My Two Men Who Brought These Letters Offering Their Service, And
A Third Volunteering To Accompany Them, To Bale Out
The water from their
wretched canoe, I sent a letter in French to the governor, offering, if
I could be
Assured of a safe conduct for ourselves and effects to
Panama, and thence by way of Portobello to one of the British colonies,
we would enter into a farther treaty, which he might signify, if he
meant to comply, by firing two guns, and by sending off my people with
the usual supply; otherwise necessity would compel us to sail that
night. Receiving no reply whatever, I weighed before day next morning,
and made sail, leaving the Jesu Maria behind, a much more valuable ship
than the one I took away.
On going to sea, we reduced ourselves to a pint of-water in the
twenty-four hours, and directed our course for the gulf of Amapala,
about thirty-five leagues S.S.E. [274] meaning to water there on the
island of Tigers. The loss of my officer and boat's crew sensibly
diminished the number of white faces among us, and so lessened our
strength, that we should never have been able to manage this great ship,
with her heavy cotton sails, but for our negro prisoners, who proved to
be very good sailors. The loss of our boat was a great inconvenience to
us; but as I meant only to provide water enough to serve us to Panama,
where we were determined to surrender ourselves, if it were really
peace, I thought we might contrive to get such a quantity of water as
might suffice, in two or three days, by means of our canoe. The winds
being favourable, we reached the gulf in ten days, but we could find no
water, after an anxious and hazardous search. Surrounded on all sides
with the most discouraging difficulties, we weighed anchor again on the
13th of April, when I brought our people to a resolution not to
surrender on any account, let the consequence be what it might. We had
not now forty gallons of water in the ship, and no other liquids, when
we came to an allowance of half a pint each for twenty-four hours, even
this being too large, considering we could get none nearer than the
island of Quibo, which was about 160 leagues from the gulf of Amapala,
and we were forty-three in number, including our negroes.
[Footnote 274: About forty-two marine leagues E.S.E.]
We accordingly steered for Quibo, having very uncertain winds and
variable weather, and were thirteen days on this short allowance. No one
who has not experienced it can conceive our sufferings in this sultry
climate, by the perpetual extremity of thirst, which would not permit us
to eat an ounce of victuals in a day. We even drank our urine, which
moistened our mouths indeed, but excited our thirst the more. Some even
drank large draughts of sea-water, which had like to have killed them.
[275] On the 25th April we came to the island of Cano, in lat.
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