_Account of Proceedings at Chequetan and on the adjacent Coast, till
our setting sail for Asia._
The next morning, after our coming to an anchor in the harbour of
Chequetan, we sent about ninety of our men well armed on shore, forty
of whom were ordered to march into the country, as has been mentioned,
and the remaining fifty were employed to cover the watering-place, and
to prevent any interruption from the natives.
Here it was agreed, after mature consultation, to destroy the Tryal's
prize, as well as the Carmelo and Carmin whose fate had been before
resolved on. Indeed the ship was in good repair and fit for the sea;
but as the whole numbers onboard our squadron did not amount to the
complement of a fourth-rate man of war, we found it was impossible
to divide them into three ships, without rendering them incapable
of navigating in safety in the tempestuous weather we had reason to
expect on the coast of China, where we supposed we should arrive about
the time of the change of the monsoons.
During our stay here there happened an incident, which, as it proved
the means of convincing our friends in England of our safety, which
for some time they were in doubt about, I shall beg leave particularly
to recite. I have observed, that from this harbour of Chequetan there
was but one path-way which led through the woods into the country.
This we found much beaten, and were thence convinced that it was well
known to the inhabitants. As it passed by the spring-head, and was
the only avenue by which the Spaniards could approach us, we, at some
distance beyond the spring-head, felled several large trees, and laid
them one upon the other across the path; and at this barricado we
constantly kept a guard: And we besides ordered our men employed in
watering to have their arms ready, and, in case of any alarm, to march
instantly to this post. Though our principal intention was to prevent
our being disturbed by any sudden attack of the enemy's horse, yet it
answered another purpose, which was not in itself less important; this
was to hinder our own people from straggling singly into the country,
where we had reason to believe they would be surprised by the
Spaniards, who would doubtless be extremely solicitous to pick up some
of them, in hopes of getting intelligence of our future designs.
To avoid this inconvenience, the strictest orders were given to the
centinels, to let no person whatever pass beyond their post: But,
notwithstanding this precaution, we missed one Lewis Leger, who was
the commodore's cook; and as he was a Frenchman, and suspected to be
a papist, it was by some imagined that he had deserted with a view
of betraying all that he knew to the enemy; but this appeared by the
event to be an ill-grounded surmise, for it was afterwards known
that he had been taken by some Indians, who carried him prisoner to
Acapulco, from whence he was transferred, to Mexico, and then to Vera
Cruz, where he was shipped on board a vessel bound to Old Spain: And
the vessel being obliged by some accident to put into Lisbon, Leger
escaped on shore, and was by the British consul sent from thence to
England; where he brought the first authentic account of the safety of
the commodore, and of what he had done in the South Seas. The relation
he gave of his own seizure was, that he had rambled into the woods
at some distance from the barricade, where he had first attempted to
pass, but had been stopped and threatened to be punished; that his
principal view was to get a quantity of limes for his master's store;
and that in this occupation he was surprised by four Indians, who
stripped him naked, and carried him in that condition to Acapulco,
exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, which at that time of the
year shone with its greatest violence: And afterwards at Mexico his
treatment in prison was sufficiently severe, and the whole course
of his captivity was a continued instance of the hatred which the
Spaniards bear to all those who endeavour to disturb them in the
peaceable possession of the coasts of the South Seas. Indeed, Leger's
fortune was upon the whole extremely singular; for after the hazards
he had run in the commodore's squadron, and the severities he had
suffered in his long confinement amongst the enemy, a more fatal
disaster attended him on his return to England: For though, when he
arrived in London, some of Mr Anson's friends interested themselves in
relieving him from the poverty to which his captivity had reduced him,
yet he did not long enjoy the benefit of their humanity, for he was
killed in an insignificant night brawl, the cause of which could
scarcely be discovered.
And here I must observe, that though the enemy never appeared in sight
during our stay in this harbour; yet we perceived that there were
large parties encamped in the woods about us; for we could see their
smokes, and could thence determine that they were posted in a circular
line surrounding us at a distance; and just before our coming away
they seemed, by the increase of their fires, to have received a
considerable reinforcement.
Towards the latter end of April, the unloading of our three prizes,
our wooding and watering, and, in short, all our proposed employments
at the harbour of Chequetan were completed: So that, on the 27th of
April, the Tryal's prize, the Carmelo, and the Carmin, all which we
intended to destroy, were towed on shore and scuttled, and a quantity
of combustible materials were distributed in their upper works; and
the next morning the Centurion and the Gloucester weighed anchor, but
as there was but little wind, and that not in their favour, they were
obliged to warp out of the harbour. When they had reached the offing,
one of the boats was dispatched back again to set fire to our prize,
which was accordingly executed. And a canoe was left fixed to a
grapnel in the middle of the harbour, with a bottle in it well corked,
inclosing a letter to Mr Hughes, who commanded the cutter, which was
ordered to cruise before the port of Acapulco, when we came off that
station. And on this occasion I must mention more particularly than I
have yet done, the views of the commodore in leaving the cutter before
that port.
When we were necessitated to make for Chequetan to take in our water,
Mr Anson considered that our being in that harbour would soon be known
at Acapulco; and therefore he hoped, that on the intelligence of our
being employed in port, the galleon might put to sea, especially as
Chequetan is so very remote from the course generally steered by the
galleon: He therefore ordered the cutter to cruise twenty-four
days off the port of Acapulco, and her commander was directed, on
perceiving the galleon under sail, to make the best of his way to the
commodore at Chequetan. As the Centurion was doubtless a much better
sailer than the galleon, Mr Anson in this case resolved to have got
to sea as soon as possible, and to have pursued the galleon across the
Pacific Ocean: And supposing he should not have met with her in his
passage, (which considering that he would have kept nearly the same
parallel, was not very improbable,) yet he was certain of arriving
off Cape Espiritu Santo, on the island of Samal, before her; and that
being the first land she makes on her return to the Philippines, we
could not have failed to have fallen in with her, by cruising a few
days in that station. But the viceroy of Mexico ruined this project by
keeping the galleon in the port of Acapulco all that year.
The letter left in the canoe for Mr Hughes, the commander of the
cutter, the time of whose return was now considerably elapsed,
directed him to go back immediately to his former station before
Acapulco, where he would find Mr Anson, who resolved to cruise for him
there for a certain number of days; after which it was added, that
the commodore would return to the southward to join the rest of the
squadron. This last article was inserted to deceive the Spaniards, if
they got possession of the canoe, (as we afterwards learnt they did)
but could not impose on Mr Hughes, who well knew that the commodore
had no squadron to join, nor any intention of steering back to Peru.
Being now in the offing of Chequetan, bound cross the vast Pacific
Ocean in our way to China, we were impatient to run off the coast as
soon as possible; for as the stormy season was approaching apace, and
as we had no further views in the American seas, we had hoped that
nothing would have prevented us from standing to the westward, the
moment we got out of the harbour of Chequetan: And it was no small
mortification to us, that our necessary employment there had detained
us so much longer than we expected; and now we were farther detained
by the absence of the cutter, and the standing towards Acapulco in
search of her. Indeed, as the time of her cruise had been expired near
a fortnight, we suspected that she had been discovered from the shore;
and that the governor of Acapulco had thereupon sent out a force to
seize her, which, as she carried but six hands, was no very difficult
enterprize. However, this being only conjecture, the commodore, as
soon as we got clear of the harbour of Chequetan, stood along the
coast to the eastward in search of her: And to prevent her from
passing by us in the dark, we brought to every night; and the
Gloucester, whose station was a league within us towards the shore,
carried a light which the cutter could not but perceive if she kept
along shore, as we supposed she would do; and as a farther security,
the Centurion and the Gloucester alternately showed two false fires
every half hour.
By Sunday, the 2d of May, we were advanced within three leagues of
Acapulco, and having seen nothing of our boat, we gave her over for
lost, which, besides the compassionate concern for our shipmates, and
for what it was apprehended they might have suffered, was in itself
a misfortune in our present scarcity of hands, we were all greatly
interested in: For the crew of the cutter, consisting of six men and
the lieutenant, were the very flower of our people, purposely picked
out for this service, and known to be every one of them of tried
and approved resolution, and as skilful seamen as ever trod a deck.
However, as it was the general belief among us that they were taken
and carried into Acapulco, the commodore's prudence suggested a
project which we hoped would recover them. This was founded on our
having many Spanish and Indian prisoners in our possession, and
a number of sick negroes, who could be of no service to us in the
navigating of the ship. The commodore therefore wrote a letter the
same day to the governor of Acapulco, telling him that he would
release them all, provided the governor returned the cutter's crew;
and the letter was dispatched the same afternoon by a Spanish officer,
of whose honour we had a good opinion, and who was furnished with
a launch belonging to one of our prizes, and a crew of six other
prisoners who all gave their parole for their return. The officer,
besides the commodore's letter, carried with him a petition signed by
all the prisoners, beseeching his excellency to acquiesce in the terms
proposed. From a consideration of the number of our prisoners, and
the quality of some of them, we did not doubt but the governor would
readily comply, and therefore we kept plying on and off the whole
night, intending to keep well in with the land, that we might receive
an answer at the limited time, which was the next day, being Monday:
But both on the Monday and Tuesday we were driven so far off shore,
that we could not hope to receive any answer; and on the Wednesday
morning we found ourselves fourteen leagues from the harbour of
Acapulco; but as the wind was now favourable, we pressed forwards with
all our sail, and did not doubt of getting in with the land in a
few hours. Whilst we were thus standing in, the man at the mast-head
called out that he saw a boat under sail at a considerable distance
to the south-eastward: This we took for granted was the answer of the
governor to the commodore's message, and we instantly edged towards
it; but when we drew nearer, we found to our unspeakable joy that it
was our own cutter. While she was still at a distance, we imagined
that she had been discharged out of the port of Acapulco by the
governor; but when she drew nearer, the wan and meagre countenances of
the crew, the length of their beards, and the feeble and hollow tone
of their voices, convinced us that they had suffered much greater
hardships than could be expected from even the severities of a
Spanish prison. They were obliged to be helped into the ship, and were
immediately put to bed, and with rest, and nourishing diet, which
they were plentifully supplied with, from the commodore's table, they
recovered their health and vigour apace. We learnt that they had kept
the sea the whole time of their absence; that when they finished their
cruise before Acapulco, and had just begun to ply to the westward in
order to join the squadron, a strong adverse current had forced them
down the coast to the eastward in spite of all their efforts; that at
length their water being all expended, they were obliged to search
the coast farther on to the eastward, in quest of some convenient
landing-place, where they might get a fresh supply; that in this
distress they ran upwards of eighty leagues to leeward, and found
every where so large a surf, that there was not the least possibility
of their landing; that they passed some days in this dreadful
situation without water, and having no other means left them to allay
their thirst than sucking the blood of the turtle which they caught;
and at last, giving up all hopes of relief, the heat of the climate
augmenting their necessities, and rendering their sufferings
insupportable, they abandoned themselves to despair, fully persuaded
that they should perish by the most terrible of all deaths; but that
they were soon after happily relieved by a most unexpected incident,
for there fell so heavy a rain, that by spreading their sails
horizontally, and by putting bullets in the centres of them to draw
them to a point, they caught as much water as filled all their casks;
that immediately upon this fortunate supply they stood to the westward
in quest of the commodore; and being now luckily favoured by a strong
current, they joined us in less than fifty hours, from the time
they stood to the westward, after having been absent from us full
forty-three days. Those who have an idea of the inconsiderable size of
a cutter belonging to a sixty-gun ship, (being only an open boat
about twenty-two feet in length,) and who will attend to the various
accidents to which she was exposed during a six weeks continuance
alone, in the open ocean, on so impracticable and dangerous a coast,
will readily own that her return to us, after all the difficulties
which she actually experienced, and the hazards to which she was each
hour exposed, was little short of miraculous.
I cannot finish this article without remarking how little reliance
navigators ought to have on the accounts of the Buccaneer writers:
For though in this run eighty leagues to the eastward of Acapulco,
she found no place where it was possible for a boat to land, yet
those writers have not been ashamed to feign harbours and convenient
watering-places within these limits, thereby exposing such as should
confide in their relations to the risk of being destroyed by thirst.
Having received our cutter, the sole object of our coming a second
time before Acapulco, the commodore resolved not to lose a moment's
time longer, but to run off the coast with the utmost expedition, both
as the stormy season on the coast of Mexico was now approaching apace,
and as we were apprehensive of having the westerly monsoon to struggle
with when we came upon the coast of China; and therefore he no longer
stood towards Acapulco, as he now wanted no answer from the governor;
but yet he resolved not to deprive his prisoners of the liberty which
he had promised them; so that they were all immediately embarked in
two launches which belonged to our prizes, those from the Centurion in
one launch, and those from the Gloucester in the other. The launches
were well equipped with masts, sails, and oars, and, lest the wind
might prove unfavourable, they had a stock of water and provisions
put on board them sufficient for fourteen days. There were discharged
thirty-nine persons from on board the Centurion, and eighteen from the
Gloucester, the greatest part of them Spaniards, the rest Indians and
sick negroes: But as our crews were very weak, we kept the mulattoes
and some of the stoutest of the negroes, with a few Indians, to assist
us; but we dismissed every Spanish prisoner whatever. We have since
learnt, that these two launches arrived safe at Acapulco, where the
prisoners could not enough extol the humanity with which they had been
treated; and that the governor, before their arrival, had returned a
very obliging answer to the commodore's letter, and had attended it
with a present of two boats laden with the choicest refreshments and
provisions which were to be got at Acapulco; but that these boats
not having found our ships, were at length obliged to put back again,
after having thrown all their provisions overboard in a storm which
threatened their destruction.
The sending away our prisoners was our last transaction on the
American coast; for no sooner had we parted with them, than we and the
Gloucester made sail to the S.W., proposing to get a good offing from
the land, where we hoped, in a few days, to meet with the regular
trade-wind, which the accounts of former navigators had represented as
much brisker and steadier in this ocean, than in any other part of the
globe: For it has been esteemed no uncommon passage to run from
hence to the eastermost parts of Asia in two months; and we flattered
ourselves that we were as capable of making an expeditious passage as
any ships that had ever run this course before us; so that we hoped
soon to gain the coast of China, for which we were now bound. And
conformable to the general idea of this navigation given by former
voyagers, we considered it as free from all kinds of embarrassment of
bad weather, fatigue, or sickness; and consequently we undertook it
with alacrity, especially as it was no contemptible step towards oar
arrival at our native country, for which many of us by this time began
to have great longings. Thus, on the 6th of May, we, for the last
time, lost sight of the mountains of Mexico, persuaded, that in a
few weeks we should arrive at the river of Canton in China, where
we expected to meet with many English ships, and numbers of our
countrymen; and hoped to enjoy the advantages of an amicable,
well-frequented port, inhabited by a polished people, and abounding
with the conveniences and indulgences of a civilized life, which for
near twenty months had never been once in our power.
[It is judged advisable to omit altogether the next section of the
original, as occupied by mere reckoning on the advantages "which might
have been expected from the squadron, had it arrived in the South Seas
in good time." They are in part specified at the beginning.]