by Daniel Defoe
extend themselves near one hundred andsixty leagues in breadth from north to south.
Without doubt those islands would make a very noble settlement, in orderto victual and relieve the European merchants in so long a run as theyhave to make; and when this trade came to be more frequented, thecalling of those ships there would enrich the islands, as the English atSt. Helena are enriched by the refreshing which the East India shipsfind that meet there.
But to return to our present situation at Juan Fernandez. Therefreshment which our men found here greatly encouraged and revivedthem; and the broths and stewings which we made of the goats' fleshwhich we killed there, than which nothing could be wholesomer, restoredall our sick men, so that we lost but two men in our whole passage fromthe East Indies, and had lost but eight men in our whole voyage fromEngland, except I should reckon those five men and a boy to be lostwhich run away from us in the country among the Indians, as I havealready related.
I should have added, that we careened and cleaned our ships here, andput ourselves into a posture for whatever adventures might happen; foras I resolved upon a trading voyage upon the coast of Chili and Peru,and a cruising voyage also, as it might happen, so I resolved also toput our ships into a condition for both, as occasion should present.
Our men were nimble at this work, especially having been so wellrefreshed and heartened up by their extraordinary supply of fresh meats,and the additions of good broths and soups which they fed on every dayin the island, and with which they were supplied without any manner oflimitation all the time they were at work.
This I say being their case, they got the Madagascar ship hauled down,and her bottom washed and tallowed, and she was as clean as when shefirst came off the stocks in five days' time: and she was rigged, andall set to rights, and fit for sailing in two more.
The great ship was not so soon fitted, nor was I in so much haste, for Ihad a design in my head which I had not yet communicated to anybody, andthat was to send the Madagascar ship a-cruising as soon as she wasfitted up; accordingly, I say, the fifth day she was ready, and Imanaged it so that the captain of the Madagascar ship openly, before allthe men, made the motion, as if it had been his own project, and desiredI would let him go and try his fortune, as he called it.
I seemed unwilling at first, but he added to his importunity, that heand all his crew were desirous, if they made any purchase, it should bedivided among all the crews in shares, according as they were shipped;that if it was provisions, the captain should buy it at half price, forthe use of the whole, and the money to be shared.
Upon hearing his proposals, which were esteemed very just, and the menall agreeing, I gave consent, and so he had my orders and instructions,and leave to be out twelve days on his cruise, and away he went. Hisship was an excellent sailer, as has been said, and being now a veryclean vessel, I thought he might speak with any other, or get away fromher if he pleased; by the way, I ordered him to put out none but Frenchcolours.
He cruised a week without seeing a sail, and stood in quite to theSpanish shore in one place, but in that he was wrong. The eighth day,giving over all expectations, he stood off again to sea, and the nextmorning he spied a sail, which proved to be a large Spanish ship, andthat seemed to stand down directly upon him, which a little checked hisforwardness; however, he kept on his course, when the Spaniard seeinghim plainer than probably he had done at first, tacked, and crowding allthe sail he could carry, stood in for the shore.
The Spaniard was a good sailer, but our ship plainly gained upon her,and in the evening came almost up with her; when he saw the land, thoughat a great distance, he was loath to be seen chasing her from the shore;however, he followed, and night coming on, the Spaniard changed hiscourse, thinking to get away, but as the moon was just rising, our men,who resolved to keep her in sight, if possible, perceived her, andstretched after her with all the canvass they could lay on.
This chase held till about midnight, when our ship coming up with her,took her after a little dispute. They pretended, at first, to havenothing on board but timber, which they were carrying, as they said, tosome port for the building of ships; but our men had the secret to makethe Spaniards confess their treasure, if they had any, so that aftersome hard words with the Spanish commander, he confessed he had somemoney on board, which, on our men's promise of good usage, he afterwardsvery honestly delivered, and which might amount to about sixteenthousand pieces of eight.
But he had what we were very glad of besides, viz., about two hundredgreat jars of very good wheat flour, a large quantity of oil, and somecasks of sweetmeats, all which was to us very good prize.
But now our difficulty was, what we should do with the ship, and withthe Spaniards; and this was so real a difficulty that I began to wish hehad not taken her, lest her being suffered to go, she should alarm thecountry, or if detained, discover us all.
It was not above one day beyond his orders that we had the pleasure ofseeing the captain of the Madagascar come into the road, with his prizein tow, and the flour and oil was a very good booty to us; but uponsecond and better thoughts, we brought the Spaniards to a fair treaty,and, which was more difficult, brought all our men to consent to it. Thecase was this. Knowing what I proposed to myself to do, namely, to tradeall the way up the Spanish coast, and to pass for French ships, I knewthe taking this Spanish ship would betray us all, unless I resolved tosink the ship and murder all the men; so I came to a resolution oftalking with the Spanish captain, and making terms with him, which Isoon made him very glad to accept of.
First, I pretended to be angry with the captain of the Madagascar ship,and ordered him to be put under confinement, for having made a prize ofhis catholic majesty's subjects, we being subjects to the king ofFrance, who was in perfect peace with the king of Spain.
Then I told him that I would restore him his ship and all his money, andas to his flour and oil, which the men had fallen greedily upon, havinga want of it, I would pay him the full value in money for it all, andfor any other loss he had sustained, only that I would oblige him to liein the road at the island where we were, till we returned from ourvoyage to Lima, whither we were going to trade, for which lying I alsoagreed to pay him demurrage for his ship, after the rate of eighthundred pieces of eight per month, and if I returned not in four months,he was to be at his liberty to go.
The captain, who thought himself a prisoner and undone, readily embracedthis offer; and so we secured his ship till our return, and there wefound him very honestly at an anchor, of which I shall give a fartheraccount in its place.
We were now, as I have said, much about the middle of our voyage, atleast as I had intended it; and having stored ourselves with every thingthe place afforded, we got ready to proceed, for we had, as it were,dwelt here near a fortnight.
By this time the weather was good again, and we stood away to thesouth-east for the port of Baldivia, as above, and reached to themouth, of the harbour in twelve days' sail.
I was now to change faces again, and Captain Merlotte appeared ascaptain, all things being transacted in his name, and French captainswere put into the brigantine, and into the Madagascar ship also. Thefirst thing the captain did was to send a civil message to the Spanishgovernor, to acquaint him, that being come into those seas as friends,under his most Christian majesty's commission, and with the king ofSpain's permission, we desired to be treated as allies, and to beallowed to take water and wood, and to buy such refreshments as wewanted, for which we would pay ready money; also we carried Frenchcolours, but took not the least notice of our intention to trade withthem.
We received a very civil answer from the governor, viz., That being theking of France's subjects, and that they were in alliance with us, wewere very welcome to wood and water, and any provision the place wouldafford, and that our persons should be safe, and in perfect liberty togo on shore; but that he could not allow any of our men to lie on shore,it being express in his orders that he should not permit any nation notactually in commission from the king of Spain to come on shor
e and staythere, not even one night; and that this was done to prevent disorders.
We answered, that we were content with that order, seeing we did notdesire our men should go on shore to stay there, we not being able toanswer for any misbehaviour, which was frequent among seamen.
While we continued here, several Spaniards came on board and visited us,and we often went on shore on the same pretence; but our supercargo, whounderstood his business too well not to make use of the occasion,presently let the Spaniards see that he had a great cargo of goods todispose of; they as freely took the hint, and let him know that they hadmoney enough to pay for whatever they bought; so they fell to work, andthey bought East India and China silks, Japan ware, China ware, spice,and something of everything we had. We knew we should not sell all ourcargo here; nor any extraordinary quantity; but we knew, on the otherhand, that, what we did sell here, we should sell for 100_l._ per cent.extraordinary, I mean more than we should sell for at Lima, or any otherports
