Major General Gibbons, if he had not the King's Protection, yet he had Friends at the Court of England who made Application for him to be Captain of the Fort at Boston, and one of the Council, the latter End of the Year one Thousand six Hundred and Thirty-eight, or in the Beginning of the Year one Thousand six Hundred and Thirty-nine. That the most secret Affairs of the Court were at that Time betrayed, I believe will be admitted, and the Secret of his designed Attempt might be known, by his applying for Leave of Absence from his Post during the Time that he should be engaged in this Undertaking. Or the Persons with whom he corresponded in England might be apprized of his intended Voyage, he could not, at that Time of Day, be supplied with every Thing that was necessary thereto in America; and as he intended to trade, he would be for procuring his Goods from England. By some of these Means probably his Design perspired, and was secretly and unexpectedly, transmitted to the Court of Spain.
There are several Reasons to be assigned why both Viceroys should be informed, not only the Viceroy of Peru, in whose District the Ships were to be fitted, but the Viceroy of New Spain also. That if a Passage was made by any other Way than where the Ships were to be stationed to intercept the Boston Men, or they accidentally passed such Ships, the Viceroys might order a Look-out also to be kept. And such a Provision being made, it would be scarce possible, if a Passage was obtained, that the Boston People should get clear out of those Seas, and not fall into the Hands of the Spaniards. Another Reason is, that such Particulars as de Fonte was to put in for on the Coast of Mexico might be ready, that de Fonte might not meet with the least Delay, as such Delay might occasion the Disappointment of his Design.
The Letter proceeds, 'Upon which, I Admiral de Fonte, received Orders from Spain and the Viceroys to equip four Ships of Force.' These Words, upon which, I understand not to allude to the Advice given the Viceroys, but refer to the Attempt intended from Boston, and as to which he had received his Orders from Spain. But from the Viceroys he received Orders only as to the Equipment of the four Ships, as Orders of that Nature would regularly proceed from them. If it was otherwise, and he had also received his Orders from them, containing Instructions as to the Conduct of his Voyage, he would have made his Report to the Viceroys as to the Manner in which he had conducted his Voyage, and they would have reported it to the Court.
De Fonte mentioning the Viceroys so simply and plainly, without any respectful or distinguishing Additions, is an Instance that this Letter was wrote to the Court of Spain, it not being proper, in a Letter so addressed, to mention the Viceroys in any other Manner; and as it is also evident from the Expression, I Admiral de Fonte, that he did not write this Letter in his private Capacity, but as an Admiral, therefore this Letter could not be otherwhere addressed than to such Court, to transmit an Account how he had executed these Orders, which he had received immediately from Spain.
De Fonte mentioning that the Advice which the Viceroys received was from the Court of Spain, and that the Orders he received were from Spain, carries a Distinction with it as though the Advice and the Orders were not transmitted from the same Persons. Those who transmitted the Advice to the Viceroys were not seemingly in the Secret, as to the particular Orders or Instructions which were sent to de Fonte, as to the Manner in which he was to conduct his Voyage. It was the Province of the Admiral of Castile, who was stiled Captain General of the Sea, who was subject to no Controul but the King's, to issue all Orders relative to maritime Affairs, and therefore de Fonte's Orders might come from him. Or otherwise these Orders were immediately transmitted by the Conde de Olivarez, who was on ill Terms with the Admiral, and regarded no Forms, under the Sanction of the Favour he had with the King, whom he influenced to authorize all his Measures. It is also consistent with the Conduct of Don Olivarez that this Affair should be managed in this Manner, who was always mysterious, confided in his own Judgment, singular in his Manners, and therefore was called a Lover of Projects, and supposed a meer Visionary in some of them. He did not want for Persons of the greatest Abilities to assist him, and the Accuracy with which the Orders are composed that were sent to de Fonte, (as may be collected from the Manner in which the Voyage is conducted, and in which it cannot be supposed de Fonte was left to his Discretion) is an Instance there had been no Want of the Assistance of able, sagacious and experienced Persons in the composing of such Orders and Instructions.
The Design of this introductory Part is to shew the Proceedings in this Affair previous to his Voyage; that the Advice was received, and the Orders subsequent were obeyed; and it is drawn with peculiar Care and a Conciseness which would be censured in a Voyage Writer, but is used with the greatest Propriety on this Occasion.
The Names of the Ships are agreeable to the Manner that the Spaniards name theirs; and by Ships of Force is not meant either their Caracks or Galeons, but Country Ships, which the Equipment seems to imply, made defensible against any Attacks of the Natives, and to have nothing to fear from the Boston Men, and these Ends could be obtained in Vessels which had no great Draught of Water, as the Rivers they were to pass up and the Lakes required, and of a Tonnage suitable to those Northern Seas, therefore de Fonte only expresses their Names, and their Commanders, says nothing of their Rates.
De Fonte, in his Course from the Callao of Lima, and in all his subsequent Courses through the Voyage, computes his Distance after the Marine Manner, from that Land from where he takes his Departure to the Land made when he enters a Harbour, or the Termination of the Land which makes such Harbour to Seaward; and here takes his Departure from the extreme Part of the Callao of Lima, which is in the Latitude 11° 5´ S. Longitude 80° 39´ W. and from which to St. Helena, being North of the Bay of Guiaguil, in Lat. 2° 5´ S. Long. 84° 6´ W. is two hundred Leagues; and there is no Fault in the Impression, as hath been supposed. Though these Words, on the North Side of the Bay of Guiaguil seem to be an Interpolation.
The Distance said to be run between the Callao of Lima and St. Helena is not reconcileable with the Accounts published by Dampier, Wood Rogers, or the Accounts in general, excepting with a Copy of a Spanish Manuscript, of the Latitudes and Longitudes of the most noted Places in the South Seas, corrected from the latest Observations, by Manuel Monz. Prieto, Professor of Arts in Peru, whose Computation of Longitude is from the Meridian of Paris; but he fixes Lima at full eighty Degrees. I use Prieto's Tables in this, and principally in all my subsequent Computations, though de Fonte no where mentions the Longitude in this Letter, as he only regards the Difference of the Meridian of Lima. And it by no Means invalidates but favours the Authenticity of this Account, that de Fonte differs in his Computation from the English and French Accounts at, and after those Times, which also differ from each other, as they only ranged along the Coasts of those Seas, judged of their Distances according to their Journals, and must have made many vague Observations, as to the Latitude of Places, by Inspection of the Land from Sea, and which Land they might not certainly know. Their best Directions they got from Manuscript Journals, or Sea Waggoners, composed for their own Use by Coasters. But the navigating of the King's Ships were better provided for in this respect; and we may well suppose that de Fonte was not, on this Occasion, deficient in Artists well versed in the Theory as well as the Practice of Navigation, and under this Character of an Artist we may consider Parmentiers. The Truth, as to the Latitude, once fixed is not variable by Time; and in this respect de Fonte and Prieto must agree, though a Century between the Time of their Computations.
The Expression, 'anchored in the Port of St. Helena (in Spanish, Santa Elena) within the Cape,' hath something more particular in it than appears on a transient View. The Point of St. Helena is thus described in the sailing Directions in the Atlas Maritimus, published in 1728. 'The Point itself is high, but as you come nearer in there is a lower Point runs out sharpening towards the Sea. And there are two distinct Anchorages within this Port, one within the lower Point, here Vessels ride without Shelter, and amongst Banks and Shoals. Under the high Land, there is the other Anchorage, deep Water, and secure riding.' Under this high Land, being called the Port within the Cape, is a Distinction which I do not find made by the Voyage Writers, or in any other of the sailing Directions for these Parts that I have seen; and de Fonte particularly mentions, as it may be supposed, being in Conformity with his Instructions.