The three
vessels to which he confined it were the Arabella, the La Foudre,
which Cahusac now commanded with a contingent of some sixscore
Frenchmen, and the Santiago, which had been refitted and rechristened
the Elizabeth, after that Queen of England whose seamen had humbled
Spain as Captain Blood now hoped to humble it again. Hagthorpe, in
virtue of his service in the navy, was appointed by Blood to command
her, and the appointment was confirmed by the men.
It was some months after the rescue of Mademoiselle d'Ogeron - in
August of that year 1687 - that this little fleet, after some minor
adventures which I pass over in silence, sailed into the great lake
of Maracaybo and effected its raid upon that opulent city of the
Main.
The affair did not proceed exactly as was hoped, and Blood's force
came to find itself in a precarious position. This is best explained
in the words employed by Cahusac - which Pitt has carefully recorded
- in the course of an altercation that broke out on the steps of the
Church of Nuestra Senora del Carmen, which Captain Blood had
impiously appropriated for the purpose of a corps-de-garde.
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