was saved for ballast. The other goods made very delicate wear for the fo'c's'le hands.
When all was ready, the allied forces sailed to take Guayaquil, but met with no luck there, through "one of Captain Davis's men, who showed himself very forward to go to the town, and upbraided others with faintheartedness: yet afterwards confessed (that he) privately cut the string that the Guide was made fast with, (and) when he thought the Guide was got far enough from us, he cried out that the Pilot was gone, and that somebody had cut the Cord that tied him ... and our consternation was great, being in the dark and among Woods"; so that "the design was wholly dashed." After this they sailed to the Bay of Panama, where they planned to lie at anchor to wait for the yearly treasure fleet from Lima. While they waited, Captain Swan sent a letter over the Isthmus, with a message to his employers.
March 4, 1685.
Charles Swann to Capt. John Wise.
My voyage is at an end. In the Straits of Magellan I had nine men run from me in one night, after they saw
