ity against Captain Shelvocke, whose actions he traduced
and misrepresented with the utmost malignity, the innocent cause of
his having suffered captivity among the Spaniards in South America,
of which some account will be found in the subsequent section. Of
all these charges, we have only deemed it expedient to insert the
following statement of the circumstances connected with the capture
of the Conception, as related by Betagh, which Harris, I. 230,
characterizes as "a very extraordinary piece of recent history, and
seemingly supported by evidence;" but at this distance of time we have
no means of ascertaining to which side the truth belongs.--_Ed._

"This being the great crisis of the voyage, I shall be more particular
in relating the affair of this last prize. This ship was named the
Conception, Don _Stephen de Recova_ commander,[1] bound from Calao to
Panama, having on board several persons of distinction, particularly
the Conde de la Rosa, who had been some time governor of Pisco,
and was now going to Spain, laden with flour, sugar, marmalade, _et
cetera_. Now, be it known to all men, that the _et cetera_ was 108,630
pieces of eight, or Spanish dollars: And Shelvocke little thought,
when he took this prize, or compiled his book, that I, of all men,
should have the exact state of this affair. He often said that he
would give the gentlemen owners a fair account; and I have often
promised to prove that he did say so. We have now both made our
words good, and I have not only an authentic account, but I will also
declare how I got it.

[Footnote 1: Shelvocke who certainly ought to have known best, names
the ship the Conception de Recova, and her commander Don Joseph
Desorio.--E.]

"When I was carried prisoner to Lima, I had sufficient leisure to
reflect on my misfortunes, and how likely I was to be ruined and
the owners cheated; wherefore, to prepare them to defend their just
rights, I wrote to one of them the substance of what had occurred
to me; how Shelvocke had mismanaged; how arbitrarily he had acted in
defiance of their articles, and what were his private intentions in
the latter part of the voyage. As soon as I came to London, which was
in October, 1721, I confirmed the report of my letter with several
new circumstances; for all which performance of my duty, it is, as
I suppose, that my name has met with so much reproach in Captain
Shelvocke's book. But, besides my advices, the gentlemen owners had
many proo