Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

RETURN TO ENGLAND.
did not get into the bay of Conception till the
6th of January, 1745, where we anchored at
Talcaguana, and there found the Louis Erasme,
the Marquis d’Antin, and the Deliverance,
the three French ships that we were to ac¬
company. It is but sixty leagues from Val¬
paraiso to Conception, though we had been
so long making this passage ; but there is no
beating up, near the shore, against the south¬
erly wind, which is the trade at this season,
as you are sure to have a lee-current; so that
the quickest way of making a passage, is to
stand off a hundred and twenty or thirty
leagues from the land.
The bay of Conception is a large, fine bay;
out there are several shoals in it, and only
two good anchoring-places, though a ship
may anchor within a quarter of a league of
the town; but this only in the very fine
months, as you lay much exposed. The best
anchoring-place is Talcaguana, the southern¬
most neck of the bay, in five or six fathom
water, good holding ground, and where you
are sheltered from the northerly winds. The
town has no other defence than a low battery,
which only commands the anchoring-place
before it. The country is extremely plea-