It Was Likewise Extraordinary, That
None Of The Officers In The Prize Should Know Any Thing Of The Matter:
Yet
I had so great a regard for even the name of peace, that I would
wait fifteen days, if the
Governor would supply us with provisions and
water, otherwise I would not consent to stay twenty-four hours. I sent
also a short answer to the governor, excusing our imperfect knowledge of
the Spanish language. In this letter I stated if peace were actually
concluded between our sovereigns, that I was ready to act as he desired,
on due proof; and hoped, as we were now friends, that he would allow us
to have refreshments from his port. On receipt of this, the governor
expressed great satisfaction, and seemed to make no difficulty in
complying with my request. Our boats went therefore ashore every
morning, under a flag of truce, and we received for the first four days
eight small jars of water daily. On the fifth day they reduced us to
five jars, and during the whole time only one small cow was sent us.
On this occasion a boat came off full of men, among whom were two
priests, who brought with them a paper in Spanish, which they called the
articles of peace; but so wretchedly written and blotted, that we should
have been puzzled to read it, had it even been in English. I therefore
desired the priests to translate it into Latin, which they promised to
do, and took the paper with them. They also told me, that the governor
meant to send for some Englishmen who lived at Guatimala, if I would
continue three days longer in the road; to which I answered, that he
might take his own time. Two days after, on our boat going ashore as
usual, the governor ordered her and her crew to be seized. I was all day
in suspence, not imagining the governor would make such a breach of the
law of nations; but in the evening two of the boat's crew came off in an
old leaky canoe, bringing a letter from the governor, and another from
Mr Brooks, my first lieutenant, who was one of the prisoners. The
governor required me to deliver up the Sacra Familia, and that we
should all surrender, otherwise he would declare us pirates; and Mr
Brooks told me he believed the governor meant to bully me. The governor
proposed two ways for conveying us from the Spanish dominions, one of
which was by Vera Cruz overland, and the other by sea to Lima. But I
liked neither of these, not chusing a journey of 1300 miles at least
through a country inhabited by a barbarous people, nor yet a voyage to
Lima under their guidance. My two men told me, that Frederick Mackenzie
had let the governor into the secret of our necessities, and of my
design of procuring water at the island of Tigers, in the gulf of
Amapala, which he said he would take care to prevent, and believed he
now had us safe enough, knowing our only boat remaining was a small
canoe.
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