hey had looked
with a jealous eye.[1] For this end, in May, they fitted out an
armament at Havanna, consisting of fifty-six sail, and seven or eight
thousand men; but the fleet, being dispersed by a storm, did not all
arrive at St. Augustine, the place of their destination. Don Manuel
de Monteano, Governor of that fortress, and of the town and region it
protected, had the command of the expedition.

[Footnote 1: Appendix, No. XXV.]

About the end of May, or beginning of June, the schooner, which had
been sent out on a cruise by General Oglethorpe, returned with the
information that there were two Spanish men of war, with twenty guns
each, besides two very large privateers, and a great number of
small vessels, full of troops, lying at anchor off the bar of St.
Augustine. This intelligence was soon after confirmed by Captain
Haymer, of the Flamborough man of war, who had fallen in with part of
the Spanish fleet on the coast of Florida, and drove some vessels on
shore.

Having been apprized of this, the General, apprehending that the
Spaniards had in view some formidable expedition against Georgia or
Carolina, or perhaps both, wrote to the Commander of his Majesty's
ships, in the harbor of Charlestown, urging him to come to his
assistance. Lieutenant Maxwell, the bearer, arrived and delivered the
letter on the 12th of June. Directly afterwards he sent Lieutenant
Mackay to Governor Glenn, of South Carolina, requesting his military
aid with all expedition; and this despatch reached him on the 20th.
He then laid an embargo upon all the shipping in Georgia; and sent
messages to his faithful Indian allies, who gathered to his assistance
with all readiness.

And now the design of the Spaniards was manifest. On the 21st of June
the fleet appeared on the coast; and nine sail of vessels made an
attempt on Amelia Island, but were so warmly received by the cannon
from Fort William, and the guard-schooner of fourteen guns and ninety
men, commanded by Captain Dunbar, that they sheered off. When the
General was informed of this attack, he resolved to support the
fortifications on Cumberland Island; and set out with a detachment of
the regiment in three boats; but was obliged to make his way through
fourteen sail of vessels. This was very venturesome, and, indeed, was
considered as presumptuously hazardous. For, had a shot from one of
the galleys struck the boat in which he was, so as to disable or
sink it, or had he been overtaken