Hamilton did not get thither till two months
after. Thus, above a twelvemonth after the loss of the Wager, ended this
fatiguing peregrination, which by a variety of misfortunes had diminished
the company from twenty to no more than four, and those, too, brought so
low that had their distresses continued but a few days longer, in all
probability none of them would have survived. For the captain himself was
with difficulty recovered and the rest were so reduced by the severity of
the weather, their labour, and their want of all kinds of necessaries,
that it was wonderful how they supported themselves so long. After some
stay at Chiloe, the captain and the three who were with him were sent to
Valparaiso, and thence to Santiago, the capital of Chile where they
continued above a year; but on the advice of a cartel being settled
betwixt Great Britain and Spain, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr.
Hamilton were permitted to return to Europe on board a French ship. The
other midshipman, Mr. Campbell, having changed his religion whilst at
Santiago, chose to go back overland to Buenos Ayres with Pizarro and his
officers, with whom he went afterwards to Spain on board the Asia; and
there having failed in his endeavours to procure a commission from the
Court of Spain, he returned to England, and attempted to get reinstated
in the British Navy, and has since published a narration of his
adventures, in which he complains of the injustice that had been done him
and strongly disavows his ever being in the Spanish service.
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