A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 762 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10.

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 762 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10.
which he immediately sunk.  The other was new, and had goods on board to a considerable value, and for her Captain Clipperton demanded a ransom of 10,000 dollars, by two of his prisoners whom he set on shore.  The prisoners spoke so handsomely of Clipperton that the governor resolved to treat with him, and sent him word that he did not think his offer unreasonable, but the owners were entirely ruined, and the town so poor that it was impossible to comply with his terms; but if 4000 dollars would content him, which was all they could raise, that sum should be sent aboard, and the governor would rely on the honour of Captain Clipperton for the release of the ship.  Clipperton accepted this proposal, but as his bark was in want of provisions and water, he sent word to the governor, that every kind of provisions and drink were not to be considered as within the capitulation.  This was readily agreed to, the money was sent on board, and as soon as the provisions were got out of her, the ship was honourably restored.

Clipperton went thence to the Bay of Salinas, where his little vessel was drawn on shore, and cleaned and effectually refitted, after which he resolved in this cockle-shell to sail for the East Indies, which he actually did, keeping in the latitude of 18 deg.  N. and reached the Philippine Islands in fifty-four days.  While among these islands, a Spanish priest came off to his bark in a canoe, and Clipperton detained him till furnished with a supply of fresh provisions, and then set him at liberty.  His next scheme was to sail for the English settlement of Pulo Condore, in lat 8 deg. 40’ N. off the river of Cambadia, and actually came there:  But finding that the English had been massacred by their Indian soldiers on the 3d March, 1705, for which reason no relief or safety could be expected there, he bore away for Macao, a port belonging to the Portuguese on the coast of China, where he and his people separated, every one shifting for himself as well as they could.  Some went to Benjar,[215] in order to enter into the service of the English East India Company, while others went to Goa to serve the Portuguese, and some even entered into the service of the Great Mogul, being so bare after so long a voyage, that any means of providing for themselves were desirable.  Clipperton returned to England in 1706, and afterwards made another voyage round the world in the Success, of which an account will be found in its proper place.

[Footnote 215:  This is perhaps an error for Bombay; yet it may have been Benjarmassin, on the southern coast of Borneo.—­E.]

It is not easy to conceive a worse situation than that in which Captain Dampier was left at the close of the year 1704, when Mr Funnell and his people separated from him, being only able to retain twenty-eight of his men, and even these were prevailed upon to stay, by representing that it was easy to surprise some Spanish village, and that the fewer they were, each would have the greater share in the plunder.  After some consultation, they resolved to attack Puna, a hamlet or village of thirty houses and a small church, the inhabitants of which are well to pass, and are under the command of a lieutenant.  Dampier landed here in a dark night, and, surprizing the inhabitants in their beds, got possession of the place with very little trouble.

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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.