It Is Just However To State, That
It Was On The Credit Of Captain Dampier, And In Expectation That He
Would Be Able To Do Great Things Against The Spaniards In The South Sea,
That This Expedition Was Undertaken.
The point aimed at was plunder,
rather than discovery, yet there was something remarkable done even in
this way;
And the unknown islands met with by Mr Funnell, in his passage
between the South Sea and India, strongly confirmed the reports of
former navigators, of large, populous, and well-cultivated countries in
those parts.[203] The narrative of Funnell also is well digested, and
may be read with much satisfaction, as giving a fair and agreeable
account of his adventures.
[Footnote 202: Funnel's narrative in Dampier's Voyages, vol. IV. pp.
1. - 208. Harris, I. 131. Callender, III. 66. and III. 145.]
[Footnote 203: All these fancies are now shewn to be imaginary. - E.]
This expedition was undertaken at the beginning of the Succession war,
in the reign of Queen Anne; and high expectations were raised from it,
of performing great exploits against the Spaniards, who had accepted the
Duke of Anjou as their king. The merchants believed that a very
profitable expedition might be made into these parts, with a reasonable
force, where the buccaneers, with small and ill-provided vessels, had
performed such extraordinary things; and therefore, having obtained the
best information they could as to the proper manner of accomplishing the
design, they cheerfully contributed to the expences necessary for the
purpose. With this view, they at first fitted out two ships of 26 guns
and 120 men each, which were designed for the South Seas. One of these
was named the St George, commanded by Captain William Dampier, in which
Mr William Funnell sailed as chief mate. The other was the Fame,
commanded by Captain John Pulling. Both ships were amply supplied with
warlike stores, and well victualled for nine months; and had commissions
from Prince George, the queen's husband, lord-high-admiral, to proceed
against the French and Spaniards; and the officers and crews of both
were hired on the principles of sharing in the expedition, no purchase
no pay.
While they lay in the Downs, some difference arose between the two
captains, on which Captain Pulling went away with his ship, the Fame,
intending to cruize among the Canary Islands, and never afterwards
joined. Before sailing on the originally-proposed expedition, Dampier
was joined by a small ship, the Cinque-ports galley, Captain Charles
Pickering, of ninety tons, carrying 16 guns and 63 men, well victualled
and provided for the voyage. The original plan of the voyage was to go
first up the Rio Plata, as high as Buenos Ayres, in order to capture two
or three Spanish galleons, which Dampier alledged were usually there. If
this part of the expedition succeeded, so as to get to the value of
about 600,000l. it was to be proceeded in no farther; but if his first
object failed, they were then to cruize on the coast of Peru, to
intercept the ships which bring gold from Baldivia to Lima.
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