a Vef- 
fel laden with Wine, Brandy, and other valuable Things, 
bound to the Ifland of Chiloe , lying at Anchor in the Bay 
of Herradura , about two Leagues to the Northward of us. 
Upon this, I ordered Mr. Randall , fecond Lieutenant, with 
the Boatfwain of the Soli dad , with twenty-five Men, to go 
thither in the Mercury , as we called our Fruit Bark, with 
pofitive Orders not to fet a Foot on Shore, or make any 
hazardous Attempt. But, the next Evening, they returned 
with a difmal Story ; viz-, that they went into the Bay, and 
found the V effel haled dry afhore •, upon which the Officer 
ordered his People to land, and bring away what they could 
out of her, whilft himfelf, and three or four more, kept the 
Bark afloat. When they came up to her; they found her 
empty ; but, at the fame time, feeing a fmall Houfe juft 
by the Veffel, they began to be of Opinion, that the 
Cargo was lodged there : Upon which, the Officer imme- 
diately ordered them up ; fo away went the poor Fellows, 
with nobody at the Head of them, without any Regard to 
Order, every one endeavouring to be foremoft : But their 
Career was foon flopped ; for they had no fooner got upon 
the Bank, than they difcovered the Enemy rufhing furioufiy 
upon them. Some of our Seamen were of Opinion, that they 
might have made a fafe Retreat, if they had not been afto- 
nifhed at the very ftrange Manner in which they were attack- 
ed, by having a Number of Horfes come up without Riders ; 
but, as foon as they heard thofe behind them, my People 
beftirred themfelves* in order to make the belt of their Way 
to the Mercury y by which means, all, except five, efcaped ; 
and thefe five Were taken after they were gotten into Shole- 
water. It was very fortunate for them, that, by fome Ac- 
cident, their Veffel was aground ; for otherwife they muft 
have been all cut off. As it was, the Spaniards thought 
fit to -retire as foon as they were within Mufquet-fhot, and 
our People then found it no difficult matter to get their 
Veffel afloat again. The Water being now very low, they 
were obliged, as they went out, to keep near to a Point 
of Land, from whence the Spaniards , under the Shelter 
of the Wood, galled them ; but, the Wind being fair, 
they foon paffed it, and, lying all clofe in the Bottom of 
the Bark, they had only one Man wounded, who was fhot 
through the Thigh. They told me, they perfectly fawthe 
Manner how the Spaniards came down upon them ; viz . 
that they were preceded by twenty or more Horfes abreaft, 
linked to each other thefe were two deep •, then came the 
Enemy mounted, and lying upon their Horfes Necks, 
driving the others along •, and were not once feen to fit up- 
right in their Saddles, except when there was no Danger, 
or to fire their Mufquets. When they had got near my 
People, they threw out Lines, with Noofes at the End of 
them, to catch them % and, accordingly, James Daniel , 
one of my Foremaft-men, was enfnared, after he had run 
a good Way into the Water, but was dragged out again 
after the Rate of ten Knots an Hour. In fhort, they are 
univerfally dexterous at this-, for I have feen a Spaniard 
bring a Man up by the Foot as he ran along the Deck ; 
and, they fay, they are fure of any thing they fling at, at 
the Diftance of feveral Fathoms. Thefe Misfortunes and 
Difappointments made my Crew extremely uneafy, and 
might have had very bad Confequences, if, when we leaft 
expected it, we had not been agreeably furprifed by the 
Sight of a large Ship, which we faw coming about to the 
Northermoft Point of the Ifland of Ffuiriquine. It being 
I 
AGES of Book I. 
almoft dark, fhe could not perceive what we were, fo that 
they flood in without Fear or Apprehenfion. This fudderi 
Appearance put us into no Hurry ; for wc were always clear, 
and ready for AdlioiT; oUr Launch was immediately 
manned to intercept their going afhore, or going to Sea 
again, and my Cable was ready to flip, if there had been 
a Neceffity for it. As foori as fhe had approached us near 
enough, I hailed her ; to which they returning no Anfwer, 
I fired into her ; which was no fooner done, than I ordered 
the Launch to put off diredlly ; The Enemy, upon this, 
fhortened Sail, but kept faft their Anchor ; and, juft as I 
was going to flip my Cable, the Launch carhe up with her, 
and gave her a Volley of Small-arms, ahd they inftantly 
came-to, and called for Quarter. It was about two o’Clock 
in the Morning before my Boat returned to inform me of 
any News of her, when they brought with them the Spanifo 
Captain, and fome of the chief Paflengers, who acquainted 
me, that their Ship was called the St. Fermin y that fhe 
belonged to, and came laft from Callaco y that fhe wa£ 
about 300 Tons Burden, and had a very fmall Cargo on 
board, which confifted of Sugar, Melaffes, Rice, coarfe 
French Linen, and fome Cloths and Bays of Sfuito, toge- 
ther with a fmall Quantity of Chocolate, and about 5 or 
6000 Dollars in Money and wrought Plate. I fent Mr. 
Hendry , the Owners Agent, on board of her in the Mer- 
cury ^ to infpedt her Lading, and to order every thing he 
could find valuable out of her ; and the Ship’s Company 
fent their Agent likewife : In the Afternoon they returned, 
and brought all the Bales; Boxes, CheftS, Portmanteaus, 
&V. that were in her ; and alfo all the Rice, with a large 
Quantity of Sugar, Melaffes, and Chocolate, and about 
7000 Weight of very good Rusk, with all the other Eat- 
ables and Stores. Don Francifco Larragan , who was the Cap- 
tain, intreated the Liberty to ranfom this Ship ; which I 
willingly confented to, and gave him Leave to go 
in his own Launch to Conception , with a Merchant, who 
was likewife a Prifoner, to raife the Money : In the mean 
time we were bufy’d in fearching our Prize, that nothing 
might be concealed ; and every body was ftridlly looked 
after, by People appointed for that Purpofe, who examined 
the Pockets, &c. of all fuch who at any time came from 
on board the St. Fermin y and our Carpenter was em- 
ployed in making a flight Deck over the Mercury , it being 
probable, that fhe would be of great Ufe in coafting along- 
fhore. On the 30th, a Boat came aboard from the Go- 
vernor, with a Flag of Truce, and an Officer, who ac- 
quainted us, that two of the People taken in the laft Skir- 
mifh were alive, blit much wounded *, he likewife brought 
a Prefen t of feven Jars of very good Wine, and a Letter 
from the Governor Don Gabriel Cano , in which he de- 
manded a Sight of my Commiffion, the fending afhore 
Jofeph de la Fontaine , who had been Servant to Captain 
la Jonquire’s Mate, and fome other Things, that I thought 
unreafonable ; with a Promife, that, in cafe I complied with 
them, he would enter into a Treaty. To cut Matters 
fhort, I refolved to fend Captain Betagh to the Governor, 
in order to treat by Word of Mouth. In the mean time 
I received other Meffages, and other Letters, from the 
Governor-, and, at laft, a formal Treaty was begun, in 
which I demanded 16,000 Dollars for the Ranfom of the 
St. Fermin alone, and they offered 12,000 for both the 
Ships and Bark : And, while Things remained in this Si- 
tuation, the Governor employed all his Skill and Care to 
draw together fuch a Body of Men, as might not only free 
him from any Apprehenfions of our attempting any thing 
afhore, but likewife enable him to make fome Attempt 
upon us ; fo that, finding all his Spanijh Pundlo tended to 
entrap and abufe us, I firft fet Fire to the Solidad y and 
then, having firft given them Time to comply with the Pro- 
pofal I made, I next fet Fire to the St. Fermin , as I had 
threatened to do, having taken care beforehand to be in a 
Condition to quit the Bay of Conception immediately. 
Captain Betagh , in his Remarks, afferts pofitively. Captain 
Hatley chafed the Bark, which Captain Shelvocke fays he 
fuffered to efcape, till he was within the Reach of the Ene- 
mies Guns upon their Platform. He informs us likewife, 
that the Cargo of the St. Fermin was worth about 1500 /. 
and that the five Men out of the Mercury were loft in 
attempting to take an empty Ship, 
On 
