her to Windward ſome Days before, alſo for Trade, which the Spaniards knew very well; and juſt as the Action was over they ſaw this Sloop coming down, before the Wind, towards their Ship; upon which the Spaniards took about 10000 l. in Specie, as I am informed, quitted the Ship, and went off in their Launch unmoleſted.
About the ſame Time, a Guard le Coaſt, of Porto Rico, commanded by one Matthew Luke, an Italian, took four Engliſh Veſſels, and murthered all the Crews: He was taken by the Lanceſton Man of War, in May 1722, and brought to Jamaica, were they were all but ſeven deſervedly hanged. It is likely the Man of War might not have meddled with her, but that ſhe blindly laid the Lanceſton on Board, thinking ſhe had been a Merchant Ship, who thereupon catched a Tartar. Afterwards in rummaging there was found a Cartridge of Powder made up with a Piece of an Engliſh Journal, belonging, I believe, to the Crean Snow; and upon Examination, at laſt, it was diſcovered that they had taken this Veſſel and murthered the Crew; and one of the Spaniards, when he came to die, confeſſed that he had killed twenty Engliſh Men with his own Hands.
S. Jago de la Vega, Febr. 20.
A Letter from his Excellency Sir Nicolas Laws, our Governor, to the Alcaldes of Trinidado on Cuba, dated the 26th of Jan. 1721-2.
Gentlemen,
‘The frequent Depredations, Robberies, and other Acts of Hoſtility, which have been committed on the King my Royal Maſter’s Subjects, by a Parcel of Banditti, who pretend toC 4have
