On the 12th of December we stood from Quibo to the westward, and the same day the commodore delivered fresh instructions to the captains of the men-of-war, and the commanders of our prizes, appointing them the rendezvouses they were to make and the courses they were to steer in case of a separation. And first, they were directed to use all possible dispatch in getting to the northward of the harbour of Acapulco, where they were to endeavour to fall in with the land between the latitudes of 18 and 19 degrees; from thence they were to beat up the coast at eight or ten leagues distance from the shore, till they came abreast of Cape Corientes, in the latitude of 20° 20'. After they arrived there, they were to continue cruising on that station till the 14th of February, when they were to depart for the middle island of the Tres Marias, in the latitude of 21° 25', bearing from Cape Corientes N.W. by N., twenty-five leagues distant. And if at this island they did not meet the commodore, they were there to recruit their wood and water, and then immediately to proceed for the island of Macao, on the coast of China. These orders being distributed to all the ships, we had little doubt of arriving soon upon our intended station, as we expected upon the increasing our offing from Quibo to fall in with the regular trade-wind. But, to our extreme vexation, we were baffled for near a month, either by tempestuous weather from the western quarter, or by dead calms and heavy rains, attended with a sultry air; so that it was the 25th of December before we saw the island of Cocos, which according to our reckoning was only a hundred leagues from the continent; and even then we had the mortification to make so little way that we did not lose sight of it again in five days.
This island we found to be in the latitude of 5° 20' N. It has a high hummock towards the western part, which descends gradually, and at last terminates in a low point { 209} to the eastward. From the island of Cocos we stood W. by N., and were till the 9th of January in running an hundred leagues more. We had at first flattered ourselves that the uncertain weather and western gales we met with were owing to the neighbourhood of the continent, from which, as we got more distant, we expected every day to be relieved, by falling in with the eastern trade-wind. But as our hopes were so long baffled, and our patience quite exhausted, we began at length to despair of succeeding in the great purpose we had in view, that of intercepting the Manila galeon. This produced a general dejection amongst us, as we had at first considered the project as almost infallible, and had indulged ourselves in the most boundless hopes of the advantages we should thence receive. However, our despondency was at last somewhat alleviated by a favourable change of the wind; for on the 9th of January a gale sprung up the first time from the N.E., and on this we took the _Carmelo_ in tow, as the _Gloucester_ did the _Carmin_, making all the sail we could to improve the advantage, because we still suspected that it was only a temporary gale which would not last long, though the next day we had the satisfaction to find that the wind did not only continue in the same quarter, but blew with so much briskness and steadiness that we no longer doubted of its being the true trade-wind. As we now advanced apace towards our station, our hopes began again to revive, and our former despair by degrees gave place to more sanguine prejudices; insomuch that though the customary season of the arrival of the galeon at Acapulco was already elapsed, yet we were by this time unreasonable enough to flatter ourselves that some accidental delay might, for our advantage, lengthen out her passage beyond its usual limits.