ar. We were charged with piracy,
not solely for what we had done in the South Seas in plundering
the Spaniards, but for having used the like violence against other
nations, before our arrival in that sea, from which they proposed to
infer that we had evinced a piratical disposition in the whole of
our conduct. Of this they thought they had sufficient proof in the
moidores found upon Hately, as they appeared to have been taken from
the subjects of a prince in amity with our sovereign. Happily for us,
Don Diego Morsilio, the viceroy, who was an archbishop in the decline
of life, was pleased to investigate this matter; and finding only one
of us guilty, would not sign an order for taking away the lives of
the innocent. Some were for sending Hatley to the mines for life,
and others for hanging him: But the several accounts of the vile
proceedings of Captain Shelvocke contributed to his deliverance, of
the truth of which circumstance, there were enough of our people at
Lima to witness; for, besides Lieutenant Sergeantson and his men,
who were brought thither, there came also the men whom Shelvocke sent
along with Hopkins to shift for themselves in an empty bark, who were
forced to surrender themselves to the Indians for want of sustenance;
so that the court were satisfied that Shelvocke was the principal in
that piratical act, rather than Hately. Considering that we had all
been sufficiently punished before our arrival at Lima, they thought
fit to let us all go by degrees. Hately was kept in irons about a
twelvemonth, and was then allowed to return to England. I was more
fortunate, as my imprisonment lasted only a fortnight, owing to the
interposition of one Captain Fitzgerald, a gentleman born in France,
who had great interest with the viceroy, and became security for
me, on which I was allowed my liberty in the city, provided I were
forthcoming when called for.

Among my first enquiries was into the condition of other English
prisoners at this place. I learnt from Lieutenant Sergeantson and
his men, who were here before us, that most of them had adopted the
religion of the country, had been christened, and were dispersed among
the convents of the city. The first of these I met had his catechism
in one hand, and a large string of beads dangling in the other. I
smiled, and asked him how he liked it? He said, very well; for having
a religion to chuse, he thought theirs better than none, especially
as it brought him good meat