I 
Chap. I. Captain Georg 
him for their Prefervation at Juan Fernandez ; though, if 
fome of them may be believed upon their Oaths, they 
might, with full as much Reafon, have thanked him for 
their Shipwreck ; and, after all, it was thefe very People 
that made him a Prefent of an Ifland in his Paffage home, 
and obftinately perfifted in calling it by the Name of a 
Captain they neither loved nor feared. Is not this very 
ftrange, and does it not prove, that thefe Accounts are 
very inconfiftent, and, confequently, deferve no great 
Credit ? This, I fay, is Captain Betagh ' s way of Reafon- 
ing •, of the Juftice of which, the Reader will decide as he 
fees Caufe. 
The fecond Head of the Accufation is, as to the Money 
taken in the Conception , and funk in the unaccountable Ar- 
ticle of an & cetera. This was not only a Fraud upon 
the Owners, but a Fraud, that, after all his Quarrels with 
them, he durfl trull to his whole Ship’s Company, which 
feems to fpeak a greater Confidence in them, than might 
be expefted from the Character given them in the Captain’s 
Book. If he really thought the Lofs of his Ship put an 
End to the Claim of his Proprietors, why did he conceal the 
taking of this large Sum of Money, fince, if he believed 
his own Notion rightly founded, the owning it could do 
him no hurt ? On the other hand, when he had concealed 
it, what Hopes could he have of its remaining a Secret, 
unlefs, notwithftanding all he has faid of his Crew, he was 
fatisfied they would not make any Difcovery of this im- 
portant Point? The palling over of which gives a great 
Jealoufy, that other Matters are not very fairly Hated. To 
which may be added, the palpable Mifreprefentations of 
the unfortunate Captain Clipper ton, and the fuppreffmg the 
true Caufe of his leaving them ; viz. becaufe Captain 
She ho eke, and his Company, would not comply with their 
original Articles, and, confequently, were no longer to be 
confidered as Men acting on the fame Bottom with thofe 
in the Succefs , who had made thefe Articles the conftant 
Rule of their Conduct. 
The laft, and by much the world, Head of this Accu- 
fation is, that of facrificing his People, that he might 
manage his own Defigns more eafily, gain greater Sums 
on the lharing of Prizes, and keep the Secrets of his Ad- 
miniftration in fewer Hands. There is fomething fo bar- 
barous in this Suppofition, that one would be tempted to 
think it incredible, if one had not Captain Shelvocke' & Au- 
thority to the contrary, who, by blaming Captain Clip- 
perton for this very Behaviour, admits, that there are fome 
Englijh Captains capable of fuch things. A Circumftance 
fhocking to every honeft Mind. Captain Betagh , in order 
to fupport this heavy Charge, produces the following Ac- 
count of what became of the People who were originally 
put on board the Speedwel , under the Command of Cap- 
tain Shelvocke , being in all 106 Men. Out of thefe, lays 
Mr. Betagh , there were turned afhore, at St. Iago and St. 
Catherine's , before we got into the South Seas, eight, 
Andrew Pedder , chief Mate ; Henry Chapman , third Mate ; 
Charles Turner, Gunner ; Henry Hudfon, Boatfwain •, Wil- 
liam Parfons, and William Coon, Boatfwain’s Mates ; 
George Hints , and Charles Perry , Seamen. Commanded 
afhore near Conception, in Chili , where they were murdered, 
three, John Eady , Midlhipman ; John Haley, and George 
Ahoigne , Marines. Sent a cruifmg, to be taken Prifoners, 
fifteen, Simon Hatley , fecond Captain of the Speedwel ; 
William Betagh, Captain of Marines ; Gilbert Hamilton , 
Enlign ; John Sprake , fecond Mate ; Nicolas Laming , 
Boatfwain ; Chriftopher Prejfick, Surgeon’s firfl Mate ; Ro- 
bert Cobbs, Sergeant of Marines ; Matthew Appleton, 
Martin Hayden, Richard Bond, Richard Gloyns, John Pan- 
ther, Seamen •, John Wilfon, John Nicholfon, and Thomas 
Barnet, Marines. Ordered on a Cruize, in a Bark, with 
one Week s Provifion, and obliged then to furrender on 
the Coaft, eleven, James Hopkins, third Mate ; Robert 
Rawlins, Midlhipman ; William Hobfon, Thomas Wilkin- 
fon, Edward OJling , John Bone, Charles Weatherly, Wil- 
liam Hitching, Richard Crofs, John Guather, and John 
Gundy, Seamen. Left on Fernandez , eleven, befides thir- 
teen Indians, John Wijdom, Jofeph Monro , William Blew, 
John Riddleclay, Edmund Hyves, Haniel Harvey, William 
Giddy, John Robinfon , Thomas Hawkes, James Row , and 
Jacob Bowden, Seamen. Left in a Prize, and murdered. 
e Shelvocke. tjy 
four, John Giles, Serjeant of Marines; John Emlin , Sea- 
man ; John Williams, Marine ; George Chappie, a Lad. 
Sent alhore, into the Hands of the Enemy, without a 
Hoftage, and never fince heard of, fix, Edward Brook , 
firft Lieutenant ; William T amty, Midlhipman ; Frederic 
Makenzie, Robert Bowman, Richard Philips , and John 
Poulton, Seamen. Begged their Paffage with Clipper ton, 
to be freed from Shelvocke' s Tyranny, three, James Hen- 
drie, Agent for the Owners; Thomas Hodd, Lieutenant 
of Marines ; and William Morphew , Midlhipman. Died 
four, Richard Arfcott, in the Speedwel ; and Edmund Phi- 
lips, in Shelvocke' s Bark ; William Cambell , drowned, 
going round Cape Horn ; and Richard Hannah, drowned, 
going to the Wreck from Fernandez Ifland. Deferted at 
St. Catharine' s, three, Abraham Hut our, Antony Wood, and 
William Leveret. Staid on board the Ruby, at St. Ca- 
tharine's, two, William Mariner , Sallmaker ; and Lau- 
rence Lancette , of the Carpenter’s Crew. Loll alhore at 
Payta , Richard Bavin. Deferted at Chiloe, Robert Morris. 
In all feventy-three. Staid with Shelvocke , and divided 
all, thirty-three ; which, taken together, makes the Total 
of the Ship’s Company one hundred and fix. 
It is certain, that all thefe Inftances are far enough from 
being pofitive Evidences of the Charge before-mentioned ; 
but it muff be at the fame time allowed, that they are abun- 
dant Inftances of Careleffnefs and Indifcretion : For, after 
an Officer had once met with fuch a Misfortune as lofing a 
Part of his Crew, either by fending them on Ihore, or ex- 
pofing them in Prizes, it ought to have rendered him ex- 
ceffively cautious for the future ; more efpecially when 
Captain Betagh had told him, in the Face of his Men, that 
the true Defign of putting him on board the Mercury was 
to get rid of him. Upon the Whole, the Affair had fo 
indifferent an Afpedt, and the Proprietors thought them- 
felves fo much injured by the Lofs of all the Expences 
they had been at in fitting out thefe Ships, that they took 
every Method poffible to embarafs and diftrefs Captain Shel- 
vocke on his Return. He was, at the fame time, attacked 
by the Spanijh Minifter, who prefented to the late King 
George I. at Hanover, a Memorial, complaining of his at- 
tacking and taking a Spanijh Ship worth 1 00,000 Pieces of 
Eight, in Breach of the Treaties between the two Crowns. 
But, after all, there does not feem to have been any juft 
Foundation for this Complaint, the Spaniards themfelves 
having been the Aggreffors ; and there is no Law fo cruel as 
to oblige a Man to fuffer his Crew to be killed, and his Ship 
beaten to Pieces, rather than difpute the Power of thole* 
who are inclined to fo barbarous an Adtion. The then Ad- 
miniftration feem to have been fenfible of this ; for we do 
not find, that they diredled any Profecution againft the 
Captain for this Conduct, as at that time they certainly 
would have done, if they had conceived him punifhable by 
Law. As to the Difputes between him and his Owners, I 
know not how they ended ; but, very probably, in a Way 
little fatisfadlory to either, fince fuch Profecutions as they 
carried on mult have given Mr. Shelvocke a great deal of 
Trouble, at the fame time that they could not in the lealt 
contribute to the repairing of their Lofs. The worft of it 
was, that the Iffue of this Voyage gave the Public a bad 
Idea of all Expeditions to the South Sea, and induced many 
to fuppofe, that whatever Offers were made of that kind 
on the Difputes that happened afterwards between us and 
Spain , were calculated purely for the private Advantage of 
the Perfons by whom they were propounded : And I doubt, 
that fome what of this fort ftill prevails ; for other wife, 
furely fomething had been undertaken before this time by 
Privateers in the South Seas. 
It cannot be denied, that this was, almoft in every refpedt, 
an ill-condudled, as well as an unfuccefsful Expedition ; 
and yet, if we examine Things clofely, we fhall fee, that 
there is no Reafon to be difeouraged by the Unluckinefs of 
this Attempt. There is a Light, in which this Voyage may 
be viewed, that will afford quite another kind of ProipedL 
It is a Fadl not to be controverted, that the Speedwel made 
her Voyage round Cape Horn into the South Seas, and took 
afterwards abundance of Prizes on the Coafts of Chili, Peru , 
and Mexico, without the leaft Affiftance from her Confort. 
This then furnilhes us with the following Obfervations, that 
it is poffible for a Ship of 200 Tons, with iqq ftout Men 
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