27th. The 27th, Watling examined one of the old Spaniards concerning the force at Arica; and being offended at his answers, ordered him to be shot, which was done. The same morning they took a small bark from the River Camarones, laden with fresh water.
On the Coast of Peru. In the night of the 28th, Watling with one hundred men departed from the ship in the small prize bark and boats for Arica. They put ashore on the mainland about five leagues to the South of Arica, before it was light, and remained concealed among rocks all day. 30th. They attack Arica. At night, they again proceeded, and at daylight (on the 30th) Watling landed with 92 men, four miles from the town, to which they marched, and gained entrance, with the loss of three men killed, and two wounded. There was a castle or fort, which for their own security they ought immediately to have attacked; but Watling was only intent on making prisoners, until he was incommoded, with more than could be well guarded. This gave the inhabitants who had
fled, time to recover from their alarm, and they collected in the Fort. To complete the mistake, Watling at length advanced to attack the fort, where he found resistance more than he expected. Are Repulsed. Watling put in practice the expedient of placing his prisoners in front of his own men; but the defenders of the fort were not a whit deterred thereby from firing on the Buccaneers, who were twice repulsed. The Spaniards without, in the mean time, began to make head from all parts; and in a little time the Buccaneers, from being the assailants, found themselves obliged to look to their defence. Watling killed. Watling their chief was killed, as were two quarter-masters, the boatswain, and some others of their best men; and the rest thought it necessary to retreat to their boats, which, though harassed the whole way by a distant firing from the Spaniards, they effected in tolerable order, and embarked.
In this attack, the Buccaneers lost in killed, and taken prisoners by the Spaniards, 28 men; and of those who got back to the ship, eighteen were wounded. Among the men taken by the Spaniards were two surgeons, to whose care the wounded had been committed. 'We could have brought off our doctors,' says Ringrose, 'but they got to drinking whilst we were assaulting the fort, and when we called to them, they would not come with us.' The Spaniards gave quarter to the surgeons, 'they being able to do them good service in that country: but as to the wounded men taken prisoners, they were all knocked on the head.'
The whole party that landed at Arica narrowly escaped destruction; for the Spaniards learnt from the prisoners they took, the signals which had been agreed upon with the men left in charge of the boats; of which information they made such use, that the boats had quitted their station, and set sail to run down to the town; but some Buccaneers who had been most
speedy in the retreat, arrived at the sea side just in time to call them back.
Sharp again chosen Commander. This miscarriage so much disheartened the whole Buccaneer crew, that they made no attempt to take three ships which were at anchor in the road before Arica. Sharp was reinstated in the command, because he was esteemed a leader of safer conduct than any other; and every one was willing to quit the South Sea, but which it was now proposed they should do by re-crossing the Isthmus. March. Huasco. They did not, however, immediately steer Northward; but continued to beat up against the wind to the Southward, till the 10th of March, when they landed at Guasco or Huasco (in lat. about 28½°) from which place they carried off 120 sheep, 80 goats, 200 bushels of corn, and filled their jars with fresh water.
From Huasco they stood to the North. On the 27th, they passed Arica. The Narrative remarks, 'our former entertainment had been so very bad, that we were no ways encouraged to stop there again.' Ylo. They landed at Ylo, of which Wafer says, 'the River Ylo is situated in a valley which is the finest I have seen in all the coast of Peru, and furnished with a multitude of vegetables. A great dew falls here every night.'
April. April the 16th, they were near the Island Plata. By this time new opinions and new projects had been formed. Many of the crew were again willing to try their fortune longer in the South Sea; but one party would not continue under the command of Sharp, and others would not consent to choosing a new commander. As neither party would yield, it was determined to separate, and agreed upon by all hands, 'that which party soever upon polling should be found to have the majority, should keep the ship.' The other party was to have the long-boat and the canoes. On coming to a division, Sharp's party proved the most numerous. The minority consisted of forty-four Europeans,
two Mosquito Indians, and a Spanish Indian. Another Party of the Buccaneers return across the Isthmus. On the forenoon of the 17th, the party in the boats separated from the ship, and proceeded for the Gulf de San Miguel, where they landed, and returned over the Isthmus back to the West Indies. In this party were William Dampier, and Lionel Wafer the surgeon. Dampier afterwards published a brief sketch of the expedition, and an account of his return across the Isthmus, both of which are in the 1st volume of his Voyages. Wafer met with an accidental hurt whilst on the Isthmus, which disabled him from travelling with his countrymen, and he remained some months living with the Darien Indians, of whom he afterwards published an entertaining description, with a Narrative of his own adventures among them.