ment of our negroes, we promised them,
that on their good behaviour they should all have their freedom; and
as they had been almost every day trained to the management of the
great guns for the two preceding months, they were very well qualified
to be of service to us; and from their hopes of liberty, and in return
for the usage they had met with amongst us, they seemed disposed to
exert themselves to the utmost of their power.

Being thus prepared for the reception of the galleon, we expected,
with the utmost impatience, the so-often-mentioned third of March, the
day fixed for her departure. And on that day we were all of us most
eagerly engaged in looking out towards Acapulco; and we were so
strangely prepossessed with the certainty of our intelligence, and
with an assurance of her coming out of port, that some or other of us
were constantly imagining they discovered one of our cutters returning
with a signal. But, to our extreme vexation, both this day and the
succeeding night passed without any news of the galleon: However,
we did not yet despair, but were all heartily disposed to flatter
ourselves, that some unforeseen accident had intervened, which might
have put off her departure for a few days; and suggestions of this
kind occurred in plenty, as we knew that the time fixed by the viceroy
for her sailing was often prolonged on the petition of the merchants
of Mexico. Thus we kept up our hopes, and did not abate of our
vigilance; and as the 7th of March was Sunday the beginning of
Passion-week, which is observed by the Papists with great strictness,
and a total cessation from all kinds of labour, so that no ship is
permitted to stir out of port during the whole week, this quieted our
apprehensions for some days, and disposed us not to expect the galleon
till the week following. On the Friday in this week our cutters
returned to us, the officers being very confident that the galleon was
still in port, and that she could not possibly have come out but they
must have seen her. On the Monday morning succeeding Passion-week,
that is, on the 15th of March, the cutters were again dispatched
to their old station, and our hopes were once more indulged in as
sanguine prepossessions as before; but in a week's time our eagerness
was greatly abated, and a general dejection and despondency took
place. It is true, there were some few amongst us who still kept
up their spirits, and were very ingenious in finding out reasons to
s