aboard
with the captain of our ship, a midshipman belonging to Monsieur
L'Etanducre jumped into our boat, and ordered the people to carry him on
board the ship he belonged to, leaving us to wait upon the beach for two
hours before the boat returned.

On the sixth of September, we put to sea, in company with the five men of
war and about fifty sail of merchantmen. On the eighth, we made the Cayco
Grande; and the next day a Jamaica privateer, a large fine sloop, hove in
sight, keeping a little to windward of the convoy, resolving to pick up one
or two of them in the night if possible. This obliged Monsieur L'Etanducre
to send a frigate to speak to all the convoy, and order them to keep close
to him in the night, which they did, and in such a manner, that sometimes
seven or eight of them were on board one another together, by which they
received much damage; and to repair which, the whole squadron was obliged
to lay-to sometimes for a whole day. The privateer kept her station,
jogging on with the fleet. At last, the commodore ordered two of his best
going ships to chace her. She appeared to take no notice of them till they
were pretty near her, and then would make sail and be out of sight
presently. The chacing ships no sooner returned, than the privateer was in
company again.

As by this every night some accident happened to some of the convoy by
keeping so close together, a fine ship of thirty guns belonging to
Marseilles, hauled out a little to windward of the rest of the fleet, which
L'Etanducre perceiving in the morning, ordered the frigate to bring the
captain of her on board of him; and then making a signal for all the convoy
to close to him, he fired a gun, and hoisted a red flag at the ensign
staff, and immediately after the captain of the merchantman was run up to
the main-yard-arm, and from thence ducked three times. He was then sent on
board his ship again, with orders to keep his colours flying the whole day,
in order to distinguish him from the rest. We were then told, that the
person who was treated in this cruel manner was a young man of an exceeding
good family in the south of France, and likewise a man of great spirit, and
that he would not fail to call Monsieur L'Etanducre to an account when an
opportunity should offer; and the affair made much noise in France
afterwards. One day, the ship we were in happened to be out of her station,
by sailing so heavily, when the commodore made the signal to speak to