C H A P . IX.
P r o m £>uibo t o th e c o a ft o f Mexico.
N the 12th o f December we flood from £>uibo to the weft-
ward, and the fame day the Commodore delivered frefti in-
ftrudtions to the Captains o f the men o f war, and the Commanders
o f our prizes ; appointing them the rendezvoufes they were
to make, and the courfes they were to fleer in cafe o f a reparation.
And firft, they were diredted to ufe all poffible dilpatch in getting
to the northward of the harbour of Acapulco, where they were to
endeavour to fall in with the land, between the latitudes of 1 8
and J9 degrees ; from thence, they were to beat up the coaft at
eight or ten leagues diftance from the Ihore, till they came a-breaft
of Cape Corientes, in the latitude of 20° : 7.6 . After they arrived
there, they were to continue cruizing on that ftation till
the t4th of February ; when they were to depart for the middle
Iiland of the F ra Marias, in the latitude of 21° : 25', bearing
from Cape Corientes N..W. by N, twenty-five leagues diftant. And
i f at this Ifland they did not meet the Commodore, they were there
to recruit their wood and-water, and then immediately to proceed
for the Iiland of Macao on the coaft of China. Thefe orders being
■ diftr-ibuted to all the Ihips, we had little doubt of arriving foon
upon our intended ftation; as we expedted upon the increafing
our offing from Quibo, to fall in with the regular trade-wind.
But, to our extreme vexation, we were baffled for near a month,
-either by tempeftuous weather from the weftern quarter, or by dead
calms and heavy rains, attended with a fultry air j fo that it was
the 25th of December before we faw the Iiland of Cocos, which according
to our reckoning was only a hundred leagues-from the Continent
; and even then we had the mortification to make fo little way
Z - that
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that we did not lofe fight of it again in five days. This Iiland we
found to be in the latitude of 50 : 20' North. It has a high hummock
towards the weftern part, which defcends gradually, and at
laft terminates in a low point to the eaftward. From the Ifland of
Cocos we flood W . b yN , and were till the 9th of "January in
running an hundred leagues more. We had at firft flattered our-
felves that the uncertain weather and weftern gales we met with
were owing to the neighbourhood o f the Continent, from which,
as we got more diftant, we expedted every day to be relieved, by
falling in with the eaftern trade-wind : But as :our hopes were fo
long baffled, and our patience quiteexhaufted, we began at length
to defpair of fucceeding in the great purpofe we had in view, that
of intercepting the Manila galeon. This, produced a general de-
jedtion among!! us, as we had at firft confideted the projedi as al-
moft infallible, and had indulged ourfelves in the molt boundlefs
-hopes of the advantages we Ihould thence recsiye. However, our
defpondency was at laft fomewhat alleviated by a favourable change
of the wind ; far, on the 51th o f January, a gale fprung up the
firft time from the N. E. and on this we took the Carmelo in tow,
. as the Glaucejler did the Carmin, making all the fail we could to
improve the advantage, becaufe we ftill fufpedtdd that it was only
atemporary gale, which would not laft long; though the next day
we had the fatisfadlion to find, that the wind did not only continue
in the fame quarter, but blew with fo much brilknefs and
: fteadinefs, that we no longer doubted of its being the true trade
wind, a As w e now advanced apace towards our ftation, our hopes
began again to revive," and our former defpair by degrees gave place
to more fanguine prejudices : Infomuch that though the cuftom-
ary feafon :of the arrival o f the galeon at Acapulco was already
elapfed ; yet . we were by this time unreafonable enough to flatter
ourfelves, that fome accidental delay might, for our advantage,
lengthen out her paflage beyond its ufual limits.
When we got into the trade-wind, we found no alteration in it,
till the 17th of January, when we were advanced to the latitude
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