I Could Find No
Marks Of Captain Clipperton Having Been Here For A Long Time; But At
Length Some Of My Men Saw Accidentally The Words Magee And Captain
John Cut Upon A Tree.
Magee was the name of Clipperton's surgeon, but no
directions were left, as agreed upon in his instructions to me, so that
it was evident he never meant I should keep him company, or ever join
him again.
[Footnote 264: The difference of longitude between Conception and Juan
Fernandez is six degrees of longitude W. and, consequently, 360 minutes
or marine miles. - E.]
Being by this certified of the arrival of Clipperton in the South Sea, I
directly made the best of my way from Juan Fernandez, being in a pretty
good condition as to provisions, by the additional stock of fish caught
here, all our casks being filled. On the 21st, while sailing along there
with the design of looking into Copiapo, I put Mr Dodd, second
lieutenant of marines, into the Mercury, with a reinforcement of eight
men, and sent her next evening to cruize close in with the land, while I
kept with the Speedwell in the offing, to prevent being discovered from
the land. On this occasion I took care to give the officer commanding
the Mercury a copy of my commission, with all necessary instructions how
to proceed, appointing the Moro, or head-land of Copiapo, to be our
place of meeting. The business of the Mercury was to look into the port
of Copiapo, called Caldera,[265] near which there are some gold-mines,
and from whence considerable quantities of gold are exported in small
vessels; and our bark had the advantage of being of that country build,
so that she could not excite suspicion.
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