An historical account of all the voyages round the world, performed by English navigators, vol. 2 of 4: Including those lately undertaken by order of His present Majesty. The whole faithfully extracted from the journals of the voyagers

THE VOYAGES OF CAPTAIN COOKE.

The rich cargo of the annual ship from Manilla to Accapulco, has ever been the object which private adventurers to the South Seas have had in view, while, on the other hand, the annual ship from Accapulco to Manilla has been the pursuit of the ships of war. This difference has arisen from the different constitution of the two ships; for the galleon, when she sets sail from Manilla, being deep laden with a variety of bulky goods, (such as Chinese silks and manufactures, vast quantities of Indian stuffs, callicoes, and chintz, besides the minuter articles of goldsmiths work, embroidery, &c. wrought at Manilla by the Chinese,) she has not the conveniency of mounting her lower tier of guns, but generally carries them in her hold. Her hands too are as few as are confident with the safe navigation of the ship, that she may be the less encumbered by the stowage of provisions so that being but weakly manned, and indifferently provided for defence, she is thereby more exposed to the attacks of small privateers, and more easy to be made their prey; and, though she does not contain so great a treasure as the other, yet she is sufficiently rich to recompense the undertakers, and to enrich the captors, her cargo being generally estimated at three millions of dollars.

But the ship from Accapulco making her return chiefly in silver and gold, and having little or no bulky goods on board, as her cargo lies in less room, her lower tier is always mounted before she leaves the port, and her crew is augmented with a supply of sailors, and with one or two companies of foot, which are intended to reinforce the garrison at Manilla. Besides, there being many merchants who take their passage to Manilla on board the galleon, her whole number of hands on her return is usually little short of 600 fighting men; so that she is more than a match for such small privateers as are generally sent upon hazardous expeditions, and a prize only for a royal ship of war; and has therefore never been attempted by any other.

The voyage we are now about to relate was purposely fitted out with a view to intercept the Manilla ship at the instance of Dampier, in concluding of whose character (from reading the accounts written by himself) we were led into an error, which the present voyage, written by Captain Cooke, has enabled us to correct. The ill success that attended the voyage to the South Seas, under the immediate command of Dampier, of which a brief relation is given in the first volume of this work, was so far from discouraging that enterprizing officer from pursuing his favourite project of making prize of the Manilla ship, that, after his return, when he had wearied the merchants of London with fruitless solicitations, he repaired to Bristol, where his representations were better understood, and where they were attended with better effect. By his solid remonstrances he prevailed upon nineteen of the principal merchants and gentlemen of that city to unite and form a company, for the purpose of fitting out two private ships of war, to shew what advantages might be derived from a well-conducted enterprize against the Spaniards in the South Seas: and it may, perhaps, be attributed to his judgment and experience, that they were more properly adapted to the service on which they were to be sent, and were better provided against every accident to which they might be exposed, than any privateers that ever were fitted out before them. Add to this, that their crews were furnished with better regulations, and subjected to stricter rules, and under severer penalties, than men listed to go on hazardous adventures are generally willing to submit to.

Their principal officers were gentlemen of experience, or highly interested in the success of the voyage; being the first subscribers, and the chief promoters of the undertaking and these also were assisted with a second set of officers, equally able and experienced, who, in case of accidents, were ready to supply the places of those who might be disabled.

But, besides being awed by penalties from trespassing the articles of agreement that were signed by every man on board from the highest to the lowest, they were likewise encouraged by rewards to behave gallantly; every common sailor who should lose a limb in time of action being entitled to a douceur of 30l. and so in proportion to officers according to their respective ranks: yet, notwithstanding all these precautions, we find them ever ready to mutiny.

The two ships, thus fitted up and regulated, were called the Duke and Dutchess; the first, of 300 tons, 36 guns, and 183 men, was commanded by Woodes Rogers; the other, of 270 tons, 30 guns, and 151 men, by Captain Stephen Courtney.

Captain Rogers, who commanded in chief, was a bold, active man, an indefatigable officer, one who would not give up his opinion readily to others, nor be flattered by other people’s giving up their opinion, without being convinced, to him. He had been, according to Harris, a large sufferer by the French, and was naturally no great friend to that nation; but his most singular quality, and that which indeed recommended him to this command, was a peculiar art he had of maintaining his authority, and at the same time preserving his influence, over his seamen; an art, or gift rather, in which Captain Dampier was remarkably deficient.

Captain Courtney was a man of birth, fortune, and of many amiable qualities; he contributed largely to the expence of the voyage, and took a share in it to superintend the management, and to interpose and qualify the differences that might arise in the course of a tedious and dangerous navigation; being a person of an admirable temper, and remarkable for moderation in all his decisions, in which almost all men were ready to acquiesce.

Besides these two gentlemen, who were first in command, Dr. Thomas Dover (the same, who, about forty years ago, so effectually recommended the use of quicksilver in a little book, entitled Dr. Dover’s Last Legacy to his Country, that ladies as well as gentlemen of rank and fortune bespangled the floors and carpets with quicksilver, and scattered their diamonds wherever they met to dance, or to play) was second Captain on board the Duke; and Captain Edward Cooke, our author, was second to Captain Courtney.

Dover was a considerable contributer to the voyage, but he was of a rough ungovernable temper, seldom pleased with either measures or men; but incapable of forming any party to support his own notions, because no party could ever be brought to approve them.

Captain Cooke was an able and experienced seaman, had been twice taken prisoner, and twice released by the enemy, and now embarked his All in this bottom with a view to make one effort more to gain a fortune.

Captain Dampier, who projected the voyage, was made pilot on board the Duke to direct it. Of him the reader has already heard enough in the former volume of this work; and from the character of the leaders it is natural to infer, that they were choice in the appointment of their inferior officers, and that even the common men were not of the meaner sort.

The general instructions of the owners were, first, to repair to Ireland to take in provisions, and then to proceed with all possible expedition to the South Sea; if luckily they met with any prizes by the way, they were either to send them home or to America, as should best suit; they were ordered by all means to keep together, and to act in concert; to undertake no enterprize of consequence without first deliberating the matter in a general council of officers in both ships; to be particularly careful in assisting each other in every circumstance of necessity; and that in giving relief in times of danger, or in supplying provisions or water in case of want, they should be as one ship, and that on no pretence the one should be suffered to want while the other had any thing to supply; but, as they were to share alike in all advantages, they should share alike too in all sufferings.

Thus fitted out and thus instructed, and the officers of both ships being provided with legal commissions to cruise against her Majesty’s enemies, the French and Spaniards, in the South Seas, on the first of August, 1708, they unmoored from King road, and on the 4th of the same month cast anchor at the Cove in Cork, where they continued victualling, and adjusting their men, changing some and enlisting others, among whom were many foreigners, till the first of September, when they sailed in company with the Hastings man of war, having first agreed, in case of separation, to meet at Madeira, there to take in wine and brandy for the remainder of the voyage.

[Here it is necessary to apprize the reader, that, as there are two very authentic accounts of this voyage, one written by Captain Rogers, and one written by our author, we shall endeavour to reduce them into ONE, by supplying from Captain Rogers what is wanting in Captain Cooke, and shall, contrary to the method pursued in Harris, continue the narrative in the person of Captain Cooke, though sometimes we may be obliged to use the words of Captain Rogers. And this being premised, we will now proceed:]

On the 10th of September, says Captain Cooke, we spied a sail, which we chaced and came up with. She happened to be a Swede, bound for Cadiz; and though from several circumstances there was reason to suspect that she had contraband goods on board, yet it being difficult to prove it, and we being in haste, dismissed her. This caused a mutiny on board the Duke, headed by the boatswain and three inferior officers, who persuaded the men not to give her up. Captain Rogers confined the authors of this disorder, in which there was not one foreigner concerned. He put ten of the mutineers in irons, a sailor being first soundly whipped for exciting the rest to join him; others less guilty he punished and discharged; but the chief officers continued armed, fearing what might happen, the ship’s company seeming too much to favour the mutineers. They had afterwards a great deal of trouble with these fellows, who did more mischief when in irons than before, by stirring up the men to release them, pretending that they suffered in the cause of the crew, and therefore the crew ought to rise and release them. This determined the Captain to make some examples, but not to irritate too much; he therefore began by removing the boatswain from his office, and appointing another in his room, without intending anything further. But on the 14th this intestine storm rose higher than ever; for then a sailor with the best part of the ship’s company at his heels, went up to the Captain, and demanded the boatswain out of custody. With this man the Captain desired to speak alone, and when he came upon the quarter-deck, the officers seized him, and caused one of his chief comrades to whip him. Thus by different corrections of the like kind, the officers on board the Duke broke the combination, and allayed the tumult. The boatswain they sent home in the Crown galley in irons; the other prisoners they released upon their humble submission; such among them as were petty officers they restored to their commands, and all on board were forbidden to disobey or reproach them: and thus ended an insurrection, which, had it succeeded, would have put a stop at once to the farther prosecution of the voyage.