At Four In The Morning Of The 10th, We Fell In With A Large Ship, And I
Could See By Moon-Light That She Was Europe-Built.
Our case being
desperate, we stood towards her, and being rigged after the fashion of
the South Seas, they did not regard us till day-light.
Not being then
quite up with her, they suspected us by the brownness of our canvas,
wore ship, hauled close upon the wind, fired a gun, and crowded sail
away from us, leaving us at a great rate. It fell calm two hours after,
when we had recourse to our oars, and neared her with tolerable speed.
In the mean time, we overhauled our arms, which we found in bad
condition, a third of them wanting flints, and we had only three
cutlasses, so that we were by no means prepared for boarding, which yet
was the only means we had of taking the ship. We had only one small
cannon, which we could not mount, and were therefore obliged to fire it
as it lay along the deck; and we had only two round shot, a few
chain-bolts, the clapper of the Speedwell's bell, and some bags of
stones. We came up with her in four hours; but I now saw that she had
guns and pattereroes, with a considerable number of men, whose arms
glittered in the sun. The enemy defied us to board them, and at the same
time gave us a volley of great and small shot, which killed our gunner,
and almost brought our foremast by the board. This unexpected reception
staggered many of my people, who before seemed most forward, so that
they lay on their oars for some time, though I urged them to keep their
way. Recovering again, we rowed quite up to them, and continued to
engage till all our small shot was expended, which obliged us to fall
astern to make some slugs, and in this manner we made three attacks
without success. All night we were busied in making slugs, and provided
a large quantity before morning, when we came to the determined
resolution either to carry her by boarding, or to submit to her. At
day-break, I accordingly ordered twenty men in our yawl to lay her
athwart hawse, while I proposed to board her from the bark; but, just as
we were on the point of making the attempt, a gale sprung up, and she
went away from us. We learnt afterwards that she was the Margaretta,
having formerly been a privateer from St Malo, mounting forty guns. In
the several skirmishes, we had none killed, except Gilbert Henderson our
gunner. Three were wounded, Mr Brooks being shot through the thigh, Mr
Coldsea in the groin, and one of the crew in the small of the back. Mr
Coldsea lingered in a miserable condition for nine or ten months, but at
length recovered.
We were now in a worse condition than ever, and the sea being too rough
for our uncomfortable vessel, I proposed to stand to the north to get
into fairer weather, but to take Coquimbo in our way, to try what might
be done there.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 406 of 431
Words from 211498 to 212033
of 224764
