founded on our
having many Spanish and Indian prisoners in our possession, and
a number of sick negroes, who could be of no service to us in the
navigating of the ship. The commodore therefore wrote a letter the
same day to the governor of Acapulco, telling him that he would
release them all, provided the governor returned the cutter's crew;
and the letter was dispatched the same afternoon by a Spanish officer,
of whose honour we had a good opinion, and who was furnished with
a launch belonging to one of our prizes, and a crew of six other
prisoners who all gave their parole for their return. The officer,
besides the commodore's letter, carried with him a petition signed by
all the prisoners, beseeching his excellency to acquiesce in the terms
proposed. From a consideration of the number of our prisoners, and
the quality of some of them, we did not doubt but the governor would
readily comply, and therefore we kept plying on and off the whole
night, intending to keep well in with the land, that we might receive
an answer at the limited time, which was the next day, being Monday:
But both on the Monday and Tuesday we were driven so far off shore,
that we could not hope to receive any answer; and on the Wednesday
morning we found ourselves fourteen leagues from the harbour of
Acapulco; but as the wind was now favourable, we pressed forwards with
all our sail, and did not doubt of getting in with the land in a
few hours. Whilst we were thus standing in, the man at the mast-head
called out that he saw a boat under sail at a considerable distance
to the south-eastward: This we took for granted was the answer of the
governor to the commodore's message, and we instantly edged towards
it; but when we drew nearer, we found to our unspeakable joy that it
was our own cutter. While she was still at a distance, we imagined
that she had been discharged out of the port of Acapulco by the
governor; but when she drew nearer, the wan and meagre countenances of
the crew, the length of their beards, and the feeble and hollow tone
of their voices, convinced us that they had suffered much greater
hardships than could be expected from even the severities of a
Spanish prison. They were obliged to be helped into the ship, and were
immediately put to bed, and with rest, and nourishing diet, which
they were plentifully supplied with, from the commodore's table, they
recovered their health and vigour apace. We learnt that they had kept
the sea the