[XXXI‑18] He died in prison at Madrid. Alcedo, Dic., iv. 45; and Haya, in Datas para la Historia del Istmoa.
[XXXI‑19] Giro del Mondo, 240. Captain Seeman mentions that the largest and most beautiful pearl ever found on the coast of Panamá measured three quarters of an inch in diameter, and was perfectly round. It was obtained at the Puerdes Islands. Voy., i. 268.
[XXXI‑20] The asiento was to last 30 years, to May 1, 1743. The contractors were to export 4,800 negroes annually and to pay to the crown of Spain 33⅓ escudos for each one; and also to advance his Catholic Majesty 200,000 escudos payable in 20 years. Should more negroes be required, 4,800 extra might be exported, for each of whom 16⅓ pesos were to be paid. Negroes carried to the windward coast were not to be sold for more than 300 pesos each, but there was no limit to price in Tierra Firme or New Spain. No other company was to be allowed to engage in this traffic, and no merchandise could be carried under penalty of confiscation. The ships of the contractors could sail from either British or Spanish Ports. Salmon's Mod. Hist., iii. 219-22.
[XXXI‑21] Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 192; Haya, Informe al Rey, 4; Robertson's Hist. Amer., ii. 394-9.
[XXXI‑22] Letters of marque were issued on July 21st, and Vernon's squadron sailed on the 20th, touching, perhaps, at Portsmouth for orders.
[XXXI‑23] The governor of the city, Francisco Martinez de Retzez, underwent bitter humiliation if we may believe Sir Edward Seaward, who was at the time a prisoner in Portobello. Seaward and his friend Captain Knight had been arrested on account of an altercation with the governor and for refusing to apologize to the king of Spain for having in the previous year released certain captives imprisoned in Portobello. Both were ill treated, and when they reported the matter to Vernon the admiral ordered the governor and themselves to appear before him. 'I have no quarrel with Don Francisco Martinez de Retzez on my own account,' said Seaward, 'but I have, and ever shall have, a quarrel with him on account of the king my master, whom he most grossly insulted by disrespectful words, in the presence of Captain Knight and myself.' 'What did he say?' asked Vernon. 'He first insulted Sir Edward Seaward, by the most insolent and contemptuous behavior,' replied the captain, 'and when I remonstrated, telling him, that he should recollect that Sir Edward Seaward was equal in rank to himself, holding honourable commissions under the king of England, he replied, "I do not consider the king of England himself equal in rank to me; for he is little better than a Dutchman." 'You damned poltroon!' roared the admiral, 'with all your long yarn of hard names, what shall I call you? Down on your marrow-bones, you scoundrel, and beg pardon of the king our master, or I'll kick you from hell to Hackney!' The don asked pardon of his late captives, but would do no more. This would not satisfy Vernon, and throwing down a guinea he grasped him by the neck and forced him into a stooping position, shouting, 'There is the king's picture! down on your knees, you blackguard, and ask forgiveness.' The governor took up the coin and exclaiming in a low tone, 'Yo he ofendido,' laid it down again. This was considered a sufficient apology. Seaward's Narr., edited by Jane Porter, 3d ed., London, 1841, ii. 280-1, 290-2. The work, no doubt largely fiction, purports to have been compiled from the MSS. of Seaward's diary.
[XXXI‑24] The crews of the guardas costas and other Spanish vessels in the harbor fell to plundering Portobello on the night of its capture and the inhabitants begged the admiral's protection. Geog. and Hist. Descrip. W. Ind., 109, London, 1741. This work gives a brief sketch of the history of Cartagena, Portobello, Vera Cruz, Habana, and San Agustin up to the beginning of 1740, with a description of each of these cities. It is claimed that the book was compiled from authentic memoirs, and as it was published less than two years after the capture of Portobello it is probably worthy of some credence, especially in matters of detail, although biassed in the main.
[XXXI‑25] Id., 108. In Douglas' Summary Hist. and Pol. (London, 1755), 46, it is stated that Vernon seized the Spanish factory and carried off goods to the value of £70,000. March y Labores, in Hist. Marina Española, ii. 662, says; 'No encontró allí el vencedor la riqueza que se prometia.'
[XXXI‑26] Soon after Anson left England the Spanish government despatched under Admiral Pizarro a squadron of six vessels to defeat Anson's purpose. The two armaments sighted each other near the straits of Magellan, but during the storm mentioned in the text three of the Spanish vessels were wrecked, two of the others reaching the mouth of La Plata with a loss of half their crew, and the remaining ship arriving there with a loss of 300 out of 450 men.
[XXXII‑1] For physical, social, and moral description of the Mosquitos, see [Native Races, i. 711], this series; and of their language, [Id., iii. 571-2], [782-90].