This Was In November 1718, And Both To Shew Respect To The
Imperial Court, And To Have The Appearance Of A German Expedition, The
Names Of The Ships Were Changed To The Prince Eugene And The Staremberg.
[Footnote 233:
Harris, I. 184.]
Having taken on board six Flemish officers and ninety men, Captain
Shelvocke sailed from Ostend for the Downs, where the other ship had
waited for him some time. War having begun between Great Britain and
Spain, and finding that the Flemings and Englishmen did not agree, the
owners laid aside all thoughts of using the imperial commission, and to
send back all their Flemish officers and men to Flanders, with an
allowance of two months wages, and procured a commission from George I.
restoring the original names of their ships. The Speedwell carried
twenty-four guns and 106 men, and the Success thirty-six guns and 180
men; the former commanded by Captain George Shelvocke, who was to have
had the chief command in the expedition, and the other by Captain John
Clipperton, who had formerly sailed with Dampier as mate, and of whose
adventures after his separation from Dampier, an account has been
already given.
In consequence of some change of circumstances, perhaps owing to some
improper conduct when in Flanders, the proprietors now took the chief
command from Shelvocke, and conferred it upon Clipperton, a man of a
blunt, rough, and free-speaking disposition, but of a strict regard to
his duty and rigid honesty. Though somewhat passionate, he was soon
appeased, and ever ready to repair any injury he had done when heated
with anger, and had much justice and humanity in his nature.
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