OUR CRUISE OFF THE PORT OF ACAPULCO FOR THE MANILA SHIP
I have already mentioned, in the ninth chapter, that the return of our
barge from the port of Acapulco, where she surprized three negro
fishermen, gave us inexpressible satisfaction, as we learnt from our
prisoners that the galeon was then preparing to put to sea, and that
her departure was fixed, by an edict of the Viceroy of Mexico, to the
14th of March, N.S., that is, to the 3d of March, according to our
reckoning.
What related to this Manila ship being the matter to which we were most
attentive, it was necessarily the first article of our examination, but
having satisfied ourselves upon this head, we then indulged our
curiosity in enquiring after other news; when the prisoners informed us
that they had received intelligence at Acapulco of our having plundered
and burnt the town of Paita; and that, on this occasion, the Governor
of Acapulco had augmented the fortifications of the place, and had
taken several precautions to prevent us from forcing our way into the
harbour; that in particular, he had planted a guard on the island which
lies at the harbour's mouth, and that this guard had been withdrawn but
two nights before the arrival of our barge. So that had the barge
succeeded in her first attempt, or had she arrived at the port the
second time two days sooner, she could scarcely have avoided being
seized on; or if she had escaped, it must have been with the loss of
the greatest part of her crew, as she would have been under the fire of
the guard before she had known her danger.
The withdrawing of this guard was a circumstance that gave us much
pleasure, since it seemed to demonstrate not only that the enemy had
not as yet discovered us, but likewise that they had now no farther
apprehensions of our visiting their coast. Indeed the prisoners
assured us that they had no knowledge of our being in those seas, and
that they had therefore flattered themselves that, in the long interval
{231} from our taking of Paita, we had steered another course. But we
did not consider the opinion of these negro prisoners as so authentick
a proof of our being hitherto concealed, as the withdrawing of the
guard from the harbour's mouth; for this being the action of the
governor, was of all arguments the most convincing, as he might be
supposed to have intelligence with which the rest of the inhabitants
were unacquainted.
Satisfied therefore that we were undiscovered, and that the day was
fixed for the departure of the galeon from Acapulco, we made all
necessary preparations, and waited with the utmost impatience for the
important moment. As it was the 19th of February when the barge
returned and brought us our intelligence, and the galeon was not to
sail till the 3d of March, the commodore resolved to continue the
greatest part of the intermediate time on his present station, to the
westward of Acapulco, conceiving that in this situation there would be
less danger of his being seen from the shore, which was the only
circumstance that could deprive us of the immense treasure on which we
had at present so eagerly fixed our thoughts. During this interval we
were employed in scrubbing and cleansing our ships bottoms, in bringing
them into their most advantageous trim, and in regulating the orders,
signals, and positions, to be observed, when we should arrive off
Acapulco, and the time appointed for the departure of the galeon should
draw nigh.
It was on the first of March we made the high lands, usually called the
paps over Acapulco, and got with all possible expedition into the
situation prescribed by the commodore's orders. The distribution of
our squadron on this occasion, both for the intercepting the galeon,
and for avoiding a discovery from the shore, was so very judicious that
it well merits to be distinctly described. The order of it was thus:
the _Centurion_ brought the paps over the harbour to bear N.N.E. at
fifteen leagues distance, which was a sufficient offing to prevent our
being seen by the enemy. To the westward of the _Centurion_ there was
stationed the _Carmelo_, and to the eastward the _Tryal's_ prize, the
_Gloucester_, and the _Carmin_; these were all ranged in a circular
line, and each ship was three leagues distant from the next, so that
the _Carmelo_ and the _Carmin_, which were the two extremes, were
twelve leagues removed from each other, and as the galeon {232} could,
without doubt, be discerned at six leagues distance from either
extremity, the whole sweep of our squadron, within which nothing could
pass undiscovered, was at least twenty-four leagues in extent; and yet
we were so connected by our signals as to be easily and speedily
informed of what was seen in any part of the line. To render this
disposition still more compleat, and to prevent even the possibility of
the galeon's escaping us in the night, the two cutters belonging to the
_Centurion_ and the _Gloucester_ were both manned and sent in shore,
and commanded to lie all day at the distance of four or five leagues
from the entrance of the port, where, by reason of their smallness,
they could not possibly be discovered, but in the night they were
directed to stand nearer to the harbour's mouth, and as the light of
the morning approached to come back again to their day-posts. When the
cutters should first discern the Manila ship, one of them was to return
to the squadron, and to make a signal, whether the galeon stood to the
eastward or to the westward; whilst the other was to follow the galeon
at a distance, and if it grew dark, to direct the squadron in their
chace, by shewing false fires.
Besides the care we had taken to prevent the galeon from passing by us
unobserved, we had not been inattentive to the means of engaging her to
advantage when we came up with her, for considering the thinness of our
crews, and the vaunting accounts given by the Spaniards of her size,
her guns, and her strength, this was a consideration not to be
neglected. As we supposed that none of our ships but the _Centurion_
and _Gloucester_ were capable of lying alongside of her, we took on
board the _Centurion_ all the hands belonging to the _Carmelo_ and
_Carmin_, except what were just sufficient to navigate those ships; and
Captain Saunders was ordered to send from the _Tryal's_ prize ten
Englishmen, and as many negroes, to reinforce the crew of the
_Gloucester_. At the same time, for the encouragement of our negroes,
of which we had a considerable number on board, we promised them that
on their good behaviour they should have their freedom. As they had
been almost every day trained to the management of the great guns for
the two preceding months, they were very well qualified to be of
service to us; and from their hopes of liberty, and in return for the
kind usage they had met with amongst us, they seemed disposed to exert
themselves to the {233} utmost of their power, whenever we should have
occasion for them.
Being thus prepared for the reception of the galeon, we expected, with
the utmost impatience, the often mentioned 3d of March, the day fixed
for her departure. No sooner did that day dawn than we were all of us
most eagerly engaged in looking out towards Acapulco, from whence
neither the casual duties on board nor the calls of hunger could easily
divert our eyes; and we were so strangely prepossessed with the
certainty of our intelligence, and with an assurance of her coming out
of port, that some or other amongst us were constantly imagining that
they discovered one of our cutters returning with a signal. But, to
our extreme vexation, both this day and the succeeding night passed
over without any news of the galeon. However, we did not yet despair,
but were all heartily disposed to flatter ourselves that some
unforeseen accident had intervened, which might have put off her
departure for a few days; and suggestions of this kind occurred in
plenty, as we knew that the time fixed by the viceroy for her sailing
was often prolonged on the petition of the merchants of Mexico. Thus
we kept up our hopes, and did not abate of our vigilance, and as the
7th of March was Sunday, the beginning of Passion week, which is
observed by the Papists with great strictness, and a total cessation
from all kinds of labour, so that no ship is permitted to stir out of
port during the whole week, this quieted our apprehensions for some
time, and disposed us not to expect the galeon till the week following.
On the Friday in this week our cutters returned to us, and the officers
on board them were very confident that the galeon was still in port,
for that she could not possibly have come out but they must have seen
her. The Monday morning following, that is, on the 15th of March, the
cutters were again dispatched to their old station, and our hopes were
once more indulged in as sanguine prepossessions as before; but in a
week's time our eagerness was greatly abated, and a general dejection
and despondency took place in its room. It is true, there were some
few amongst us who still kept up their spirits, and were very ingenious
in finding out reasons to satisfy themselves that the disappointment we
had hitherto met with had only been occasioned by a casual delay of the
galeon, which a few days would remove, and not by a total suspension of
her departure {234} for the whole season. But these speculations were
not adopted by the generality of our people, for they were persuaded
that the enemy had, by some accident, discovered our being upon the
coast, and had therefore laid an embargo on the galeon till next year.
And indeed this persuasion was but too well founded, for we afterwards
learnt that our barge, when sent on the discovery of the port of
Acapulco, had been seen from the shore, and that this circumstance (no
embarkations but canoes ever frequenting that coast) was to them a
sufficient proof of the neighbourhood of our squadron; on which they
stopped the galeon till the succeeding year.
The commodore himself, though he declared not his opinion, was yet in
his own thoughts apprehensive that we were discovered, and that the
departure of the galeon was put off; and he had, in consequence of this
opinion, formed a plan for possessing himself of Acapulco, because he
had no doubt but the treasure as yet remained in the town, even though
the orders for dispatching of the galeon were countermanded. Indeed
the place was too well defended to be carried by an open attempt,
since, besides the garrison and the crew of the galeon, there were in
it at least a thousand men well armed, who had marched thither as
guards to the treasure, when it was brought down from the city of
Mexico, for the roads thereabouts are so much infested either by
independent Indians or fugitives that the Spaniards never trust the
silver without an armed force to protect it. Besides, had the strength
of the place been less considerable, and such as might not have
appeared superior to the efforts of our squadron, yet a declared attack
would have prevented us receiving any advantages from its success, for
upon the first discovery of our squadron, all the treasure would have
been ordered into the country, and in a few hours would have been out
of our reach, so that our conquest would have been only a desolate
town, where we should have found nothing that could in the least have
countervailed the fatigue and hazard of the undertaking.
For these reasons, the surprisal of the place was the only method that
could at all answer our purpose; and therefore the manner in which Mr.
Anson proposed to conduct this enterprize was, by setting sail with the
squadron in the evening, time enough to arrive at the port in the
night. As there {235} is no danger on that coast, he would have stood
boldly for the harbour's mouth, where he expected to arrive, and
perhaps might have entered, before the Spaniards were acquainted with
his designs. As soon as he had run into the harbour, he intended to
have pushed two hundred of his men on shore in his boats, who were
immediately to attempt the fort, whilst he, the commodore, with his
ships, was employed in firing upon the town and the other batteries.
And these different operations, which would have been executed with
great regularity, could hardly have failed of succeeding against an
enemy who would have been prevented by the suddenness of the attack,
and by the want of daylight, from concerting any measures for their
defence. So that it was extremely probable that we should have carried
the fort by storm, and then the other batteries, being open behind,
must have been soon abandoned, after which, the town and its
inhabitants, and all the treasure, must necessarily have fallen into
our hands. For the place is so cooped up with mountains that it is
scarcely possible to escape out of it but by the great road which
passes under the fort. This was the project which the commodore had
thus far settled generally in his thoughts, but when he began to
inquire into such circumstances as were necessary to be considered in
order to regulate the particulars of its execution, he found there was
a difficulty, which, being insuperable, occasioned the enterprize to be
laid aside; as on examining the prisoners about the winds which prevail
near the shore, he learnt (and it was afterwards confirmed by the
officers of our cutters) that nearer in shore there was always a dead
calm for the greatest part of the night, and that towards morning, when
a gale sprung up, it constantly blew off the land, so that the setting
sail from our present station in the evening, and arriving at Acapulco
before daylight, was impossible.
This scheme, as hath been said, was formed by the commodore upon a
supposition that the galeon was detained till the next year, but as
this was a matter of opinion only, and not founded on intelligence, and
there was a possibility that she might still put to sea in a short
time, the commodore thought it prudent to continue cruising on his
present station as long as the necessary attention to his stores of
wood and water, and to the convenient season for his future passage to
China, would give him leave. And therefore, as the cutters had been
{236} ordered to remain before Acapulco till the 23d of March, the
squadron did not change its position till that day, when the cutters
not appearing, we were in some pain for them, apprehending they might
have suffered either from the enemy or the weather, but we were
relieved from our concern the next morning, when we discovered them,
though at a great distance and to the leeward of the squadron. We bore
down to them and took them up, and were informed by them that,
conformable to their orders, they had left their station the day
before, without having seen anything of the galeon; and we found that
the reason of their being so far to the leeward of us was a strong
current which had driven the whole squadron to windward.
And here it is necessary to mention, that, by information which was
afterwards received, it appeared that this prolongation of our cruise
was a very prudent measure, and afforded us no contemptible chance of
seizing the treasure on which we had so long fixed our thoughts. For
after the embargo was laid on the galeon, as is before mentioned, the
persons principally interested in the cargo dispatched several
expresses to Mexico, to beg that she might still be permitted to
depart. It seems they knew, by the accounts sent from Paita, that we
had not more than three hundred men in all, whence they insisted that
there was nothing to be feared, as the galeon, carrying above twice as
many hands as our whole squadron, would be greatly an overmatch for us.
And though the viceroy was inflexible, yet, on the account of their
representation, she was kept ready for the sea near three weeks after
the first order came to detain her.
When we had taken up the cutters, all the ships being joined, the
commodore made a signal to speak with their commanders; and upon
enquiry into the stock of fresh water remaining on board the squadron,
it was found to be so very slender that we were under a necessity of
quitting our station to procure a fresh supply. Consulting what place
was the properest for this purpose, it was agreed that the harbour of
Seguataneio or Chequetan being the nearest, was, on that account, the
most eligible; so that it was immediately resolved to make the best of
our way thither. But that, even while we were recruiting our water, we
might not totally abandon our views upon the galeon, which, perhaps,
from certain intelligence of our being employed at Chequetan, {237}
might venture to slip out to sea, our cutter, under the command of Mr.
Hughes, the lieutenant of the _Tryal's_ prize, was ordered to cruise
off the port of Acapulco for twenty-four days, that if the galeon
should set sail in that interval, we might be speedily informed of it.
In pursuance of these resolutions we endeavoured to ply to the westward
to gain our intended port, but were often interrupted in our progress
by calms and adverse currents. At these intervals we employed
ourselves in taking out the most valuable part of the cargoes of the
_Carmelo_ and _Carmin_ prizes, which two ships we intended to destroy
as soon as we had tolerably cleared them. By the 1st of April we were
so far advanced towards Seguataneio that we thought it expedient to
send out two boats that they might range along the coast to discover
the watering-place. They were gone some days, and our water being now
very short, it was a particular felicity to us that we met with daily
supplies of turtle, for had we been entirely confined to salt
provisions, we must have suffered extremely in so warm a climate.
Indeed our present circumstances were sufficiently alarming, and gave
the most considerate amongst us as much concern as any of the numerous
perils we had hitherto encountered, for our boats, as we conceived by
their not returning, had not as yet found a place proper to water at,
and by the leakage of our casks, and other accidents, we had not ten
days water on board the whole squadron, so that from the known
difficulty of procuring water on this coast, and the little reliance we
had on the buccaneer writers (the only guides we had to trust to), we
were apprehensive of being soon exposed to a calamity the most terrible
of any that occurs in the long disheartening catalogue of the
distresses of a seafaring life.
But these gloomy suggestions were at length happily ended: for our
boats returned on the 5th of April, having about seven miles to the
westward of the rocks of Seguataneio met with a place fit for our
purpose, and which, by the description they gave of it, appeared to be
the port of Chequetan, mentioned by Dampier. The success of our boats
was highly agreeable to us, and they were ordered out again the next
day, to sound the harbour and its entrance, which they had represented
as very narrow. At their return they reported the place to be free
from any danger, so that on the 7th we stood for it, and that evening
came to an anchor {238} in eleven fathom. The _Gloucester_ cast anchor
at the same time with us, but the _Carmelo_ and the _Carmin_ having
fallen to the leeward, the _Tryal's_ prize was ordered to join them,
and to bring them up, which in two or three days she effected.
Thus, after a four months' continuance at sea from the leaving of
Quibo, and having but six days' water on board, we arrived in the
harbour of Chequetan, the description of which, and of the adjacent
coast, shall be the business of the ensuing chapter.
{239}