Mr. Betagh--who had been detached with Hatley in a small prize, the _Mercury_, which was captured by the _Brilliant_, the _Peregrine's_ consort--gives another version of this fight, from details obtained from the Spaniards. The ship, he says, mounted only 40 guns, and out of her crew of 350 men there were not above a dozen Europeans, the remainder being negroes, Indians, and half-castes, with no training, who were so terrified by the first discharge from the _Speedwell_ that they ran below: "The commander and his officers did what they could to bring them to their duty: they beat them, swore at them, and pricked them in the buttocks; but all would not do, for the poor devils were resolved to be frighted. Most of them ran quite down into the hold, while others were upon their knees praying the saints for deliverance. The _Speedwell_ did not fire above eight or nine guns, and, as they were found sufficient, Shelvocke had no reason to waste his powder. However, this panic of theirs gave Shelvocke a fair opportunity to get his men aboard, cut his cable, and go away right afore the wind. This is the plain truth of the matter, which everybody was agreed in, for I heard it at several places; though Shelvocke has cooked up a formal story of a desperate engagement to deceive those who knew him not into a wondrous opinion of his conduct." The reader can take his choice between these two versions; probably the truth lies somewhere midway, for, while Shelvocke was undoubtedly addicted at times to "drawing a long bow," Betagh was certainly a very bitter enemy of his, and all his statements are more or less coloured, no doubt, by animosity. The _Speedwell's_ days were numbered; on May 11th, 1720, she arrived once more at Juan Fernandez, Shelvocke designing to remain there for a time and refit, giving the Spaniards to believe that he had quitted the cruising-ground. He had only been there a fortnight, however, when in a hard onshore gale with a heavy sea, the cable--a new one--parted, and the vessel drove on shore; the masts went by the board, and though only one life was lost, the _Speedwell_ was done for--a hopeless wreck. Clipperton, meanwhile, having given up all hope of rejoining Shelvocke, had crossed the Atlantic and made his way, with much labour, through the Straits of Magellan, to the South Seas--it took them two months and a half to get through, and in September 1719 they visited Juan Fernandez, Clipperton being resolved to carry out his part of the bargain, and this being one of their appointed meeting-places. There the name of Magee, the doctor, was cut on the tree, and the instructions for Shelvocke buried in a bottle. Clipperton's name, we are told, was not cut in full, because he was well known out there, had been a prisoner for some time, and did not wish to advertise his return; but the precaution was futile, as we have seen.