This Enterprize Was To Be Conducted By The Three Captains,
Rogers, Courtney, And Dover.
Captain Dover was to command the van
division, consisting of seventy marines; Rogers the centre company, of
seventy-one
Men, mostly officers and sailors; and Courtney the
rear-guard, of seventy-three men; while Captain Dampier, with a reserve
of twenty-two men, was to bring up some pieces of cannon, to be employed
if necessary. Our force therefore on this occasion consisted of 238
men.[221] Captain Cooke was to remain in the Duchess with forty-two men,
and Captain Fry in the Duke with forty, our entire force being 320 men,
while we had about 266 prisoners in both ships, including Indians and
Negroes.
[Footnote 221: The enumeration in the text gives only 236 men. - E.]
Every thing being arranged, we bore in for Cape Blanco on the 13th, of
which we had sight about noon, bearing E.S.E. ten leagues off. On the
15th in the morning we saw a ship near the shore, and having little
wind, the Duke's boat, commanded by Captain Fry, and that of the Duchess
by Captain Cooke, rowed directly for her, going off in such haste that
neither of them had the swivel guns commonly used in the boats, neither
had they their full complement of men, and only ten muskets and four
pistols, with not much powder and shot, and no water. They rowed very
hard for six leagues to get up with the ship, and on Mr Fry getting
near, she hoisted Spanish colours. We could plainly see that she was
French-built, and therefore concluded that it must be the ship we had
long looked for, which was to carry the bishop. Our ships being almost
out of sight, and the chase near the coast, making the best of her way
to run ashore in a sandy bay, we resolved to lay her on board, one of
our boats on each bow, I[222] being then on her weather quarter, and
Captain Fry on her lee. It was our intention to pretend that we were
friends, till we should get out of the way of her stern-chase guns; but
the Duke's men, conceiving the Spaniards were going to give us a
volley, poured in their shot. We then laid in our oars, and fell to with
our small arms. We kept up a constant fire for a long time, which was
returned by the Spaniards, who killed two of Captain Fry's men, and
wounded one of his and two of mine. One of the dead men was John Rogers,
our second lieutenant, and brother to Captain Woods Rogers, who had
behaved himself gallantly. Finding the enterprize too difficult, Captain
Fry drew off his boat, as I did soon after. Captain Fry then put some of
his men aboard my boat, giving us some powder and shot, and taking in
our wounded men, on which he stood away towards our ships, while I
resolved to keep the chase if possible from running on shore, and rather
than fail to clap her on board. Seeing our design, the enemy edged off
to sea, and we after them. Our ships came up apace, while we kept close
to the Spaniard, sometimes firing at him. At length the Duchess got up
and fired a shot or two, on which she struck, and we immediately
boarded. The men begged for quarter, and we promised them all civility.
This ship was of 270 tons, commanded by Don Joseph Arizabella, and had
come from Panama bound for Lima, where she was to have been fitted out
as a man of war, the captain having his commission on board for that
purpose. She had seventy negroes on board, with many passengers. The
loading was bale goods, with some things belonging to the bishop, and a
considerable quantity of pearls; but the bishop had been landed at Point
St Helena, whence he was to go by land to Guayaquil. Many of the
passengers were considerable merchants at Lima, and the briskest
Spaniards I ever saw. After the capture of this ship, Captain Cooke
remained on board, sending her captain and the rest of the prisoners to
the Duke and Duchess.
[Footnote 222: This particular action is related by Harris in the words
of Captain Cooke, who commanded the boat from the Duchess. - E.]
We now proceeded on our intended expedition against Guayaquil, sending
the Beginning ahead to Punta arena, or Sandy Point, on the island of
Puna, to see if there was any force to oppose us; but she only found a
Spanish bark, quite empty, riding close under the point. She had been
sent to load salt, but her men had abandoned her on seeing us approach.
At five in the afternoon, our whole force intended for the attack upon
Guayaquil, being embarked in boats, rowed for that place; and at eleven
at night we could see a light in the town, on which we rowed as easy as
we could and in silence, for fear of being discovered; till we were
within a mile of the place. We then heard a sentinel call to another,
and after conversing for some time, bid him bring fire. Perceiving we
were now discovered, we rowed to the other side of the river, opposite
the town, whence we saw a fire lighted up at the place where the
centinels had talked, and soon after we could see lights all over the
town and at the water side, heard them ring the alarm bell, fire several
vollies, and saw a fire lighted on the hill where the beacon was kept,
all on purpose to give notice to the town and neighbourhood that we were
come into the river.
Our boats were now moored with grapplings, and so hot a dispute took
place among some of our officers, that they were heard on shore; but as
the Spaniards did not understand what they said, an English prisoner was
brought to the shore to interpret what they heard.
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