furrounding us at a diftance; and juft before our coming away
they feemed, by the increafe of their fires, to have received a con-
fiderable reinforcement. But to return :
Towards the latter end of April, the unloading o f our three
•prizes, our wooding and watering, and, in Ihort, every one o f our
propofed employments at the harbour of Chequetan, were compleat-
ed : So that on the 27th of April, the Tryal’s Prize, the Carmelo
and the Carmin, all which we here intended to deftroy, were towed
on Ihore and fcuttled, a quantity o f combuftible materials having
been diftributed in their upper works : And the next morning
the Centurion with the Gloucejier weighed anchor; though as there
was but little wind, and that not in their favour, they were obliged
to warp out of the harbour. When they had reached the offing, one
o f the boats was difpatched back again to fet fire to our prizes,
which was accordingly executed. After this a canoe was left fixed
to a grapple in the middle of the harbour, with a bottle in it well
corked, inclofing a letter to Mr. Hughes, who commanded- the
Cutter, which had been ordered to cruize before the port of Acapulco,
when we ourfelves quitted that ftation. And on this occafion
I mull mention more particularly than I have yet done, the views
■ of the Commodore in leaving the Cutter before that port.
When we were neceffitated to proceed for Chequetan to recruit
■ our water, Mr. Anfon confidered that our arrival in that harbour
would foon be known at Acapulco j and therefore he hoped, that
.on the intelligence of our being employed in port, the galeon might
put to lea, efpeeially as Chequetan is fo very 1 emote from the cpurfe
generally fteered by the galeon : He therefore ordered the Cutter
,to cruize twenty-four days off the port o f Acapulco, and her Commander
was directed, on perceiving the galeon under fail, to make
•the be ft of his way to the Commodore at Chequetan. As the Cen-
turion was doubtlefs a much better failer than the galeon, Mr. Au-
fon, in this cafe, refolved to have got to lea as foon as poffible, and to
have purfued the galeon acrofs the Pacific Ocean : Where fuppoling
he fhould not have met with her in his paflage (which confidering
that
that he w'ould have kept nearly the fame parallel, was very improbable)
yet he was certain of arriving off Cape Efpiritu Santo,
on the Ifland o f Samal, before h e r ; and that being the firft land
flie makes on her return to the Philippines, we could not have
failed to:ihave fallen in with hér, by cruizing a few days in that
ftation. However, the Viceroy of Mexico ruined this project, by
keeping the galeon in the Port of Acapulco all that year.
The letter left in the canoe for Mr. Hughes, the Commander of
the Cutter, (the time o f whofe return was now confiderably elapfed)
direded him to go back immediately to his former ftation before
Acapulco, where he would find Mr. Anfon, who refolved to cruize
for him there a certain number of days ; after which it was added,
that the Commodore would return to the fouthward to join the
reft of the fquadron. This laft article was inferted to deceive the
Spaniards, if they got poffeffion of the canoe, (as we afterwards
learnt they did) but could not impofe on Mr. Hughes, who well
knew that the Commodore had no fquadron to join, nor any intention
of fleering back to Peru.
Being now in the offing o f Chequetan, bound crofs the vaft Pacific
Ocean in our way to China, we were impatient to run off the
coaft as1 foon as poffible ; fince the ftormy feafon was approaching
apace. As we had no farther views in the American feas, we had
hoped that nothing would have prevented us from fleering to the
weftward, the moment we got out of the harbour o f Chequetan :
And it was no fmall mortification to us, that our neceffary employment
there had detained us fo much.longer than we expected. But
now, when we had put to fea, we were farther detained by the
abfence of the Cutter, and the neceffity we wereunder of Handing
towards Acapulco in fearch of her. Indeed, as the time of her
cruife had been expired for near a fortnight, we fufpeCted that Ihe
had been dilcovered from the Ihore, and that the Governor of
Acapulco had thereupon fent out a force to feize her, which, as ftie
carried but fix hands, was no very difficult enterprize. However,
this being only conjecture, the Commodore, as foon as he was got
clear of the harbour of Chequetan, flood along the coaft to the eaft-
N 11 ward