OUR CRUISE FROM THE TIME OF OUR LEAVING JUAN FERNANDES TO THE TAKING THE TOWN OF PAITA
Although the _Centurion_, with her prize, the _Carmelo_, weighed from the bay of Juan Fernandes on the 19th of September, leaving the _Gloucester_ at anchor behind her, yet, by the irregularity and fluctuation of the winds in the offing, it was the 22d of the same month, in the evening, before we lost sight of the island: after which we continued our course to the eastward, in order to reach our station, and to join the _Tryal_ off Valparaiso. The next night the weather proved squally, and we split our main top-sail, which we handed for the present, but got it repaired, and set it again the next morning. In the evening, a little before sunset, we saw two sail to the eastward; on which our prize stood directly from us, to avoid giving any suspicion of our being cruisers, whilst we, in the meantime, made ourselves ready for an engagement, and steered with all our canvas towards the two ships we had discovered. We soon perceived that one of these, which had the appearance of being a very stout ship, made directly for us, whilst the other kept at a great distance. By seven o'clock we were within pistol-shot of the nearest, and had a broadside ready to pour into her, the gunners having their matches in their hands, and only waiting for orders to fire; but, as we knew it was now impossible for her to escape us, Mr. Anson, before he permitted us to fire, ordered the master to hale the ship in Spanish; on which the commanding officer on board her, who proved to be Mr. Hughes, lieutenant of the _Tryal_, answered us in English, and informed us that she was a prize taken by the _Tryal_ a few days before, and that the other sail at a distance was the _Tryal_ herself disabled in her masts. We were soon after joined by the _Tryal_, and Captain Saunders, her commander, came on board the _Centurion_. He acquainted the commodore that he had taken this ship the 18th instant; that she was a prime sailor, and had cost him thirty-six hours' { 161} chace before he could come up with her; that for some time he gained so little upon her that he began to despair of taking her; and the Spaniards, though alarmed at first with seeing nothing but a cloud of sail in pursuit of them, the _Tryal's_ hull being so low in the water that no part of it appeared, yet knowing the goodness of their ship, and finding how little the _Tryal_ neared them, they at length laid aside their fears, and recommending themselves to the blessed Virgin for protection, began to think themselves secure. Indeed their success was very near doing honour to their Ave Marias, for, altering their course in the night, and shutting up their windows to prevent any of their lights from being seen, they had some chance of escaping; but a small crevice in one of the shutters rendered all their invocations ineffectual, for through this crevice the people on board the _Tryal_ perceived a light, which they chased till they arrived within gunshot, and then Captain Saunders alarmed them unexpectedly with a broadside, when they flattered themselves they were got out of his reach. However, for some time after they still kept the same sail abroad, and it was not observed that this first salute had made any impression on them; but, just as the _Tryal_ was preparing to repeat her broadside, the Spaniards crept from their holes, lowered their sails, and submitted without any opposition. She was one of the largest merchantmen employed in those seas, being about six hundred tuns burthen, and was called the _Arranzazu_. She was bound from Callao to Valparaiso, and had much the same cargo with the _Carmelo_ we had taken before, except that her silver amounted only to about £5000 sterling.