on ship board, and who were now for the first time on shore of an
enemy's country, joyous as seamen always are when they land, and
animated on the present occasion with the hopes of immense pillage,
joined with the noise of their drums, and favoured by the night, had
augmented their numbers, in the opinion of the astonished enemy, to
at least three hundred; by which estimation, the inhabitants were so
greatly intimidated, that they were infinitely more solicitous about
the means of flight than of resistance. Hence, though upon entering
the parade, our people received a volley from the merchants to whom
the treasure then in the town belonged, who were ranged in a gallery
that went round the governor's house, yet that post was immediately
abandoned on the first fire made by our people, who were thereby left
in quiet possession of the parade.

Mr Brett now divided his men into two parties, ordering one of them to
surround the governor's house, and if possible to secure the governor,
while he went himself at the head of the other party, with the
intention of forcing possession of the fort. But the enemy abandoned
it on his approach, making their escape over the walls, and he entered
it without opposition. Thus the place was mastered in less than a
quarter of an hour after landing, and with no other loss on our side
than one man killed and two wounded. One of these was the Spanish
pilot of the Teresa, who received a slight bruise by a ball, which
grazed his wrist. The honourable Mr Keppell, son to the Earl of
Albemarle, had on this occasion a narrow escape. He wore a jockey-cap,
one side of the peak of which was shaved off by a ball, close to his
temple, yet did him no other injury.

Having thus far happily succeeded, Mr Brett placed a guard at the
fort, and another in the governor's house, and fixed centinels at all
the avenues of the town, both to prevent any surprise from the enemy,
and to secure the effects in the place from being embezzled. His next
care was to seize upon the custom-house, in which the treasure was
lodged, and to examine if any of the inhabitants remained in the town,
that he might know what farther precautions were necessary. He soon
found that the numbers remaining were no ways formidable; for by far
the greatest part of them, being in bed when the place was surprised,
had run away with so much precipitation, that they had not taken
time to put on their clothes. The governor was not the last to secur