95' S. where they set up tents
on shore, scrubbed and cleaned their ship's bottom, and took whatever
seemed of any value out of the prize.
[Footnote 239: Perhaps the Isla del Cana, in lat. 8 deg. 46' N. is here
meant, or it may have been one of the islands in the Gulf of
Amapala. - E.]
While here, a plot was entered into by the crew, for seizing the captain
and officers, whom they proposed to leave on the island of Lobos, and
then to run away with the ship; but this was happily discovered on the
6th September, the two principal ringleaders severely punished, and the
rest pardoned. On the 17th, they took a fishing-boat with a considerable
quantity of well-cured and salt fish. On the 1st November they went into
the Bay of Conception, on the coast of Chili, in lat. 36 deg. 35' S. in
chace of a vessel which outsailed them and escaped; whence they bore
away for Coquimbo, in lat. 29 deg. 50' S. and took a ship laden with sugar,
tobacco, and cloth, on their passage between these two places. On the
6th in the afternoon, on opening the harbour of Coquimbo, they saw three
men-of-war at anchor with their topsails loose, which immediately
slipped their cables and stood after them. The Success hauled close upon
a wind, as the prize did likewise, on which the best sailing Spanish
man-of-war gave chase to the prize, which she soon came up with and
took. The two other ships crowded all sail after the Success, till
afternoon, when the biggest carried away her mizen-mast, on which she
fired a gun and stood in for the shore, which favoured the escape of the
Success.
In the re-captured prize, they lost their third lieutenant, Mr James
Milne, with twelve men. The captain of the Spanish man-of-war which took
him, was the famous Don Blas de Lesso, who was governor of Carthagena
when that place was attacked by Admiral Vernon. At first Don Blas
treated Mr Milne very roughly, being enraged at having missed taking the
English privateer, and had only retaken a Spanish prize, and in the
first transport of his passion struck Mr Milne over the head with the
flat of his sword. But on coming to himself he sent for Mr Milne, and
generously asked his pardon, and finding he had been stripped by the
soldiers, ordered him a new suit of clothes, and kept him some time in
his own ship. He afterwards procured his liberty at Lima, paid his
passage to Panama, giving him a jar of wine and another of brandy for
his sea-store, and put 200 dollars in his pocket to carry him to
England. This unlucky accident of losing the prize revived the
ill-humour among the crew of the Success, who did not indeed enter into
any new plot, but became much dejected.
On the 16th they gave chase to another ship, which, after exchanging a
few shots, bore away and left them. This was a fortunate escape, as she
was a ship of force commanded by one Fitzgerald, which had been fitted
out on purpose to take Captain Shelvocke; but knowing this not to be the
ship he was in search of, and doubting her strength, had no great
stomach to engage. These repeated disappointments, as they broke the
spirit of the crew, had a very bad effect on Captain Clipperton, who now
began to take to drinking, which grew at last to such a pitch that he
was hardly ever quite sober; owing to which unhappy propensity he
committed many errors in his future proceedings.
It was now determined to proceed to the northward in search of plunder,
as also to procure a supply of provisions, especially flour, having
expended all their stock of that article, and being now reduced to three
pounds of Indian corn for a mess of six men per day. Having but
indifferent fortune, and being in sight of point Helena in lat. 2 deg. 10'
S. they resolved to bear away for the Gallapagos islands, on the 27th
November, having in the first place set ashore the prisoners belonging
to the vessel in which Mr Milne was taken. In their passage to these
islands, they suspected an error in their log-line, which was found
three fathoms too short, making an error in their computation on this
run of about fifty-two miles. On the 4th of December they lost their
purser, Mr Fairman, and the same day found themselves near the
Gallapagos, being in lat. 0 deg. 36' N. with a strong current running to the
S.W. against which they had to contend. On the 6th the pinnace was sent
to look out for an anchorage at one of the islands, but returned without
finding any, having seen many tortoises on shore. Upon this the pinnace
and yawl were sent out to bring off some of these animals, and returned
with sufficient fish to serve the whole company for a day, but had been
unable to land for turtle, in consequence of a prodigious surf on the
shore. This island was a mere rock in lat. 0 deg. 9' N. and the ground all
about it was foul, with soundings from fifty to eighty fathoms. Leaving
this island, they proceeded to another in the S.W. but could find no
anchorage. Being unwilling to lose more time, they made the best of
their way for the island of Cocos,[240] where they hoped to procure
fish, fowls, and cocoa-nuts. On the 7th they saw several islands in the
N.E. through which they passed, and got clear of them all by the
9th,[241] but as the people daily fell sick, they grew very apprehensive
of the dangerous situation they might incur in case of missing the
island of which they were now in search. On the 17th they had the
satisfaction of seeing the long-wished for island in the N.W. at the
distance of nine leagues; and on the 18th, after coming to anchor, all
of them went on shore that could be spared from the necessary duty of
the ship, in order to build a hut for the reception of the sick, who
were then carried on shore and comfortably lodged.
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