Anson's Voyage Round the World Part 6

CHAPTER 22.

THE Manila* TRADE.

(*Note. The capital of Luzon, the chief island of the Philippine group.

The Philippines were discovered in 1521 by Magellan, who was killed there by the natives. They were annexed by Spain in 1571 and were ceded to the United States of America in 1898, together with Cuba, after the brave but futile attempt of the Spaniards to preserve what were almost the last relics of their colonial dominions.)

The trade carried on from Manila to China, and different parts of India, is princ.i.p.ally for such commodities as are intended to supply the kingdoms of Mexico and Peru. These are spices; all sorts of Chinese silks and manufactures, particularly silk stockings, of which I have heard that no less than 50,000 pairs were the usual number s.h.i.+pped on board the annual s.h.i.+p; vast quant.i.ties of Indian stuffs--as calicoes and chintzes, which are much worn in America; together with other minuter articles--as goldsmith's work, etc., which is princ.i.p.ally done at the city of Manila itself by the Chinese, for it is said there are at least 20,000 Chinese who constantly reside there, either as servants, manufacturers, or brokers. All these different commodities are collected at Manila, thence to be transported annually in one or more s.h.i.+ps to the port of Acapulco.

THE Manila s.h.i.+P.

This trade from Manila to Acapulco and back again is usually carried on in one or at most two annual s.h.i.+ps, which set sail from Manila about July, arrive at Acapulco in the December, January, or February following, and, having there disposed of their effects, return for Manila some time in March, where they generally arrive in June, so that the whole voyage takes up very near an entire year. For this reason, though there is often no more than one s.h.i.+p employed at a time, yet there is always one ready for the sea when the other arrives, and therefore the commerce at Manila are provided with three or four stout s.h.i.+ps that, in case of any accident, the trade may not be suspended. The largest of these s.h.i.+ps, whose name I have not learned, is described as little less than one of our first-rate men-of-war, and indeed she must be of an enormous size, for it is known that when she was employed with other s.h.i.+ps from the same port to cruise for our China trade, she had no less than 1,200 men on board. Their other s.h.i.+ps, though far inferior in bulk to this, are yet stout, large vessels, of the burthen of 1,200 tons and upwards, and usually carry from 350 to 600 hands, pa.s.sengers included, with fifty odd guns. As these are all King's s.h.i.+ps, commissioned and paid by him, there is usually one of the captains who is styled the "General," and who carries the royal standard of Spain at the main-topgallant masthead.

The s.h.i.+p having received her cargo on board and being fitted for the sea, generally weighs from the mole of Cabite about the middle of July, taking advantage of the westerly monsoon which then sets in to carry them to sea. When they are clear of the islands they stand to the northward of the east, in order to get into the lat.i.tude of thirty odd degrees, when they expect to meet with westerly winds, before which they run away for the coast of California. It is most remarkable that, by the concurrent testimony of all the Spanish navigators, there is not one port, nor even a tolerable road, as yet found out betwixt the Philippine Islands and the coast of California and Mexico,* so that from the time the Manila s.h.i.+p first loses sight of land she never lets go her anchor till she arrives on the coast of California, and very often not till she gets to its southernmost extremity.

(*Note. The Sandwich Islands were discovered by Captain Cook in 1779. The Spanish s.h.i.+ps had usually crossed the Pacific 9 or 10 degrees south of them.)

ACAPULCO.

The most usual time of the arrival of the galleon at Acapulco is towards the middle of January, but this navigation is so uncertain that she sometimes gets in a month sooner, and at other times has been detained at sea above a month longer. The port of Acapulco is by much the securest and finest in all the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean, being as it were, a basin surrounded with very high mountains, but the town is a most wretched place and extremely unhealthy, for the air about it is so pent up by the hills that it has scarcely any circulation. The place is, besides, dest.i.tute of fresh water, except what is brought from a considerable distance, and is in all respects so inconvenient that except at the time of the mart, whilst the Manila galleon is in the port, it is almost deserted. When the galleon arrives in this port she is generally moored on its western side, and her cargo is delivered with all possible expedition; and now the town of Acapulco, from almost a solitude, is immediately thronged with merchants from all parts of the kingdom of Mexico. The cargo being landed and disposed of, the silver and the goods intended for Manila are taken on board, together with provisions and water, and the s.h.i.+p prepares to put to sea with the utmost expedition.

There is indeed no time to be lost, for it is an express order to the captain to be out of the port of Acapulco on his return before the first day of April, New Style.

And having mentioned the goods intended for Manila, I must observe that the princ.i.p.al return is always made in silver, and consequently the rest of the cargo is but of little account; the other articles, besides the silver, being some cochineal and a few sweetmeats, the produce of the American settlements, together with European millinery ware for the women at Manila, and some Spanish wines. And this difference in the cargo of the s.h.i.+p to and from Manila occasions a very remarkable variety in the manner of equipping the s.h.i.+p for these two different voyages. For the galleon, when she sets sail from Manila, being deep laden with a variety of bulky goods, has not the conveniency of mounting her lower tier of guns, but carries them in her hold till she draws near Cape St. Lucas and is apprehensive of an enemy. Her hands, too, are as few as is consistent with the safety of the s.h.i.+p, that she may be less pestered with the stowage of provisions. But on her return from Acapulco, as her cargo lies in less room, her lower tier is, or ought to be, always mounted before she leaves the port, and her crew is augmented with a supply of sailors and with one or two companies of foot, which are intended to reinforce the garrison at Manila. And there being, besides, many merchants who take their pa.s.sage to Manila on board the galleon, her whole number of hands on her return is usually little short of six hundred, all which are easily provided for by reason of the small stowage necessary for the silver.

The galleon being thus fitted for her return, the captain, on leaving the port of Acapulco, steers for the lat.i.tude of 13 or 14 degrees, and runs on that parallel till he gets sight of the island of Guam, one of the Ladrones. The captain is told in his instructions that, to prevent his pa.s.sing the Ladrones in the dark, there are orders given that thorough all the month of June fires shall be lighted every night on the highest part of Guam and Rota, and kept in till the morning. At Guam there is a small Spanish garrison, purposely intended to secure that place for the refreshment of the galleon and to yield her all the a.s.sistance in their power. However, the danger of the road at Guam is so great, that though the galleon is ordered to call there, yet she rarely stays above a day or two, but getting her water and refreshments on board as soon as possible, she steers away directly for Cape Espiritu Santo, on the island of Samal.*

TELEGRAPHY BY BEACON.

Here the captain is again ordered to look out for signals, and he is told that sentinels will be posted, not only on that cape, but likewise in Catanduanas, Butusan, Birriborongo, and on the island of Batan. These sentinels are instructed to make a fire when they discover the s.h.i.+p, which the captain is carefully to observe; for if after this first fire is extinguished he perceives that four or more are lighted up again, he is then to conclude that there are enemies on the coast, and on this he is immediately to endeavour to speak with the sentinel on sh.o.r.e, and to procure from him more particular intelligence of their force and of the station they cruise in, pursuant to which he is to regulate his conduct, and to endeavour to gain some secure port amongst those islands without coming in sight of the enemy; and in case he should be discovered when in port, and should be apprehensive of an attack, he is then to land his treasure and to take some of his artillery on sh.o.r.e for its defence, not neglecting to send frequent and particular accounts to the city of Manila of all that pa.s.ses. But if after the first fire on sh.o.r.e the captain observes that two others only are made by the sentinels, he is then to conclude that there is nothing to fear, and he is to pursue his course without interruption, and to make the best of his way to the port of Cabite, which is the port to the city of Manila, and the constant station for all the s.h.i.+ps employed in this commerce to Acapulco.

(*Note. Samal or Samar is an island about the centre of the Philippines, north of Mindanao.)

CHAPTER 23.

WAITING FOR THE GALLEON--DISAPPOINTMENT--CHEQUETAN.

On the 1st of March we made the highlands over Acapulco, and got with all possible expedition into the situation prescribed by the Commodore's orders.*

(*Note. The two men-of-war and the three prizes were arranged out of sight of the land in "a circular line," the two extremities of which were thirty-six miles apart. Within this line, and much nearer to the port, especially at night, were two cutters, whose duty it was to watch the mouth of the harbour and signal to the s.h.i.+ps outside them.)

And now we expected with the utmost impatience the 3rd of March, the day fixed for her departure. And on that day we were all of us most eagerly engaged in looking out towards Acapulco; and we were so strangely prepossessed with the certainty of our intelligence, and with an a.s.surance of her coming out of port, that some or other on board us were constantly imagining that they discovered one of our cutters returning with a signal. But to our extreme vexation, both this day and the succeeding night pa.s.sed over without any news of the galleon. However, we did not yet despair, but were all heartily disposed to flatter ourselves that some unforeseen accident had intervened which might have put off her departure for a few days; and suggestions of this kind occurred in plenty, as we knew that the time fixed by the Viceroy for her sailing was often prolonged on the pet.i.tion of the merchants of Mexico. Thus we kept up our hopes, and did not abate of our vigilance; and as the 7th of March was Sunday, the beginning of Pa.s.sion Week, which is observed by the Papists with great strictness and a total cessation from all kinds of labour, so that no s.h.i.+p is permitted to stir out of port during the whole week, this quieted our apprehensions for some days, and disposed us not to expect the galleon till the week following. On the Friday in this week our cutters returned to us, and the officers on board them were very confident that the galleon was still in port, for that she could not possibly have come out but they must have seen her. On the Monday morning succeeding Pa.s.sion Week--that is, on the 15th of March--the cutters were again despatched to their old station, and our hopes were once more indulged in as sanguine prepossessions as before; but in a week's time our eagerness was greatly abated, and a general dejection and despondency took place in its room. For we were persuaded that the enemy had by some accident discovered our being upon the coast, and had therefore laid an embargo on the galleon till the next year. And indeed this persuasion was but too well founded; for we afterwards learned that our barge, when sent on the discovery of the port of Acapulco, had been seen from the sh.o.r.e, and that this circ.u.mstance (no embarkations but canoes ever frequenting that coast) was to them a sufficient proof of the neighbourhood of our squadron, on which they stopped the galleon till the succeeding year.

SHORT OF WATER.

When we had taken up the cutters, all the s.h.i.+ps being joined, the Commodore made a signal to speak with their commanders, and upon enquiry into the stock of fresh water remaining on board the squadron, it was found to be so very slender that we were under necessity of quitting our station to procure a fresh supply. And consulting what place was the properest for this purpose, it was agreed that the harbour of Seguataneo, or Chequetan, being the nearest to us, was on that account the most eligible, and it was therefore immediately resolved to make the best of our way thither. By the 1st of April we were so far advanced towards Seguataneo that we thought it expedient to send out two boats, that they might range along the coast and discover the watering-place. They were gone some days, and our water being now very short, it was a particular felicity to us that we met with daily supplies of turtle; for had we been entirely confined to salt provisions, we must have suffered extremely in so warm a climate. Indeed, our present circ.u.mstances were sufficiently alarming, and gave the most considerate amongst us as much concern as any of the numerous perils we had hitherto encountered; for our boats, as we conceived by their not returning, had not as yet discovered a place proper to water at, and by the leakage of our casks and other accidents we had not ten days' water on board the whole squadron; so that, from the known difficulty of procuring water on this coast, and the little reliance we had on the buccaneer writers (the only guides we had to trust to), we were apprehensive of being soon exposed to a calamity, the most terrible of any in the long, disheartening catalogue of the distresses of a seafaring life.

But these gloomy suggestions were soon happily ended, for our boats returned on the 5th of April, having discovered a place proper for our purpose about seven miles to the westward of the rocks of Seguataneo, which by the description they gave of it, appeared to be the port called by Dampier* the harbour of Chequetan. On the 7th we stood in, and that evening came to an anchor in eleven fathoms. Thus, after a four months'

continuance at sea from the leaving of Quibo, and having but six days'

water on board, we arrived in the harbour of Chequetan.

(*Note. Dampier (1652 to 1715), the son of a tenant farmer, near Yeovil, played many parts in his time. He was a buccaneer, a pirate, a circ.u.mnavigator, an author, a captain in the navy and an hydrographer.

His 'Voyage Round the World', published in 1697, procured him a command in the navy; but though an excellent seaman, he proved an incapable commander, as his buccaneer comrades had doubtless foreseen, for he had never been entrusted with any command among them.)

CHAPTER 24.

THE PRIZES SCUTTLED--NEWS OF THE SQUADRON REACHES ENGLAND--BOUND FOR CHINA.

The next morning after our coming to an anchor in the harbour of Chequetan, we sent about ninety of our men well armed on sh.o.r.e, forty of whom were ordered to march into the country, and the remaining fifty were employed to cover the watering-place and to prevent any interruption from the natives. Here it was agreed after a mature consultation to destroy the Trial's prize, as well as the Carmelo and Carmen, whose fate had been before resolved on. Indeed, the s.h.i.+p was in good repair and fit for the sea; but as the whole number on board our squadron did not amount to the complement of a fourth-rate man-of-war, we found it was impossible to divide them into three s.h.i.+ps without rendering them incapable of navigating in safety in the tempestuous weather we had reason to expect on the coast of China, where we supposed we should arrive about the time of the change of the monsoons. These considerations determined the Commodore to destroy the Trial's prize and to reinforce the Gloucester with the greatest part of her crew. And in consequence of this resolve, all the stores on board the Trial's prize were removed into the other s.h.i.+ps, and the prize herself, with the Carmelo and Carmen, were prepared for scuttling with all the expedition we were masters of. But the great difficulties we were under in laying in a store of water, together with the necessary repairs of our rigging and other unavoidable occupations, took us up so much time, and found us such unexpected employment, that it was near the end of April before we were in a condition to leave the place.

During our stay here there happened an incident which proved the means of convincing our friends in England of our safety, which for some time they had despaired of and were then in doubt about. From this harbour of Chequetan there was but one pathway, which led through the woods into the country. This we found much beaten, and were thence convinced that it was well known to the inhabitants. As it pa.s.sed by the spring-head, and was the only avenue by which the Spaniards could approach us, we, at some distance beyond the spring-head, felled several large trees and laid them one upon the other across the path, and at this barricade we constantly kept a guard, and we, besides, ordered our men employed in watering to have their arms ready and, in case of any alarm, to march instantly to this spot; and though our princ.i.p.al intention was to prevent our being disturbed by any sudden attack of the enemy's horse, yet it answered another purpose which was not in itself less important, this was to hinder our own people from straggling singly into the country, where we had reason to believe they would be surprised by the Spaniards, who would doubtless be extremely solicitous to pick up some of them in hopes of getting intelligence of our future designs. To avoid this inconvenience, the strictest orders were given to the sentinels to let no person whatever pa.s.s beyond their post.

THE COMMODORE'S COOK.

But, notwithstanding this precaution, we missed one Lewis Leger, who was the Commodore's cook, and as he was a Frenchman, and suspected to be a Papist, it was by some imagined that he had deserted with a view of betraying all that he knew to the enemy; but this appeared by the event to be an ill-grounded surmise, for it was afterwards known that he had been taken by some Indians, who carried him prisoner to Acapulco, whence he was transferred to Mexico and then to Vera Cruz, where he was s.h.i.+pped on board a vessel bound to Old Spain; and the vessel being obliged by some accident to put into Lisbon, Leger escaped on sh.o.r.e, and was by the British consul sent thence to England, where he brought the first authentic account of the safety of the Commodore, and of what he had done in the South Seas. The relation he gave of his own seizure was that he had rambled into the woods at some distance from the barricade, where he had first attempted to pa.s.s, but had been stopped and threatened to be punished; that his princ.i.p.al view was to get a quant.i.ty of limes for his master's store, and that in this occupation he was surprised unawares by four Indians, who stripped him naked and carried him in that condition to Acapulco, exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, which at that time of the year shone with its greatest violence. And afterwards at Mexico his treatment in prison was sufficiently severe, and the whole course of his captivity was a continued instance of the hatred which the Spaniards bear to all those who endeavour to disturb them in the peaceable possession of the coasts of the South Seas. Indeed, Leger's fortune was, upon the whole, extremely singular, for after the hazards he had run in the Commodore's squadron, and the severities he had suffered in his long confinement amongst the enemy, a more fatal disaster attended him on his return to England; for though, when he arrived in London, some of Mr.

Anson's friends interested themselves in relieving him from the poverty to which his captivity had reduced him, yet he did not long enjoy the benefit of their humanity, for he was killed in an insignificant night brawl, the cause of which could scarcely be discovered.

On the 28th of April the Centurion and the Gloucester weighed anchor.

Being now in the offing of Chequetan, bound across the vast Pacific Ocean in our way to China, we were impatient to run off the coast as soon as possible, as the stormy season was approaching apace, and we had no further views in the American seas.

The sending away our prisoners* was our last transaction on the American coast, for no sooner had we parted with them than we and the Gloucester made sail to the south-west, proposing to get a good offing from the land, where we hoped in a few days to meet with the regular trade-wind.

It has been esteemed no uncommon pa.s.sage to run from hence to the easternmost parts of Asia in two months, and we flattered ourselves that we were as capable of making an expeditious pa.s.sage as any s.h.i.+p that had ever run this course before us; so that we hoped soon to gain the coast of China. On the 6th of May we for the last time lost sight of the mountains of Mexico, persuaded that in a few weeks we should arrive at the river of Canton in China, where we expected to meet with many English s.h.i.+ps, and numbers of our countrymen, and hoped to enjoy the advantages of an amicable, well-frequented spot, inhabited by a polished people, and abounding with the conveniences and indulgences of a civilised life--blessings which now for nearly twenty months had never been once in our power.

(*Note. Before leaving the American coast for China, Anson released fifty-seven of his prisoners, including all the Spaniards, and sent them to Acapulco. A certain number of natives were retained to a.s.sist in working the s.h.i.+ps. There had been some previous attempt at correspondence between Anson and the Spanish governor of Acapulco. The latter, with Spanish courtesy, when answering Anson's letter, despatched with his answer "a present of two boats laden with the choicest refreshments and provisions which were to be found in Acapulco." Unfortunately the boats were unable to find Anson, and he never received either the letter or the present.)

CHAPTER 25.

DELAYS AND ACCIDENTS--SCURVY AGAIN--A LEAK--THE GLOUCESTER ABANDONED.

When on the 6th of May, 1742, we left the coast of America, we stood to the south-west with a view of meeting with the north-east trade wind, which the accounts of former writers made us expect at seventy or eighty leagues distance from the land. We had, besides, another reason for standing to the southward, which was the getting into the lat.i.tude of 13 or 14 degrees north, that being the parallel where the Pacific Ocean is most usually crossed, and consequently where the navigation is esteemed the safest. This last purpose we had soon answered, being in a day or two sufficiently advanced to the south. At the same time we were also farther from the sh.o.r.e than we had presumed was necessary for falling in with the tradewind; but in this particular we were most grievously disappointed, for the wind still continued to the westward, or at best variable. As the getting into the north-east trade was to us a matter of the last consequence, we stood more to the southward, and made many experiments to meet with it, but all our efforts were for a long time unsuccessful, so that it was seven weeks from our leaving the coast before we got into the true trade wind.

CONTRARY AND VARIABLE WINDS.

This was an interval in which we believed we should well-nigh have reached the easternmost parts of Asia, but we were so baffled with the contrary and variable winds which for all that time perplexed us, that we were not as yet advanced above a fourth part of the way. The delay alone would have been a sufficient mortification, but there were other circ.u.mstances attending it which rendered this situation not less terrible, and our apprehensions perhaps still greater, than in any of our past distresses, for our two s.h.i.+ps were by this time extremely crazy, and many days had not pa.s.sed before we discovered a spring in the foremast of the Centurion, which rounded about twenty-six inches of its circ.u.mference, and which was judged to be at least four inches deep; and no sooner had our carpenters secured this with fis.h.i.+ng it but the Gloucester made a signal of distress, and we learned that she had a dangerous spring in her mainmast, so that she could not carry any sail upon it. Our carpenters, on a strict examination of this mast, found it so very rotten and decayed that they judged it necessary to cut it down as low as it appeared to have been injured, and by this it was reduced to nothing but a stump, which served only as a step to the topmast. These accidents augmented our delay and occasioned us great anxiety about our future security, for on our leaving the coast of Mexico the scurvy had begun to make its appearance again amongst our people, though from our departure from Juan Fernandez we had till then enjoyed a most uninterrupted state of health. We too well knew the effects of this disease from our former fatal experience to suppose that anything but a speedy pa.s.sage could secure the greater part of our crew from peris.h.i.+ng by it, and as, after being seven weeks at sea, there did not appear any reasons that could persuade us we were nearer the trade wind than when we first set out, there was no ground for us to suppose but our pa.s.sage would prove at least three times as long as we at first expected, and consequently we had the melancholy prospect either of dying by the scurvy or peris.h.i.+ng with the s.h.i.+p for want of hands to navigate her.

SLOW PROGRESS.

When we reached the trade wind, and it settled between the north and the east, yet it seldom blew with so much strength but the Centurion might have carried all her small sails abroad with the greatest safety, so that now, had we been a single s.h.i.+p, we might have run down our longitude apace, and have reached the Ladrones soon enough to have recovered great numbers of our men who afterwards perished. But the Gloucester, by the loss of her mainmast, sailed so very heavily that we had seldom any more than our topsails set, and yet were frequently obliged to lie to for her, and I conceive that in the whole we lost little less than a month by our attendance upon her, in consequence of the various mischances she encountered. In all this run it was remarkable that we were rarely many days together without seeing great numbers of birds, which is a proof that there are many islands, or at least rocks, scattered all along at no very considerable distance from our track. Some indeed there are marked in Spanish charts, but the frequency of the birds seems to evince that there are many more than have been hitherto discovered, for the greatest part of the birds, we observed, were such as are known to roost on sh.o.r.e, and the manner of their appearance sufficiently made out that they came from some distant haunt every morning, and returned thither again in the evening, for we never saw them early or late, and the hour of their arrival and departure gradually varied, which we supposed was occasioned by our running nearer their haunts or getting farther from them.

The trade wind continued to favour us without any fluctuation from the end of June till towards the end of July, but on the 26th of July, being then, as we esteemed, about three hundred leagues distant from the Ladrones, we met with a westerly wind, which did not come about again to the eastward in four days' time. This was a most dispiriting incident, as it at once damped all our hopes of speedy relief, especially, too, as it was attended with a vexatious accident to the Gloucester, for in one part of those four days the wind flattened to a calm, and the s.h.i.+ps rolled very deep, by which means the Gloucester's forecap split and her topmast came by the board and broke her foreyard directly in the slings. As she was hereby rendered incapable of making any sail for some time, we were obliged, as soon as a gale sprung up, to take her in tow, and near twenty of the healthiest and ablest of our seaman were taken from the business of our own s.h.i.+p and were employed for eight or ten days together on board the Gloucester in repairing her damages. But these things, mortifying as we thought them, were but the beginning of our disasters, for scarce had our people finished their business in the Gloucester before we met with a most violent storm in the western board, which obliged us to lie to. In the beginning of this storm our s.h.i.+p sprung a leak, and let in so much water that all our people, officers included, were employed continually in working the pumps, and the next day we had the vexation to see the Gloucester with her topmast once more by the board, and whilst we were viewing her with great concern for this new distress we saw her main-topmast, which had hitherto served as a jury mainmast, share the same fate. This completed our misfortunes and rendered them without resource, for we knew the Gloucester's crew were so few and feeble that without our a.s.sistance they could not be relieved, and our sick were now so far increased, and those that remained in health so continually fatigued with the additional duty of our pumps, that it was impossible for us to lend them any aid. Indeed, we were not as yet fully apprised of the deplorable situation of the Gloucester's crew, for when the storm abated (which during its continuance prevented all communication with them) the Gloucester bore up under our stern, and Captain Mitchel informed the Commodore that besides the loss of his masts, which was all that had appeared to us, the s.h.i.+p had then no less than seven feet of water in her hold, although his officers and men had been kept constantly at the pump for the last twenty-four hours, and that her crew was greatly reduced, for there remained alive on board her no more than seventy-seven men, eighteen boys, and two prisoners, officers included, and that of this whole number only sixteen men and eleven boys were capable of keeping the deck, and several of these very infirm.

THUS PERISHED H.M.S. GLOUCESTER.

It plainly appeared that there was no possibility of preserving the Gloucester any longer, as her leaks were irreparable, and the united hands on board both s.h.i.+ps capable of working would not be able to free her, even if our own s.h.i.+p should not employ any part of them. The only step to be taken was the saving the lives of the few that remained on board the Gloucester, and getting out of her as much as was possible before she was destroyed; and therefore the Commodore immediately sent an order to Captain Mitchel, as the weather was now calm and favourable, to send his people on board the Centurion as expeditiously as he could and to take out such stores as he could get at whilst the s.h.i.+p could be kept above water. And as our leak required less attention whilst the present easy weather continued, we sent our boats, with as many men as we could spare, to Captain Mitchel's a.s.sistance.

It was the 15th of August, in the evening, before the Gloucester was cleared of everything that was proposed to be removed; and though the hold was now almost full of water, yet as the carpenters were of opinion that she might still swim for some time if the calm should continue and the water become smooth, she was set on fire; for we knew not how near we might now be to the island of Guam, which was in the possession of our enemies, and the wreck of such a s.h.i.+p would have been to them no contemptible acquisition. When she was set on fire Captain Mitchel and his officers left her and came on board the Centurion, and we immediately stood from the wreck, not without some apprehensions (as we had now only a light breeze) that, if she blew up soon, the concussion of the air might damage our rigging; but she fortunately burned, though very fiercel, the whole night, her guns firing successively as the flames reached them. And it was six in the morning, when we were about four leagues distant, before she blew up. The report she made upon this occasion was but a small one, but there was an exceeding black pillar of smoke, which shot up into the air to a very considerable height. Thus perished His Majesty's s.h.i.+p the Gloucester.

CHAPTER 26.

THE LADRONES SIGHTED--TINIAN.

The 23rd, at daybreak, we were cheered with the discovery of two islands in the western board. This gave us all great joy, and raised our drooping spirits, for before this a universal dejection had seized us, and we almost despaired of ever seeing land again. The nearest of these islands we afterwards found to be Anatacan. The other was the island of Serigan, and had rather the appearance of a high rock than a place we could hope to anchor at. We were extremely impatient to get in with the nearest island, where we expected to meet with anchoring ground and an opportunity of refres.h.i.+ng our sick; but the wind proved so variable all day, and there was so little of it, that we advanced towards it but slowly. However, by the next morning we were got so far to the westward that we were in view of a third island, which was that of Paxaros, though marked in the chart only as a rock. This was small and very low land, and we had pa.s.sed within less than a mile of it in the night without seeing it. And now at noon, being within four miles of the island of Anatacan, the boat was sent away to examine the anchoring ground and the produce of the place, and we were not a little solicitous for her return, as we then conceived our fate to depend upon the report we should receive; for the other two islands were obviously enough incapable of furnis.h.i.+ng us with any a.s.sistance, and we knew not then that there were any others which we could reach. In the evening the boat came back, and the crew informed us that there was no place for a s.h.i.+p to anchor.