The Yawl Went Ashore On The 28th For More Provisions; But The
People Were Told That No More Could Be Had, Unless They Sent More Powder
And Shot.
Upon this Clipperton weighed anchor, and stood in for the
harbour, sending the pinnace a-head to sound.
The people on shore had
raised a battery during the sham treaty about the ransom of the marquis,
from which they fired on the pinnace. The pinnace now returned to
Clipperton, and reported that the only channel they could find lay
within pistol-shot of the shore; yet at six in the afternoon Clipperton
persisted to carry the Success into the harbour, making directly for the
ship that lay there at anchor. The Spaniards carried her into
shoal-water,[244] where she was exposed to two fires, one from the new
battery on land, almost directly over head, and the other from the ship.
At nine she got foul of the rocks, when they had to cut away two of
their anchors, endeavouring to get her off, all the while the enemy
plying them warmly with shot and stones from the new battery on the
hill, so that they suffered severely in the hull and rigging of the
ship. They also had three men wounded, besides losing the first
lieutenant, Mr Davidson, an honest man and a good officer. Thus the
Success had to remain in a miserable situation, exposed during the whole
night to the continual fire of the enemy; and the surface of the water
being as smooth as a mill-pond, the ship was easily seen in the night,
while her unfortunate crew had no other mark to fire at but the flashes
of the enemy's guns.
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