at least three hundred; by which estimation, the inhabitants were so greatly intimidated, that they were infinitely more solicitous about the means of flight than of resistance.  Hence, though upon entering the parade, our people received a volley from the merchants to whom the treasure then in the town belonged, who were ranged in a gallery that went round the governor’s house, yet that post was immediately abandoned on the first fire made by our people, who were thereby left in quiet possession of the parade.

Mr Brett now divided his men into two parties, ordering one of them to surround the governor’s house, and if possible to secure the governor, while he went himself at the head of the other party, with the intention of forcing possession of the fort.  But the enemy abandoned it on his approach, making their escape over the walls, and he entered it without opposition.  Thus the place was mastered in less than a quarter of an hour after landing, and with no other loss on our side than one man killed and two wounded.  One of these was the Spanish pilot of the Teresa, who received a slight bruise by a ball, which grazed his wrist.  The honourable Mr Keppell, son to the Earl of Albemarle, had on this occasion a narrow escape.  He wore a jockey-cap, one side of the peak of which was shaved off by a ball, close to his temple, yet did him no other injury.

Having thus far happily succeeded, Mr Brett placed a guard at the fort, and another in the governor’s house, and fixed centinels at all the avenues of the town, both to prevent any surprise from the enemy, and to secure the effects in the place from being embezzled.  His next care was to seize upon the custom-house, in which the treasure was lodged, and to examine if any of the inhabitants remained in the town, that he might know what farther precautions were necessary.  He soon found that the numbers remaining were no ways formidable; for by far the greatest part of them, being in bed when the place was surprised, had run away with so much precipitation, that they had not taken time to put on their clothes.  The governor was not the last to secure himself in this general rout; for he fled betimes half-naked, leaving his wife behind, a young lady of about seventeen, to whom he had only been married three or four days; yet she also was carried off half-naked, by a couple of centinels, just as our detachment, ordered to invest the house, arrived for that purpose.  This escape of the governor was an unpleasant circumstance, as the commodore had particularly recommended to Mr Brett to secure him if possible, as by that means he might have treated for the ransom of the place; but his alacrity in flight rendered this impracticable.  The few inhabitants who remained were confined in one of the churches under a guard, except some stout negroes, who were employed the remaining part of the night in carrying the treasure, from the custom-house and other places, to the fort, each party of them being attended by a file of musketeers.