The V OYA.GES of 
obftinate Refiftance *, particularly the Carpenter, and his 
Crew, were bufied in making Ports for Stern chafe Guns, 
which (as it happened) we made no Ufe of. Yet we were 
not altogether unhurt •, the Lofs of my Boat and Anchor 
was irreparable, and may be faid to be the Caufe of that 
Scene of Trouble, which followed ; for we had now but one 
Anchor, that at Payta being the third we had loft-, and were 
intirely deftitute of a Boat of any kind. I have been fince 
informed, that we placed fome Shots very well, and that 
we killed and wounded feveral of the Enemy. 
It is a very different Account that Captain Betagh gives of 
this Matter, of which, however, he tells us, he was extremely 
well informed becaufe, in the Hrft Place, he had the Story 
frefh at Payta, within a Day or two after the Thing hap- 
pened, and was afterwards on board the Peregrine at Lima , 
by which means he was an Eye-witnefs of the Force of the 
Ship. Inftead of fifty-fix Guns, he infills, fhe carried but 
forty ; and, inftead of 450 Men, he is clear, that 350 were 
the moil that ever were on board, and thefe fuch a mixt 
Crew of ignorant Wretches, that twenty expert Seamen, in 
his Opinion, had been more than a Match for them. As 
for the Commander, continued he, whom Captain Shelvocke 
calls an Admiral, he was a Creolian , a mere frelh-water 
Man, who never faw any Action before : And, as for the 
People aboard him, they were compofed of Negroes, Me- 
jlizos , and Indians ; befides which, there were not above a 
dozen white Faces in all : For this Ship was defigned to 
carry the late. Viceroy Prince Santo Bueno , his Family, and 
Retinue, to Acapulco bur, in the mean time, being ordered 
a fhort Cruize on the Coaft, lhe failed fo heavy, that the 
Spaniards never expected ftie would be of any Ufe againft 
the Englijh Privateers, and, for that Realon, put all their 
able-bodied Men aboard the other three Cruifers tfye Zele- 
rin , Brilliant , and -San Francifco , which were light Ships, 
and u:ood Sailors. The Peregrine was fo unable and unwill- 
ing too, that, if file had not found the Speedwel in Harbour, 
Ihe would never have followed her to Sea for it was re- 
lated at Payta , the firftFire from the Speedwel terrified the 
Enemy fo very much, that they could not tell whether they 
were dead or alive. They all immediately ran from their 
Quarters, and the very Steerftnan, who had the Helm, 
quitted it ; fo that the Ship, which was then clofe-haled 
{landing in, came with her Head-fails in the Wind, and 
muzzled herfdf ; that is, fhe lay bobbing up and down, with 
her Sails flapping againft the Mail ♦, nor could it be other- 
wife, where there were only a few good Officers among a 
mere Mob of black People, feared out of their Wits. The 
Commander, and his Officers* did all they could to bring 
them to their Duty: They beat them, fwore at them, and 
pricked them in the Buttocks : But all would not do ; for 
the poor Devils were refolved to be frightened. Molt of 
them ran quite down into the Hold, while others were upon 
their Knees, praying the Saints for Deliverance. The Speed- 
wel did not fire above eight or nine Guns, and, as thefe 
-were found fufficient, Captain Shelvocke had no Occafion 
to wafte his Powder. But it is plain the Peregrine might 
eafily have run him aboard, if there had been but a few 
good Seamen to Hand by the Bowlins and Braces. How- 
ever, this Panic of theirs gave Shelvocke a fair Opportunity 
to get his Men aboard, cut his Cable, and go away right 
afore the Wind. This, he allures us, was the Truth of 
the Matter. But to return to the Captain, and his Rela- 
tion : 
15. In the Evening, I, with much-ado, flipped away 
from the Brilliant , the Admiral’s Confort, on board of 
which was Betagh , who defired he might have the Honour 
to board me firft ; and this Efcape I made with Difficulty 
enough, and found myfelf, when at Liberty, in a very un- 
comfortable Condition •, for we had not the leaft Hopes 
now, or at leaft any Certainty, of meeting with the Succefs ; 
fo that we had little Good to expedt from Friends. As to our 
Enemies again, I was informed at Payta , that they had laid 
an Embargo of five or fix Months fo that we had nothing 
to expedt on that Side. A third Misfortune was, that I 
faw our Prize, which I intended for a Firefhip, taken by 
the Brilliant \ and therefore had all the Reafon in the World 
to expedt, they had perfedt Information of all our Defigns. 
Add to thefe Mifchiefs, that I had but one Anchor, and 
so Boat at all , and it will not be wondered, that I gave up 
all Views on the Town of Guiaquil , where I propofed to 
have made an Attempt, having certain Intelligence, that 
feveral Ships of confiderable Value lay in that River, by 
dint of the Embargo, which, if I had been better provided, 
would, in this Cafe, have done me a Service. In this Si- 
tuation, I called my Officers together, to let them know, 
that it was my Sentiment, that we had much better go to 
Windward, fince, in fpite of all their Embargoes, the Spa- 
niards milft carry on their Trade with Chili \ after which, I 
propofed watering at Juan Fernandez , and then cruifing out 
the whole Seafon on the Conception , Valparaifo , and Coquimbo 
Traders, amongft whom we fhould be flocked with An- 
chors, Cables, Boats, and aVeffel to make a Firefhip of j 
on which I mightily depended, fince I could fee but little 
Probability of joining the Succefs. I alfo propofed, before 
I left the Coaft of Chili, to make the Town of la Serena or 
Coquimbo. This being univerfally approved of, we got our 
l acks aboard, and ftretched to Windward. My Intention, 
al ter this, was for the Coaft of Mexico , there to run to the 
Height of the Pres Marias and California , as the moft 
likely Place to meet the Succefs both of which Places 
would have been commodious, the firft for faking Turtles, 
and the laftfor Wooding and Watering. There I fhould 
alfo be ready in the Seafon to lie in the Track of the Manilla. 
Ship which if I fhould have the Fortune to meet, (having 
a Firefhip) I would have tried what I could have done with 
her ; but, if I could not have prevailed, I muft have con- 
tented myfelf with cruifing on the Peruvian Ships, which 
bring Silver to Acapulco , to purchafe the Indian and Chi- 
nefe Commodities, which the Manilla Ships bring thither. 
On the 26th, we fecured our Mails, and bent a new Suit of 
Sails, and flood to the Southward, expediting to gain our 
Paffage in about five Weeks. The Day after, the Carpen- 
ter began to build a Boat to water the Ship. On the 31ft, 
as we were pumping the Ship, the Water came out of the 
Well, not only in a greater Quantity than ufual, but alfo 
as black as Ink ; which made me judge, that fome Water 
came at our Powder; and accordingly, going into the 
Powder-room, I heard the Water come in like a little Sluice, 
which had quite fpoiled the greateft Part of our Powder ; 
fo that we only faved the Quantity of fix Barrels, which I 
ordered to be flowed away in the Bread-room. It pleafed 
God, that we had fair Weather ; otherwife it would have 
been an hard Matter for us to have kept ourfelves above- 
water. We found the Leak to be on the Larboard-fide, 
under the lower Cheek of the Head, occafioned by a Shot, 
which had lodged there which, falling out, left Room for 
a Stream of Water. We brought the Ship by the Stern, 
and, with great Difficulty, flopped it fecurely. At this 
time, we had a large Stock of Provifions, and every one 
lived as well as he could have wifhed, each Man having a 
Quart of Chocolate, and three Ounces of very good Rufk, 
for Breakfaft every Morning, and frefh Meat or frefh Fifli 
every Day, of which we had fuch a Plenty about the Ship, 
that we could almoft always take our Choice of Dolphin or 
Albicore. On May 6 . we made the Weftermoft of the 
Ifiands of Juan Fernandez , the Body of it being North-eaft 
by North, diftant twelve Leagues ; and, the Day after, the 
Carpenters completed the Boat, which would carry three 
Hogfheads. On the 1 ith, we faw the great Iiland of 
Juan Fernandez , bearing Eaft half South, by Obfervation 
the Body of it lying in the Latitude of 33 0 25' South : A 
joyful Sight at that time, tho’ fo unfortunate to us after- 
wards. In Captain Betagh ’ s Account, the going to Juan 
Fernandez is reprefented as a direct Defign to lofe the Ship, 
and fo cruife for the future in a Bottom, to which, in their 
Judgment, the Owners had no Title. I muft, for my 
own Part, acknowledge, that I cannot underftand this, be- 
caufe, in a Bark built out of the Remains of the Speedwel , 
they were as much in an Owners Bottom, as in the Ship 
herfelf ; and, if they could imagine this would be obviated 
by taking and cruifing in another Ship, then he might as 
well have quitted the Speedwel , under Pretence of the Leak, 
and gone to Sea in a Prize, without the hazardous Experi- 
ment of the Shipwreck. Captain Betagh mentions the Su- 
ipicions of the Seamen, as direct Evidence of the Fade ; 
that they looked for it, and expected it would fail out, juft 
as it really did. It is alfo fuggefted by Captain Betagh 
that abundance of Things of Value were brought on fhore, 
o without 
