Chapter L: Section III: Voyage of the Success from the Coast of Mexico to China

The Success performed the voyage from the coast of Mexico to the Ladrones in fifty-three days, arriving in sight of the island of Serpana on the 10th May, 1721. This island is in lat. 13°42'N. though usually laid down in the Spanish maps in 14°.[243] In this passage they lost six of their men, and the rest were reduced to so weak and low a state, that the sight of this island gave them great joy. They determined however to proceed to Guam, as best known to Europeans, and where they were most likely to procure provisions; but in their present weakly condition it might have been better to have gone to Serpana, where the Spaniards have not so great a force as at Guam. They anchored in the road at this island on the 13th May, and sent their pinnace ashore with a flag of truce to obtain provisions. But the people informed them that, without leave of the governor, they could not trade with them. Application was therefore made to the governor for this purpose, which was favourably received for the present; and Mr Godfrey, the owners agent, who had been sent up to the governor at Umatta, returned on the 16th to the Success in one of the country proas, with a message from the governor, intimating, that they should be furnished with provisions, if they behaved civilly and paid honestly. The launch arrived soon after, bringing on board some cattle, bread, sugar, brandy, fruit, and vegetables; and on the 17th the governor sent a handsome present of palm-wine, sugar, and brandy, with a large quantity of chocolate.

[Footnote 243: Serpana is probably some small island close to Guam, not inserted in general maps. The centre of Guam is in 13°30'N.]

The _Island of Guam_, in lat. 13°30'N. long 145°30'E. from Greenwich, is nearly ten leagues long from N. to S. and five leagues from E. to W. It has several villages, the most remarkable being Amatta, Atry, Agana, Anigua, Asa, Hugatee, and Rigues. The natives are formerly said to have amounted to 150,000 souls, but at this time did not exceed a tenth of the number, of which a few hundreds remained independent in the mountains, in spite of every effort to reduce them under the Spanish dominion. The natives are strong, active, vigorous, and war-like, but are represented as cruel, vindictive, and treacherous, though perhaps the Spaniards have exaggerated their bad qualities, to extenuate their own tyranny and oppression. The Spanish garrison at this island at this time consisted of 300, relieved from time to time from Manilla, and the King of Spain is said to have allowed 30,000 dollars yearly for the maintenance of this port, the only use of which is to give refreshments to the annual ship which goes between Manilla and Acapulco.

Having agreed with the governor of Guam for the ransom of the Marquis de Villa Roche, that nobleman went ashore on the 18th May, accompanied by the agent, the first lieutenant, and the doctor; and the Success gave him a salute of five guns at parting. For six days after, the launch was continually employed in bringing wood, water, and provisions on board, during which time the governor requested to be supplied with some arms and ammunition in exchange, and accordingly Captain Clipperton sent him twelve fuzees, three jars of gunpowder, sixty rounds of shot, four pair of pistols, and several cutlasses, swords, and daggers. On the 25th a letter was sent on board, demanding the jewels belonging to the marquis, some consecrated plate, and two negroes, who were Christians; as also requiring to have a certificate signed by the captain and officers of the Success, that peace had been proclaimed between Britain and Spain; besides which, this letter intimated that Mr Godfrey and Mr Pritty were detained till all these demands were complied with. In reply, Captain Clipperton sent a letter, containing a certificate, that he had been informed by the Solidad, the last prize taken on the coast of Chili, that peace had been concluded between Britain and Spain; but threatning, if the agreed ransom for the marquis, and the two gentlemen now detained, were not sent off in twenty-four hours, that he would demolish all the houses on shore, burn the ship in the harbour, and do all the mischief he could at the Philippine Islands.

Soon after, a letter was received from the governor, saying that he would pay for the consecrated plate, and desiring to have more powder and shot; to which Clipperton made answer that he could not spare any more. The yawl went ashore on the 28th for more provisions; but the people were told that no more could be had, unless they sent more powder and shot. Upon this Clipperton weighed anchor, and stood in for the harbour, sending the pinnace a-head to sound. The people on shore had raised a battery during the sham treaty about the ransom of the marquis, from which they fired on the pinnace. The pinnace now returned to Clipperton, and reported that the only channel they could find lay within pistol-shot of the shore; yet at six in the afternoon Clipperton persisted to carry the Success into the harbour, making directly for the ship that lay there at anchor. The _Spaniards_ carried her into shoal-water,[244] where she was exposed to two fires, one from the new battery on land, almost directly over head, and the other from the ship. At nine she got foul of the rocks, when they had to cut away two of their anchors, endeavouring to get her off, all the while the enemy plying them warmly with shot and stones from the new battery on the hill, so that they suffered severely in the hull and rigging of the ship. They also had three men wounded, besides losing the first lieutenant, Mr Davidson, an honest man and a good officer. Thus the Success had to remain in a miserable situation, exposed during the whole night to the continual fire of the enemy; and the surface of the water being as smooth as a mill-pond, the ship was easily seen in the night, while her unfortunate crew had no other mark to fire at but the flashes of the enemy's guns.

[Footnote 244: This unexplained circumstance probably meant, that the Success had at this time _Spanish_ pilots, who betrayed her.--E.]

In this dangerous emergency, Captain Clipperton being overcome with liquor, and quite unable to command, the officers came to the resolution of running clear from the enemy as soon as they could get the ship afloat, and signed a paper to indemnify Mr Cook if he would assume the command. By four in the afternoon of the 29th they got the ship afloat, and cut away their small bower anchor, but ran aground again in ten minutes. At nine they carried out the kedge-anchor, but the hawser broke in heaving. They now carried out another hawser, having a lower-deck gun fixed to it, as they had now lost all their anchors, and were still aground. At two in the morning of the 30th the enemy repeatedly called upon them to surrender, or they might expect no quarter. At five they carried out the main-top-mast shrowd hawser, with another gun, still plying the enemy with their great guns and small-arms, though they were able to do little harm; while the enemy never missed them, especially directing their shot at the boats of the Success, whenever they saw them in motion. At eleven in the forenoon of the 30th they carried out the remains of their best bower-cable, with two lower-deck guns, which they dropped right a-head in five fathoms water. They now cleared the hold, ready to start their water to lighten the ship; got their upper and lower-deck guns forwards, to bring her by the head as she hung abaft on the rocks, and kept two guns constantly firing from the stern-ports at the enemy's battery, but could not get them to bear. During the last twenty-four hours they had fortunately only one man wounded; but the ship was wretchedly injured between wind and water, and her rigging torn to pieces.

At six in the afternoon of the 30th the ship floated, when they cut away their yawl, having been sunk by a shot. They hove taught their cable, and then cut it away, together with the two hawsers, and sent the pinnace a-head to tow the ship off. Just as the ship got afloat, the enemy fired with great briskness from their new battery, their shot raking through the Success between wind and water, killed one of her men, and wounded two others.

The Success had now remained fifty hours as a fair mark for the enemy to fire at, during which they lost both their bower-anchors and cables, with the stern and kedge-anchors, four hawsers, four lower-deck guns, nineteen barrels of powder, two men killed and six wounded; and had they not now got off, it was believed they must have been sunk before morning. At ten in the forenoon of the 31st they hove to, and began to splice their rigging, not a rope of which had escaped the shot of the enemy. The masts and yards were all sore wounded; and the carpenters had to work during the whole night, stopping-the shot-holes in the hull. They stowed away most of their guns in the hold, barred up the ports, hoisted in the launch and pinnace, and at noon steered away west under an easy sail, hoping to save their passage before the western monsoon set in; the carpenters being fully occupied in fishing the masts and yards, and the rest of the crew in mending the rigging. At six in the evening of the 31st May, 1721, the body of the island of Guam bore E. seven leagues distant, and they then took their departure; being in 15° 20' N. designing now for China.

The conduct of Captain Clipperton at Guam was certainly exceedingly erroneous. He ought on no account to have permitted the marquis to go on shore till he had received the money for his ransom, and all the provisions of which he stood in need. The marquis had before behaved very ill to him, and had no title to any favour; and if he had kept the marquis, the governor of Guam would not have had any opportunity of putting his schemes in execution. Clipperton committed also an egregious error in pretending to attack the town, and the ship in the harbour. Though drunkenness is rather an aggravation than an excuse for misconduct, yet it is to be considered that Clipperton was a mere sailor, who had not the benefit of a liberal education, and that he fell into this sad vice from disappointment and despair. On all occasions he had shewn a humane and even generous disposition, with the most inflexible honesty, and a constant regard to the interest of his owners. He is therefore much to be pitied, for having fled to the bottle under a load of misfortunes too heavy for him to bear.

The voyage upon which they had now to enter was very dangerous, the run from Manilla to China being estimated at 400 leagues; besides that the distance they had now to sail was much greater. They had only received a very moderate addition to their former scanty stock of provisions; and their vessel had been so roughly handled in the late unfortunate affair, that they were very apprehensive she would not last out the voyage. On careful examination, she was found to be in a very shattered condition, having scarcely a whole timber in her upper works, and one of her _fashion pieces_ being shot through, which is a principal support of the after-part of the ship, they were obliged to strap her, to keep her together. As it blew pretty fresh, they durst not carry sail, and for nearly a week together had to scud almost under bare poles, through variable winds, bad weather, and a rough sea. This was a melancholy situation for the people, in seas with which they were little acquainted, and sailing by charts on which they could not depend. Yet they found the accounts and charts of Dampier much superior to those laid down by persons of much greater figure, so that without these they had hardly been able to have extricated themselves from their difficulties. The 24th June they were in sight of the _Bashee_ Islands, in lat. 20° 45' N. long. 121° 40' E. On the 31st they saw the _island-shoals_ of _Pralas_, in lat. 21° N. long. 116° 20' E. The 1st July they fell in with other islands, not laid down in any of their charts, which perplexed them sadly, not being able to form any certain judgment of their true course. They anchored under one of these islands in thirteen fathoms, and sent away one of their boats to endeavour to procure intelligence how Macao bore from them, that being the port to which they were bound. The pinnace returned on the 2d July, bringing a boat in which were three Chinese sailors, or fishermen, whom they could not understand, and all they could learn from them was, that Canton bore from them to the S.W.

On the 3d July, finding they had got too far to leeward of Macao, and being unable to procure a pilot, they resolved to sail for _Amoy_, as the only course that was left them, and accordingly arrived before that port in the evening of the 5th; but being afraid to enter it in the night, they plied off and on till daybreak of the 6th. They here noticed great numbers of snakes in the sea, brought down by the rivers that empty themselves upon that coast. The entrance into the port of _Amoy_ is sufficiently conspicuous, in consequence of a high mountain, on the top of which is a tower, or pagoda, which may be seen at the distance of twenty leagues out to sea, and has a small island immediately before the mouth of the bay. The river _Change-neu_[245] discharges itself here into the sea, forming a spacious bay about eight leagues in circuit, where ships may ride at anchor in great safety, the only difficulty being in getting into port, which they happily accomplished in the evening of the 6th July, being well pleased to find themselves once more in a place where they might hope to procure refreshments, and be able to repair their ship; or if that were impracticable, whence they might procure a passage home. Clipperton was as much rejoiced as the rest; for, having had his full share of afflictions and misfortunes at sea, he was happy in the prospect of securing a small sum of money for his own use, and sending home what belonged to the owners, if the ship were really past repairing, as his people reported.

[Footnote 245: No name resembling _Amoy_ is to be found on the coast of China in any of our best maps, and the text gives no distinct indication of its situation. The river _Changeneu_ of the text, perhaps refers to _Tchang-tcheou_, a city in the province of Fokien, having a large bay in lat. 24° 30' N. long. 118° 15' E. and _Amoy_ may have been some corruption of the port of discharge at the mouth of the river which passes Tchang-tcheou.--E.]

They had no sooner anchored in the port than ten custom-house officers were placed on board. At Amoy, as in most other ports in China, the customs are under the direction of a single mandarin, called the Hoppo, or Hoppou. The Chinese are justly reputed the craftiest people in the world; and it is their invariable maxim to appoint the cunningest man they can find to the office of hoppo. It may be added, that the people of Amoy are reputed to be less nice in the principles of honour and honesty even than any others in China. The first thing demanded by these custom-house officers was, what the ship was, and what was her business at this port. Clipperton made answer, that the ship belonged to the King of Great Britain, and had put in there from stress of weather, in order to obtain a supply of provisions and other necessaries. The officers now demanded an exact account of the number of men and guns, the nature and amount of the cargo, and the time they intended to stay, all of which they set down in writing, and then departed.

Next morning the men mutinied, and insisted that Clipperton should pay them their prize-money immediately, as the Success was in no condition to proceed to sea. The man who made this demand was one John Dennison; and when Mr Taylor interposed in behalf of the captain, one Edward Boreman told him he had better desist, unless he had a mind to have a brace of bullets through his head. There was now an end of all regularity on board, the authority of the captain being completely overthrown. The country people supplied the ship with abundance of rice, with some cattle and fowls, together with wood and water, for which they were paid. On the 12th the officers went ashore to wait upon the hoppo, who had a fine palace. He treated them with great civility, giving them leave to anchor in the harbour, and to remain there till the adverse monsoon was over; but for this he demanded 1700 dollars as port-charges, equal to near £400 sterling, and soon afterward received that sum in ready money.

It may be remembered that Mr Mitchell went out from. England as second captain under Clipperton. On his going to Brazil, he was succeeded by Mr Davidson, who was slain in the unfortunate affair at Guam; to whom Mr Cook succeeded as second captain. He now demanded to receive thirty shares of the prize-money in that capacity, in which he was supported by the men, whom he courted by a continual compliance with all their humours. Captain Clipperton and the rest of the officers, seeing the turn matters were likely to take, were very desirous that some allowance should be reserved for the officers who were absent, and had been taken prisoners, and for Mr Hendrie and Mr Dod, who had joined them from the Speedwell: but all their endeavours were fruitless, as the men would not listen to any such allowances. While these disputes were going on, the men went ashore as they pleased, without asking leave; and when the captain endeavoured to correct this licence, the whole company stood out, and would not submit to controul. After this every thing fell into confusion, and the men refused to work till they should receive their prize-money. They even applied to the chief mandarin of the place, styled _Hyhuug_ by the Chinese, to interpose his authority for obliging their captain to comply with their demands. This magistrate then summoned Captain Clipperton to appear before him, and demanded to know the reason why he refused to give the men satisfaction; on which the captain produced the articles, which contained expressly that they were not to receive their prize-money till their return to London. But Captain Cook, as he was now styled, gave quite a different account of this matter to the mandarin; on which a guard of soldiers was sent aboard the Success, with a peremptory order to Captain Clipperton immediately to settle the shares, and to pay them to the men, with which he was forced to comply.

This distribution was accordingly made on the 16th September, pursuant to the order of the chief mandarin; and as no allowance was reserved for those who had been made prisoners, or for the representatives of those who had died, or the two gentlemen who formerly served in the Speedwell, the prize-money stood thus:

The share of money and silver plate, dollars 280
The share of gold, 100
The share of jewels, 39
-----
Total share of a foremast-man, 419

Which, at 4s. 8d. the dollar, amounted to £97:15:4 sterling. According to this distribution: The share of the captain amounted to £1466, 10s. The second captain had £733, 5s. The captain of marines, the lieutenants of the ship, and the surgeon, had each £488:16:8. Although Captain Cook and his associates were thus able to carry their point, yet Captain Clipperton prevailed on the mandarin to set apart one half of the cargo for the benefit of the owners; which amounted, in money, silver, gold, and jewels, to between six and seven thousand pounds. This was afterwards shipped at Macao in a Portuguese ship, called the Queen of Angels, commanded by Don Francisco de la Vero. This ship was unfortunately burnt at Rio de Janeiro, on the coast of Brazil, on the 6th June, 1722; so that the owners, after deducting salvage, only received £1800.

The people and mandarins at Amoy have so conducted themselves for a long time, that, even among their own countrymen, this port has the appellation of _Hiamuin booz_, or Amoy the roguish. The fishermen on the coast, when they meet any European ship that seems intended for that port, pronounce these words with a very significant air; but, for want of understanding the language, or perhaps from confidence in their own prudence, this warning is seldom attended to. The custom of this port is to disarm every ship that enters it, sending two frigates or armed vessels, called _chan-pans_, full of men, to ride close by the vessel, to ensure the execution of all orders from the _hoppo_ and chief mandarin. Besides the enormous imposition under the name of port charges, already mentioned, they have other strange methods of getting money. Thus, though the small craft of the country are at liberty to carry all sorts of provisions on board for sale, yet every one of these must in the first place go to one of the _chan-pans_, and pay there a tax or consideration for leave to go to the strange vessel. By this means, though provisions are here very plentiful, and ought therefore to be cheap, the price is enhanced at least a third. The mandarins have also a practice of sending presents of wine, provisions, and expensive curiosities, to the captain and other officers; of all which, when the ship is ready to sail, they send an exact memorial with the prices charged, the last article being so much for the clerk drawing up the account; and all this must be discharged in money or commodities, before their arms and ammunition are returned.

During a stay of ten weeks at this port, they sufficiently experienced all the artifices of this covetous and fraudulent people, from whom Captain Clipperton had no way to defend himself, and was therefore obliged to submit to all their demands. Towards the end of September, the season and their inclinations concurred to deliver them from this place; for by this time, even the common men began to be weary of the people, who shewed themselves finished cheats in every thing. On the 25th September, their arms and ammunition were restored, and that same day the Success weighed from the harbour, going out into the road or gulf, in order to proceed for Macao, to have the ship surveyed, as the men insisted she was not in a condition for the voyage home. Captain Clipperton affirmed the contrary, well knowing that the men insisted on this point merely to justify their own conduct, and to avoid being punished in England for their misbehaviour in China.

They weighed anchor from the Bay of Amoy, in the province of _Tonkin_,[246] on the 30th September, and anchored in the road of _Macao_ on the 4th October. This place had been an hundred and fifty years in the hands of the Portuguese, and had formerly been one of the most considerable places of trade in all China, but has now fallen much into decay. The way in which the Portuguese became possessed of this place gives a good specimen of Chinese generosity. In prosecuting their trade with China from India and Malacca, being often overtaken by storms, many of their ships had been cast away for want of a harbour, among the islands about Macao, on which they requested to have some place of safety allowed them in which to winter. The Chinese accordingly gave them this rocky island, then inhabited by robbers, whom they expelled. At first they were only allowed to build thatched cottages; but, by bribing the mandarins, they were permitted in the sequel to erect stone houses, and even to build forts. One of these, called _the Fort of the Bar_, is at the mouth of the harbour, and terminates at a rock called _Appenka_, where there is a hermitage of the order of St Augustine. There is another fort on the top of a hill, called the Fort of the Mountain; also another high fort, called _Nuestra Senhora de Guia_. The city of Macao stands on a peninsula, having a strong wall built across the isthmus, with a gate in the middle, through which the Chinese pass out and in at pleasure, but it is death for a Portuguese to pass that way.

[Footnote 246: This surely is an error for Fo-kien. Amoy has been before stated in the text as N.E. from Macao, whereas the _kingdom_ of Tonquin is S.W. from that port.--E.]

Some travellers have reported that the Portuguese were sovereigns of Macao, as of other places in India: But they never were, and the Chinese are too wise a people to suffer any thing of the kind. Macao certainly is as fine a city, and even finer, than could be expected, considering its untoward situation: It is also regularly and strongly fortified, having upwards of 200 pieces of brass cannon upon its walls. Yet, with all these, it can only defend itself against strangers. The Chinese ever were, and ever will be, masters of Macao, and that without firing a gun or striking a blow. They have only to shut up that gate and place a guard there, and Macao is undone; and this they have actually done frequently. Without receiving provisions from the adjacent country, the inhabitants of this city cannot subsist for a day; and besides, it is so surrounded by populous islands, and the Chinese are here so completely masters of the sea, that the Portuguese at Macao might be completely starved on the slightest difference with the Chinese. The Portuguese have indeed the government over their own people within the walls of this city; yet Macao is strictly and properly a Chinese city: For there is a Chinese governor resident on the spot, together with a hoppo or commissioner of the customs; and these Chinese mandarins, with all their officers and servants, are maintained at the expence of the city, which has also to bear the charges of the Portuguese government.[247]

[Footnote 247: The East India Company found all this to be true a few years ago, when its Indian government thought to have taken Macao from the Portuguese. Had this account of the matter been read and understood, they would not have unnecessarily incurred a vast expence, and suffered no small disgrace at Canton.--E.]

In spite of all this, the Portuguese inhabitants were formerly very rich, owing to the great trade they carried on with Japan, which is now in a great measure lost. Yet, being so near Canton, and allowed to frequent the two annual fairs at that place, and to make trading voyages at other times, they still find a way to subsist, and that is all, as the prodigious presents they have to make on all occasions to the Chinese mandarins, consume the far greater part of their profits. Each of their vessels, on going up to Canton, has in the first place to pay £100 sterling for leave to trade. They are next obliged to make a considerable present, for permission to have their goods brought on board by the Chinese, to whom they must not only pay ready money for all they buy, but have sometimes to advance the price beforehand for a year. After all this, they have to make another present for leave to depart, at least double the amount of what they formerly paid for liberty to trade; and they have to pay heavy duties to the emperor for every thing they buy or sell, besides their enormous presents to his ministers.