i 7 8 L O R D A N S O N ’ S V O Y A G E
being principally fmall filver money, and not amounting to more
than 170/. fterling. Itistrue, her cargo was of great value, could
we have difpofed o f i t ; but the Spaniards having ftri£t orders
never to ranfom their fhips, all the goods that we took in thefe feas,
except what little we had occafion for ourfelves, were o f no advantage
to us. Indeed, though we could make no profit thereby ourfelves,
it was fame fatisfadtion to us to confider, that it was fo
much really loft to the enemy ; and that the defpoiling them was
no contemptible branch'of that fervice in which we were now
employed by our country.
Befides our prize’s crew, which amounted to forty-five hands,
there were on board her ten paflengers, confifting o f four men and
three women, who were natives of the country, born o f Spanijh
parents, together with three black Haves that attended them. The
women were a mother and her two daughters; the eldeft about
twenty-one, and the youngeft about fourteen. It is not to be wondered
at, that women of thefe years fhould be exceffively alarmed
at the falling into the hands o f an enemy, whom, from the former
outrages of the Buccaneers, and by the artful infinuations of their
Priefts, they had been taught to confider as.the moft terrible and
brutal of all mankind. Thefe apprehenfions too were, In the pre-
fent inftance, exaggerated by the lingular beauty o f the youngeft
of the women, and the riotous dilpofition which they might well
expedt to find in a fet of failors who had not. feen a woman for
near a twelvemonth. F u ll'o f thefe terrors, the women all hid
themfelves upon our officer’s coming onboard;, and,, when they
were found out, it was with great difficulty that he could perfuade
them to approach the ligh t: however, he foon fatisfied them, by
the humanity of his condudf, and by his affuranees.of their future
fecurity and honourable treatment, that they had nothing to fear.
Nor were thefe affurances of the officer invalidated in the fequel;
for the Commodore, being informed of the matter, font diredtions
that they fhould be continued on board their own fhip, with the
ufe o f the fame apartments, and with all the other conveniences
they
R O U N D T H E W O R L D . 179
they had enjoyed before, giving ftridf orders that they fhould receive
no kind o f inquietude or moleftation whatever: and, that they
might be the more certain of having thefe orders complied with,
or have the means of complaining i f they were not, the Commodore
permitted the Pilot, who, in Spanijh fhips, is generally the
fecobd perfon on board, to flay with them as their guardian and
prote&or. The Pilot was particularly chofen for this purpofe by
Mr. Anfon, as he feemed to be extremely interefted in all that concerned
the women, and had, at firft, declared that he was married
to the youngeft of them ; though it afterwards appeared, both from
the information o f the reft of the prifoners, and other circum-
ftances, that he had afferted this with a view the better to fecure
them from the infults they expedted on their firft falling into our
hands. By this compaflionate and indulgent behaviour of the Commodore,
the confternation o f our female prifoners intirely fubfided;
and they continued eafy and chearful during the whole time they
were with us, as I fhall have occafion to mention more particularly
hereafter.
I have before obferved, that, at the beginning of this chafe, the
Centurion ran her two conforts but of fight, on which account we
lay-by all the night after we had taken the prize, for Captain
Saunders and Lieutenant Saumare% to join us, firing guns and
making falfe fires every half hour, to prevent their palling us un-
obferved ; but they were fo far a-ftern, that they neither heard nor
faw any of our fignals, and were not able to come up with us till
broad day-light. When they had joined us, we proceeded together
to the northward, being now four fail in company. W e here
found the fea, for many miles round us, of a beautiful red colour:
this, upon examination, we imputed to an immenfe quantity of
{pawn fpread upon its furface; for, taking up feme of the water in
a wine-glafs, it foon changed from a dirty afpeft to a clear cryftai,
with only feme red globules of a {limy nature floating on the top.
At prefent, having a fupply of timber on board out -new prize, the
Commodore ordered our boats to be repaired, and a fwivel gun-
A a 2 flock.