day waited upon by the principal inhabitants with presents and thanks;
and soon after, a message came from the Viceroy appointing the 30th of
November for the day of audience. Being highly pleased with this last
intimation, he instantly gave orders for the necessary preparations; and
engaged Mr. Flint, a gentleman belonging to the English factory, for his
interpreter, who, being trained up from his infancy among the Chinese,
spoke their language fluently, and who was not afraid to declare with
boldness what the Admiral delivered him in charge, a part which the
Chinese interpreters would not have dared to have performed with equal
fidelity.
On the day appointed, at 10 o’clock, the Commodore and his retinue set
out; and, as he entered the outer gate of the city, he was met by a
guard of 200 soldiers, who conducted him to the great parade before the
Emperor’s palace, in which the Viceroy then resided, where a body of
troops to the number of 10,000 were drawn up under arms, who made a fine
appearance, being all new cloathed for this ceremony. Through the middle
of this body the Commodore with his retinue marched to the hall of
audience, where he found the Viceroy seated under a rich canopy in the
Emperor’s chair of state, with all his council of Mandarines attending.
He was seated the third in order from the Viceroy, the chiefs of the law
and treasury being the only persons seated above him. He then,
addressing himself to the Viceroy by his interpreter, complained to him
of the delays he had met with, the insincerity of those he had employed,
the vexatious impositions of the officers of the customs, the grievances
of the British subjects, and, finally, the loss sustained by the
Haslingfield Indiaman, who had arrived there dismasted but a few days
before the fire happened, by which the crew had been great sufferers,
and the Captain in particular, who had lost a chest of treasure value
4500 tahel. To the latter article the Commodore received for answer,
that, in, settling the Emperor’s customs with that ship, the Captain
should be considered. To the other complaints, the Commodore received no
answer at all. And having now gone through the several articles he had
in charge from the company, he entered next upon his own affairs, and
particularly concerning the licence to ship off his provisions and
stores, which, he said, were all ready, and the season for sailing was
now set in. The Viceroy replied to this, that the licence should be
immediately issued, and that every thing should be ordered on board the
following day. The business being now at an end, the Viceroy continued
the conversation for some time on matters of indifference and curiosity;
and, after observing that the Centurion had been long on their coast, he
concluded with acknowledgments for the services the Commodore had
rendered the Chinese nation by the activity of his people at the late
fire, and with wishing him a prosperous voyage to Great Britain. Thus
happily concluded this long-expected audience; and, in pursuance of the
Viceroy’s promises, the provisions were begun to be shipped the very
next day: and now all the preparations for putting to sea were pursued
with so much expedition, that by the 9th the Centurion and her prize
were ready to unmoor, and on the 10th passed through the Bocca Tygris
into the open road, and on the 12th anchored before the town of Mocao.
While they lay here, the Portuguese merchants entered into treaty with
the Commodore for the purchase of the prize, for which they would give
no more than 6000 dollars, though worth double that sum; but the
impatience of the Commodore to be gone, that he might himself be the
messenger of his own good fortune, and thereby prevent the enterprizes
of the enemy to intercept him, prevailed upon him to conclude the
bargain; and, she being delivered on the 15th of December, and the money
received, in the afternoon of the same day he hoisted sail, and took his
departure for his native home. On the 3d of January he came to an anchor
on Prince’s Island, in the straits of Sunda, where he staid the best
part of five days to wood and water, and on the 8th weighed and
continued his course. From this time till the 20th we had foul and
stormy weather, so bad that I thought it impossible to meet with such in
latitudes so near the Equator; and the wind blowing directly against us,
we were driven pretty near the coast of New Holland; and, had it
continued blowing from the same quarter, with equal violence, for 48
hours longer, we should have found it difficult to have cleared that
coast; but, on the 21st, the wind abated, and the weather became
moderate. On the 24th the trade-wind set in, and we then proceeded on
our passage with the highest alacrity.
On the 22d of February, at half after four in the morning, I discovered
a comet to the eastward, near the horizon, being, as I judged, lately
emerged from the sun’s rays. Its tail was at this time about 10 degrees
in length; but in less than a fortnight it increased and extended itself
to near 40 degrees. Its head appeared very large and bright; and, on a
nice inspection, I have perceived it when the sun has been about a
diameter above the horizon. The next time I observed its distance from
the planet Venus to be 26 deg. 50 min. following the order of the
planets; but not having instruments proper for taking altitudes without
a very obvious sensible horizon, I was prevented from making more
satisfactory observations. From this time, till the 6th of March, we had
pleasant weather, with few exceptions; but on that and the three
following days, being near the Cape of Good Hope, we had some boisterous
storms; yet, when we arrived at Table-bay, on the 11th, the Dutch knew
not that any such had happened. We found riding here two English
East-Indiamen, the Salisbury and Warwick, each of which saluted us with
13 guns, and we returned 11. We also found five Dutch ships, one of
which having, as Admiral, a flag at his main-top-mast-head, saluted us
with 9 guns, to which we returned 7. At 11 at night we parted our best
bower cable and hawser, both of which were very rotten, and the next day
moored again with others purchased from the Dutch. Here the Commodore
continued till the beginning of April, highly delighted with the place,
and during his stay entered about 40 new men. On the 3d of May, having
compleated our water and provisions, we on that day weighed and put to
sea. On the 19th of April we passed within sight of the island of St.
Helena, which, however, we did not visit. On the 26th we caught on board
the ship a snake that measured in length six feet and two inches, which
our surgeon, on examination, pronounced to be perfectly harmless. It was
supposed to be brought on board with our wood, at Prince’s Island, in
the straits of Sunda. The 30th, being before the wind, with a fine
breeze, and a gentle rain, a violent and sudden squall took us a-head,
threw all the ship’s sails a-back, carried away her fore-top-sail yard,
split the fore-sail, the fore-top-sail, the fore-top-gallant-sail, and
the mizzen and mizzen-top sail. During this squall the ship laid down
very much, and we were in the utmost danger of our masts coming by the
board; but providentially we escaped without further damage.
The 9th of June, in the evening, it being a thick fog, we on a sudden
saw a ship close by us; we fired a shot, and brought her to. She proved
an English ship from Amsterdam, bound for Philadelphia or Carolina, with
Palatine emigrants. She gave us the first notice of a war with France,
and proceeded on her voyage. The 10th of June we came into soundings.
The 11th, at half past eleven in the morning, we discovered three sail,
and at one in the afternoon spoke with one of them, being a Dutch ship
from Dublin. At the same time, the second, being pretty near us, shewed
Dutch colours. The third, who had been in chace of the others the whole
day, perceiving we designed to speak with her, stood from us with all
the sail she could crowd. We gave chace to her for about three hours,
when, finding we did not gain upon her, we resumed our former course. On
the 12th, in the morning, the fog clearing up, we perceived the Lizard
Point: but that the signal perils, which had so often threatened us, and
from which we had been more than once providentially delivered, might be
discoverable to the last, we were afterwards told that there was a
French fleet of considerable force cruising in the chops of the Channel,
through the middle of which we had this night sailed without being
perceived.
On the 13th, between the Isle of Portland and the Isle of Wight, we saw
a ship towing another which was disabled in her masts. This ship proved
the Salamander privateer, with a French prize. The 14th, at eleven in
the morning, we anchored at the back of the Isle of Wight, and in the
evening weighed, and again anchored at Spithead.--Thus we finished a
long and perilous voyage, which had lasted three years and nine months,
after having by its events, as Mr. Walter observes, strongly evinced
this important truth, That though prudence, intrepidity, and
perseverance, united, are not exempted from the blows of adverse
fortune, yet, in a long series of transactions, they usually rise
superior to its power, and in the end rarely fail of proving
successful.”
[Having now brought this celebrated voyage to a conclusion, it may,
perhaps, be expected that we should give some account of the Spanish
squadron, which we have more than once had occasion to mention, and
which was so near intercepting the Commodore at first setting out, that,
had the Spanish Admiral cruised to the eastward of the island of
Madeira, instead of the westward of it, the two fleets must have
certainly met; and, in that case, whatever had been the event of the
action, the progress of the voyage must have been effectually prevented.
This squadron was composed of the following ships: the Asia, of 66 guns,
700 men, commanded by Don Joseph Pizarro, as Admiral; the Guipuscoa, 74
guns, 700 men; the Hermione, 54 guns, 500 men; the Esperanza, 50 guns,
450 men; the Estevan, 40 guns, 350 men; and a patache of 20 guns, 120
men; and over and above this complement, they had on board an old
Spanish regiment of foot, intended to reinforce their garrisons in the
South Seas, and to counterbalance the land forces that it was known were
intended to be put on board the Commodore.
When this fleet had cruised, as has been said, to the leeward of
Madeira, till they were in a manner certain that the Commodore had
either passed by, or deferred his voyage, their Admiral determined to
pursue his instructions, and continue his course to the South Seas; but
first, it was necessary to steer to the coast of Brazil to recruit his
provisions, being victualled only for four months, and more than two of
the four being already elapsed.
Accordingly, about the beginning of November, 1740, he quitted his
station off the Madeiras, and, on the 5th of January following, arrived
at the river of Plate; where coming to an anchor in the bay of Maldando,
he sent immediately to Buenos Ayres for a supply.
While they lay here, they received intelligence, by the treachery of the
Portuguese Governor of St. Catherine’s, of the Commodore’s arrival at
that port, and of the weak condition he was then in; but, whatever were
his reasons, Pizarro declined making any other use of this intelligence,
than hastening his preparations to double the cape, which he hoped to
effect before the Commodore was in readiness to follow him. With this
view, after refreshing his crew, and recruiting his water, he instantly
set sail without waiting for his provisions (which, however, arrived a
day or two after he set sail), rightly concluding, that, if he got the
start of the Commodore in the South Seas, he should not only alarm the
coast, but so strengthen the forts against the attacks of the enemy, as
effectually to baffle their designs, by depriving them of the means of
procuring necessaries. But, notwithstanding this precipitation, the
Commodore put to sea four days before him, and, in some part of the
passage round the Cape, the fleets were so near each other, that the
Pearl, as has been said, being separated in a storm, ran within gun-shot
of the Asia before she found her mistake.
It was with the utmost difficulty, and not without considerable rewards,
that the Spanish sailors were prevailed upon to undertake the passage
round Cape Horn at that tempestuous season: however, being once engaged,
they continued to persevere, till by the latter end of February they had
run the length of the Cape, and were turning to the westward, when a
storm arose, in which the Guipuscoa, Hermiona, and Esperanza, lost sight
of the Admiral, and on the 6th of March the Guipuscoa was separated from
the other two. On the 7th the storm increased, and by its irresistible
violence drove the whole squadron to the eastward, and, after several
unsuccessful efforts, obliged them to return to the coast of Brazil,
where the Asia took shelter in the river of Plate, and about the middle
of May was joined by the Esperanza and Estevan; the Hermiona having, as
was supposed, foundered at sea, as she was never more heard of, and the
Guipuscoa being run ashore and sunk on the coast of Brazil. The patache,
we should have observed, was condemned before they quitted the coast of
Brazil, and her crew distributed among the other ships; so that, of the
six ships of which this squadron originally consisted, there now only
remained three, and those in a most miserable condition; for, though it
does not appear, that the Spaniards were so severely visited with that
most fatal disease the sea-scurvy, which carried off so many of the
English in this passage, yet they were reduced by famine to such
infinite distress, that rats, when they could be caught, were sold for
four dollars a-piece; and a sailor, who died on board, had his death
concealed for several days by his brother, who during that time lay in
the same hammock with the dead corpse, only to receive the dead man’s
allowance.
In this dreadful situation, they were alarmed by the discovery of a
conspiracy among the soldiers on board the Asia, to murder the Admiral,
and all the ship’s crew, originating from no other motive but that of
appropriating the whole stock of provisions to the conspirators own
proper use. But this plot was prevented, when just upon the point of
execution, by means of the priest on board, who, having taken the
confession of one of the conspirators as he lay at the point of death,
pursued proper measures to defeat their bloody purposes, and to bring
three of the ringleaders to condign punishment.
But, though this combination failed of its effect, there were other
distresses that multiplied upon them, and which could not be prevented.
Hunger and thirst, the most dreadful of all other calamities, daily
became more grievous; the ships grew continually more and more leaky,
and the men less able to stand at the pumps; nothing was to be seen but
despondency in every countenance; nothing heard but lamentations and
complaints, which were embittered by the absolute impossibility of
relieving them. Under the weight of these affecting circumstances, the
Asia was near sinking, when she arrived at Monte Vedio with scarce half
her crew alive. The Estevan, when she anchored in the bay of Barragan,
had in like manner lost about the same number of her hands; but, what
was still worse, and is almost incredible, the Esperanza, out of a crew
of 450 seamen which she brought from Spain, had only 58 that reached the
shore, and the whole regiment of soldiers, 60 men only excepted,
perished.
Being now in want of all kinds of necessaries, masts, yards, rigging,
provisions, and money, Pizarro dispatched an express over land to St.
Jago, in Chili, to be from thence forwarded to the Viceroy of Peru,
desiring a remittance of 200,000 dollars; and what must astonish the
reader is, that the Indian who was charged with this dispatch, though in
the depth of winter, when the Cordilleras are judged impassable by
reason of the snow, was only 13 days in his journey from Buenos Ayres to
St. Jago, places distant from each other 300 Spanish leagues. At the
same time an advice-boat was sent with a letter of credit to Rio
Janeiro, to purchase what was wanting of the Portuguese; but neither the
one nor the other of these dispatches succeeded to the wish of the
Spanish Admiral. The Viceroy, instead of 200,000 dollars, sent him only
100,000; and the Portuguese, instead of furnishing him with masts and
yards, the principal articles of naval stores that he wanted, spared him
only some pitch, tar, and cordage, with which he was obliged to be
contented: but a more mortifying disappointment he had still to suffer;
for a carpenter, whom, after the return of the money, he had trusted
with a considerable sum, and whom he had sent up into the country of
Puraguay to cut masts, instead of prosecuting the business with which he
was entrusted, married in the country, and settled out of his reach,
refusing to return.
In this dilemma, the only thing that could be done, was, to shift the
mails of the Esperanza into the Asia, and to fit up the Estevan with
what spare masts and yards they could muster, and with these two ships
to hazard a second attempt to double Cape Horn, as it was now summer,
and the weather less severe. But a certain fatality seemed to preside
over every part of this unfortunate expedition. The Estevan, as she was
coming down the river Plate, ran on a shoal and beat off her rudder; and
the Asia, though she proceeded alone with moderate weather and a
favourable gale, yet when she came to the height of Cape Horn, and was
tacking to change her course to the westward, by some misconduct in
wearing the ship, rolled away her masts, and was a second time forced
back to the river of Plate; from whence Pizarro undertook to cross the
continent by land, and with some difficulty accomplished his design.
By this time Don Mindinuetta, Captain of the Guipuscoa, wrecked, as has
been said, on the coast of Brazil, arrived, with those of his crew who
escaped, at the place of general rendezvous; and, finding the Esperanza
without masts, applied a second time to the Portuguese, by whose
assistance he completed her repair, and, in 1742, doubled the Cape, and
arrived in the South Seas, where he was met by Pizarro, who claimed the
command of the Esperanza, which Mindinuetta disputing, an
irreconcileable quarrel arose between the two Commanders, which the
Viceroy of Peru in vain endeavoured to reconcile. In 1745, they both
returned over land to the coast of Brazil, where they found the Asia
still in a shattered condition. This ship, however, they determined to
carry to Europe, and, with this view, they fitted her up in the best
manner they could; and, having manned her partly with Portuguese, partly
with English prisoners, and partly with Spaniards, together with some
Indians whom they forced out of the country, they set sail from Monte
Vedio for Europe about the beginning of November; but they had not been
long at sea before the Indians, eleven in number, formed a conspiracy to
destroy the Spaniards, and to regain their liberty, in which they had
hopes of being joined by the English and Portuguese, whom the Spaniards
used with great insolence. At the head of this conspiracy was their
Chief Orellana; and one evening, about nine o’clock, he and his
companions came all together on the quarter-deck, and drew towards the
door of the great cabbin. The boatswain immediately reprimanded them,
and ordered them to be gone; on this Orellana spoke to his followers in
his native language, when four of them drew off, two towards each
gangway, and the Chief and the remaining six seemed to be slowly
quitting the quarter-deck. When the detached Indians had taken
possession of the gang-way, Orellana placed his hands hollow to his
mouth, and bellowed out the war-cry used by those savages. This was the
signal for beginning the massacre; accordingly, the six, with their
Chief, who remained on the quarter-deck, falling suddenly on the
Spaniards who were intermingled with them, laid near forty of them at
their feet, of which above twenty were killed on the spot, and the rest
disabled. Many of the officers, in the beginning of the tumult, pushed
into the great cabbin, where they put out the lights, and barricadoed
the door; whilst of the rest, some endeavoured to escape along the
gang-ways into the forecastle, where the Indians placed on purpose
stabbed the greatest part of them as they attempted to pass by; others
threw themselves into the waste, and thought themselves fortunate to lie
concealed amongst the cattle; but the greatest part escaped up the
main-shrouds, and sheltered themselves either in the tops or the
rigging; and though the Indians attacked only the quarter-deck, yet the
watch in the forecastle finding their communication cut off, in the
utmost terror likewise gave all over for lost, and in great confusion
ran up into the rigging of the fore-mast and bowsprit. But when the
Indians had intirely cleared the quarter-deck, the tumult in a great
measure subsided; for, not being joined, as they expected, by either the
English or Portuguese, they could not pursue their advantage by carrying
the disorder into those quarters to which they had driven the Spaniards,
who thereby gained time for recollection; and, on finding none concerned
in the plot but the Indians, they resolved to attack them in their turn
on the quarter-deck. With this view, Pizarro and his officers ventured
to half-open the cabbin-door, which Orellana attempting to force, was
shot dead by Mindinuetta; on which his faithful followers, abandoning
all thoughts of further resistance, instantly leaped into the sea. Thus
was this insurrection quelled, and the Spaniards suffered afterwards
quietly to proceed on their voyage; and, about the beginning of 1746,
they arrived safe in Spain, after having been absent between four and
five years.
By this unfortunate expedition the naval force of Spain was much
weakened: they lost in it 3000 of their best sailors, one whole regiment
of veteran soldiers, four stout ships of war, and a patache; for we have
observed that the Hermiona foundered at sea; the Guipuscoa was stranded
and sunk on the coast of Brazil; the St. Estevan was condemned and broke
up in the river of Plate; and the Esperanza, being carried into the
South Seas, was unable to redouble the Cape, or to return back; so that
the Asia alone may be regarded as all the remains of that squadron with
which Pizarro first put to sea.
[Illustration: Decorative Image.]
Transcriber’s notes
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public
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The original text used the long s. This has been changed to the regular
s.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Archaic and inconsistent spelling and hyphenation have been retained.
Marking of quotations in the original is inconsistent and has not been
altered.
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