Copy of a letter from Vice-Adm. Cornish, to Mr. Clevland, dated in the bay of Manila, the 10th of November, 1762.
In my letter of the 31st of October, I acquainted you of my having sent Capt. Parker, with the Panther and Argo, in quest of the galleon Saint Philipina, from Acapulco bound to Manila.
The 7th instant, Capt. King in the Argo, returned, with a letter from Capt. Parker, acquainting me, that in consequence of my orders, having the 30th of October, got the length of the island Capul, near the entrance into the Embocadero, in pursuit of the Saint Philipina, where the Argo had come to an anchor (and which he intended to do for that night), just as the day closed saw a sail, and stand to the northward; at eight in the evening he got sight of the chace, about two leagues to leeward, but unluckily, by the rapidity of a counter current to what the chace was in, was drove among the Narango’s,[11] in the utmost danger of being lost, and obliged to anchor: the frigate having escaped the danger, got up with the chace, and engaged her near two hour; but was so roughly handled, that Capt. King was obliged to bring too to repair his damage. By this time the current slackened, which enabled Capt. Parker to get under sail with the chace in sight. About nine the next morning he came up with her, and after battering her two hours within half-musket shot, she struck. The enemy made but little resistance, trusting to the immense thickness of the sides of their ship, which the Panther’s shot was not able to penetrate, excepting her upper works. Capt. Parker was no less disappointed than surprised, when the General came on board, to find, that instead of the Saint Philipina, he had engaged and taken the Santissimo Trinidad,[12] who departed from Manila the 1st of August for Acapulco, and had got 300 leagues to the eastward of the Embocadero; but meeting with a hard gale of wind, was dismasted and put back to refit. She had 800 men on board, and pierced for sixty guns, but when Capt. King engaged her, had only six mounted, and but thirteen when taken. She draws thirty-three feet of water, and is a much larger ship than the Panther. I cannot ascertain the value of her cargo, but there is to the amount of one million and a half of dollars registered, and she is reputed to be worth three millions.
Capt. King left the Panther with her prize at an anchor about three leagues south of the Corregidow [i.e., Corregidor], at the mouth of this bay; and as I have sent a reinforcement of men with launches and warps, I hope very soon to have them in safety.[13] I am, &c.
[1] Facts regarding Samuel Cornish are few. In 1743, when captain of the fifty-gun ship “Guernsey,” he destroyed a Spanish privateer of twenty-two guns, which had taken shelter under an eight-gun battery near Cape de Gatt. He also performed numerous other services of the same kind, and took and destroyed a fleet of zebecks laden with provisions. In 1756 he was captain of the “Stirling Castle,” a vessel carrying 480 men, most of them the refuse of jails and the scum of the streets. In 1759 he was sent with reënforcements to the East Indies, in the “Lenox,” Captain Robert Jocelyn commanding, where he was reënforced in 1760 with five ships. He was at the reduction of Pondicherry in 1760, and at the reduction of Mahe in 1761. Thence he went to Bombay to refit, and went to meet Commodore Keppel for the attack of Bourbon and Mauritius, although these orders were later changed. His promotions are as follows: captain, 1742; rear admiral (white), 1759, (red), 1761; rear admiral (blue), 1762, (red), 1770. He was made a baronet in 1766. His death occurred October 30, 1770. See Allen’s Battles of British navy (London, 1878), i, pp. 147, 148; Clowes’s Royal Navy (Boston and London, 1898), iii, pp. 23, 196, 240, 565. [↑]
[2] The war with Spain came partly as a consequence of the so-called “Family compact” signed between France, Spain, Naples, and Parma, at Versailles, August 25, 1761. England declared war against Spain, January 2, 1762. The diplomatic history of this period is especially tortuous. [↑]
[3] Sir William Draper was the son of a collector of customs of Bristol, where he was born in 1721. He received his education at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge. Entering the military service, he went to the East Indies, where he entered the services of the East India Company, attaining the rank of colonel in 1760. In 1761 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general for the expedition to Belle Isle. When in Canton, China, whither he went for his health after the defense of Madras in 1759, he took occasion to study conditions in the Philippines, and learned that the Spaniards had no fear of attack since they were so far from Europe. He communicated plans to Lord Anson and Lord Egremont for their conquest at the first rumors of war with Spain, and was ordered to outline his plan fully. The colors taken at the storming of Manila were given by him to King’s College, where they were hung in the chapel. When the 79th regiment was reduced he was given command of the 16th regiment of foot, but resigned that post. His health rendered it necessary for him to retire to South Carolina, in 1769, and while in America he made a tour of the colonies. In 1769 he married the daughter of Chief-Justice Lancey of New York, by whom he had one daughter. He had reached the rank of lieutenant-general in 1779 when he was appointed governor-general of Minorca, which office he held until the surrender of that island. His death occurred January 8, 1787, while in retirement at Bath. See New and general biographical dictionary (London, 1798), v, pp. 146, 147; Chalmers’s Biographical dictionary (London, 1813), xii, pp. 316–318; Rose’s New general biographical dictionary (London, 1848), vii, pp. 138, 139; and Campbell’s Lives of British Admirals (London, 1817), v, pp. 175, 176. [↑]