We weighed anchor on Wednesday l4th.and on the next day 15th. December we reached Bocatoro once more:
My Father was warmly and hospitably received by all the inhabitants and so was I, we breakfasted and
dined with Capt. Humphrys and Shepherd and in the evening we slept at our old friends Mr and Mrs Latham's,
my Father in a hammock and I on the ground.
18th. Sunday morning, while we were at breakfast, a firing of cannon was heard at a distance,
every body alarmed, went to see what it was; when it was soon discovered that 3 Columbrian schooners
of war, full of troops, were entering Bocatoro, the inhabitants enraged, offered my Father to head
them and oppose their landing, but they had only spears and a few muskets, but not sufficient powder
and ball for 16 rounds, the women all ran and hid their valuable clothes and provisions in the woods:
at last a boat came ashore, to offer my Father terms, which were to leave Bocatoro in 3 days or be sent
prisoner to Carthagena, and if he fired a single shot, he was immediately to be hanged my Father accepted
the terms and waited on the Governor, Colonel Paredes who received him with the honours of war and stayed
and dined with him and his officers. The Commandant told my Father he had 300 troops with him, had 3,000
at Carthagena and 10,000 could follow if necessary.
The Chatham had sailed the day before, but luckily
there was the
Schooner Agusta Ann, Captn. Symmaaett, bound for Jamaica, who generously offered my Father a passage,
on consideration of his giving his Central American flag, which my Father promised and now we took leave
of our kind and hospitable friends and embarked for Jamaica again, on the 21st. December.
Left Bocatoro perhaps never to return.
We had on board 4 Captns. in the Jamaica trade Colonel Johnston,
Captn. Roberts, Captn. Abrahams and our own Captn. The Colonel, my Father and I slept in the
hold (for the cabin was full of lady passengers and children) but we were very comfortable
except the rats which ran about all night and gnawed the leather off my trunk, eat a piece
of my Father's hat, his pantaloons etc. and they absolutely eat part of a stocking off
a lady's foot.
We had excellent breakfasts and dinners, plenty of Turtle, Turkeys, fowls and pigs;
we pursued the same course as we did in the Chatham and arrived at PORTO BELLO on CHRISTMAS DAY, Sunday.
Here we dined and a most excellent dinner it was, under the very Fort which Admiral Vernon took in
November 1739.