About seven years after Captain Woodes Rogers returned from his cruise another privateering expedition to the South Seas was started by some London merchants; but, as England was not then at war with Spain, it was to sail under commission from the Emperor Charles VI.--which was quite a legitimate proceeding. The owners selected, as commanders of the two ships--named _Success_ and _Speedwell_--George Shelvocke, who had formerly served in the Navy as purser, and also probably as a lieutenant, and John Clipperton, who, it will be remembered, was with William Dampier on his disastrous voyage, and left his chief, with a number of men, to pursue his own fortunes. It was deemed politic and complimentary to give the vessels other names, and accordingly they were re-christened respectively _Prince Eugene_ and _Staremberg_. Shelvocke, who was to command the expedition, went over to Ostend in the _Staremberg_ to receive the commission; but scarcely had it been drawn up and signed, when war was declared by England against Spain, and the owners then resolved to send the ships out under a commission from their own sovereign; and, being greatly dissatisfied with Shelvocke's dilatory and extravagant conduct while he was in Ostend, they gave Clipperton the chief command, with Shelvocke under him, in the other ship, the vessels now reverting to their English names. Shelvocke, a jealous, passionate, and somewhat unscrupulous man, was from the first at loggerheads with Clipperton and with several of his own officers, who all appear to have hated him; he was not, in fact, fitted for command, and all went wrong from the first. As his second captain, Shelvocke had Simon Hatley, who was with Rogers, and had some rough experiences, being captured and kept in prison at Lima for a considerable time; and as Captain of the Marines one William Betagh, of whom more anon. After sailing from Plymouth on February 13th, 1719, the two ships got into bad weather; all the liquor for both ships had, by some stupid arrangement, been put on board Shelvocke's vessel, the _Speedwell_, and Shelvocke says that when they were two days out he hailed Clipperton, desiring him to send for his share, in order that the _Speedwell_ might be better trimmed; however, nothing was done in the matter, and on the night of the 19th they encountered a terrific storm, during which they separated; but this should have made no difference, as they had agreed to meet at the Canary Islands.