When we had taken up the cutters, all the ships being joined, the commodore made a signal to speak with their commanders; and upon enquiry into the stock of fresh water remaining on board the squadron, it was found to be so very slender, that we were under a necessity of quitting our station to procure a fresh supply. It was agreed, that the harbour of Seguataneo or Chequetan being the nearest to us, was, on that account, the most eligible; it was therefore immediately resolved to make the best of our way thither: And that, even while we were recruiting our water, we might not abandon our views upon the galleon, which perhaps, upon certain intelligence of our ship being employed at Chequetan, might venture to slip out to sea; our cutter, under the command of Mr Hughes, the lieutenant of the Tryal prize, was ordered to cruise off the port of Acapulco for twenty-four days, that if the galleon should set sail in that interval, we might be speedily informed of it. In pursuance of these resolutions we endeavoured to ply to the westward, to gain our intended port, but were often interrupted in our progress by calms and adverse currents: In these intervals we employed ourselves in taking out the most valuable part of the cargoes of the Carmelo and Carmin prizes, which two ships we intended to destroy as soon as we had tolerably cleared them. By the first of April we were so far advanced towards Seguataneo, that we thought it expedient to send out two boats, that they might range along the coast, and discover the watering-place; they were gone some days, and our water being now very short, it was a particular felicity to us that we met with daily supplies of turtle, for had we been entirely confined to salt provisions, we must have suffered extremely in so warm a climate. Indeed our present circumstances were sufficiently alarming, and gave the most considerate amongst us as much concern as any of the numerous perils we had hitherto encountered; for our boats, as we conceived by their not returning, had not as yet discovered a place proper to water at, and by the leakage of our cask and other accidents, we had not ten days water on board the whole squadron; so that from the known difficulty of procuring water on this coast, and the little reliance we had on the Buccaneer writers, (the only guides we had to trust to) we were apprehensive of being soon exposed to a calamity, the most terrible of any in the long disheartening catalogue of the distresses of a sea-faring life.
But these gloomy suggestions were soon happily ended; for our boats returned on the 5th of April, having discovered a place proper for our purpose, about seven miles to the westward of the rocks of Seguataneo, which, by the description they gave of it, appeared to be the port called by Dampier the harbour of Chequetan. They were ordered out again the next day, to sound the harbour and its entrance, which they had represented as very narrow. At their return they reported the place to be free from any danger; so that on the 7th we stood in, and that evening came to an anchor in eleven fathom. The Gloucester came to an anchor at the same time with us; but the Camelo and the Carmin having fallen to leeward, the Tryal prize was ordered to join them, and to bring them in, which in two or three days she effected.
Footnote 1: [(return)]
It is unnecessary to detail this plan, as, for sufficient reasons soon discovered, it was not attempted to be executed.E.
SECTION XXII.
A short Account of Chequetan, and of the adjacent Coast and Country.
The harbour of Chequetan lies in the latitude of 17° 36' N. and is about thirty leagues to the westward of Acapulco. It is easy to be discovered by any ship that will keep well in with the land, especially by such as range down coast from Acapulco, and will attend to the following particulars.
There is a beach of sand which extends eighteen leagues from the harbour of Acapulco to the westward, against which the sea breaks with such violence that it is impossible to land in any part of it; but yet the ground is so clean; that ships, in the fair season, may anchor in great safety at the distance of a mile or two from the shore. The land adjacent to this beach is generally low, full of villages, and planted with a great number of trees; and on the tops of some small eminencies there are several look-out towers, so that the face of the country affords a very agreeable prospect: For the cultivated part, which is the part here described, extends some leagues back from the shore, and there appears to be bounded by the chain of mountains, which stretch to a considerable distance on either side of Acapulco. It is a most remarkable particularity, that in this whole extent, being, as hath been mentioned, eighteen leagues, and containing, in appearance, the most populous and best planted district of the whole coast, there should be neither canoes, boats, nor any other embarkations either for fishing, coasting, or for pleasure.
The beach here described is the surest guide for finding the harbour of Chequetan; for five miles to the westward of the extremity of this beach there appears a hummock, which at first makes like an island, and is in shape not very unlike the hill of Petaplan, hereafter mentioned, though much smaller. Three miles to the westward of this hummock is a white rock lying near the shore, which cannot easily be passed by unobserved; it is about two cables length from the land, and lies in a large bay about nine leagues over. The westward point of this bay is the hill of Petaplan. This hill, like the forementioned hummock, may be at first mistaken for an island, though it be, in reality, a peninsula, which is joined to the continent by a low and narrow isthmus, covered over with shrubs and small trees. The bay of Seguataneo extends from this hill a great way to the westward; and at a small distance from the hill, and opposite to the entrance of the bay, there is an assemblage of rocks, which are white, from the excrements of boobies and tropical birds. Four of these rocks are high and large, and, together with several other smaller ones, are, by the help of a little imagination, pretended to resemble the form of a cross, and are called the White Friars. These rocks bear W. by N. from Petaplan, and about seven miles to the westward of them lies the harbour of Chequetan, which is still more minutely distinguished by a large and single rock, that rises out of the water a mile and a half distant from its entrance, and bears S. 1/2 W. from the middle of it.[1]
These are the infallible marks by which the harbour of Chequetan may be known to those who keep well in with the land; and I must add, that the coast is no ways to be dreaded from the middle of October to the beginning of May, nor is there then any danger from the winds, though in the remaining part of the year there are frequent and violent tornadoes, heavy rains, and hard gales, in all directions of the compass. But as to those who keep at any considerable distance from the coast, there is no other method to be taken by them for finding this harbour than that of making it by its latitude; for there are so many ranges of mountains rising one upon the back of another within land, that no drawings of the appearance of the coast can be at all depended on when off at sea, for every little change of distance, or variation of position, brings new mountains in view, and produces an infinity of different prospects, which would render all attempts of delineating the aspect of the coast impossible.
The harbour is environed on all sides, except to the westward, with high mountains overspread with trees. The passage into it is very safe on either side of the rock that lies off the mouth of it, though we, both in coming in and going out, left it to the eastward. The ground without the harbour is gravel mixed with stones, but within it is soft mud: And it must be remembered, that in coming to an anchor a good allowance should be made for a large swell, which frequently causes a great send of the sea; as likewise for the ebbing and flowing of the tide, which we observed to be about five feet, and that it set nearly E. and W.