To add to Moral’s troubles, the English seized a situado ship carrying 97,000 pesos worth of money and supplies, leaving the governor without specie to pay his soldiers. [Note: gov to viceroy 3/26/1743] Moral, however, was always resourceful. In what he considered to be a discreet move, he paid his men in rum. If he could not assuage their hunger or pay their salaries, he at least hoped to provide the means whereby they could forget their woes—at least temporarily. But in the end this caused him nothing but trouble. [Note: auxiliary bishop of Cuba to gov of Cuba 12/22/1736] (Tepaske GSF)