And here I cannot omit one remarkable
incident which occurred when the prize and her crew came into the bay
where the rest of the squadron lay. The Spaniards in the Carmelo had been
sufficiently informed of the distresses we had gone through, and were
greatly surprised that we had ever surmounted them; but when they saw the
Trial sloop at anchor they were still more astonished, and it was with
great difficulty they were prevailed on to believe that she came from
England with the rest of the squadron, they at first insisting that it
was impossible such a bauble as that could pass round Cape Horn when the
best ships of Spain were obliged to put back.
CHAPTER 16.
THE COMMODORE'S PLANS--ANOTHER PRIZE--THE TRIAL DESTROYED.
By the time we arrived at Juan Fernandez the letters found on board our
prize were more minutely examined; and it appearing from them and from
the accounts of our prisoners that several other merchantmen were bound
from Callao to Valparaiso, Mr. Anson despatched the Trial sloop the very
next morning to cruise off the last-mentioned port, reinforcing her with
ten hands from on board his own ship. Mr. Anson likewise resolved, on the
intelligence recited above, to separate the ships under his command and
employ them in distinct cruises, as he thought that by this means we
should not only increase our chance for prizes, but that we should
likewise run less risk of alarming the coast and of being discovered.
THE LAST LEAVE OF JUAN FERNANDEZ.
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