On this occasion I cannot but remark a singular circumstance of one of the pilots employed by us in this business. It seems (as we afterwards learnt) he had been taken by Captain Clipperton above twenty years before, and had been obliged to lead Clipperton and his people to the surprize of Truxillo, a town within land to the southward of Paita, where, however, he contrived to alarm his countrymen and to save them, though the place was carried and pillaged. Now that the only two attempts on shore, which were made at so long an interval from each other, should be guided by the same person, and he too a prisoner both times, and forced upon the employ contrary to his inclination, is an incident so very extraordinary that I could not help mentioning it. But to return to the matter in hand. During our preparations, the ships themselves stood towards the port with all the sail they could make, being secure that we were yet at too great a distance to be seen. But about ten o'clock at night, the ships being then within five leagues of the place, Lieutenant Brett, with the boats under his command, put off, and arrived at the mouth of the bay without being discovered, though no sooner had he entered it than some of the people on board a vessel riding at anchor there perceived him, who instantly getting into their boat, rowed towards the fort, shouting and crying, "The English, the English dogs," etc., by which the whole town was suddenly alarmed, and our people soon observed several lights hurrying backwards and forwards in the fort, and other marks of the inhabitants being in great motion. Lieutenant Brett, on this, encouraged his men to pull briskly up, that they might give the enemy as little time as possible to prepare for their defence. However, before our boats could reach the shore, the people in the fort had got ready some of their cannon, and pointed them towards the {180} landing-place; and though in the darkness of the night it might be well supposed that chance had a greater share than skill in their direction, yet the first shot passed extremely near one of the boats, whistling just over the heads of the crew. This made our people redouble their efforts, so that they had reached the shore and were in part disembarked by the time the second gun fired. As soon as our men landed, they were conducted by one of the Spanish pilots to the entrance of a narrow street, not above fifty yards distant from the beach, where they were covered from the fire of the fort; and being formed in the best manner the shortness of the time would allow, they immediately marched for the parade, which was a large square at the end of this street, the fort being one side of the square, and the governor's house another. In this march (though performed with tolerable regularity) the shouts and clamours of threescore sailors, who had been confined so long on shipboard, and were now for the first time on shore in an enemy's country, joyous as they always are when