ABSTRACT
In his first communication Capitán de Navío Alonso de Torres, the commanding officer of the Gertrudis, informed me that Jefe de Escuadra Antonio de Córdoba had instructed him that both that frigate and the four ships of the Lima trade should consider themselves as attached to the corvettes and therefore under my command. He also informed me of her precarious condition on leaving Lima. Two-thirds of her crew were pressed men, who had never before seen the sea, and half his troops were either raw recruits or rejects from the standing regiment at Lima. In addition the boatswain was mortally ill, the purser, surgeon, boatswain, master gunner and a commissioned officer were missing, her spare provisions were spread among the four ships, her sails were very worn, her eight guns were of small calibre, and their vents were also badly damaged. These problems were all the more difficult to solve not only because there was nothing to be had in the storehouses at Montevideo, but also because the first lieutenant, Teniente de Navío José Quevedo, was gravely ill and would have to be replaced. To add to these misfortunes, the silver was badly stowed, 1 occupying the part of the orlop intended for cables, which in turn were now causing an obstruction between decks. On the port side the upper rows of the copper sheathing had come away and, finally, during her latest passage it was discovered that the frigate had sprung a leak of four inches a day. This was certainly a trivial amount, but not to be ignored, bearing in mind the time that had passed since she had been careened, the treasure that she was carrying and the unavoidable imbalance caused by its stowage.
