in faking of cod ; for there being two Newfoundland fifhermeh in the
Centurion, the Commodore fet them about laying in a tonfiderable
quantity of falted cod for a fe'a-ftore; though vtty little of it was
ufed, as it was afterwards thought to he as productive of the fturvy
as any other kind of fait provifions.
I have before mentioned, that we had a copper-oven On fhoreto
bake bread for the fick ;b u t it happened, that the greateft part of
the flour, for the ufe of the fqaadron, was embarked on board our
Viflualer' the: Aina Vink; And I fhould have mentioned, that the
’tryal Sloop, ather arrival, had informed us, that on the 9th o f May
fhe had fallen in with our yi&ualer, not far diftant from the Continent
of C h ili; and had ke.pt company with her-for four days, when
they were parted in a hard gale of wind. This afforded us fome room
to hope that fhe Wasfafe, and that fhe mighfjchn us'; hut, all June
and July being part: without any news' o f her, we then gave her
over for loft ; and at the end of July the Commodore ordered all
the fhips to a fhort allowance o f bread. Nor was it in our bread
only, that we feared a deficiency; for, fince our arrival at this
Iflaud, we difcovered that our former Purfer had negleQ'ed to take“
on board large quantities o f feveral kinds.of provifions- whiih the
Commodore had exprefsly ordered him to receive ; fo that the fup-
pofed loft of our Victualer was, on all accounts, a mortifyihg consideration.
However, on Sunday the 16th o f Auguft, about noon,
we efpied a fail in the northern quarter, and a gun1 was immediately
fired from the Centurion, to call off the people from fhore; who'
readily obeyed the fummons, repairing to the beach; where the
boats waited to carry them on board. And'being now prepared
for the reception o f this fhip in view, whether friend ot enemy, we
had various Speculations about her; at firft, many imagined it to be
the Stryal Sloop returned from her cruize ; though, as fhe drew
nearer, this opinion was confuted, by obfbrving fhe Was a vcflel with
three marts. Then other conjedturCs were eagerly canvafled; fome
judging it to be the Severn, others the Pearl, artd feveral affirming
that it did not belong to our fquadron : but about three in the
3 'afternoon
afternoon our difputes were ended, by an unanimous perfuafion that
it was our Viftualer the Anna Pink. This fhip, though, like the
Gloucejier, fhe had fallen-in to the northward of the Ifland, had
yet the good fortune to come to an anchor in the bay, at five in
the afternoon. Her arrival gave us all’ the fincereft jo y ; for each
fhip’ s company was immediately reftored "to their full allowance of
bread, and we were now freed from the apprehenfions o f our provifions
falling fhort before we could reach fome amicable port; a
calamity, which, in thefe feas, is o f all others the rnoft irretrievable
This was the laft fhip that joined us; and the dangers fhe encountered,
and the good fortune which fhe afterwards met with,
being matters worthy o f a feparate narration, I fhall refer them,
together with a fhort account o f the other miffing (hips of the
fquadron, to the enfuing chapter.
T CHAP.