by John Marshall

“ Whilst at Tobago we destroyed the prize gun-brig, she being only calculated for light winds and smooth water, consequently not adequate to the voyage which we had still to perform.
“Sept. 4th, took our departure from Tobago, Captain Johnston determining to run down the coasts of New Spain and Mexico as far as Acapulco and St. Blas; but owing to unaccountable currents and light variable winds, we did not get to the westward of the gulf of Panama until the 25th. ”

“ July 2d, the inhabitants having taken away two empty butts during the absence of the watering party, and Lieutenant Barber having informed Captain Johnston that a quantity of copper was deposited near the beach, and guarded by some horsemen, an armed party proceeded to seize it, by way of retaliation. Having brought off 31 pigs, weighing 6,000lbs., and secured 2 Spanish soldiers, we weighed and made sail to the northward.
“July 8th, a small vessel from Arica was captured by the jolly-boat near Iquique, an island on the coast of Peru. ”

“ In July, 1800, Lieutenant Johnston joined the Suffolk 74, bearing the flag of the late Vice-Admiral Rainier, Commander-in-chief on the East India station, from whom he subsequently received the following appointments, viz, – as acting Captain of the Daedalus frigate and Vulcan bomb, in 1801; as Governor of the Naval Hospital at Madras, and Commander of the Victor sloop, in 1802; and as acting Captain of the Trident 64 (then flag-ship) , and Captain of la Dédaigneuse frigate, in 1804. ”

“ The spurquiting is quite rotten fore and aft. The cells and timbers of the ports are also rotten. 7th, The streets work very much, and the fastenings are all slack. The sides are decayed in the wake of the scupper-laps. 8th The step of the fore-mast is so rotten as to render the mast unsafe; and all the wedges are bad. 9th, The apron, both above and below the breast-hook, is very rotten. 10th, Most of the hanging knees on the main-deck are decayed in the throat. ”