Nothing of this Kind could have happend more to our mutual Satisfaction, for tho we had long ago given them over either for Lost, or Lost to us; and we had no great Need of Company, yet we were overjoyd at meeting, and so were they too.
They were in some Distress for Provisions, and we had Plenty; so we brought their Ship in for them, gave them a present Supply, and when we had helpd them to moor and secure the Ship in the Harbour, we made them lock all their Hatches and Cabins up, and come on Shore, and there we feasted them five or six Days, for we had a Plenty of all Sorts of Provisions, not to be exhausted; and if we had wanted an hundred Head of fat Bullocks, we could have had them for asking for of the Natives, who treated us all along with all possible Courtesy and Freedom in their Way.
The History of the Adventures and Success of these Men, from the Time we left them to the Time of their Arrival at our new Plantation, was our whole Entertainment for some Days. I cannot pretend to give the Particulars by my Memory; but as they came to us Thieves , they improvd in their Calling to a great Degree, and, next to ourselves, had the greatest Success of any of the Buccaneers whose Story has ever been made publick.
I shall not take upon me to vouch the whole Account of their Actions, neither will this Letter contain a full History of their Adventures; but if the Account which they gave us was true, you may take it thus:
First, that having met with good Success after they left us, and having taken some extraordinary Purchase, as well in some Vessels they took at Sea, as in the Plunder of some Towns on the Shore near Guyaquil , as I have already told you, they got Information of a large Ship which was loading the Kings Money at Puna , and had Orders to sail with it to Lima , in order to its being carryd from thence to Panama by the Fleet, under the Convoy of the Flotilla , or Squadron of Men of War, which the Kings Governor at Panama had sent to prevent their being insulted by the Pirates, which they had Intelligence were on the Coast; by which, we suppose, they meant us who were gone, for they could have no Notion of these Men then.
Upon this Intelligence they cruisd off and on upon
and, in a Word, a prodigious Booty.
They were not, however, so modest in their Prosperity as we were; for they never knew when to have done, but they must Cruise again to the Northward for more Booty, when to their great Surprize, they fell in with the Flotilla or Squadron of Men of War, which they had so studiously avoided before, and were so surrounded by them, that there was no Remedy but they must fight, and that in a Kind of Desperation, having no Prospect now but to sell their Lives as dear as they could.
This unlucky Accident befel them before they had changd their ship, so that they had now the Sloop and both the Men of War in Company, but they were but thinly mannd; and as for the Booty, the greater Part of it was on Board the Sloop, that is to say, all the Gold and Emeralds, and near half the Silver.
When they saw the Necessity of fighting, they orderd the Sloop, if possible, to keep to Windward, that so she might as Night come on, make the best of her Way, and escape; but a Spanish Fregate of 18 Guns tended her so close, and saild so well, that the Sloop could by no Means get away from the rest; so she made up close to the Buccaneers Fregate, and maintaind a Fight as well as she could, till in the Dusk of the Evening the Spaniards boarded and took her, but most of her Men gat away in her Boat, and some by swimming on Board the other Ship: They only left in her five wounded Englishmen , and six Spanish Negroes. The five English the barbarous Spaniards hangd up immediately, wounded as they were.
This was good Notice to the other Men to tell them what they were to expect, and made them fight like desperate Men till Night, and killd the Spaniards a great many Men. It provd a very dark rainy Night, so that the Spaniards were obligd by Necessity to give over the Fight till the next Day, endeavouring, in the mean time, to keep as near them as they could: But the Buccaneers concerting their Measures where they should meet, resolvd to make Use of the Darkness of the Night to get off if they could; and the Wind springing up a fresh Gale at S. S. W. they changd their Course, and, with all the Sail they could make, stood away to the N. N. W. slanting it to Seawards as nigh the Wind as they could; and getting clear away from the Spaniards , who they never saw more, they made no Stay till they passd the Line, and arrivd in about 22 Days Sail on the Coast of California , where they were quite out of the Way of all Enquiry and Search of the Spaniards .
Here it was they changd their Ship, as I said, and quitting their own Vessel, they went all on Board the Spanish Man of War, fitting up her Masts and Rigging, as I have said, and taking out all the Guns, Stores, &c. of their own Ship, so that they had now a stout Ship under them, carrying 40 Guns, (for so many they made her carry) and well furnishd with all Things; and tho they had lost so great a Part of their Booty, yet they had still left a vast Wealth, being six or seven Tun of Silver, besides what they had gotten before.