e V O Y AGES o] 
Book I. 
Compares,- alhet carried it Overboard \ at the fame time 
they were obliged to employ all Hands in pumping the 
Ship : The 13th the Weather proved very bad, and about 
eight in the Evening the Gloucefter bare down Upon the 
Commodore, firing two Guns, and hoifting a Signal of 
Diftrefs : They defired the Commodore would fend his 
Boat on board, with a fufficient Number of Hands to affift 
them in pumping, there being now feventeen Feet Water 
in the Hold •, but the Commodore could not comply with 
their Requeft, becaufe it was as much as his Crew could 
do, to keep their own Ship free. The next Day he fent 
his Cutter, with a Carpenter, to affift the Gloucefter •, and, 
in the Evening, fent his Boat, to fetch away her Sick. 
20.. On Sunday Auguft 15. about eight in the Morning, 
Captain Mitchell fent his Lieutenant on board, with the 
following Paper, addreffed to the Commodore, and figned 
by himfelf, and all the Officers on board of his Ship : 4 We 
4 the Captain -and Officers of his Majefty’s Ship the Glou- 
4 cefter , having held a Confultation on Auguft 15. 1742, 
4 concerning the Condition of the faicl Ship, we think it 
4 impoffible to fave her from finking, and his Majefty 5 s 
e Subjedts belonging thereto from periffiing, for the folio w- 
4 ing Reafons : She having fprung a Leak, and gaining on 
6 us, tho’ we have been conftantly pumping her \ her Stern- 
4 poll; likewife being very loofe, and working at every Reel 
4 of the Ship ; ffie having alfo two Beams broken a-midffiip; 
4 all which the Carpenters report to be irrepairable here ; 
6 and ffie having no Mails left, except the Fore-maft, Mi- 
* zen, and Mizen-top-maft, or any fpare Mails left fit to 
5 put up •, her Knees and Clamps are all worked quite loofe, 
6 fo that her Quarter-deck is ready to drop down * and ffie 
4 having but feventy Men, eighteen Boys, and two Prifon- 
4 ers, left, including Officers, out of which Number only 
6 fixteen Men and eleven Boys are able to keep the Deck, 
€ and they are very infirm ; all the reft, being fifty-fix, and 
5 feven Boys, (including Carpenters) are incapable of Duty, 
6 being greatly afflidted, and very lame, with the Scurvy ; 
c For thefe twenty-four Hours, Officers, Men, and Boys, 
« without Diftindlion, have worked at the Pumps incef- 
4 fantly •, and are fo fatigued, that they can Hand no longer ; 
6 and they having Hill feven Feet Water in the Hold, the 
‘ fait Water being yet over the Calks, fo that they cannot 
6 get at the freffi Water to drink : We therefore beg you 
6 would confider our melancholy Situation, and appoint us 
5 fuch fp eedy Relief, as our prefent unhappy Circumftances 
€ require. 5 
The Commodore took all imaginable Care to be perfectly 
informed of the Fads mentioned in this Reprefentation by 
his own Carpenters •, and, on the 16th, employed all the 
Boats in faving what Stores could be got out of the Glou- 
cefter ; which took up the belt Part of the Day. About fix 
in the Afternoon, ■ Captain Mitchell , having received the 
Commodore’s Order for that Purpofe, fent all his People on 
board the Centurion , remaining himfelf in the Gloucefter , 
with a Boat’s Crew only, preparing every thing neceffary 
for deftroying her-, and, at eight, purfuant to the Com- 
modore’s Diredlion, he fet her on fire, and, about fix the 
next Morning, ffie blew up. They were then in the Lati- 
tude of 1 4 0 15' North, Acapulco being now diftant 2168 
Leagues. 
21. On the 17th, they difcovered in the Centurion a Leak 
In the Fore-hold, on each Side of the Stem. They were, 
at this time, in very great Diftrefs, their Rigging much 
worn, their Ship leaky, their Water fo exhaufted, as to be 
reduced to half a Pint a Day, and their Crew fo fickly, that 
they had thrown overboard ten Men in two Days-, but, 
in this Diftrefs, the Commodore fupported their Spirits, by 
continually encouraging them by his Pradice, as well as Dif- 
courfes, taking a full Share of their Hardfhips, and giving, 
at this 1 time, a Pipe of Madeira Wine out of his own Stores, 
that their Water might go the further. The Weather 
continued tolerable fair for the next ten Days j but the Crew 
were as fickly as ever. 
On the 2 1 ft, died Mr. Edmund Wellbank , Surgeon of 
the Gloucefter 4 and ten Men more in four Days. On the 
23d, they loft five Men more j and, about eight in the' 
Evening of the fame Day, faw, to their great Joy, two 
Elands 5 one bearing Weft half South, the other South- 
Weft by Wffift, diftant about ten Leagues. On the 24th ? 
nine of their People, and ah Indian , died 1 and the neareft 
of the Iflands bore then Weft by North, diftant about a 
League. The Commodore difpatched a Lieutenant in the 
Cutter, to difcover the Shore. He returned in the Even- 
ing, and brought fixty Cocoa-nuts ; but could not find any 
Anchoring-place, or freffi Water. There died on the 25th 
fix Men. The next Day in the Afternoon, they faw three 
Hands ; one bearing North-eaft by North, another due 
Eaft, the laft Eaft by South, at the Diftance of about five 
Leagues. On the 27th at Noon, they faw another Hand 
South-eaft, diftant about nine Leagues. In thefe two 
Days, they loft thirteen of their Crew. 
22. On the 28th, they made the Ifland of Elman , which 
is one of the Ladrones , or, as the Spaniards call them, 
Marian Hands, which lies in the Latitude of 14 0 58' North, 
and 223 0 Longitude Weft from London. At three in 
the Afternoon, the Commodore fent his third Lieutenant on 
ffiore in the Cutter. This Hand is uninhabited, and for 
that Reafon the Commodore made Choice of it to anchor 
at, and refreffi his People ; but it happened, at the Time of 
their Arrival, the Governor of Guam had fent a Bark thither 
with twenty-four Men, to kill Cattle, and to bring off 
Fruits, for the Ufe of his Garifon. Thefe People, feeing 
a Ship, immediately fent an Indian Proe, or, as the Spa* 
niards write it, Parao , a kind of Veffel we have often men- 
tioned before, on a Suppofition, that it muft needs be the 
Acapulco Ship. This was about fix the next Morning % 
and, as foon as they difcovered their Miftake, they ufed 
their utmoft Endeavour to return to the Hand : But, it 
being calm, the Commodore fent the Pinnace to tow her 
on board ; which ffie did, and afterwards made herfelf Ma- 
iler of the Bark ; which proved an acceptable Prize, being 
laden with Cattle, Hogs, Fowls, Cocoa-nuts, Oranges, and 
Limes. 
The firft thing that was done, after the Ship was anchored 
in twenty-two Fathom Water, was to fend affiore Tents, 
or rather Materials for making them, for the Ufe of the 
Sick, who were next carried on ffiore, wrapped up in their 
Hammocks, to the Number of 224, of whom eight died 
within a few Hours after they were landed. On the 31ft, 
they moored the Ship with a Cable each Way, in Tinian 
Road ; which afforded them Leifure to look about them, 
and to provide all Things neceffary for their Refreffiment. It 
will be neceffary here to give fome Account of thefe Ladrone 
Hands j the rather, becaufe, though we find them often 
mentioned in the foregoing Voyages, as indeed they mull 
be in all Voyages round the World, which have been feldom 
performed without vifiting them, yet are they fo fituated, 
on the Edge, as it were, of Afia , that hitherto neither 
general nor particular Geographers have given us any ac- 
curate or diftindt Account of them ; which, to fay the 
Truth, is no eafy Matter to do, fince it requires a great 
Application to Maps and Charts, and to the Relations pub- 
liffied by all who have failed through thefe Seas for two 
Centuries paft. 
Thefe Hands were firft difcovered by the famous Fer- 
dinand Magellan, as we have already related in its proper 
Place ; and he, from the thieviffi Behaviour of the Inha- 
bitants, bellowed on them the Name of IJlas de los La- 
drones , i. e. The IJlands of Thieves. He likewife called 
them IJlas de las Velas , or, The IJlands of Sails , alluding 
to their Proes, which were a kind of Veffels he had never 
feen among other Indians , and their manner of failing had 
furprifed him. When the Spaniards came afterwards to 
fettle the Hand of Guam, for the Conveniency of their 
Navigation between America and the Philippines , they gave 
a new Name to thofe Hands, viz. IJlas de Maria Anna , in 
Honour of Mary- Anne of Auftria , then Queen of Spain ; 
from whence our modem Writers have derived the corrupt 
Name of the Marian IJlands. Thefe Hands make aPart of 
thofe that are ftiled the Archipelago of St. Lazarus , becaufe 
they were difcovered on the Feaft of St. Lazarus. They 
are, ftridtly fpeaking, fituated between the io° 00' of 
North Latitude,, and the Tropic of Cancer ; and, accord- 
ing to the bell Maps, are laid down thus ; 1. Bam , in the 
Latitude of io° 00' North: 2. Batto, io° 40' : 3. St. 
lago , ii° 15'*, between this Hand, and that of Guam, lie 
the Sholes of St. Rofe, which Captain D ampler paffed, 
when he failed with Captain Swan in the Latitude of 12®' 
so' s 
