GEORGE SHELVOCKE AND JOHN CLIPPERTON
About seven years after Captain Woodes Rogers returned from his cruise
another privateering expedition to the South Seas was started by some
London merchants; but, as England was not then at war with Spain, it was
to sail under commission from the Emperor Charles VI.--which was quite a
legitimate proceeding.
The owners selected, as commanders of the two ships--named _Success_ and
_Speedwell_--George Shelvocke, who had formerly served in the Navy as
purser, and also probably as a lieutenant, and John Clipperton, who, it
will be remembered, was with William Dampier on his disastrous voyage,
and left his chief, with a number of men, to pursue his own fortunes. It
was deemed politic and complimentary to give the vessels other names,
and accordingly they were re-christened respectively _Prince Eugene_ and
_Staremberg_.
Shelvocke, who was to command the expedition, went over to Ostend in the
_Staremberg_ to receive the commission; but scarcely had it been drawn
up and signed, when war was declared by England against Spain, and the
owners then resolved to send the ships out under a commission from their
own sovereign; and, being greatly dissatisfied with Shelvocke's dilatory
and extravagant conduct while he was in Ostend, they gave Clipperton the
chief command, with Shelvocke under him, in the other ship, the vessels
now reverting to their English names.
Shelvocke, a jealous, passionate, and somewhat unscrupulous man, was
from the first at loggerheads with Clipperton and with several of his
own officers, who all appear to have hated him; he was not, in fact,
fitted for command, and all went wrong from the first. As his second
captain, Shelvocke had Simon Hatley, who was with Rogers, and had some
rough experiences, being captured and kept in prison at Lima for a
considerable time; and as Captain of the Marines one William Betagh, of
whom more anon.
After sailing from Plymouth on February 13th, 1719, the two ships got
into bad weather; all the liquor for both ships had, by some stupid
arrangement, been put on board Shelvocke's vessel, the _Speedwell_, and
Shelvocke says that when they were two days out he hailed Clipperton,
desiring him to send for his share, in order that the _Speedwell_ might
be better trimmed; however, nothing was done in the matter, and on the
night of the 19th they encountered a terrific storm, during which they
separated; but this should have made no difference, as they had agreed
to meet at the Canary Islands.
Shelvocke had, however, apparently determined from the first that he
would not sail under Clipperton--at least, that is the only conclusion
that can be arrived at, from the different accounts--and he took
advantage of this storm to carry out his design. In his account of the
voyage, he tries to make out that Clipperton deserted him; but, seeing
that he himself records the fact that he steered next morning to the
north-west, which certainly was not the course for the Canary Islands,
while Clipperton steered south by east, which was, approximately, there
would appear to be no question about the matter; in fact, Shelvocke
deliberately wasted time, while Clipperton, waiting for him in vain at
various rendezvous, proceeded on his voyage alone, and was in the South
Seas before Shelvocke had got anywhere near Cape Horn.
The owners had stipulated that the expedition should proceed upon the
lines of Rogers, and had provided each captain with a copy of his
journal; but there was no attempt made to carry out these instructions.
We find no regular journal kept, no council meetings, no proper command
over the crew; and, so far from emulating Rogers's scrupulous
observation of the law, which brought him into conflict with his crew,
Shelvocke did not refrain from acts of piracy when it suited him.
His first exploit was overhauling a Portuguese vessel off Cape Frio, in
Brazil; and there is a very marked difference between his account and
that of William Betagh, who published his own experiences some two years
after Shelvocke's book came out. Shelvocke says: "On Friday, June 5th,
in the afternoon, we saw a ship stemming with us, whom we spake with. I
ordered the five-oared boat to be hoisted out and sent Captain Hatley in
her to inquire what news on the coast, and gave him money to buy some
tobacco; for the _Success_ had got our stock on board of that (as well
as other things), which created a West-country famine amongst us. When
Hatley returned he told me she was a Portuguese from Rio Janeiro, and
bound to Pernambuco, that he could get no tobacco, and had therefore
laid out my money in unnecessary trifles, viz. _china cups and plates_,
_a little hand-nest of drawers, four or five pieces of china silk_,
_sweetmeats_, _bananas_, _plantains_, _and pumpkins_, etc. I gave him to
understand that I was not at all pleased with him for squandering away
my money in so silly a manner. He answered that he thought what he did
was for the best, that he had laid out his own money as well as mine,
and in his opinion to a good advantage, and that, to his knowledge, the
things he bought would sell for double the money they cost at the next
port we were going to. However, I assured him I did not like his
proceedings by any means."
Betagh's version of the incident is somewhat otherwise: "On June 5th,
1719, we met a Portuguese merchantman near Cape Frio. Our captain
ordered the Emperor's colours to be hoisted, which, without any
reflection, look the most thief-like of any worn by honest men; those of
his Imperial Majesty are a black spread-eagle in a yellow field, and
those of the pirates a yellow field and black human skeleton; which at a
small distance are not easily distinguished, especially in light gales
of wind. So he brings her to, by firing a musket thwart her forefoot,
sends aboard her the best busker (as he himself called Hatley), with a
boat's crew; each man armed with a cutlass and a case of pistols. The
Portuguese not only imagines his ship made prize, but thinks also how he
shall undergo that piece of discipline used by the merry blades in the
West Indies, called blooding and sweating.... So Don Pedro, to save his
bacon, took care to be very officious or yare-handed (as we say), with
his present. For no sooner was Hatley on his quarter-deck but the
Portuguese seamen began to hand into the boat the fruits and
refreshments they had on board, as plantains, bananas, lemons, oranges,
pomegranates, etc., three or four dozen boxes of marmalade and other
sweetmeats, some Dutch cheeses, and a large quantity of sugars. If they
had stopped here it was well enough, and might pass as a present; but
after this there came above a dozen pieces of silk, several of which
were flowered with gold and silver, worth at least three pounds a yard,
by retail; several dozen of china plates and basins, a small Japan
cabinet, not to mention what the men took.... Among other things, Hatley
brought the last and handsomest present of all, a purse of 300 moidores.
This convinced Shelvocke he was not deceived in calling Hatley the best
busker; that is, an impudent sharp fellow, who, perhaps to reingratiate
himself, did the devil's work, by whose laudable example our boat's crew
robbed the man of more than I can pretend to say; but I remember the
boat was pretty well laden with one trade or another, and none of the
officers dared so much as peep into her till all was out. While these
things were handing into the ship a sham kind of quarrel ensues between
our chieftains."
Betagh's view is corroborated by the fact that, when Shelvocke returned
to England, he was arraigned on a charge of piracy for this very
incident.
Dawdling down the coast, they spent nearly two months at St. Catherine's
Island, Brazil, where there was a great deal of trouble with the crew,
who drew up new articles for the regulation of the distribution of
spoil, which Shelvocke found himself eventually compelled to sign,
having previously, according to his own account, quelled a mutiny with
the assistance of M. de la Jonquiere, the captain of a French-manned
ship which had been employed under Spanish colours--the whole of which
is a most improbable, nay, incredible story, and is ridiculed by Betagh.
On rounding Cape Horn, Shelvocke got very nearly as far south as Rogers
had done, and here there is mention of an incident which has a certain
interest. Says Shelvocke: "We all observed that we had not had the sight
of one fish of any kind, since we were come to the southward of the
Straits of Le Mair, nor one sea-bird, except a disconsolate black
albatross, who accompanied us for several days, hovering about us as if
he had lost himself; till Hatley, observing, in one of his melancholy
fits, that this bird was always hovering near us, imagined, from his
colour, that it might be some ill omen. That which, I suppose, induced
him the more to encourage his superstition, was the continued series of
contrary tempestuous winds which had oppressed us ever since we had got
into this sea. But be that as it would, he, after some fruitless
attempts, at length shot the albatross, not doubting, perhaps, that we
should have a fair wind after it."
Many years afterwards, in 1797, one English poet--Wordsworth--mentioned
to another--Coleridge--that he had been reading Shelvocke's account of
his voyage and related the albatross incident, which Coleridge
introduced into "The Ancient Mariner" in the following year. It does not
appear, however, that the crew of the _Speedwell_ expressed any
indignation at Hatley's act, or proceeded to any such extreme measure as
hanging the dead albatross--which was probably not recovered--round his
neck; and, whatever may have been the superstitious significance
attached to the continual hovering of the solitary bird about the
ship--not at all an unusual incident in that latitude--no change
resulted from its death, the boisterous winds and huge mile-long seas
continuing to buffet the ship without reprieve; and it was six weeks
before they got fairly round the Horn and sighted the coast of Chili.
Shelvocke, still bent, apparently, upon killing time, put into Chiloe
and Concepcion on trivial pretexts, and at the latter place captured one
or two prizes of trifling value; but, a party being sent in a small
prize which they had renamed _Mercury_ to capture a vessel laden with
wine, etc., in a bay about six miles distant, were cleverly ambushed by
the natives. They found the vessel, but she was hauled up on shore, and
empty; seeing a small house near by, they imagined her cargo was stored
there, and, running up to it, helter-skelter, out came the enemy,
mounted, each man lying along his horse and driving before them a double
rank of unbacked horses, linked together. The Englishmen were quite
powerless to resist, so they fled for their ship, which had grounded,
the horsemen pursuing with guns and lassos. James Daniel, one of
Shelvocke's foremast men, was lassoed just as he was wading out, and was
dragged on shore, as he described it, "at the rate of ten knots."
However, he appears to have escaped after all; but five of the party
were overtaken and captured, three being killed and the others severely
wounded. Another ship named _St. Fermin_, which they captured, Shelvocke
eventually burned, after the Spaniards had repeatedly failed to send the
money which had been agreed upon for her ransom.
And so they sailed for Juan Fernandez, "to see," as Shelvocke says, "if
we could find by any marks that the _Success_ was arrived in these
seas," and arrived off the island on January 12th, 1720. Shelvocke,
however, would not go in and anchor at first; he appears to have been
unwilling to seek any evidence of Clipperton's visit, and kept standing
off and on, fishing and filling the water-casks; until one day, "some of
my men accidentally saw the word 'Magee,' which was the name of
Clipperton's surgeon, and 'Captain John,' cut out under it upon a tree,
but no directions left, as was agreed on by him in his instructions to
me."
Betagh says that Brook, the first lieutenant, "being the first officer
that landed, immediately saw 'Captain John----' and 'W. Magee' cut in
the tree-bark; upon the news of which everybody seemed to rejoice but
our worthy captain, who would have it an invention of Brook's, for which
he used him scurvily before all the company, telling him 'twas a lie....
Brook had hitherto been a great favourite with Shelvocke, but for this
unwelcome discovery he is now put upon the black list."
It appears, however, from two different accounts, that the Viceroy at
Lima had obtained from some of Clipperton's men, who became prisoners
through the recapture of a prize, an account of the bottle hidden under
the tree at Juan Fernandez, and of two men who had deserted there, and
had despatched a vessel to bring both the men and the bottle; and
Shelvocke, though he was not aware of this at the time, must have known
it very well when he wrote his book; so his abuse of Clipperton is very
disingenuous.
Even then, he went where he knew that Clipperton was not likely to be,
sailing across to Arica, where he took a couple of small prizes, one of
them "laden with cormorant's dung, which the Spaniards call _guano_, and
is brought from the island of Iquique to cultivate the agi, or
cod-pepper, in the Vale of Arica."
It was not until more than one hundred years later that we began
regularly to ship guano to England as manure; Richard Dana describes a
voyage for that purpose, in "Two Years before the Mast," published in
1840; this was probably one of the earliest ventures, though the
existence of these huge deposits had been known for many years
previously.
Then followed a plan for capturing the town of Payta--a matter which,
Shelvocke says, had been considered in the scheme of the voyage as one
of great importance. He landed there with forty-six men, to find the
town almost deserted; but presently saw great bodies of men on the
surrounding hills, who however, retreated before his forty-six. He
demanded 10,000 pieces of eight as ransom for the town, and a small
prize he had taken; the Spaniards temporised, because they could see
from their look-outs that a Spanish Admiral's ship, carrying fifty guns,
was just round the high bluff, and thought they had a nice rod in pickle
for the English. Shelvocke threatened, failing immediate ransom, to burn
the town; the Spaniards replied that he might do what he liked, as long
as he spared the churches--an absurd stipulation, for fire, once
started, is not discriminating as to sacred edifices--and eventually the
town was set on fire in three places.
No sooner, however, was Payta fairly in a blaze, than Shelvocke became
aware that urgent signals for his return were being made from the
_Speedwell_, whose guns were blazing away towards the harbour mouth.
Ordering his crew on board, the captain preceded them in a canoe with
three men, and, as he opened the point, became speedily aware of the
significance of these doings; for there was a large ship, with the
Spanish flag flying--a very much larger ship than the _Speedwell_.
"At this prospect," he says, "two of my three people were ready to sink,
and had it not been for my boatswain, I should not have been able to
fetch the ship. When I looked back on the town, I could not forbear
wishing that I had not been so hasty."
The Spaniard did not, however, avail himself of his opportunities, being
deterred by the bold tactics of Mr. Coldsea, master of the _Speedwell_,
who, with only a dozen men on board, opened a hot fire.
It is an extraordinary story. The _Speedwell's_ men, delayed by
embarking a gun which had been landed, did not get on board until the
Spanish ship was within less than pistol-shot; then Shelvocke cut his
cable, and, the ship not falling off the right way, "I had but just room
enough to clear him." The men were so dismayed at the appearance of the
enemy's ship that some of them had proposed to jump overboard on the way
off, and swim ashore--one actually did so.
The Spaniard at length attacked in earnest, and, according to
Shelvocke's account, handled his ship cleverly, keeping the _Speedwell_
in a disadvantageous position, and battering her with his broadsides,
Shelvocke making what return he could. Suddenly the Spaniards crowded on
deck, shouting, and it was realised that the _Speedwell's_ colours had
been shot away, giving the appearance of a surrender. Shelvocke
immediately displayed his colours afresh; upon which, "designing to do
our business at once, they clapped their helm well a-starboard, to bring
the whole broadside to point at us; but their fire had little or no
effect, all stood fast with us, and they muzzled themselves [_i.e._ got
the ship stuck head to wind, or "in irons"], by which I had time to get
ahead and to windward of him before he could fill again." And so the
_Speedwell_ got off, their assailant being the _Peregrine_, of 56 guns
and 450 men; and Shelvocke tells us that he had not a single man killed
or wounded!
The _Speedwell_ was hulled repeatedly, and severely damaged aloft--but
no casualties! There are, it must be admitted, too many tales of
immunity in privateer accounts, in spite of the "tremendous fire," or
"shattering broadsides" of the enemy; and, as a skipper cannot well
manufacture casualties while all his crew are alive and well, one can
only suppose that the terrible fire of the enemy is exaggerated.
Mr. Betagh--who had been detached with Hatley in a small prize, the
_Mercury_, which was captured by the _Brilliant_, the _Peregrine's_
consort--gives another version of this fight, from details obtained from
the Spaniards. The ship, he says, mounted only 40 guns, and out of her
crew of 350 men there were not above a dozen Europeans, the remainder
being negroes, Indians, and half-castes, with no training, who were so
terrified by the first discharge from the _Speedwell_ that they ran
below: "The commander and his officers did what they could to bring them
to their duty: they beat them, swore at them, and pricked them in the
buttocks; but all would not do, for the poor devils were resolved to be
frighted. Most of them ran quite down into the hold, while others were
upon their knees praying the saints for deliverance. The _Speedwell_ did
not fire above eight or nine guns, and, as they were found sufficient,
Shelvocke had no reason to waste his powder. However, 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 is the plain truth of the
matter, which everybody was agreed in, for I heard it at several places;
though Shelvocke has cooked up a formal story of a desperate engagement
to deceive those who knew him not into a wondrous opinion of his
conduct."
The reader can take his choice between these two versions; probably the
truth lies somewhere midway, for, while Shelvocke was undoubtedly
addicted at times to "drawing a long bow," Betagh was certainly a very
bitter enemy of his, and all his statements are more or less coloured,
no doubt, by animosity.
The _Speedwell's_ days were numbered; on May 11th, 1720, she arrived
once more at Juan Fernandez, Shelvocke designing to remain there for a
time and refit, giving the Spaniards to believe that he had quitted the
cruising-ground. He had only been there a fortnight, however, when in a
hard onshore gale with a heavy sea, the cable--a new one--parted, and
the vessel drove on shore; the masts went by the board, and though only
one life was lost, the _Speedwell_ was done for--a hopeless wreck.
Clipperton, meanwhile, having given up all hope of rejoining Shelvocke,
had crossed the Atlantic and made his way, with much labour, through the
Straits of Magellan, to the South Seas--it took them two months and a
half to get through, and in September 1719 they visited Juan Fernandez,
Clipperton being resolved to carry out his part of the bargain, and this
being one of their appointed meeting-places. There the name of Magee,
the doctor, was cut on the tree, and the instructions for Shelvocke
buried in a bottle. Clipperton's name, we are told, was not cut in full,
because he was well known out there, had been a prisoner for some time,
and did not wish to advertise his return; but the precaution was futile,
as we have seen.
Clipperton had great trouble with his crew, who declared that there
would be no chance of much booty with a single ship, which might easily
have the odds against her; and they cursed Shelvocke freely for running
away with their liquor.
After leaving Juan Fernandez they took several prizes, one of them being
the _Trinity_, of 400 tons, which had been taken by Woodes Rogers at
Guayaquil, ten years before, and ransomed; one of the captains, however,
being a sharp and intrepid fellow, got the better of Clipperton. His
ship, the _Rosario_, being taken, he saw at once that, from the number
of prizes the English privateer had in company, her crew must be already
very much reduced, so he kept his eye open for an opportunity. He had
about a dozen passengers, whom he took into his confidence, hiding them
in the hold. Clipperton sent a lieutenant and eight men to take
possession, and all the crew they could find were confined in the cabin,
with a sentry at the door. The ship was presently got under sail by the
Englishmen, to join the _Success_, and the prize crew went down to see
what plunder they could discover in the hold; upon which the concealed
passengers fell upon them and secured them, while those in the cabin,
taking the sounds of the scuffle below as their signal, knocked the
sentry on the head and broke out, the boatswain meanwhile flooring the
lieutenant by a blow from behind. The captain then ran the vessel on
shore, and, in spite of a heavy surf, both crews landed safely, the
Englishmen being sent to Lima as prisoners; and it was one of these who
was unsportsmanlike enough to let out about the bottle buried on Juan
Fernandez.
The Viceroy of Peru, we are told, immediately ordered a new ship to be
built for the plucky and resourceful captain of the _Rosario_, and
imposed a tax on all the traders to pay for her.
While watering at the island of Lobos de la Mar, a plot was discovered
among the crew to seize the ship, but was suppressed; later on another
misfortune befell them, for, capturing a good prize, laden with tobacco,
sugar, and cloth off Coquimbo, they discovered, on entering that port,
three Spanish men-of-war, which were on the station for the express
purpose of looking after the English privateers. These, of course,
immediately cut their cables and made sail in chase, the _Success_ and
her prize hauling their wind to escape; the latter, however, was soon
recaptured, with a lieutenant and twelve men of the _Success_, which
contrived to escape.
This was a great blow to the already discontented and half mutinous
crew. To make matters worse, Clipperton began to solace himself with
liquor, and was frequently more or less drunk. Provisions began to run
short, so that they were glad to land all their Spanish prisoners.
At the island of Cocoas--one of the Galapagos Islands--they built a
place for their sick and rested a little; when they prepared to sail, on
January 21st, 1721, eleven of the crew--three whites and eight
negroes--hid themselves and deserted, preferring to live as they could
on a fertile island to braving the privations and disappointments of the
sea again.
On January 25th, having arrived at the island of Quibo, off the coast of
Mexico, a great surprise was in store. The pinnace being sent in chase
of a sail, came up with her about eleven o'clock at night, and found her
to be a Spanish vessel, the _Jesu Maria_; but not in Spanish hands, for
she was manned by Shelvocke and what remained of the _Speedwell's_ crew.
They had contrived to build some crazy sort of craft out of the wreck of
their ship at Juan Fernandez, and had eventually taken this vessel, a
very good and sound one, of two hundred tons.
Thus they met, after two years; and it was not a pleasant nor cordial
meeting. Clipperton called Shelvocke to account for the plunder which he
had taken, and the portion set aside for the owners; but no account was
forthcoming, of course, for Shelvocke and his crew were by that time on
a sort of piratical footing, with no attempt at discipline or regularity
of proceedings. They met several times, and Clipperton supplied the
other with some articles; eventually, Clipperton sent a sort of
ultimatum to Shelvocke, that if he and his crew would refund all the
money shared among themselves, contrary to the original articles with
the owners, and put it into a common stock, the past should be forgiven,
and they would cruise together for the rich ship from Acapulco. This
proposal was not, of course, entertained by Shelvocke and his men; and
so they parted.
Clipperton eventually sailed for China, and, after many difficulties,
came home to Ireland in a Dutch East Indiaman. He did not long survive
his return; his ill-success, and probably his intemperate habits, broke
down his health, and he died a few weeks later.
Shelvocke, meanwhile, had captured, at Sansonate, a vessel named the
_Santa Familia_; and, finding her a better ship than the _Jesu Maria_,
he exchanged.
When he was on the point of sailing, however, he received a letter from
the Governor notifying the conclusion of peace between Spain and
England, and demanding the return of the ship. He demanded a copy of the
articles of peace, which the Governor promised to obtain for him; but
there was evidently a strong conviction on shore that Shelvocke was not
ingenuous in the matter. A lieutenant and five men whom he sent on shore
were seized, and eventually he sailed with his capture, leaving behind a
protest, signed by all the crew.
They were, however, getting very sick of the cruise, and contemplated
surrendering themselves at Panama; but meanwhile they took another
vessel, the _Conception_--the doubt which existed as to the
establishment of peace not troubling them very much--and eventually,
abandoning the idea of surrender, they sailed for China.
Shelvocke had some queer and suspicious dealings with the Chinese
authorities at Whampoa, disposing of his ship for L700, after having,
as he alleges, paid more than L2,000 for port dues. Betagh says he
cleared some L7,000 out of the cruise, and he gives figures which go far
towards proving his assertion; the owners did not make much out of the
venture, though Clipperton endeavoured to act honestly towards them; and
when Shelvocke, returning in an East Indiaman, presented himself before
them, he was immediately arrested--Betagh says on the strength of a
letter which he had written while a prisoner at Lima--and put in prison.
He was charged with two acts of piracy--to wit, the affair off Cape
Frio, and the capture of the _Santa Familia_; but there was not adequate
legal proof against him. On the further charge of defrauding his owners
he was detained, but contrived to escape, and left England.
This was in 1722. Four years later he published his book, "A Voyage
Round the World," which was followed in two years by that of his late
officer, William Betagh.
Making every allowance for Betagh's animosity, it is impossible to
believe that Shelvocke was a favourable specimen of a privateer
commander; his own admissions are in several instances against him, and
there can be little doubt that he and his crew degenerated into
unscrupulous pirates. Clipperton, though very rough and eventually a
drunkard, was a better type of man; and, had Shelvocke been loyal, and
stuck to him from the first, the story of the cruise might have been a
very different one.
SOME ODD YARNS