A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History; of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and; Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the; Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History; of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and; Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the; Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
After Commodore Martinet had cleared the coast of Chili and Peru
of his countrymen, he sent his brother-in-law, Monsieur de Grange,
express with the news to Madrid, who went by way of Panama,
Portobello, Jamaica, and London. On delivering his message, the king
of Spain asked what he could do for him, when he humbly requested his
majesty would give him the command of a ship, and send him again round
Cape Horn into the South Sea. He accordingly got the Zelerin, of fifty
guns. He came first to _Calais_,[2] where the ship was getting ready,
and was surprised to meet with a cold reception from the French
merchants and other gentlemen of his acquaintance residing there; for,
as there were merchants of various nations interested in the ships
taken and confiscated in the South Sea, they universally considered
him and all the French in that squadron as false brethren, for serving
the crown of Spain to the prejudice of their own countrymen. Thus,
while he expected to have had a valuable cargo consigned to his care,
no man would ship the value of a dollar with him. Captain Fitzgerald,
who was then at _Cales_, made him a considerable offer for the
privilege of going out as his second officer, with liberty to take out
what goods he might be able to procure, in his own name. As de Grange
was not a little embarrassed, he accepted this offer, and procured a
commission for Fitzgerald as second captain. They accordingly manned
the Zelerin chiefly with French seamen, and some English, and got very
well round Cape Horn. At this time our two privateers, the Success and
Speedwell, were known to be in the South Seas, and the Zelerin was
one of the ships commissioned by the viceroy of Peru to cruize for
us. Fitzgerald sold all his goods to great advantage at Lima, where he
continued to reside; while de Grange served as captain under Admiral
Don Pedro Miranda, who took Hately and me prisoners.
[Footnote 2: This, certainly, is a mistake for Cadiz, often named
Cales by English seamen; and, in fact, only a few lines lower down,
the place is actually named Cales.--E.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account