^H4P. IV.
during the Reign os §tyeen Aim
1703.
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it 5 an r d
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sued, and were reported to be veryrich) now made the best of their Wayfrom ours, but were very foul. (e)Rear-Admiral Whetjlone, in themean Time, failed from Jamaica , a-bout the Middle of February, and cruis-ed five Weeks, on both Sides of Hifpa-niola, in Hopes of meeting a large Fleetof Merchant-Ships, which he had In-formation of; But misting them, helook’d into Port Louis, and, finding no-thing there, stood away for Petit Gua-vas and Leogane, where he divided hisSquadron ; Sending one Part Southward,and proceeding himself with the RestWestward. The Rear-Admiral, meet-ing with three Privateers, forced two ofthem, one of twelve, and the other offourteen Guns, on Shoar, and burntthem, and took the third, of ten Guns.Captain Vincent, who commanded theDetachment, rowed with his Boats, inthe Night, into a Place called the Cul,where he found four Ships, the biggestof which was formerly taken from theEnglijh, and was called the Selwyn.
She had her full Cargo, and was richlyladen, but all her Sails were on Shoar.Of these four, the Captain burnt one,sunk another, towed out a third, (aPrivateer,) 3md boarding the fourth, theaccidental Firing of a Grenadoe occasion-ed her blowing up. With these Shipswere taken one Hundred and twentyPrisoners; And the Loss sustained bythe Enemy, on this Account, was com-puted at eighteen Thousand Pounds Ster-ling. (f) These Privateers were allthe French had at Hijpaniola, and weredesign’d to fail with five Hundred Mento the North-Side of Jamaica, to makea Descent, and plunder the Country,which was thus happily prevented.From this Place, the Rear-Admiralsailed to Port de Paix, but found noShipping there.
W e must now return to Captain Wal-ker, who arrived, the eighteenth ofFebruary at Antegoa, where finding theLand-Forces had no Ammunition, atthe Desire of Colonel Codrington, hesupplied them with Powder, (g)
T 7°3'
^ dett. (e) As Vice-Admiral Graydon had more than a°f sufficient Force with him to have dealt with theseen Ann. French Ships, which (as it is said above) were foul,and could not easily have escaped him, it eccasion-ed many Reflections, as did, likewise, the Mon-tague’s bearing down singly. Mr. Secretary Bur-chett accounts for the former, by saying, thatwhen it was design'd the Vice-Admiral should pro-ceed with the Resolution and the Blackmail only,he had positive Orders, from his Royal Highness,not to interrupt his Passage, by Chafing or Speak-ing with any Ships whatever, which Orderswere not afterwards revoked; Because (says theAuthor of the Annals of Jj!>. Ann ) contrary Windshad kept him much longer in Plymouth, than wasintended, and the Service on which he was boundvery much requiring bis Presence, and the Regi-1L, ment that was with him.
His Orders (says Bishop Burnet) were pressing,in particular, that he should not go out of hisWay, to pursue any of the Enemy's Ships, whomhe might fee. These he observed so punctually,that when he saw a Squadron of four French Menof War, sailing towards Brest, that were visiblyfoul, and in no Condition to make any Resistance,he sent indeed one of his Ships to view them, whoengaged them ; But Graydon gave the Signal tocall him off, upon which they got safe into Brest.This was afterwards known to be Du Caste's Squa-dron, who was bringing Treasure home, from Car-thagena,znd other Ports of theHeft-Indies ,reportedto be four Millions of Pieces of eight. But tho'here was a good Prey lost ; Yet so careful was thePrince’s Council to excuse every Thing, done bysuch a Man, that they ordered an Advertisementto be put in the Gazet, to justify Graydon, inWhich it is said, that pursuant to his Orders hehad not engaged that Fleet. 1 he Orders wereindeed strangely given, yet our Admirals had ne-Ver thought themselves so bound down to them,but that, upon great Occasions, they might makeStretches; Especially where the Advantage wasVisible, as it was in this Cafe: For since they
We re out of the Way of new Orders, and new Oc-casions might happen, which could not be known,when their Orders were given, the Nature of theService seemed to give them a greater Liberty,than was fit to be allowed in the Land Ser-vice.
(f) About this Time, Advice came that the j> r -
Merchants of Port Royal having fitted out a great AmericaNumber of Privateers, nine or ten of them at- y jj ’tacked a Place called Foulou, on the Continent, ' ' ^
about ten Leagues from Carthagena, which they
took, plundered, and burnt. From thence theyfailed to Caledonia , went up the River Darien,and persuaded the Indians to be their Guides -Who, in twelve Days, carried them to the Gold-mines at Santa-Cruz de Cana, near Santa Maria-
The ninth Day of their March, they fell inwith an Out-guard of ten Men, Which the Spani-ards had had posted at some Distance from thePlace ; Of whom they took nine,, but the other es-caping gave Notice, at the Mines, of their Ap-proach ; Upon which the Richest of the Inhabi-tants retired from thence, with their Mony andJewels. However, the Englijh, to the Numberof four Hundred Men, being come up, took theFort, and possess'd themselves of the Mine, wherethey found about seventy Negroes, whom theyset to work, ahd continued there one and twentyDays, in which Time they got about eighty PoundWeight of Gold-Dust. They also found severalParcels of Plate which the Spaniards had buried,when they left that Place.. The Englijh, at theirDeparture, burnt the whole Town, except theChurch, and returned to their Sloops, carryingway the Negroes with them.
Some went farther up the River, having a De-sign upon another Gold-Mine, called Chocoa ;
And two of the Privateers, commanded by Cap-tain Plowman , and Captain Gaudy, sidled towardsCuba, landed near Irinidada, and, with a Hun-dred Men, took the Town, burnt Part of it, andbrought off a considerable Booty.
(g) It was not a little surprizing (fays Mr. BurchetL
BuiChett )