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All these particulars I had from the said gentleman since my return from the voyage; and captain Shelvocke’s letters are here inserted to shew how forward he was to promise, and how little he meant to perform.

By the sequel of his behaviour throughout this book, all mankind will see what conceal’d revenge he had in his heart: Being determin’d henceforth pyratically to act, arbitrarily to manage and destroy so well concerted a scheme for the interest of all parties, and to disappoint the hopes of many other people, who were desirous to shew the Spanish nation how small a force from England could annoy and plunder them in their most powerful, distant settlements.

Here it must be observ’d with what care Shelvocke has avoided giving the true reasons why the command was changed; and has labour’d to throw the miscarriage of the expedition on Clipperton’s incapacity, the change of officers, and the frequent mutinies of his own men: whereas I shall fully prove that the ruin of our voyage was the consequence of his own pride, avarice and treachery.