For these reasons, the surprisal of the place was the only method that could at all answer our purpose; and therefore the manner in which Mr. Anson proposed to conduct this enterprize was, by setting sail with the squadron in the evening, time enough to arrive at the port in the night. As there {235} is no danger on that coast, he would have stood boldly for the harbour's mouth, where he expected to arrive, and perhaps might have entered, before the Spaniards were acquainted with his designs. As soon as he had run into the harbour, he intended to have pushed two hundred of his men on shore in his boats, who were immediately to attempt the fort, whilst he, the commodore, with his ships, was employed in firing upon the town and the other batteries. And these different operations, which would have been executed with great regularity, could hardly have failed of succeeding against an enemy who would have been prevented by the suddenness of the attack, and by the want of daylight, from concerting any measures for their defence. So that it was extremely probable that we should have carried the fort by storm, and then the other batteries, being open behind, must have been soon abandoned, after which, the town and its inhabitants, and all the treasure, must necessarily have fallen into our hands. For the place is so cooped up with mountains that it is scarcely possible to escape out of it but by the great road which passes under the fort. This was the project which the commodore had thus far settled generally in his thoughts, but when he began to inquire into such circumstances as were necessary to be considered in order to regulate the particulars of its execution, he found there was a difficulty, which, being insuperable, occasioned the enterprize to be laid aside; as on examining the prisoners about the winds which prevail near the shore, he learnt (and it was afterwards confirmed by the officers of our cutters) that nearer in shore there was always a dead calm for the greatest part of the night, and that towards morning, when a gale sprung up, it constantly blew off the land, so that the setting sail from our present station in the evening, and arriving at Acapulco before daylight, was impossible.