At This Time Ten Or
Twelve Of The Men Belonging To The Eolus Remained On Board, Contrary To
Orders, Wishing To Have A First Hand In The Plunder.
These men assisted
the Spaniards in their efforts to prevent the ship from sinking:
But all
their labour being in vain, they shewed many lights, and cried out aloud
for help, which was too late of being sent, and they went to the bottom.
Next morning the Dutch sent out four boats, which found thirty Spaniards
floating on pieces of the wreck, and crying out for mercy; which was
shewn by the Dutch to some of the chiefs, but the rest were left to the
mercy of the sea, several of them being even knocked on the head by the
Dutch, contrary to orders from their officers. Before this ship went
down her commander expired of his wounds. In this engagement forty
Dutchmen were wounded and sixteen slain, on board the admiral,
vice-admiral, and Eolus; and in the rest eighteen were wounded and four
slain.
[Footnote 96: There is no such name in the list of the Spanish fleet, so
that we may suppose this to have been the one formerly mentioned without
a name. - E.]
The Dutch now made sail for Calao de Lima, but were becalmed. The 20th
they passed by the island [St Lorenzo], and saw fourteen ships in the
haven, but could not get near for shoals. They went, therefore, to the
road of Calao in search of the Spanish admiral, but learned afterwards
at Payta that his ship had sunk. The Spaniards fired upon them from the
shore, and a ball of thirty-six pounds weight had nearly sunk the
Huntsman. They saw also on shore a considerable army, commanded by the
viceroy in person, consisting of eight troops of horse and 4000 foot.
Going beyond reach of shot from the shore, the Dutch cast anchor off the
mouth of the haven, where they remained till the 25th of July, expecting
to capture some Spanish ships, but all that appeared made their escape
by superior sailing, except one bark laden with salt and eighty jars of
molasses.
In regard that they were now on an enemy's coast, where they had no
opportunity of repairing their losses, orders were issued by Spilbergen
to act with great caution, in case of falling in with the fleet of
Panama, and especially to take care not to separate from each other,
which had much endangered them in the late fight. It was also ordered,
if any Spanish ship should yield, that the Dutch captains and chief
officers should on no account leave their own ships, but should order
the enemy to come aboard them in their own boats. They sailed from Calao
on the 27th of July, and came to the road of Huarmey in lat. 10 deg. S. on
the 28th. This is a pleasant place, with a large port, near which is a
lake. The Dutch landed here, but the inhabitants fled, leaving little
plunder, except poultry, hogs, oranges, and meal, which they brought on
board.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 127 of 431
Words from 65979 to 66496
of 224764
