Shipps being all deepe loaden began to feele the Tempest so that wee not able to lye by it neither a hull nor a try and so with an easie Sayle bare vp before the Wind with intent to put into Falmouth but God was pleased that comming within tenne leagues of Sylly the wind vered to the North-east and so we went on in our Voyage Thwart of the Flees of Bayon wee met with a small Ship of Master Waltre of London called the Elizabeth which came out of Plimouth some eyght dayes after vs of whom wee enformed our selues of some particularities and wrote certaine Letters to our Friends making Relation of what had past till that day and so tooke our farewell each of the other The like we did with a small Carvell of Plimouth which wee meet in the height of the Rocke in Portingall From thence wee directed our course to the Ilands of Madera and about the end of Iune in the sight of the Ilands we descryed a Sayle some three leagues to the East-wards and a league to Wind-ward of vs which by her manner of working and making gaue vs to vnderstand that shee was one of the Kings Frigarts For shee was long and snugg and spread a large Clewe and standing to the West-wards and weâ— to the East-wards to recover her Wake when we east about shee beganne to â—eco shete and to goe away lasking and within two glasses iâ— was plainely seene that shee went from vs and so we followed on our course and shee seeing that presently stroke her Topsayles which our Pynace perceiving and being within shot continued the Chase till I shot off a Peece and called her away which fault many runne into thinking to get thereby and sometimes loose themselues by being too bold to venture from their Fleete for it was impossible for vs being to leeward to take her or to succour our owne shee being a Ship of about two hundreth Tunnes And Pynaces to meddle with Ships is to buy Repentance at too deare a rate For their office is to wayte vpon their Fleete in calmes with their Oares to follow a Chase and in occasions to Anchor neere the shore when the greater Ships cannot without perill Aboue all to be readie and obedient at every call Yet will I not that any wrest my meaning neither say I that a Pynace or small Ship armed may not take a great Ship vnarmed for daily experience teacheth vs the contrary The Madera Ilands are two the greater called La madera and the other Porto Santo of great fertilitie and rich in Sugar Conserves Wine and sweet Wood whereof they take their name Other commodities they yeeld but these are the principall The chiefe Towne and Port is on the Souther side of the Madera well fortified they are subiect to the Kingdome of Portingall the Inhabitants and Garrison all Portingalles The third of Iuly we past along the Ilands of Canaria which haue the name of a Kingdome and containe these seaven Ilands Grand Canaria Tenerifa Palma Gomera Lancerota Forteventura and Fierro These Ilands haue abundance of Wine Sugar Conserues Orcall Pitch Iron and other Commodities and store of Cattell and Corne but that a certaine Worme called Gorgoshâ— breedeth in it which eateth out the substance leaving the huske in manner whole The head Iland where the Iustice which they call Audiencia is resident and whither all sutes haue their appealation and finall sentence is the Grand Canaria although the Tenerifa is held for the better and richer Iland and to haue the best Sugar and the Wine of the Palma is reputed for the best The Pitch of these Ilands melteth not with the Sunne and therefore is proper for the higher workes of Shipping Betwixt Forteventura and Lancerota is a goodly found fit for a meeting place for any Fleete Where is good Anchoring and aboundance of many sorts of Fish There is water to be had in most of these Ilands but with great vigilance For the naturalls of them are venturous and hardie and many times clime vp and downe the steepe Rockes and broken hills which seeme impossible which I would hardly haue beleeved had I not seene it and that with the greatest art and agilitie that may be Their Armes for the most part are Launces of nine or ten foote with a head of a foote and halfe long like vnto Boare-Speares saue that the head is somewhat more broad Two things are famous in these Ilands the Pike of Tenerifa which is the highest Land in my iudgement that I haue seene and men of credit haue told they haue seene it more then fortie leagues off It is like vnto a Sugar loafe and continually covered with Snow and placed in the middest of a goodly vallie most fertile and temperate round about it Out of which going vp the pike the colde is so great that it is insufferable and going downe to the Townes of the Iland the heate seemeth most extreame till they approach neere the coast The other is a Tree in the Iland Fierro which some write and affirme with the dropping of his leaues to giue water for the suâ—tenance of the whole Iland which I haue not seene although I haue beene on shoare on the Iland but those which haue seene it haue recounted this misterie differently to that which is written in this maner That this Tree is placed in the bottome of a Valley ever florishing with broad leaues and that round about it are a multitude of goodly high Pynes which over-top it and as it seemeth were planted by the divine providence to preserue it from Sunne and Wind. Out of this Valley ordinarily rise every day great vapours and exhalations which by reason that the Sunne is hindered to worke his operation with the height of the Mountaines towards the South-east convert themselues into moysture and so bedewe all the Trees of the Valley and from those which over-top this Tree drops downe the dewe vpon his leaues and so from his leaues into a round Well of Stone which the Naturals of the land haue made to receiue the water of which the people and cattle haue great releife but sometimes it raineth and then the Inhabitants doe reserue water for many dayes to come in their Cisterns and Tynaxes which is that they drinke of and wherewith they principally sustaine themselues The Citty of the Grand Canaria and chiefe Port is on the west side of the Iland the head Towne and Port of Tenerifa is towards the south part and the Port and Towne of the Palma and Gomera on the East side In Gomera some three Leagues south-ward from the Towne is a great River of water but all these Ilands are perilous to land in for the seege caused by the Ocean sea which alwayes is forcible and requireth great circumspection whosoever hath not vrgent cause is either to goe to the East-wards or to the west-wards of all these Ilands as well to avoyd the calmes which hinder sometimes eight or
as big as Wal-nuts but round and smooth and grow in great clusters the trees in forme are all one and the meate in the nut better but they haue no water Another kinde of great Cocos groweth in the Andes of Peru which haue not the delicate meate nor drinke which the others haue but within are full of Almonds which are placed as the graines in the Pomegrannet being three times bigger then those of Europe and are much like them in tast In these Ilands are Cyvet-Cats which are also found in parts of Asia and Afrique esteemed for the Civet they yeelde and carry about them in a cod in their hinder parts which is taken from them by force In them also are store of Monkies and the best proportioned that I haue seene and Parrots but of colour different to those of the west Indies for they are of a russet or gray colour and great speakers SECT XIIII WIth a faire and large winde we continued our course till we came within fiue degrees of the Equinoctiall lyne where the winde tooke vs contrary by the Southwest about the twentie of Iulie but a fayre gale of wind and a smooth Sea so that wee might beare all a taunt and to advantage our selues what wee might wee stoode to the East-wards being able to lye South-east and by South The next day about nine of the Clocke my companie being gathered together to serue God which wee accustomed to doe every morning and evening it seemed vnto me that the coulour of the Sea was different to that of the daies past and which is ordinarily where is deepe water and so calling the Captaine and Master of my Ship I told them that to my seeming the water was become very whitish and that it made shewe of Sholde water Wherevnto they made answere that all the lynes in our Shippes could not fetch ground for wee could not be lesse then threescore and tenne Leagues off the Coast which all that kept reckoning in the Ship agreed vpon and my selfe was of the same opinion And so wee applyed our selues to serue God but all the time that the service endured my heart could not be at rest and still me thought the water began to waxe whiter and whiter Our prayers ended I commanded a lead and a lyne to be brought and having the lead in foureteene fathoms wee had ground which put vs all into a maze and sending men into the toppe presently discovered the land of Guynne some fiue Leagues from vs very low Land I commanded a Peece to be shott and lay by the lee till my other Shippes came vp Which hayling vs wee demanded of them how farre they found themselues off the Land who answered some threescore and tenne or fourescore Leagues when wee told them wee had sounded and found but foureteene Fathomes and that we were in sight of Land they began to wonder But having consulted what was best to be done I caused my Shalop to be manned which I towed at the Sterne of my Ship continually and sent her and my Pynace a head to sound and followed them with an easie Sayle till we came in seaven and six fathome Water and some two Leagues from the shore anchored in hope by the Sea or by the Land to find some refreshing The Sea we found to be barren of Fish and my Boates could not discover any landing place though a whole day they had rowed alongst the Coast with great desire to set foote on shore for that the sedge was exceeding great and dangerous Which experienced wee set sayle notwithstanding the contrarietie of the winde sometimes standing to the West-wards sometime to the East-wards according to the shifting of the wind SECT XV. HEre is to be noted that the error which we fell into in our accompts was such as all men fall into where are currants that set East or West and are not knowne for that there is no certaine rule yet practised for triall of the longitude as there is of the latitude though some curious and experimented of our Nation with whom I haue had conference about this poynt haue shewed me two or three manner of wayes how to know it This some yeares before was the losse of the Edward Cotton bound for the Coast of Brasill which taken with the winde contrary neere the lyne standing to the East-wards and making accompt to be fiftie or sixtie Leagues off the Coast with all her Sayles standing came suddenly a ground vpon the sholes of Madrebombat and so was cast away though the most part of their company saved themselues vpon Raffes But with the contagion of the Countrie and bad entreatie which the Negros gaue them they died so that there returned not to their Country aboue three or â—oure of them But God Almightie dealt more mercifully with vs in shewing vs our error in the day and in time that wee might remedie it to him be evermore glory for all This currant from the line Equinoctiall to twentie degrees Northerly hath grâ—at force and setteth next of any thing East directly vpon the shore which we found by this meanes Standing to the Westwards the wind Southerly when we lay with our Ships head West and by South we gayned in our heith more then if wee had made our way good west south-west for that the currant tooke vs vnder the bow but lying west or west and by north we lost more in twelue houres then the other way we could get in foure and twentie By which plainly we saw that the currant did set East next of any thing Whether this currant runneth ever one way or doth alter and how we could by no meanes vnderstand but tract of time and observation will discover this as it hath done of many others in sundry Seas The currant that setteth betwixt New-found-land and Spaine runneth also East and West and long time deceived many and made some to count the way longer and others shorter according as the passage was speedie or slowe not knowing that the furtherance or hinderance of the currant was cause of the speeding or slowing of the way And in sea Cardes I haue seene difference of aboue thirtie Leagues betwixt the Iland Tercera and the Mayne And others haue recounted vnto me that comming from the India's and looking out for the Ilands of Azores they haue had sight of Spaine And some haue looked out for Spaine and haue discovered the Ilands The selfe same currant is in the Levant Sea but runneth trade betwixt the Maynes and changeable sometimes to the East-wards sometimes to the West-wards In Brasill and the South Sea the currant likewise is changeable but it runneth ever alongst the Coast accompanying the winde and it is an infallible rule that twelue or twentie foure houres before the Wind alters the currant begins to change In the West Indies onely the currant runneth continually one way and setteth alongst the Coast from the Equinoctiall lyne towards the North. No man hath
with his tayle thresheth vpon the head of the Whale till hee force him to giue way which the Sword fish perceiving receiveth him vpon his sword and wounding him in the belly forceth him to mount vp againe besides that he cannot abide long vnder water but must of force rise vpp to breath and when in such maner they torment him that the sight is sometimes heard aboue three leagues distance and I dare affirme that I haue heard the blowes of the Thresher two leagues off as the report of a peece of Ordinance the Whales roaring being heard much farther It also happeneth sundry times that a great part of the water of the Sea round about them with the blood of the Whale changeth his colour The best remedy the Whale hath in this extremitie to helpe himselfe is to get him to land which hee procureth as soone as hee discoverth his adversaries and getting the shore there can fight but one with him and for either of them hand to hand he is too good The Whale is a fish not good to be eaten hee is almost all fat but esteemed for his trayne and many goe to the New-found-land Greene-land and other parts onely to fish for them which is in this maner when they which seeke the Whale discover him they compasse him round about with Pynaces or Shalops In the head of every Boat is placed a man with a harping Iron and a long Lyne the one end of it fastned to the harping iron and the other end to the head of the Boat In which it lyeth finely coyled and for that he cannot keepe long vnder water he sheweth which way he goeth when rising neere any of the Boats within reach he that is neerest darteth his harping Iron at him The Whale finding himselfe to be wounded swimmeth to the bottome and draweth the Pynace after him which the Fisher men presently forsake casting themselues into the Sea for that many times he draweth the Boat vnder water those that are next procure to take them vp For this cause all such as goe for that kinde of Fishing are experimented in swimming When one harping Iron is fastned in the Whale it is easily discerned which way he directeth his course and so ere long they fasten another and another in him When he hath three or foure Boats dragging after him with their waight his bleeding and fury he becommeth so over-mastred that the rest of the Pynaces with their presence and terror driue him to the place where they would haue him nature instigating him to covet the shore Being once hurt there is little need to force him to land Once on the shore they presently cut great peeces of him and in great Cauldrons seeth them The vppermost in the Cauldrons is the fatt which they skimme off and put it into Hogsheads and Pipes This is that they call Whales oyle or Traine oyle accompted the best sort of Traine oyle It is hard to be beleeved what quantitie is gathered of one Whale Of the tongue I haue beene enformed haue many Pipes beene filled The fynnes are also esteemed for many and sundry vses as is his spawne for divers purposes This wee corruptly call Parmacittie of the Latine word Sperma Ceti And the precious Amber-greece some thinke also to be found in his bowells or voyded by him but not in all seas yea they maintaine for certaine that the same is ingendred by eating an hearbe which groweth in the Sea This hearbe is not in all Seas say they and therefore where it wanteth the Whales giue not this fruit In the coast of the East Indies in many partes is great quantitie In the coastes of Guyne of Barbary of the Florida in the Ilands of Cape de Verde and the Canaries Amber-greece hath beene many times found and sometimes on the coast of Spaine and England Wherevpon it is presumed that all thâ—se Seas haue not the hearbe growing in them The cause why the Whale should eate this hearbe I haue not heard nor read It may be surmised that it is as that of the Becunia and other Beasts which breed the Beazer stone who feeding in the valleyes and mountaines where are many venemous Serpents and hearbes when they find themselues touched with any poyson forthwith they runne for remedie to an hearbe which the Spaniards call Contra yerva that is to say contrary to poyson which having eaten they are presently cured but the substance of the hearbe converteth it selfe into a medicinable stone So it may be that the Whale feeding of many sorts of fishes and some of them as is knowne venemous when he findeth himselfe touched with this hearbe he cureth himselfe and not being able to digest it nature converteth it into this substance provoketh it out or dyeth with it in his belly and being light the Sea bringeth it to the Coast. All these are imaginations yet instruments to mooue vs to the glorifying of the great and vniversall Creatour of all whose secret wisedome and wonderfull workes are incomprehensible But the more approved generation of the Amber greece and which carrieth likliest probabilitie is that it is a liquor which issueth out of certaine Fountaines in sundry Seas and being of a light and thicke substance participating of the ayre suddenly becommeth hard as the yellow Amber of which they make Beads which is also a liquor of a Fountaine in the Germayne Sea In the bottome it is soft and white and partaking of the ayre becommeth hard and stonie Also the Corrall in the Sea is soft but comming into the ayre becommeth a stone Those who are of this former opinion thinke the reason why the Amber greece is sometimes found in the Whale to be for that he swalloweth it as other things which he findeth swimming vpon the water and not able digest it it remaineth with him till his death Another manner of fishing and catching the Whale I cannot omit vsed by the Indians in Florida worthy to be considered in as much as the barbarous people haue found out so great a secret by the industry and diligence of one man to kill so great and huge a Monster it is in this manner The Indian discovering a Whale procureth two round billets of wood sharpneth both at one end and so binding them together with a cord casteth himselfe with them into the Sea and swimmeth towards the Whale if he come to him the Whale escapeth not for he placeth himselfe vpon his necke and although the Whale goeth to the bottome he must of â—orce rise presently to breath for which nature hath given him two great holes in the toppe of his head by which every time that he breatheth he spouteth out a great quantitie of water the Indian forsaketh not his holde but riseth with him and thrusteth in a Logg into one of his Spowters and with the other knocketh it in so fast that by no meanes the Whale can get it out That fastned at another opportunitie he thrusteth
reach is foure or fiue leagues broad and in it are many channells or openings into the Sea for all the land on the Souther part of the Straites are Ilands and broken land and from the beginning of this reach to the end of the Straites high mountaynous land on both sides in most parts covered with snow all the yeare long Betwixt the Iland Elizabeth and the Mayne is the narrowest passage of all the Straites it may be some two Musket shott from side to side From this Straite to Elizabeth bay is some foure leagues and the course lyeth North-west and by west This bay is all sandie and cleane ground on the Easter part but before you come at it there lyeth a poynt of the shore a good byrth off which is dangerous And in this reach as in many parts of the Straites runneth a quicke and forcible tyde In the Bay it higheth eight or nine foote water The Norther part of the Bay hath foule ground and rocks vnder water and therefore it is not wholsome borrowing of the mayne One of master Thomas Candish his Pynaces as I haue beene enformed came a-ground vpon one of them and he was in hazard to haue left her there From Elizabeth Bay to the River of Ieronimo is some fiue leagues The course lyeth West and by North and West Here the Wind scanted and forced vs to seeke a place to anchor in Our Boates going alongst the shore found a reasonable Harbour which is right against that which they call River Ieronimo but it is another channell by which a man may disemboake the Straite as by the other which is accustomed for with a storme which tooke vs one night suddenly we were forced into that opening vnwittingly but in the morning seeing our error and the wind larging with two or three bourds wee turned out into the old channell not daring for want of our Pynace to attempt any new discoverie This Harbour we called Blanches Bay for that it was found by William Blanch one of our Masters mates Here having moored our shippe we began to make our provision of wood and water whereof was plentie in this Bay and in all other places from Pengwin Ilands till within a dozen leagues of the mouth of the Straites Now finding our Deckes open with the long lying vnder the lyne and on the coast of Brasill the Sunne having beene in our Zenith many times we calked our ship within bourd and without aboue the Decks And such was the diligence we vsed that at foure dayes end we had aboue threescore Pipes of water and twentie Boats of wood stowed in our Ship no man was idle nor otherwise busied but in necessary workes some in felling and cleaving of wood some in carrying of water some in romaging some in washing others in baking one in heating of pitch another in gathering of Mussells no man was exempted but knew at evening wherevnto he was to betake himselfe the morning following Some man might aske me how we came to haue so many emptie Caske in lesse then two moneths for it seeemeth much that so few men in such short time and in so long a Voyage should waste so much Whereto I answere that it came not of excessiue expence for in health we never exceeded our ordinary but of a mischance which befell vs vnknowne in the Iland of Saint Iames or Saint Anne in the coast of Brasill where we refreshed our selues and according to the custome layd our Caske a shore to trimme it and after to fill it the place being commodious for vs. But with the water a certaine worme called Broma by the Spaniard and by vs Arters entred also which eat it so full of holes that all the water soaked out and made much of our Caske of small vse This we remedied the best wee could and discovered it long before we came to this place Hereof let others take warning in no place to haue Caske on the shore where it may be avoyded for it is one of the provisions which are with greatest care to be preserved in long Voyages and hardest to be supplyed These Arters or Broma in all hot Countries enter into the plankes of Shippes and especially where are Rivers of fresh water for the common opinion is that they are bred in fresh water and with the current of the Rivers are brought into the Sea but experience teacheth that they breed in the great Seas in all hott Clymates especially neere the Equinoctiall lyne for lying so long vnder and neere the lyne and towing a Shalop at our sterne cōming to clense her in Brasil we found her all vnder water covered with these wormes as bigge as the little finger of a man on the outside of the planke not fully covered but halfe the thicknes of their bodie like to a gelly wrought into the planke as with a Gowdge And naturall reason in my iudgement confirmeth this for creatures bread and nourished in the Sea comming into fresh water die as those actually bred in Ponds or fresh Rivers die presently if they come into Salt water But some man may say this fayleth in some Fishes and Beasts Which I must confesse to be true but these eyther are part terrestryall and part aquatile as the Mare-maide Sea-horse and other of that kind or haue their breeding in the fresh and growth or continuall nourishment in the Salt water as the Salmond and others of that kinde In little time if the Shippe be not sheathed they put all in hazzard for they enter in no bigger then a small Spanish Needle and by little and little their holes become ordinarily greater then a mans finger The thicker the planke is the greater he groweth yea I haue seene many Shippes so eaten that the most of their plankes vnder water haue beene like honey combes and especially those betwixt wind and water If they had not beene sheathed it had bin impossible that they could haue swomme The entring of them is hardly to be discerned the most of them being small as the head of a Pinne Which all such as purpose long Voyages are to prevent by sheathing their Shippes And for that I haue seene divers manners of sheathing for the ignorant I will set them downe which by experience I haue found best In Spaine and Portingall some sheath their Shippes with Lead which besides the cost and waight although they vse the thinnest sheet-lead that I haue seene in any place yet it is nothing durable but subiect to many casualties Another manner is vsed with double plankes as thicke without as within after the manner of furring which is little better then that with Lead for besides his waight it dureth little because the worme in small time passeth through the one and the other A third manner of sheathing hath beene vsed amongst some with fine Canvas which is of small continuance and so not to be regarded The fourth prevention which now is most
a-far off with other poynts and circumstances as the occasions shall minister matter different at the discretion of the wise Commander But some one may say vnto me that in all occasions it is not convenient to giue Directions for that if the enemy happen vpon any of the Fleete or that there be any treacherous person in the company their Designements may be discovered and so prevented To this I answere that the prudent Governour by good consideration may avoyde this by publication of that which is good and necessarie for the guide of his Fleete and people by all secret instructions to giue them sealed and not to be opened but comming to a place appoynted after the manner of the Turkish direction to the Bashawes who are their Generalls and in any eminent perill to cast them by the boord or otherwise to make away with them For he that setteth Sayle not giving directions in writing to his Fleete knoweth not if the night or day following he may be separated from his Company which happeneth sometimes and then if a place of meeting be not knowne he runneth in danger not to ioyne them together againe And for places of meeting when seperation happeneth I am of opinion to appoynt the place of meeting in such a height twentie or thirtie or fortie Leagues off the Land or Iland East or West is not so fitting if the place affoord it as some sound betwixt Ilands or some Iland or Harbour It may be alledged in contradiction and with probable reason that it is not fit for a Fleete to stay in a Harbour for one Ship nor at an Anchor at an Iland for being discovered or for hinderance of their Voyage Yet it is the best for when the want is but for one or two ships a Pynace or Ship may wayte the time appoynted and remaine with direction for them But commonly one Ship though but a bad Sayler maketh more hast then a whole Fleete and is at the meeting place first if the accident be not very important The place of meeting if it might be would be able to giue at the least refreshing of water and wood SECT IX LAnching out into the Channell the wind being at East and by South and East South East which blowing hard and a flood in hand caused a chapping Sea and my Vice-admirall bearing a good Sayle made some water and shooting off a peece of Ordinance I edged towardes her to know the cause who answered me that they had sprung a great Leake and that of force they must returne into the sound which seeing to be necessary I cast about where Anchoring and going aboord presently found that betwixt Wind and Water the Calkers had left a seame vncalked which being filled vp with Pitch onely the Sea labouring that out had beene sufficient to haue sunke her in short space if it had not beene discovered in time And truely there is little care vsed now adaies amongst our countrimen in this Profession in respect of that which was vsed in times past and is accustomed in France in Spaine and in other parts Which necessitie will cause to be reformed in time by assigning the portion that every workeman is to Calke that if there bee dammage through his default he may be forced to contribute towards the losse occasioned through his negligence And for more securitie I hold it for a good custome vsed in some parts in making an end of calking and pitching the ship the next tide to fill her with water which will vndoubtedly discover the defect for no pitcht place without calking can suffer the force and peaze of the water In neglect whereof I haue seene great damage and danger to ensue The Arke Royall of his Maiesties may serue for an example which put all in daunger at her first going to the Sea by a trivuell-hole left-open in the post and covered onely with pitch In this point no man can be too circumspect for it is the security of ship men and goods SECT X. THis being remedied I set sayle in the morning and ran South-west till we were cleere of Vsshent and then South south-west till we were some hundred Leagues off where wee met with a great Hulke of some fiue or sixe hundred tunnes well appointed the which my company as is naturall to all Mariners presently would make a prize and loaden with Spaniards goods and without speaking to her wished that the Gunner might shoote at her to cause her to amaine Which is a bad custome received and vsed of many ignorant persons presently to gun at all whatsoever they discover before they speake with them being contrary to all discipline and many times is cause of dissention betwixt friends and the breach of Amitie betwixt Princes the death of many and sometimes losse of Shippes and all making many obstinate if not desperate whereas in vsing common courtesie they would better bethinke themselues and so with ordinarie proceeding iustified by reason and the custome of all well disciplined people might perhaps many times breede an increase of Amitie a succour to necessity and excuse divers inconveniencies and sutes which haue impoverished many for it hath chanced by this errour that two English ships neither carrying flag for their perticular respects to change each with other a dozen payre of shott with hurt to both being after too late to repent their follie Yea a person of credit hath told mee that two English men of Warre in the Night haue layd each other aboord willingly with losse of many men and dammage to both onely for the fault of not speaking one to the other which might seeme to carrie with it some excuse if they had beene neere the shore or that the one had beene a Hull and the other vnder sayle in feare shee should haue escaped not knowing what shee was though in the night it is no wisedome to bourd with any ship but in the maine Sea and both desiring to ioyne was a sufficient declaration that both were seekers and therefore by day or night he that can speake with the Ship hee seeth is bound vpon payne to bee reputed voyd of good Governement to hayle her before hee shoote at her Some man may say that in the meane time shee might gaine the winde in such causes and many others necessity giveth exception to all Lawes and experience teacheth what is fit to bee done Master Thomas Hampton once Generall of a Fleete of Wasters sent to Rochell Anno 1585. with secret instructions considering and as a man of experience wisely vnderstanding his place and affaires in like case shut his Eare to the instigations and provocations of the common sort preferring the publique good of both Kingdomes before his owne reputation with the vulgar people And as another Fabius Maximus cunctando restituit rem non ponendo rumores ante salutem The French Kings Fleete comming where he was and to winde-ward of him all his
yet found that these courrants keepe any certaine time or run so many dayes or moneths one way as another as doth the course of ebbing and flowing well knowne in all Seas onely neere the shore they haue small force partly because of the reflux which the coast causeth and partly for the ebbing and slowing which more or lesse is generall in most seas When the currant runneth North or South it is easily discovered by augmenting or diminishing the height but how to know the setting of the currant from East to West in the mayne Sea is difficult and as yet I haue not knowne any man or read any Authour that hath prescribed any certaine meane or way to discover it But experience teacheth that in the mayne Sea for the most part it is variable and therefore the best and safest rule to prevent the danger which the vncertainty and ignorance heereof may cause is carefull and continuall watch by day and night and vpon the East and west course ever to bee before the shipp and to vse the meanes possible to know the errour by the rules which newe Authours may teach beating off and on sometimes to the west-wards sometimes to the East-wards with a fayre gale of winde SECT XVI BEing betwixt three or foure degrees of the Equinoctiall line my Company within a fewe dayes began to fall sicke of a disease which Sea-men are wont to call the Scurvey and seemeth to bee a kinde of dropsie and raigneth most in this Climate of any that I haue heard or read of in the World though in all Seas it is wont to helpe and increase the miserie of man it possesseth all those of which it taketh hold with a loathsome sloathfulnesse even to eate they would be content to change their sleepe and rest which is the most pernicious Enemie in this sicknesse that is knowne It bringeth with it a great desire to drinke and causeth a generall swelling of all parts of the body especially of the legs and gums and many times the teeth fall out of the iawes without paine The signes to know this disease in the beginning are divers by the swelling of the gummes by denting of the flesh of the leggs with a mans finger the pit remayning without filling vp in a good space Others show it with their lasinesse Others complaine of the cricke of the backe c. all which are for the most part certaine tokens of infection The cause of this sicknes some attribute to sloath some to conceite and divers men speake diversly that which I haue observed is that our Nation is more subiect vnto it then any other because being bred in a temperate Clymate where the naturall heate restrayned giveth strength to the stomacke sustayning it with meates of good nourishment and that in an wholsome ayre whereas comming into the hot Countries where that naturall heate is dispersed through the whole body which was wont to be proper to the stomacke and the meates for the most part preserved with Salt and its substance thereby diminished and many times corrupted greater force for digestion is now required then in times past but the stomacke â—inding lesse vertue to doe his office in reparting to each member his due proportion in perfection which either giveth it rawe or remayneth with it indigested by his hardnes or cruditie infeebleth the body and maketh it vnlusty and vnfit for any thing for the stomacke being strong though all parts els be weake there is ever a desire to feede and aptnes to performe whatsoever can bee required of a man but though all other members be strong and sound if the Stomacke be opprest or squemish all the body is vnlustie and vnfit for any thing and yeeldeth to nothing so readily as to sloathfulnes which is confirmed by the common answere to all questions As will you eate will you sleepe will you walke will you play The answere is I haue no stomacke which is as much as to say no not willingly thereby confirming that without a sound and whole stomacke nothing can bee well accomplished nor any sustenance well digested The seething of the meate in Salt water helpeth to cause this inâ—irmitie which in long Voyages can hardly be avoyded but if it may be it is to be shunned for the water of the Sea to mans body is very vnwholsome The corruption of the victuals and especially of the bread is very pernicious the vapours and ayre of the Sea also is nothing profitable especially in these hot Countries where are many calmes And were it not for the moving of the Sea by the force of windes tydes and currants it would corrupt all the world The experience I saw in Anno 1590. lying with a Fleete of her Maiesties ships about the Ilands of the Azores almost six moneths the greatest part of the time we were becalmed with which all the Sea became so replenished with severall sorts of gellyes and formes of Serpents Adders and Snakes as seemed wonderfull some greene some blacke some yellow some white some of divers coulours and many of them had life and some there were a yard and halfe and two yards long which had I not seene I could hardly haue beleeved And hereof are witnesses all the Companies of the Ships which were then present so that hardly a man could draw a Buckett of water cleere of some corruption In which Voyage towards the end thereof many of every Ship saving of the Nonpereli which was vnder my charge and had onely one man sicke in all the Voyage fell sicke of this disease and began to die apace but that the speedie passage into our Country was remedie to the crazed and a Preservatiue for those that were not touched The best prevention for this disease in my iudgement is to keepe cleane the Shippe to be sprinkle her ordinarily with Vineger or to burne Tarre and some sweet savours to feed vpon as few salt Meats in the hot Country as may be and especially to shunne all kindes of salt Fish and to reserue them for the cold Climates and not to dresse any meat with salt water nor to suffer the companie to wash their Shirts nor Cloathes in it nor to sleepe in their Cloaths when they are wett For this cause it is necessarily required that provision be made of apparell for the Company that they may haue wherewith to shift themselues Being a common calamitie amongst the ordinary sort of Mariners to spend their thrift on the shore and to bring to Sea no more Cloaths then they haue backes for the bodie of man is not refreshed with any thing more then with shifting cleane Cloaths a great preservatiue of health in hott Countries The second Antidote is to keepe the companie occupied in some bodily exercise of worke of agilitie of pastimes of dauncing of vse of Armes these helpeth much to banish this infirmitie Thirdly In the morning at discharge of the watch to giue
Lynes the Hooke being bayted with a redd Cloth or with a white Cloth made into the forme of a Fish and sowed vpon the Hooke The Sharke or Tiberune is a Fish like vnto those which wee call Dogge-fishes but that he is farre greater I haue seene of them eight or nine foote long his head is flatt and broad and his mouth in the middle vnderneath as that of the Seate and he cannot byte of the bayte before him but by making a halfe turne and then he helpeth himselfe with his tayle which serveth him in stead of a Rudder His skinne is rough like to the Fish which we call a rough Hound and russet with reddish spottes saving that vnder the belly he is all white he is much hated of Sea-faring men who haue a certaine foolish superstition with them and say that the Ship hath seldome good successe that is much accompanied with them It is the most ravenous Fish knowne in the Sea for he swalloweth all that he findeth In the Puch of them hath beene sound hatts cappes shooes shirts leggs and armes of men ends of Ropes and many other things whatsoever is hanged by the Shippes side hee sheereth it as though it were with a Razor for he hath three rowes of teeth on either side as sharpe as Nailes some say they are good for Pick-tooths It hath chanced that a yonker casting himselâ—e into the Sea to swimme hath had his legge bitten off aboue the knee by one of them And I haue beene enformed that in the Tyger when Sir Richard Greenfild went to people Virginia a Sharke cut off the legge of one of the companie sitting in the Chaines and washing himselfe They spawne not as the greatest part of Fishes doe but Whelpe as the Dogge or Wolfe and for many dayes after that shee hath whelped every night and towards any storme or any danger which may threaten them hurt the Damme receiveth her Whelpes in at her mouth and preserveth them till they be able to shift for themselues I haue seene them goe in and out being more then a foote and halfe long and after taking the Damme we haue found her young ones in her belly Every day my Company tooke more or lesse of them not for that they did eate of them for they are not held wholesome although the Spaniards as I haue seene doe eate them but to recreate themselues and in revenge of the iniuries received by them for they liue long and suffer much after they bee taken before they dye At the taylâ— of one they tyed a great logge of wood at another an emptie Batizia well stopped one they yoaked like a Hogge from another they plucked out his eyâ—s and so threw them into the Sea In catching two together they bound them tayle to tayle and so set them a swimming another with his belly slit and his bowels hanging out which his fellowes would haue every one a snatch at with other infinite inventions to entertayne the time and to avenge themselues for that they deprived them of swimming and fed on their flesh being dead they are taken with harping Irons and with great hookes made of purpose with Swyvels and Chaines for no lyne nor small rope can hold them which they share not asunder There doth accompany this fish divers little fishes which are callet Pilats fishes and are ever vpon his fynnes his head or his backe and feede of the scraps and superfluities of his prayes They are in forme of a Trought and streked like a Makerell but that the strekes are white and blacke and the blacke greater then the white The manner of Hunting and Hawking representeth that which wee reasonable creatures vse saving onely in the disposing of the game For by our industry and abilitie the Hound and Hawke is brought to that obedience that whatsoever they seize is for their Master but here it is otherwise For the game is for him that seizeth it The Dolphins and Bonitoes are the hounds and the Alcatraces the hawkes and the flying fishes the game whose wonderfull making magnifieth the Creator who for their safetie and helpe hath given them extraordinary manner of fynnes which serue in stead of wings like those of the Batt or Rere-mousâ— of such a delicate skinne interlaced with small bones so curiously as may well cause admiration in the beholders They are like vnto Pilchards in colour and making saving that they are somewhat rounder and for the most part bigger They flie best with a side wind but longer then their wings be wett they cannot sustaine the waight of their bodies and so the greatest flight that I haue seene them make hath not beene aboue a quarter of a myle They commonly goe in Scoles and serue for food for the greater Fishes or for the Foules The Dolphins and Bonitoes doe continually hunt after them and the Alcatraces lye soaring in the ayre to see when they spring or take their flight and ordinarily he that escapeth the mouth of the Dolphin or Bonito helping himselfe by his wings falleth prisoner into the hands of the Alcatrace and helpeth to fill his gorge The Alcatrace is a Sea-fowle different to all that I haue seene either on the land or in the Sea His head like vnto the head of a Gull but his bill like vnto a Snytes bill somewhat shorter and in all places alike He is almost like to a Heronshaw his leggs a good spanne long his wings very long and sharpe towards the poynts with a long tayle like to a Pheasant but with three or foure feathers onely and these narrower He is all blacke of the colour of a Crow and of little flesh for he is almost all skinne and bones He soareth the highest of any fowle that I haue seene and I haue not heard of any that haue seene them rest in the Sea Now of the fight betwixt the Whale and his contraries which are the Sword fish and the Thresher The Whale is of the greatest fishes in the Sea and to count but the truth vnlesse dayly experience did witnesse the relation it might seeme incredible hee is a huge vnwildlie fish and to those which haue not seene of them it might seeme strange that other fishes should master him but certaine it is that many times the Thresher and Sword fish meeting him ioyntly doe make an end of him The Sword fish is not great but strongly made and in the top of his chine as a man may say betwixt the necke and shoulders he hath a maner of Sword in substance like vnto a bone of foure or fiue ynches broad and aboue three foote long full of prickles of either side it is but thin for the greatest that I haue seene hath not beene aboue a finger thicke The Thresher is a greater fish whosâ— tayle is very broad thick and very waightie They fight in this maner the Sword fish placeth himselfe vnder the belly of the Whale and the Thresher vpon the Ryme of the water and
night from the sight of the Compasse and haue another before them whereby they see what they doe and are ever witnesses of the good or bad Steeridge of all men that take the Helme This I haue seene neglected in our best Shippes yet nothing more necessary to be reformed For a good Helme-man may be overcome with an imagination and so mis-take one poynt for another or the Compasse may erre which by another is discerned The inconveniences which hereof may ensue all experimented Sea-men may easily conceiue and by vs take warning to avoyd the like SECT XXIIII THe next day about tenne of the Clocke wee were thwart of Cape Blanco which is low sandie Land and perilous for foure Leagues into the Sea thwart it lye banks of sand which haue little water on them on a sudden we found our selues amongst them in lesse then three fathome water but with our Boat and Shalope we went sounding and so got cleare of them The next day following we discovered the Ilands where wee purposed to refresh our selues They are two and some call them Saint Iames his Ilands and others Saint Annes They lie in two and twentie degrees and a halfe to the South-wards of the lyne and towards the evening being the fifth of November we anchored betwixt them and the Mayne in six fathome water where wee found our other Shippes All which being well Moored we presently began to set vp Tents and Booths for our sicke men to carry them a shore and to vse our best diligence to cure them For which intent our three Surgeans with their servants and adherents had two Boates to wayte continually vpon them to fetch whatsoever was needfull from the Shippes to procure refreshing and to Fish either with Netts or Hookes and Lynes Of these implements wee had in aboundance and it yeelded vs some refreshing For the first dayes the most of those which had health occupied themselues in romeging our Ship in bringing a shore of emptie Caske in filling of them and in felling and cutting of Wood which being many workes and few hands went slowly forwards Neere these Ilands are two great Rockes or small Ilands adioyning In them we found great store of young Gannetts in their nests which we reserved for the sicke and being boyled with pickled Porke well watered and mingled with Oatmeale made reasonable Pottage and was good refreshing and sustenance for them This provision fayled vs not till our departure from them Vpon one of these Rocks also we found great store of the hearbe Purslane which boyled and made into Sallets with oyle and vineger refreshed the sicke stomackes and gaue appetite With the ayre of the shore and good cherishing many recovered speedily Some died away quickly and others continued at a stand We found here some store of fruits a kind of Cherry that groweth vpon a tree like a Plum-tree red of colour with a stone in it but different in making to ours for it is not altogether round and dented about they haue a pleasing taste In one of the Ilands we found Palmito trees great and high and in the toppe a certaine fruit like Cocos but no bigger then a Wallnut We found also a fruit growing vpon trees in codds like Beanes both in the codd and the fruit Some of my Company proved of them and they caused vomits and purging as any medicine taken out of the Apothecaries shop according to the quantitie received They haue hudds as our Beanes which shaled off the kernell parteth it selfe in two and in the middle is a thin skinne like that of an Onion said to be hurtfull and to cause exceeding vomits and therefore to be cast away Monardus writing of the nature and propertie of this fruit as of others of the Indies for that it is found in other parts also calleth them Havas purgativas and sayth that they are to be prepared by peeling them first and then taking away the skinne in the middle and after beaten into powder to take the quantitie of fiue or sixe either with Wine or Sugar Thus they are good against Fevers and to purge grosse humors against the Collicke and payne of the ioynts in taking them a man may not sleepe but is to vse the dyet vsuall as in a day of purging One other fruit we found very pleasant in taste in fashion of an Artechoque but lesse on the outside of colour redd within white and compassed about with prickles our people called them Prick-peares no Conserue is better They grow vpon the leaues of a certaine roote that is like vnto that which we call semper viva and many are wont to hang them vp in their houses but their leaues are longer and narrower and full of Prickes on either side The fruit groweth vpon the side of the leafe and is one of the best fruites that I haue eaten in the Indies In ripening presently the Birds or Vermine are feeding on them a generall rule to know what fruit is wholsome and good in the Indies and other parts Finding them to be eaten of the Beasts or Fowles a man may boldly eate of them The water of these Ilands is not good the one for being a standing water and full of venemous Wormes and Serpents which is neare a Butt-shot from the Sea shore where we found a great Tree fallen and in the roote of it the names of sundry Portingalls Frenchmen and others and amongst them Abraham Cockes with the time of their being in this Island The other though a running water yet passing by the rootes of certaine trees which haue a smell as that of Garlique taketh a certaine contagious sent of them Here two of our men dyed with swelling of their bellies The accident we could not attribute to any other cause then to this suspitious water It is little and falleth into the sand and soketh through it into the Sea and therefore we made a well of a Pipe and placed it vnder the rocke from which it falleth and out of it filled our Caske but we could not fill aboue two Tunnes in a night and a day SECT XXV SO after our people began to gather their strength wee manned our Boates and went over to the Mayne where presently we found a great Ryver of fresh and sweete water and a mightie Marish Countrie which in the Winter seemeth to be continually over-flowne with this River and others which fall from the mountaynous Country adiacent We rowed some leagues vp the Ryver and found that the further vp we went the deeper was the River but no fruit more then she sweate of our bodies for the labour of our handes At our returne wee loaded our Boate with Water and afterwardes from hence wee made our Store SECT XXVI THe sicknesse having wasted more then the one halfe of my people we determined to take out the victualls of the Hawke and to burne her which wee put in execution And being occupied
of ours but one small Pynace nor any man of name saue onely Captaine Cocke who dyed with honour amidst his Company The greatest dammage that as I remember they caused to any of our Shippes was to the Swallow of her Maiestie which I had in that action vnder my Charge with an Arrow of fire shott into her Beake-head which we saw not because of the sayle till it had burned a hole in the Rose as bigge as a mans head the Arrow falling out and driving alongst by the Shippes side made vs doubt of it which after we discovered SECT XL. IN many occasions notwithstanding it is most preiudiciall to dissemble the reprehension and punishment of murmurings and mutterings when they carry a likelihood to grow to a mutenie seeme to leane to a faction or that a person of regard or merite favoureth the intention or contradicteth the Iustice c. and others of like qualitie The prudent Governour is to cut off this Hydra's head in the beginning and by prevention to provide remedie with expedition and this sometimes with absolute authoritie although the best be ever to proceed by Counsell if necessitie and occasion require not the contrary for passion many times over-ruleth but that which is sentenced and executed by consent is iustified although sometimes erronious March 29. 1594. SECT XLI FRom Cape Desire some foure leagues North-west lye foure Ilands which are very small and the middlemost of them is oâ— the fashion of a Sugar-loafe We were no sooner cleare of Cape Desire and his ledge of Rockes which lie a great way off into the Sea but the wind tooke vs contrary by the North-west and so we stood off into the Sea two dayes and two nights to the Westwards In all the Straites it ebbeth and floweth more or lesse and in many places it higheth very little water but in some Bayes where are great indraughts it higheth eight or ten foote and doubtlesse further in more If a man be furnished with wood and water and the winde good he may keepe the mayne Sea and goe round about the Straites to the Southwards and it is the shorter way for besides the experience which we made that all the South part of the Straites is but Ilands many times having the Sea open I remember that Sir Francis Drake told me that having short the Straites a storme tooke him first at North-west and after vered about to the South-west which continued with him many dayes with that extremitie that he could not open any Sayle and that at the end of the storme he found himselfe in fiftie degrees which was sufficient testimony and proofe that he was beaten round about the Straites for the least height of the Straites is in fiftie two degrees and fiftie minutes in which stand the two entrances or mouths And moreover he sayd that standing about when the winde changed he was not well able to double the Southermost Iland and so anchored vnder the lee of it and going a-shore carried a Compasse with him and seeking out the Southermost part of the Iland cast himselfe downe vpon the vttermost poynt groveling and so reached out his bodie over it Presently he imbarked and then recounted vnto his people that he had beene vpon the Southermost knowne land in the world and more â—urther to the Southwards vpon it then any of them yea or any man as yet knowne These testimonies may suffice for this truth vnto all but such as are incredulous will beleeue nothing but what they see for my part I am of opinion that the Straite is navigable all the yeare long although the best time be in November December and Ianuary and then the winds more favourable which other times are variable as â—n all narrow Seas Being some fiftie leagues a Sea-boord the Straites the winde vering to the West-wards we cast about to the North-wards and lying the coast along shaped our course for the Iland Mocha About the fifteenth of Aprill we were thwart of Baldivia which was then in the hands of the Spaniards but since the Indians in Anno 1599. dispossessed them of it and the Conception which are two of the most principall places they had in that Kingdome and both Ports Baldivia had its name of a Spanish Captaine so called whom afterwards the Indians tooke Prisoner and it is said they required of him the reason why he came to molest them and to take their Country from them having no title nor right therevnto he answered to get Gold which the barbarous vnderstanding caused Gold to be molten and powred downe his throat saying Gold was thy desire glut thee with it It standeth in fortie degrees hath a pleasant River and navigable for a Ship of good burden may goe as high vp as the Cittie and is a goodly wood Country Here our Beefe beganne to take end and was then as good as the day wee departed from England it was preserved in Pickell which though it be more chargeable yet the profit payeth the charge in that it is made durable contrary to the opinion of many which hold it impossible that Beefe should be kept good passing the Equinoctiall lyne And of our Porke I eate in the house of Don Beltran de Castro in Lyma neere foure yeares old very good preserved after the same manner notwithstanding it had lost his Pickle long before Some degrees before a man come to Baldivia to the South-wards as Spaniards haue told me lyeth the Iland Chule not easily to be discerned from the mayne for he that passeth by it cannot but thinke it to be the mayne It is said to be inhabited by the Spaniards but badly yet rich of gold The 19. of Aprill being Easter-euen we anchored vnder the Iland Mocha It lyeth in 39. degrees it may be some foure leagues over and is a high mountainous hill but round about the foote thereof some halfe league from the Sea-shore it is Champion ground well inhabited and manured From the Straites to this Iland we found that either the coast is set out more westerly then it is or that we had a great current which put vs to the west-wards for we had not sight of land in three dayes after Our reckoning was to see it but for that we coasted not the land I cannot determine whether it was caused by the current or lying of the land But Spaniards which haue sayled alongst it haue told me that it is a bold and safe coast and reasonable sounding of it In this Iland of Mocha we had communication and contratation with the inhabitants but with great vigilancie and care for they and all the people of Chily are mortall enemies to the Spaniards and held vs to be of them and so esteemed Sir Francis Drake when he was in this Iland which was the first land also that he touched on this coast They vsed him with so fine a trechery that they possessed themselues of all the Oares in his Boate saving two and
neglect thereof and haue beene most lamentable spectacles and examples vnto vs Experiments in the great Harry Admirall of England which was over-set and suncke at Ports-mouth with her Captaine Carew and the most part of his company drowned in a goodly Summers day with a little flawe of winde for that her ports were all open and making a small hele by them entred their destruction where if they had beene shut no wind could haue hurt her especially in that place In the River of Thames Master Thomas Candish had a small Ship over-set through the same negligence And one of the Fleete of Syr Francis Drake in Santo Domingo Harbour turned her keele vpward likewise vpon the same occasion with many others which wee never haue knowledge of And when this commeth to passe many times negligence is cloaked with the fury of the winde which is a double fault for the truth being knowne others would bee warned to shun the like neglects for it is a very bad Ship whose Masts crackt not asunder whose Sayles and tackling flie not in peeces before shee over-set especially if shee be English built And that which over-setteth the Ship is the waight of the water that presseth downe the side which as it entreth more and more increaseth the waight and the impossibilitie of the remedie For the water not entring with casing of the sheate or striking the sayles or putting the Ship before the winde or Sea or other diligences as occasion is offered and all expert Mariners know remedie is easily found With this mischaunce the Mariners were so daunted that they would not proceede with the Ship any further except shee were lighted which indeede was needelesse for many reasons which I gaue but Mariners are like to a stiffe necked Horse which taking the bridle betwixt his teeth forceth his Rider to what him list maâ—ger his will so they hauing once concluded and resolved are with great difficultie brought to yeelde to the raynes of reason And to colour their negligence they added cost trouble and delay In fine seeing no other remedie I dispatched that night a servant of mine to giue account to my Father of that which had past and to bring mee presently some Barke of London to goe along with mee to Plymouth which not finding he brought me a Hoye in which I loaded some sixe or eight tunns to giue content to the company and so set sayle the 13. of Aprill and the next day wee put in at Harwich for that the winde was contrary and from thence departed the 18. of the sayd Moneth in the morning When wee were cleere of the Sands the winde vered to the South-west and so we were forced to put into Margat Roade whether came presently after vs a Fleete of Hollanders of aboue an hundreth Sayle bound for Rochell to loade salt and in their companie a dozen ships of Warre their wasters very good ships and well appointed in all respects All which came alongst by our ship and â—â—â—ured vs as is the custome of the Sea some with three others with fiue others with more peeces of Ordinance The next morning the winde vering Easterly I set sayle and the Hollanders with me and they with the flood in hand went out at the North-sands-head and I through the Gulls to shorten my way and to set my Pilates shore Comming neere the South-sore-land the winde began to vere to the South-east and by south so as we could not double the point of the Land and being close abourd the shore and putting our ship to slay what with the chapping Sea and what with the Tide vpon the Bowe shee mist staying and put vs in some daunger before wee could flact about therefore for doubling the point of any land better is ever a short bourd then to put all in perill Being tacked about wee thought to anchor in the Downes but the sayles set we made a small bourd and after casting about againe doubled the foreland and ran alongst the Coast till we came to the I le of Wight where being becalmed wee sent a shore Master Thomson of Harwich our Pilot not being able before to set him on shore for the perversnes of the winde Being cleere of the Wight the winde vered Southerly and before wee came to Port-land to the west South-west but with the helpe of the ebbe wee recovered Port-land ronde where we anchored all that night and the next morning with the ebbe wee set sayle againe the winde at west South-west purposing to beare it vp all the ebbe and to stop the flood being vnder sayle SECT III. THe Fleete of Flemings which had beene in our company before came towring into the road which certainly was a thing worth the notiâ—g to behold the good order the Masters observed in guard of their fleete The Admirall headmost the râ—st of the men of Warre spread alongst to wind-ward all saving the vice-Admirall and her consort which were lee-most and stern-most of all and except the Admirall which was the first that came to an Anchor None of the other men of warre anchored before all the Fleete was in safetie and then they placed themselues round about the Fleete the Vice-Admirall Seamost and Leemost which we haue taught vnto most Nations and they obserue it now a dayes better then we to our shame that being the Authors and reformers of the best Discipline and Lawes in Sea causes are become those which doe now worst execute them And I cannot gather whence this contempt hath growne except of the neglect of Discipline or rather in giuing commands for favour to those which want experience of what is committed to their charge Or that there hath beene little curiositie in our countrey in writing of the Discipline of the Sea which is not lesse necessary for vs then that of the Law And I am of opinion that the want of experience is much more tollerable in a Generall by Land then in a Gouernour by Sea For in the field the Lieutenant Generall the Sergeant Maior and the Coronels supply what is wanting in the Generall for that they all command and ever there is place for Counsell which in the Sea by many accidents is denied and the head is he that manageth all in whom alone if there be defect all is badly governed for by ignorance how can errors be iudged or reformed And therefore I wish all to take vpon them that which they vnderstand and refuse the contrary As Sir Henry Palmer a wise and valiant Gentleman a great commander and of much experience in Sea causes being appoynted by the Queenes Maiesties Counsell to goe for Generall of a Fleete for the coast of Spaine Anno 1583. submitting himselfe to their Lordships pleasure excused the charge saying that his trayning vp had beene in the narrow Seas and that of the other he had little experience And therefore was in dutie bound to intreate their Honours to make choice of some other person that was
every man a bit of bread and a draught of drinke either Beere or Wine mingled with water at the least the one halfe or a quantitie mingled with Beere that the pores of the bodie may be full when the vapours of the Sea ascend vp The morning draught should be ever of the best and choysest of that in the ship Pure wine I hold to be more hurtfull then the other is profitable In this others will be of a contrary opinion but I thinke partiall If not then leaue I the remedies thereof to those Physitions and Surgeons who haue experience And I wish that some learned man would write of it for it is the plague of the Sea and the spoyle of Mariners doubtlesse it would be a meritorious Worke with God and man and most beneficiall for our Countrie for in twentie yeares since that I haue vsed the Sea I dare take vpon me to giue accompt of ten thousand men consumed with this disease That which I haue seene most fruitfull for this sicknesse is sower Oranges and Lemmons and a water which amongst others for my particular provision I carryed to the Sea called Doctor Stevens his Water of which for that his vertue was not then well knowne vnto me I carryed but little and it tooke end quickly but gaue health to those that vsed it The oyle of Vitry is beneficiall for this disease taking two drops of it and mingled in a draught of water with a little Sugar It taketh away the thirst and helpeth to clense and comfort the stomacke But the principall of all is the ayre of the Land for the Sea is naturall for fishes and the Land for men And the oftner a man can haue his people to land not hindering his voyage the better it is and the profitablest course that he can take to refresh them SECT XVII HAving stood to the westwards some hundreth leagues and more the wind continuing with vs contrarie and the sicknesse so fervent that every day there dyed more or lesse my Companie in generall began to dismay and to desire to returne homewards which I laboured to hinder by good reasons and perswasions As that to the West Indies we had not aboue eight hundreth leagues to the Ilands of Azores little lesse and before we come to the Ilands of Cape de Verde that we should meete with the Breze for every night we might see the reach goe contrary to the winde which wee sayled by verifying the old Proverbe amongst Mariners That he hath need of a long Mast that will sayle by the Reach and that the neerest land and speediest refreshing wee could looke for was the coast of Brasill and that standing towards it with the winde we had we shortned our way for the Indies and that to put all the sicke men together in one Shippe and to send her home was to make her their graue For we could spare but few sound men who were also subiect to fall sicke and the misery notwithstanding remedilesse with which they were convinced and remained satisfied So leaving all to their choyse with the consideration of what I perswaded they resolved with me to continue our course till that God was pleased to looke vpon vs with his Fatherly eyes of mercie As we approached neerer and neerer the coast of Brasill the wind began to vere to the East-wardes and about the middle of October to be large and good for vs and about the 18. of October we were thwart of Cape Saint Augustine which lyeth in sixe degrees to the Southwards of the lyne and the 21. in the height of Farnambuca but some fourescore leagues from the Coast the twentie foure in the height of Bayea de todos Santos neere the end of October betwixt 17. and 18. degrees we were in 16. fathomes sounding of the great Sholes which lye alongst the Coast betwixt the Bay of todos Santos and the Port of Santos alias ura senora de Vitoria which are very perilous But the divine Providence hath ordayned great flockes of small Birds like Snytes to liue vpon the Rockes and broken lands of these Sholes and are met with ordinarily twentie leagues before a man come in danger of them It shall not be amisse here to recount the Accidents which befell vs during this contrary winde and the curiosities to be observed in all this time Day and night we had continually a fayre gale of winde and a smooth Sea without any alteration one day the Carpenters having Calked the Decke of our Shippe which the Sunne with his extreame heate had opened craved licence to heate a little Pitch in the Cook-roome which I would not consent vnto by any meanes for that my Cook-roomes were vnder the Decke knowing the danger vntill the Master vndertooke that no danger should come thereof But he recommended the charge to another who had a better name then experience He suffered the Pitch to rise and to runne into the fire which caused so furious a flame as amazed him and forced all to flie his heate one of my Company with a double payre of Gloues tooke off the Pitch-pot but the fire forced him to let slip his hold-fast before he could set it on the Hearth and so overturned it and as the Pitch began to runne so the fire to enlarge it selfe that in a moment a great part of the Shippe was on a light fire I being in my Cabin presently imagined what the matter was and for all the hast I could make before I came the fire was aboue the Decke for remedie whereof I commanded all my Companie to cast their Ruggegownes into the Sea with Ropes fastened vnto them These I had provided for my people to watch in for in many hott Countries the nights are fresh and colde and devided one Gowne to two men a Starboord and a Larboord man so that he which watched had ever the Gowne for they which watched not were either in their Cabins or vnder the Decke and so needed them not The Gownes being well soked every man that could tooke one and assaulted the fire and although some were singed others scalded and many burned God was pleased that the fire was quenched which I thought impossible And doubtlesse I never saw my selfe in greater perill in all the dayes of my life Let all men take example by vs not to suffer in any case Pitch to be heate in the Ship except it be with a shott heate in the fire which cannot breed daunger nor to permit fire to be kindled but vpon meere necessitie for the inconvenience thereof is for the most part remedilesse With drinking of Tobacco it is said that the Roebucke was burned in the range of Dartmouth The Primrose of London was fired with a Candle at Tilbery-hope and nothing saved but her Kele And another Ship bound for Barbary at Wapping The Iesus of Lubecke had her Gunner-roome set on fire with a Match and had
beene burnt without redemption if that my Father Sir Iohn Hawkins Knight then Generall in her had not commaunded her Sloppers to be stopt and the men to come to the Pumpes whereof shee had two which went with chaynes and plying them in a moment there was three or foure inches of water vpon the Decke which with Scoopes Swabbles and Platters they threw vpon the fire and so quenched it and delivered both Ship and men out of no small danger Great care is to be had also in cleaving of Wood in Hooping or Scutling of Caske and in any businesse where violence is to be vsed with instruments of Iron Steele or Stone and especially in opening of Powder these are not to be vsed but Mallets of Wood for many mischances happen beyond all expectation I haue beene credibly enformed by divers persons that comming out of the Indies with Scutling a Butt of water the water hath taken fire and flamed vp and put all in hazard And a servant of mine Thomas Gray told me that in the Shippe wherein he came out of the Indies Anno 1600. there happened the like and that if with Mantles they had not smoothered the fire they had bin all burned with a Pipe of Water which in Scutling tooke fire Master Iohn Hazlelocke reported that in the Arsenall of Venice happened the like he being present For mine owne part I am of opinion that some waters haue this propertie and especially such as haue their passage by Mines of Brimstone or other Mineralls which as all men know giue extraordinary properties vnto the waters by which they runne Or it may be that the water being in wine Caske and kept close may retayne an extraordinary propertie of the Wine Yea I haue drunke Fountaine and River waters many times which haue had a savour as that of Brimstone Three leagues from Bayon in France I haue proved of a fountaine that hath this savour and is medicinable for many diseases In the South Sea in a River some fiue Leagues from Cape Saint Francisco in one degree and a halfe to the Northwardes of the lyne in the Bay of Atacames is a River of fresh water which hath the like savour Of this I shall haue occasion to speake in another place treating of the divers properties of Fountaines and Rivers and therefore to our purpose SECT XVIII WEe had no small cause to giue God thankes and prayse for our deliverance and so all our Ships once come together wee magnified his gloririous Name for his mercie towards vs and tooke an occasion hereby to banish swearing out of our Shippes which amongst the common sort of Mariners and Sea-faring men is too ordinarily abused So with a generall consent of all our companie it was ordayned that in every Ship there should be a Palmer or Ferula which should be in the keeping of him who was taken with an oath and that he who had the Palmer should giue to every other that he tooke swearing in the Palme of the hand a Palmada with it and the Ferula And whosoever at the time of evening or morning Prayer was found to haue the Palmer should haue three blowes given him by the Captaine or Master and that he should be still bound to free himselfe by taking another or else to runne in daunger of continuing the penaltie which executed few dayes reformed the Vice so that in three dayes together was not one oath heard to be sworne This brought both Ferula's and swearing out of vse And certainly in vices custome is the principall sustenance and for their reformation it little availeth to giue good counsell or to make good Lawes and Ordenances except they be executed SECT XIX IN this time of contrary Wind those of my Company which were in health recreated themselues with Fishing and beholding the Hunting and Hawking of the Sea and the Battell betwixt the Whale and his enemies which truely are of no small pleasure And therefore for the curious I will spend some time in Declaration of them Ordinarily such Ships as Navigate betweene the Tropiques are accompanied with three sorts of Fish The Dolphin which the Spaniards call Dozado The Bonito or Spanish Makerell and the Sharke alias Tiberune The Dolphin I hold to be one of the swiftest Fishes in the Sea He is like vnto a Breame but that he is longer and thinner and his scales very small He is of the coulour of the Rayn-bow and his head different to other Fishes for from his mouth halfe a spanne it goeth straight vpright as the head of a Wherry or the cut-Cut-water of a Ship He is very good meate if he be in season but the best part of him is his head which is great They are some bigger some lesser the greatest that I haue seene might be some foure foote long I hold it not without some ground that the auncient Philosophers write that they be enamoured of a man for in meeting with Shipping they accompany them till they approach to colde Climates this I haue noted divers times For disembarking out of the West Indies Anno 1583. within three or foure dayes after we mett a Scole of them which left vs not till we came to the Ilands of Azores nere a thousand Leagues At other times I haue noted the like But some may say that in the Sea are many Scoles of this kinde of Fish and how can a man know if they were the same Who may be thus satisfied that every day in the morning which is the time that they approach neerest the Ship we should see foure fiue and more which had as it were our â—are-marke one hurt vpon the backe another neere the tayle another about the fynnes which is sufficient proofe that they were the same For if those which had received so bad entertainment of vs would not forsake vs much lesse those which we had not hurt yet that which makes them most in loue with Ships and Men are the scrappes and refreshing they gather from them The Bonito or Spanish Makerell is altogether like vnto a Makerell but that it is somewhat more growne he is reasonable foode but dryer then a Makerell Of them there are two sorts the one is this which I haue described the other so great as hardly one man can lift him At such times as wee haue taken of these one sufficed for a meale for all my company These from the fynne of the tayle forwards haue vpon the chyne seven small yellow hillockes close one to another The Dolphins and Bonito's are taken with certaine instruments of Iron which we call Vysgeis in forme of an Eâ—le-speare but that the blades are round and the poynts like vnto the head of a broad Arrow these are fastned to long Staues of ten or twelue foote long with lynes tyed vnto them and so shott to the Fish from the Beake-head the Poope or other parts of the Shippe as occasion is ministred They are also caught with Hookes and
which time I lived in a great perplexitie for that I knew our owne weaknesse and what they might doe vnto vs if that they had knowne so much For any man that putteth himselfe into the enemies Port had need of Argus eyes and the wind in a bagge especially where the enemie is strong and the tydes of any force For with either ebbe or flood those who are on the shore may thrust vpon him inventions of fire and with swimming or other devises may cut his Cables A common practise in all hott Countries The like may be effected with Raffes Cannoas Boates or Pynaces to annoy and assault him and if this had beene practised against vs or taken effect our Shippes must of force haue yeelded themselues for they had no other people in them but sicke men but many times opinion and feare preserveth the Shippes and not the people in them Wherefore it is the part of a provident Governour to consider well the daungers that may befall him before he put himselfe into such places So shall he ever be provided for prevention In Saint Iohn de Vlua in the New-Spaine when the Spanyards dishonoured their Nation with that foule act of periury and breach of faith given to my Father Sir Iohn Hawkins notorious to the whole world the Spanyards fired two great Shippes with intention to burne my Fathers Admirall which he prevented by towing them with his Boates another way The great Armado of Spaine sent to conquer England Anno 1588. was with that selfe same industry overthrowne for the setting on â—ire of six or seaven shippes whereof two were mine and letting them drive with the flood forced them to cut their Cables and to put to Sea to seeke a new way to Spaine In which the greatest part of their best Shippes and men were lost and perished For that my people should not bâ— dismayed I dispatched presently my Light-horsman with onely foure men and part of the refreshing advising them that with the first calme or slent of wind they should come off The next night the wind comming off the shore wee set sayle and with our Boates and Barkes founded as we went It flowed vpon the Barre not aboue foure foote water and once in foure and twentie houres as in some parts of the West Indies at full Sea there is not vpon the barre aboue 17. or 18. foote water The harbour runneth to the South-westwards He that will come into it is to open the harbours mouth a good quarter of a league before he beare with it and be bolder of the wester side for of the Easterland lyeth a great ledge of Rockes for the most part vnder water which sometimes breake not but with small shipping a man may goe betwixt them and the poynt Comming aboord of our Shippes there was great ioy amongst my Company and many with the sight of the Oranges and Lemmons seemed to recover heart This is a wonderfull secret of the power and wisedome of God that hath hiddeâ— so great and vnknowne vertue in this fruit to be a certaine remedie for this infirmitie I presently caused them all to be reparted amongst our sicke men which were so many that there came not aboue three or foure to a share but God was pleased to send vs a prosperous winde the next day so much to our comfort that not any one dyed before we came to the Ilands where we pretended to refresh our selues And although our fresh water had fayled vs many dayes before we saw the shore by reason of our long Navigation without touching any land and the excessiue drinking of the â—icke and diseased which could not be excused yet with an invention I had in my Shippe I easily drew out of the water of the Sea sufficient quantitie of fresh water to sustaine my people with little expence of fewell for with foure Billets I stilled a Hogshead of water and therewith dressed the meat for the sicke and whole The water so distilled we found to be wholesome and nourishing SECT XXII THe Coast from Santos to Cape Frio lyeth west and by South Southerly So we directed our course West South-west The night comming on and directions given to our other Shippes we sett the watch having a fayre fresh gale of wind and large My selfe with the Master of our Ship having watched the night past thought now to giue Nature that which shee had beene deprived of and so recommended the care of Steeridge to one of his Mates who with the like travell past being drowsie or with the confidence which he had of him at the Helme had not that watchfull care which was required he at the Helme steered West and West and by South and brought vs in a little time close vpon the shore doubtlesse he had cast vs all away had not God extraordinarily delivered vs for the Master being in his dead sleepe was suddenly awaked and with such a fright that he could not be in quiet wherevpon waking his youth which ordinarily slept in his Cabin by him asked him how the watch went on who answered that it could not be aboue an houre since he layd himselfe to rest He replyed that his heart was so vnquiet that he could not by any meanes sleepe and so taking his Gowne came forth vpon the Decke and presently discovered the Land hard by vs. And for that it was sandie and low those who had their eyes continually fixed on it were dazeled with the reflection of the Starres being a fayre night and so were hindered from the true discovery thereof But he comming out of the darke had his sight more forcible to discerne the difference of the Sea and the shore So that forthwith he commaunded him at the Helme to put it close a starbourd and tacking our Ship wee edged off and sounding found scant three fathome water whereby we saw evidently the miraculous mercie of our God that if he had not watched over vs as hee doth continually over his doubtlesse we had perished without remedie To whom be all glory and prayse everlastingly world without end Immediatly we shot off a Peece to giue warning to our other Shippes who having kept their direct course and far to wind-wards and Sea-wards because we carried no light for that we were within sight of the shore could not heare the report and the next morning were out of sight SECT XXIII IN this poynt of Steeridge the Spaniards and Portingalls doe exceede all that I haue seene I meane for their care which is chiefest in Navigation And I wish in this and in all their workes of Discipline and reformation we should follow their examples as also those of any other Nation In every Ship of moment vpon the halfe decke or quarter decke they haue a chayre or seat out of which whilst they Navigate the Pilot or his Adiutants which are the same officers which in our Shippes we terme the Master and his Mates never depart day nor
never suspected that any thing could make them forsake vs So we much lamented them The storme ceasing and being out of all hope we set sayle and went on our course During this storme certaine great fowles as big as Swannes soared aboue vs and the winde calming setled themselues in the Sea and fed vpon the sweepings of our Ship which I perceiving and desirous to see of them because they seemed farre greater then in truth they were I caused a hooke and lyne to be brought me and with a peece of a Pilchard I bayted the hook a foot from it tyed a peece of corke that it might not sinke deepe and threw it into the Sea which our ship driving with the Sea in a little time was a good space from vs and one of the Fowles being hungry presently seized vpon it and the hooke in his vpper beake It is like to a Faulcons bill but that the poynt is more crooked in that maner as by no meanes he could cleare himselfe except that the lyne brake or the hooke righted Plucking him towards the ship with the waving of his wings he eased the waight of his body and being brought to the sterne of our ship two of our Company went downe by the Ladder of the poope and seized on his necke and wings but such were the blowes he gaue them with his Pinnions as both left their hand-fast being beaten blacke and blew we cast a snare about his necke and so tryced him into the Ship By the same manner of Fishing we caught so many of them as refreshed and recreated all my people for that day Their bodies were great but of little flesh and tender in taste answerable to the food whereon they feed They were of two colours some white some gray they had three ioynts in each wing and from the poynt of one wing to the poynt of the other both stretched out was aboue two fathomes The wind continued good with vs till we came to 49. degrees and 30. minuts where it tooke vs Westerly being as we made our accompt some fiftie leagues from the shore Betwixt 49. and 48. degrees is Port Saint Iulian a good Harbour and in which a man may graue his Ship though shee draw fifteene or sixteene foote water But care is to be had of the people called Pentagones They are treacherous and of great stature so the most giue them the name of Gyants The second of February about nine of the Clocke in the morning we discryed land which bare South-west of vs which wee looked not for so timely and comming neerer and neerer vnto it by the lying wee could not coniecture what land it should be for we were next of any thing in 48. degrees and no Platt nor Sea-card which we had made mention of any land which lay in that manner neere about that height In fine wee brought our Lar-bord tacke aboord and stood to the North-east-wardes all that day and night and the Winde continuing Westerly and a fayre gale wee continued our course alongst the coast the day and night following In which time wee made accompt we discovered well neere three-score leagues off the coast It is bold and made small shew of dangers The land is a goodly Champion Country and peopled we saw many fires but could not come to speake with the people for the time of the yeare was farre spent to shoot the Straites and the want of our Pynace disabled vs for finding a Port or Roade not being discretion with a ship of charge and in an vnknowne coast to come neere the shore before it was sounded which were causes together with the change of the winde good for vs to passe the Straite that hindered the further discovery of this Land with its secrets This I haue sorrowed for many times since for that it had likelihood to be an excellent Countrie It hath great Rivers of fresh waters for the out-shoot of them colours the Sea in many places as we ran alongst it It is not mountaynous but much of the disposition of England and as temperate The things we noted principally on the coast are these following the westermost poynt of the land with which we first fell is the end of the land to the West-wardes as we found afterwards If a man bring this poynt South-west it riseth in three mounts or round hillockes bringing it more Westerly they shoot themselues all into one and bringing it Easterly it riseth in two hillocks This we called poynâ— Tremountaine Some twelue or foureteene leagues from this poynt to the East-wardes fayre by the shore lyeth a low flat Iland of some two leagues long we named it Fayre Iland â—or it was all over as greene and smooth as any Meddow in the spring of the yeare Some three or foure leagues Easterly from this Iland is a goodly opening as of a great River or an arme of the Sea with a goodly low Countrie adiacent And eight or tenne leagues from this opening some three leagues from the shore lyeth a bigge Rocke which at the first wee had thought to be a Shippe vnder all her Sayles but after as we came neere it discovered it selfe to be a Rocke which we called Condite-head for that howsoever a man commeth with it it is like to the Condite heads about the Cittie of London All this coast so farre as wee discovered lyeth next of any thing East and by North and West and by South The land for that it was discovered in the raigne of Queene Elizabeth my soveraigne Lady and Mistris and a maiden Queene and at my cost and adventure in a perpetuall memory of her chastitie and remembrance of my endevours I gaue it the name of HAVVKINS maiden-land Before a man fall with this land some twentie or thirtie leagues he shall meete with bedds of Oreweed driving to and fro in that Sea with white flowers growing vpon them and sometimes farther off which is a good show and signe the land is neere whereof the Westermost part lyeth some threescore leagues from the neerest land of America With our fayre and large Winde we shaped our course for the Straites and the tenth of February we had sight of land and it was the head land of the Straites to the North-wards which agreed with our height wherein we found our selues to be which was in thirtie two degrees and fortie minutes Within a few houres we had the mouth of the Straites open which lyeth in 52. degrees and 50. minuts It riseth like the North foreland in Kent and is much like the land of Margates It is not good to borrow neere the shore but to giue it a fayre birth within a few houres we entred the mouth of the Straites which is some six leagues broad and lyeth in 52. degrees and 50. minutes doubling the poynt on the Star-board which is also flat of a good birth we opened a fayre Bay in which
Seale stinking ripe These houses are made in faâ—hion of an Oven seven or eight foote broad with boughes of trees and covered with other boughes as our Summer houses and doubtles do serve them but for the Summer time when they come to fish and profit themselues of the Sea For they retyre themselues in the Winter into the Country where it is more temperate and yeeldeth better sustenance for on the Mayne of the Straits wee neyther saw beast nor fowle Sea fowle excepted and a kind of Blacke-bird and two hoggs towards the beginning of the Straites Here our ship being well moored we began to supply our wood and water that we had spent Which being a dayes worke and the winde during many dayes contrary I endevoured to keepe my people occupied to divert them from the imagination which some had conceived that it behooved we should returne to Brasill and winter there and so shoot the Straites in the spring of the yeare So one day we rowed vp the River with our boat and light horseman to discover it and the in-land where having spent a good part of the day and finding shold water and many Trees fallen thwart it and little fruite of our labour nor any thing worth the noting we returned Another day we trayned our people a-shore being a goodly sandie Bay another we had a hurling of Batchelers against married men This day we were busied in wrestling the other in shooting so we were never idle neyther thought we the time long SECT XXXIIII AFter we had past here some seven or eight dayes one Evening with a flawe from the shore our Ship droue off into the channell and before we could get vp our Anchor and set our sayles we were driven so farre to lee-wards that we could not recover into the bay and night comming on with a short sayle wee beate off and on till the morning At the breake of the day conferring with the Captaine and Master of my ship what was best to be done we resolved to seeke out Tobias Coue which lyeth over against Cape Fryo on the Southerne part of the Straites because in all the reaches of the Straites for the most part the winde bloweth trade and therfore little profit to be made by turning to winde-wards And from the Ilands of the Pengwins to the ende of the Straites towards the south Sea there is no anchoring in the channell and if we should be put to lee-wards of this Coue we had no succour till we came to the Ilands of Pengwins and some of our Company which had bin with master Thomas Candish in the Voyage in which he died and in the same Coue many weekes vndertooke to be our Pilots thither Wherevpon we bare vp being some two leagues thither having so much winde as we could scarce lye by it with our course and bonnet of each but bearing vp before the winde wee put out our Topsayles and Spritsayle and within a little while the winde began to fayle vs and immediately our Shippe gaue a mightie blow vpon a Rocke and stucke fast vpon it And had wee had but the fourth part of the wind which we had in all the night past but a moment before we strucke the Rocke our Shippe doubtlesse with the blow had broken her selfe all to peeces But our provident and most gracious God which commaundeth wind and Sea watched over vs and delivered vs with his powerfull hand from the vnknowne danger and hidden destruction that so we might prayse him for his fatherly bountie and protection and with the Prophet David say Except the Lord keepe the Cittie the watch-men watch in vaine for if our God had not kept our Shippe we had bin all swallowed vp aliue without helpe or redemption and therefore he for his mercies sake grant that the memoriall of his benefits doe never depart from before our eyes and that we may evermore prayse him for our wonderfull deliverance and his continuall providence by day and by night My company with this Accident were much amazed and not without iust cause Immediately we vsed our endevour to free our selues and with our boates â—ounded round about our Shippe in the meane time assaying our pumpe to know if our Shippe made more water then her ordinary we found nothing increased and round about our Shippe deepe water saving vnder the mid-shippe for shee was a floaâ—e a bead and a â—terne and bearing some fathome before the mayne Must and inâ—o other part was like to be our destruction for being â—bbing water the waight in the head and sterne by fayling of the water began to open her plankes in the middest and vpon the vpper Decke they were gone one from another some two fingers some more which we sought to ease and remedie by lightning of her burden and throwing into the Sea all that came to hand and laying out an Anchor we sought to wend her off and such was the waâ— and force we put to the Capsten and Tackles fastned vpon the 〈◊〉 that we plucked the ring of the Anchor out of the eye but after recovered it though not serviceable All our labour was fruitlesse till God was pleased that the flood came and then we had her off with great ioy and comfort when finding the current favoâ—â—able with vs we stood over to English bay and serching it â—â—e aâ—chored there having beene some three houres vpon the Rocke and wiâ—h the blow as after we saw when our Ship was brought a ground in Pericâ— which is the Port of Panama a great part of her sheathing was beaten off on both sides in her Bulges and some foure foote long and a foote square of her false stemme ioyning to the Keele wrested a crosse like vnto a Hogges yoake which hindered her sayling very much Here we gaue God prayse for our deliverance and afterward procured to supply our wood and water which we had throwne overbourd to case our Shippe which was not much that supplyed it pleased God who is not ever angry to looke vpon vs with comfort and to send vs a fayre and large wind and so we set Sayle once againe in hope to disemboke the Straite but some dozen leagues before we came to the mouth of it the wind changed and forced vs to seeke out some Cove or Bay with our Boates to ride in neere at hand that we might not be forced to returne farre backe into the Straites They sounded a Cove some sixteene leagues from the mouth of the Straite which after we called Crabby Cove It brooked his name well for two causes the one for that all the water was full of a small kinde of redd Crabbes the other for the crabbed mountaines which over-topped it a third we might adde for the crabbed entertainement it gaue vs. In this Cove we anchored but the wind freshing in and three or foure hilles over-topping like Sugar-loaues altered and straightned the passage of the wind in such manner as
in striving to get them also they slew and hurt all his men himselfe who had fewest wounds had three and two of them in the head Two of his company which lived long after had the one seaventeene his name was Iohn Bruer who afterward was Pilot with master Candish and the other aboue twentie a Negro-servant to Sir Francis Drake And with me they vsed a pollicie which amongst barbarous people was not to be imagined although I wrought sure for I suffered none to treate with me nor with my people with Armes We were armed and met vpon a Rocke compassed with water whether they came to parley and negotiate Being in communication with the Casiques and others many of the Indians came to the heads of our Boats and some went into them Certaine of my people standing to defend the Boates with their Oares for that there went a bad sege were forced to lay downe their Musketts which the Indians perceiving endevoured to fill the barrells with water taking it out of the sea in the hollow of their hands By chance casting mine eye aside I discovered their slynesse and with a truncheon which I had in mine hand gaue the Indians three or foure good lamskinnes the Casiques seeing it began to giue me satisfaction by vsing rigor towardes those which had beene in the Boates but I having gotten the refreshing I desired and all I could hope from them would haue no further conversation with them At our first comming two of their Casiques who are their Lords or Kings came aboord our Shippe we leaving one of our companie ashore as a pledge whom we feasted in good manner they eat well of all that was set before them and dranke better of our Wine one of them became a little giddie headed and marvayled much at our Artillery I caused a Peece to be primed and after to be â—hott off whereat the one started but the other made no shew of alteration after putting them ashore loaden with toyes and trifles which to them seemed great riches from all Ports of the Iland the people came vnto vs bringing all such things as they had to wit sheepe Cockes c. from Hennes they would not part and divers sorts of fruits and rootes which they exchanged with vs for Kniues Glasses Combes Belles Beades Counters Pinnes and other trifles We saw little demonstration of Gold or Silver amongst them though some they had and for that we saw they made estimation of it we would not make reckoning of it but they gaue vs to vnderstand that they had it from the Mayne The sheepe of this Iland are great good and fatt I haue not tasted better Mutton any where They were as ours and doubtlesse of the breed of those which the Spaniards brought into the Country Of the sheepe of the Country we could by no meanes procure any one although we saw of them and vsed meanes to haue had of them for they esteeme them much as reason willeth serving them for many vses as in another place God willing I shall declare more at large They haue small store of fish This Iland is scituate in the Province of Arawca and is held to be peopled with the most valiant Nation in all Chily though generally the Inhabitants of that Kingdome are very couragious They are clothed after the manner of antiquitie all of woollen their Cassockes made like a Sacke square with two holes for the two armes and one for the head all open below without lining or other art but of them some are most curiously wooven and in colours and on both sidesalike Their houses are made round in fashion like vnto our Pigeon houses with a laver in the toppe to evacuate the smoake when they make fire They brought vs a strange kinde of Tobacco made into little cakes like Pitch of a bad smell with holes through the middle and so laced many vpon a string They presented vs also with two Spanish Letters thinking vs to be Spaniards which were written by a Captaine of a Frigate that some dayes before had received courtesie at their hands and signified the same to the Governour wishiâ—g that the people of the Iland would become good subiects to the King and that therefore he would receiue them into his favour and protection and send them some person as Governour but none of them spake Spanish and so we dealt with them by signes The people of this Iland as of all Chily are of good stature and well made and of better countenance then those Indians which I haue seene in many parts They are of good vnderstanding and agilitie and of great strength Their weapons are bowes and arrowes and Macanas their bowes short and strong and their arrowes of a small reade or cane three quarters of a yard long with two feathers and headed with a flint stone which is loose and hurting the head remaineth in the wound some are headed with bone and some with hard wood halfe burnt in the fire Wee came betwixt the Iland and the mayne On the south-west part of the Iland lyeth a great ledge of Rockes which are dangerous and it is good to bee carefull how to come too neere the Iland on all parts Immediately when they discovered vs both vpon the Iland and the Maine wee might see them make sundry great fires which were to giue advise to the rest of the people to be in a readinesse for they haue continuall and mortall warre with the Spaniards and the Shippes they see they beleeue to be their Enemies The Citie Imperiall lyeth over against this Iland but eight or tenne Leagues into the Countrey for all the Sea coast from Baldivia till 36. Degrees the Indians haue now in a manner in their hands free from any Spaniards SECT XLII HAving refreshed our selues well in this Iland for that little time wee stayed which was some 3. dayes wee set sayle with great ioy and with a fayre winde sayled alongst the coast and some eyght Leagues to the North-wards we anchored againe in a goodly Bay and sent our boates ashore with desire to speake with some of the Indians of Arawca and to see if they would bee content to entertaine amitie or to chop and change with vs. But all that night and the next morning appeared not one person and so wee set sayle againe and towardes the Evening the winde began to change and to blow contrary and that so much and the Sea to rise so sodainely that we could not take in our boates without spoyling of them This storme continued with vs ten dayes beyond expectation for that wee thought our selues out of the climate of fowle weather but truely it was one of the sharpest stormes that ever I felt to endure so long In this storme one night haling vp our boates to free the water out of them one of our younkers that went into them for that purpose had not that regard which reason required vnto
found wanting the prisoners being examined was to bee made good by the Captaine and Company which tooke the shippe and this vpon great punishments I am witnes and avow that this course did redownd much to the benefitt of the generall stocke to the satisfaction of her Maiestie and Counsell the iustification of his governement and the content of his followers Thus much haue I set downe concerning these abuses and the reformation thereof for that I haue neither seene them divulged by any with whom I haue gone to Sea neither yet recorded in writing by any mans pen let consideration present them to the eares of the powerfull But now to our Voyage SECT XLVI RVnning alongst the coast till wee came within few Leagues of Arica nothing happened vnto vs of extraordinary noveltie or moment for we had the brese favourable which seldome happeneth in this Climate finding our selues in nineteene Degrees wee haled the shore close abourd purposing to see if there were any shipping in the road of Arica It standeth in a great large Bay in eighteene degrees and before you come to it a league to the southwards of the roade and Towne is a great round hill higher then the rest of the land of the Bay neere about the Towne which wee having discovered had sight presently of a small Barke close abourd the shore becalmed manning our boate wee tooke her being loaden with fish from Moormereno which is a goodly head-land very high and lyeth betwixt twenty foure and twenty fiue Degrees and whether ordinarily some barkes vse to goe a fishing every yeare In her was a Spaniard and sixe Indians The Spaniard for that hee was neere the shore swam vnto the Rockes and though wee offered to returne him his barke and fish as was our meaning yet hee refused to accept it and made vs answere that hee durst not for feare least the Iustice should punish him In so great subiection are the poore vnto those who haue the administration of Iustice in those partes and in most partes of the Kingdomes and Countries subiect to Spaine Insomuch that to heare the Iustice to enter in at their doores is to them destruction and desolation for this cause wee carried her alongst with vs. In this meane while wee had sight of another tall shippe comming out of the Sea which wee gaue chase vnto but could not fetch vpp beeing too good of sayle â—or vs. Our small prize and boate standing off vnto vs descryed another shippe which they chased and tooke also loaden with fish comming from the Ilands of Iuan Fernandes After we opened the Bay and Port of Arica but seeing it cleane without shipping wee haled the coast alongst and going aboord to viâ—it the bigger prize my company â—aluted mee with a volley of small shot Amongst them one Musket brake and carryed away the hand of him that shot it through his owne default which for that I haue seene to happen many times I thinke it necessary to note in this place that others may take warning by his harme The cause of the Muskets breaking was the charging with two bullets the powder being ordayned to carry but the waight of one and the Musket not to suffer two charges of powder or shott By this over-sight the fire is restrayned with the overplus of the waight of shott and not being able to force both of them out breaketh all to peeces so to find a way to its owne center And I am of opinion that it is a great errour to proue great Ordinance or small shot with double charges of powder or shot my reason is for that ordinarily the mettall is proportioned to the waight of the shot which the Peece is to beare and the powder correspondent to the waight of the bullet and this being graunted I see no reason why any man should require to proue his peece with more then is belonging to it of right for I haue seene many goodly peeces broken with such tryals being cleane without hony combes cracke flawe or other perceavable blemish which no doubt with their ordinary allowance would haue served many yeares Yea I haue beene certified by men of credit that some Gunners haue taken a glory for breaking many peeces in the tryall which is easie to be done by sundry slights and meanes not fitt to bee published much lesse to bee exercised being preiudiciall to the seller and chargeable to the Conscience of the practiser therefore it were good this excessiue tryall by double charges were cleane abolished If I shoulde make choyce for my selfe I would not willingly that any peece should come into Fort or Shippe vnder my charge which had borne at any time more then his ordinary allowance misdoubting least through the violence of the double charge the Peece may bee crased within or so forced as at another occasion with his ordinary allowance he might breake in peeces how many men so many mindes for to others this may â—eeme harsh for that the contrary custome hath so long time beene received and therefore I submit to better experience and contradict not but that in a demy Culvering a man may put two Saker or Minion shots or many of smaller waight and so in a Muskett two Calever shott or many smaller so they exceede not the ordinary waight prescribed by proportion Arte and experience These experiments I hold convenient vpon many occasions yea and most necessary but the vaine custome of double charges to cause their peeces thereby to giue a better report I affirme can produce no other effect but danger losse and harme SECT XLVII HAving visited our prises and finding in them nothing but fish we tooke a small portion for our victualing and gaue the bigger shippe to the Spaniards againe and the lesser wee kept with purpose to make her our Pinnas The Indians which wee tooke in her would by no meanes depart from vs but desired to goe with vs for England saying that the Indian and English were brothers and in all places where wee came they shewed themselues much affectionated vnto vs these were Natiues of Moremoreno and the most brutish of all that ever I had seene and except it were in forme of men and speech they seemed altogether voyde of that which appertained to reasonable men They were expert swimmers but after the manner of Spaniels they diue and abide vnder water a long time and swallow the water of the Sea as if it were of a fresh River except a man see them he would hardly beleeue how they continue in the Sea as if they were Mermaides and the water their naturall Element Their Countrey is most barren and poore of foode If they take a fish aliue out of the Sea or meete with a peece of salted fish they will devoure it without any dressing as savourely as if it had beene most curiously sodden or dressed all which makes me beleeue that they sustaine themselues of that which they catch in the Sea The Spaniards
profit themselues of their labour and trauell and recompence them badly they are in worse condition then their slaues for to those they giue sustenance house-roome and clothing and teach them the knowledge of God but the other they vse as beastes to doe their labour without wages or care of their bodies or soules SECT XLVIII THwart of Ariquipa the shippe we brought with vs from Balparizo being very leake and my Companie satisfied that their hope to find any thing of worth in her was vaine having searched her from post to stemme condiscended to fire her and the rather to keepe our Company together which could not well suffer any devision more then of meere necessity so by generall accord we eased our selues of her and continued our course alongst the coast till we came thwart of the Bay of Pisco which lyeth within 15. Degrees and 15. minuts Presently after wee were cleare of Cape Sangalean and his Ilands wee ranged this Bay with our Boate and Pinnace It hath 2. small Ilands in it but without fruite and being becalmed we anchored two dayes thwart of Chilec By Sea and by Land those of Clyly had given advise to Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendâ—ca Marquis of Cavete Vice-Roy of Peru resident in Lima of our being on the Coast. Hee presently with all possible diligence put out sixe shippes in warlike order with well neere two thousand men and dispatched them to seeke vs and to fight with vs vnder the conduct of Don Beltrian de Castro Y delaluca his wiues brother who departing out of the Port of Callao turned to wind-ward in sight over the shore from whence they had dayly intelligence where wee had beene discovered And the next day after our departure out of Chilca about the middle of May at breake of day wee had sight each of other thwart of Cavete wee being to wind-wards of the Spanish Armado some two leagues and all with little or no winde Our Pinnace or prise being furnished with Oares came vnto vs out of which we thought to haue taken our men and so to leaue her but being able to come vnto vs at all times it was held for better to keepe her till necessity forced vs to leaue her and so it was determined that if we came to likelihood of boording shee should lay our Boate aboord and enter all her men and from thence to enter our shippe and so to forsake her Although by the event in that occasion this proved good notwithstanding I hold it to bee reproved where the Enemie is farre superior in multitude and force and able to come and bourd if hee list and that the surest course is to fortifie the principall the best that may bee and to cut-of all impediments where a man is forced to defence for that no man is assured to haue time answerable to his purpose and will and vpon doubt whether the others in hope to saue themselues will not leaue him in greatest extremitie SECT XLIX WEe presently put our selues in the best order wee could to fight and to defend our selues our prayers we made vnto the Lord God of battails for his helpe and our deliverance putting our selues wholy into his hands About nine of the Clocke the Brese began to blow and wee to stand off into the Sea the Spaniards cheeke by iole with vs ever getting to the wind-wards vpon vs for that the shipping of the South-sea is euer moulded sharpe vnder water and long all their voyages depending vppon turning to wind-wardes and the Brese blowing ever Southerly As the Sunne began to mount aloft the wind began to fresh which together with the Rowling Sea that ever beateth vpon this Coast comming out of the westerne-bourd caused a chapping Sea wherewith the Admirall of the Spaniards snapt his maine Mast asunder and so began to lagge a sterne and with him other two shippes The Vice-admirall split her maine-sayle being come within shott of vs vpon our broad side but to le-wards the Reare-admirall cracked her maine-yard asunder in the middest being a head of vs. One of the Armado which had gotten vpon the broad side of vs to wind-wards durst not assault vs. With these disgraces vpon them and the hand of God helping and dâ—livering vs night comming we began to consult what course was best to be taken to free our selues wherein were divers opinions some sayd it was best to stand off to the Sea close by all the night others to lye it a hull others to cast about to the shoare-wards two glasses and after all the night to stand off to Sea close by The Admirall of the Spaniards with the other two were a sterne of vs some foure leagues the Vice-Admirall a mile right to le-wards of vs the Reare-Admirall in a manner right a head some Culvering shott and one vpon our loose within shott also the Moone was to rise within two houres After much debating it was concluded that wee should beare vp before the winde and seeke to escape betwixt the Amirall and the Vice-Admirall which wee put in execution not knowing of any other disgrace befallen them but that of the Reare-Admirall till after our surrender when they recounted vnto vs all that had past In the Morning at breake of day wee were cleere of all our Enemies and so shaped our course alongst the Coast for the Bay of Atacumes where we purposed to trim our Pinnace and to renue our wood and water and so to depart vpon our Voyage with all possible speede The Spanish Armado returned presently to Callao which is the Port of Lyma or of the Citty of the Kings It was first named Lyma and retayneth also that name of the River which passeth by the Citty called Lyma the Spanish Armado being entred the Port the people began to goe ashore where they were so mocked and scorned by the women as scarce any one by day would shew his face they reviled them with the name of cowards and golnias and craved licence of the Vice-roy to bee admitted in their roomes and to vndertake the surrendry of the English Shippe I haue beene certified for truth that some of them affronted their Souldiers with Daggers and Pistols by their sides This wrought such effects in the hearts of the disgraced as they vowed eyther to recover their reputation lost or to follow vs into England and so with expedition the Vice-roy commaunded two shippes and a Pinnace to bee put in order and in them placed the chiefe Souldiers and Marriners of the rest and furnished them with victuals and munition The foresayd Generall is once againe dispatched to seeke vs who ranged the Coastes and Ports enforming himselfe what hee could Some fiftie leagues to the North-wards of Lyma in sight of Mongon wee tooke a shippe halfe loaden with wheate sugar miell de Canas and Cordovan skins which for that shee was leake and sayled badly and tackled in such maner as the Marriners would not willingly put themselues into her wee tooke what was
necessary for our provision and fired her Thwart of Truxille wee set the companie of her a shoare with the Pilot which wee had taken in Balparizo reserving the Pilot of the burnt shippe and a Greeke who chose rather to continue with vs then to hazard their liues in going a shore for that they had departed out of the Port of Santa which is in eight Degrees being required by the iustice not to weigh anchor before the Coast was knowne to be 〈◊〉 It is a thing worthy to be noted and almost incredible with how few men they vse to sayle a shippe in the south Sea for in this prise which was aboue an hundred Tuns were but eight persons and in a shippe of three hundreth Tuns they vse not to put aboue foureteene or fifteene persons yea I haue beene credibly enformed that with foureteene persons a shippe of fiue hundreth Tuns hath beene carried from Guayaquil to Lyma deepe loaden which is aboue two hundreth Leagues and are forced ever to gaine their Voyage by turning to wind-wards which is the greatest toyle and labour that tâ—e Marriners haue and slow sometimes in this voyage foure or fiue moneths which is generall in all the navigations of this coast But the security from stormes and certainty of the Brese with the desire to make their gaine the greater is the cause that every man forceth himselfe to the vttermost to doe the labour of two men SECT L. IN the height of this Port of Santa some seaven hundreth and fiftie leagues to the west-wards lie the Ilands of Salomon of late yeares discovered At my being in Lyma a Fleete of foure sayle was sent from thence to people them which through the emulation and discord that arose amongst them being landed and setled in the Countrey was vtterly overthrowne onely one shippe with some few of the people after much misery got to the Philippines This I came to the knowledge of by a large relation written from a person of credit and sent from the Philippines to Panama I saw it at my being there in my voyage towards Spaine Having edged neere the coast to put the Spaniards on shore a thicke fogge tooke vs so that wee could not see the Land but recovering our Pinnace and Boate wee sayled on our course till we came thwart of the Port called Malabrigo It lieth in seaven Degrees In all this coast the currant runneth with great force but never keepeth any certaine course saving that it runneth alongst the coast sometimes to the South-wards sometimes to the North-wards which now running to the North-wards forced vs so farre into the Bay which a point of the land causeth that they call Punta de Augussa as thinking to cleere our selues by roving North-west wee could not double this point making our way North North-west Therefore speciall care is ever to bee had of the current and doubtlesse if the providence of Almighty God had not freede vs wee had runne ashore vpon the Land without seeing or suspecting any such danger His name bee ever exalted and magnified for delivering vs from the vnknowne daunger by calming the winde all night the Sunnes rising manifested vnto vs our errour and peril by discovering vnto vs the Land within 2 leagues right a head The current had caried vs without any wind at the least 4. leagues which seene and the winde beginning to blow wee brought our tackes abourd and in short time cleared our selues Thwart of this point of Augussa lie two desert Ilandes they call them Illas de Lobos for the the multitude of Seales which accustome to haunt the shore In the bigger is very good harbour and secure they lie in sixe Degrees and thirtie minutes The next day after wee lost sight of those Ilands being thwarâ— of Payta which lyeth in fiue Degrees and having manned our Pinnace and Boate to search the Port wee had sight of a tall shippe which having knowledge of our being on the Coast and thinking her selfe to be more safe at Sea then in the harbour put her selfe then vnder sayle to her wee gaue chase all that night and the next day but in fine being better of sayle then wee shee freed her selfe Thus being too lee-ward of the Harbour and discovered we continued our course alongst the shore That Evening wee were thwart of the River of Guayaquill which hath in the mouth of it two Ilands the Souther-most and biggest called Puma in three Degrees and the other to the North-wards Santa clara Pâ—ma is inhabited and is the place where they build their principall shipping from-his River Lima and all the valleys are furnished with Timber for they haue none but that which is brought from hence or from the kingdome of Chile By this River passeth the principall trade of the Kingdome of Quito it is Navigable some leagues into the Land and hath great abundance of Timber Those of the Peru vse to ground and trim their shippes in Puma or in Panama and in all other partes they are forced to carene their shippes In Puma it higheth and falleth fifteene or sixteene foote water and from this Iland till a man come to Panama in all the coast it ebbeth and floweth more or lesse keeping the ordinarie course which the Tides doe in all Seas The water of this River by experience is medicinable for all aches of the bones for the stone and strangurie the reason which is given is because all the bankes and low land adioyning to this River are replenished with Salsaperillia which lying for the most part soaking in the water it participateth of this vertue and giveth it this force In this River and all the Rivers of this coast are great abundance of Alagartoes and it is sayd that this exceedeth the rest for persons of credit haue certified mee that as small fishes in other Rivers abound in scoales so the Alagartoes in this they doe much hurt to the Indians and Spaniards and are dreadfull to all whom they catch within their clutches SECT LI. SOme fiue or sixe Leagues to the North-wards of Puma is la Punta de Santa Elena vnder which is good anchoring cleane ground and reasonable succour Being thwart of this point wee had sight of a shippe which we chased but being of better saile then we and the night comming on we lost sight of her and so anchored vnder the Isla de plata to recover our Pinnace and Boate which had gone about the other point of the Iland which lyeth in two Degrees and fortie minutes The next day we past in sight of Puerto Viejo in two degrees ten minutes which lying without shipping wee directed our course for Cape Passaos It lyeth directly vnder the Equinoctiall line some fourescore leagues to the west-wards of this Cape lyeth a heape of Ilands the Spaniards call Illas de los Galapagos They are desert and beare no fruite from Cape Passaos wee directed our course to Cape Saint Francisco which lyeth in one degree to the
North-wardes of the lyne and being thwart of it wee descried a small shippe which wee chased all that day and night and the next morning our Pinnace came to bourd her but being a shippe of advise and full of passengers and our shippe not able to fetch her vp they entreated our people badly and freed themselues though the feare they conceived caused them to cast all the dispatches of the King as also of particulars into the sea with a great part of their loading to bee lighter and better of sayle for the shippes of the South Sea loade themselues like lighters or sand barges presuming vpon the securitie from stormes SECT LII BEing out of hope to fetch vp this shippe wee stoode in with the Cape where the Land beginneth to trend about to the East-wards The Cape is high land and all covered over with Trees and so is the land over the Cape and all the coast from this Cape to Panama is full of wood from the Staites of Magelan to this cape of San Francisco In all the coast from head-land to head-land the courses lye betwixt the North and north and by west and sometimes more westerly and that but seldome It is a bolde Coast and subiect to little foule weather or alteration of windes for the Brese which is the sowtherly wind bloweth continually from Balparizo to Cape San Francisco except it be a great chance Trending about the Cape wee haled in East North-east to fetch the Bay of Atacames which lyeth some seaven Leagues from the Cape In the mid way some three leagues from the shore lyâ—th a banke of sand whereof a man must haue a care for in some parts of it there is but little water The tenth of Iune wee came to an anchor in the Bay of Atacames which on the wester part hath a round hammock It seemeth an Iland and in high springes I iudge that the sea goeth round about it To the East-wards it hath a high sandie cliffe and in the middest of the Bay a faire birth from the shore lyeth a bigge black Rocke aboue water from this Rocke to the sandie cliffe is a drowned Marsh ground caused by his lownesse And a great River which is broad but of no depth Manning our boate and running to the shore we found presently in the westerne bight of the Bay a deepe River whose indraught was so great that we could not benefit our selues of it being brackish except at a low water which hindred our dispatch yet in fiue dayes wee filled all our emptie Caske supplied our want of wood and grounded and put in order our Pinnace Here for that our Indians served vs to no other vse but to consume our victuals we eased our selues of them gaue them hookes and lines which they craved and some bread for a few dayes and replanted them in a farre better countrey then their owne which fell out luckely for the Spaniards of the shippe which wee chased thwart of Cape San Francisco for victuals growing short with her having many mouthes shee was forced to put a shore fiftie of her passengers neere the Cape wherof more then the one halfe dyed with famine and continual wading through Rivers and waters the rest by chance meeting with the Indians which wee had put ashore with their fishing guide and industry were refreshed susteyned and brought to habitation SECT LIII OVr necessary busines being ended wee purposed the fifteenth day of May in the morning to set sayle but the foureteenth in the Evening we had sight of a shippe some three leagues to Sea wards and through the importunitie of my Captaine and Companie I condiscended that our Pinnas should giue her chase which I should not haue done for it was our destruction I gaue them precise order that if they stood not in againe at night they should seeke mee at Cape San Francisco for the next morning I purposed to set sayle without delay and so seeing that our Pinnas slowed her comming at nine of the clocke in the morning wee weyed our Anchors and stoode for the Cape where wee beate off and on two dayes and our Pinnas not appearing wee stood againe into the Bay where wee descried her turning in without a maine Mast which standing off to the Sea close by with much winde and a chapping Sea bearing a taunt-sayle where a little was too much being to small purpose sodainely they bare it by the bourd and standing in with the shore the winde or rather God blinding them for our punishment they knewe not the land and making themselues to bee to wind-wards of the Bay bare vp and were put into the Bay of San Mathew It is a goodly Harbour and hath a great fresh River which higheth fifteene or sixteene foote water and is a good countrey and well peopled with Indidians they haue store of Gold and Emeralds heere the Spaniards from Guayaquill made an habitation whilst I was prisoner in Lyma by the Indians consent but after not able to suffer the insolencies of their guests and being a people of stoâ—acke and presumption they suffered themselues to bee perswaded and led by a Molato This leader many yeares before had fled vnto them from the Spaniards him they had long time held in reputation of their Captaine Generall and was admitted also vnto a chiefe Office by the Spaniardes to gaine him vnto them But now the Indians vniting themselues together presuming that by the helpe of this Molato they should force the Spaniards out of the Countrey put their resolution in execution droue their Enemies into the woods and sâ—ue as many as they could lay hands on some they killed few escaped with life and those who had that good happe suffered extreame misery before they came to Quito the place of neerest habitation of Spaniards To this Bay assoone as our people in the Pynnas saw their errour they brought their tackes abourd and turned and tyded it vp as they could Assoone as we came to Anchor I procured to remedie that was amisse in two daies we dispatched all we had to doe and the next morning we resolued to set sayle and to leaue the coast of Peru and Quito The day appearing we began to weigh our Anchors and being a Pike ready to cut sayle one out of the toppe descryed the Spanish Armado comming about the Cape which by the course it kept presently gaue vs to vnderstand who they were though my company as is the custome of Sea men made them to be the Fleete bound for Panama loden with treasure and importuned that in all hast we should cut sayle stand with them which I contradicted for that I was assured that no shipping would stirre vppon the coast till they had securitie of our departure except some Armado that might be sent to seeke vs and that it was not the time of the yeare to carry the treasure to Panama And besides in Riding still at an Anchor they euer came neerer vnto vs for they
our Captaine very sore in the thigh and maimed one of our Masters Mates called Hugh Maires in one of his Armes but after knowing vs to be rendred hee secured vs And we satisfying them that wee could not hoise out our boate nor strike our sayles the Admirall layd vs abourd buâ— before any man entred Iohn Gomes went vnto the Generall who receiued him with great curtesie and asked him what we required whereunto he made answere that my demaund was that in the Kings name he should giue vs his faith and promise to giue vs our liues to keepe the Lawes of fayre warres and quarter and to send vs presently into our countrey and in confirmation hereof that I required some pledge whereunto the Generall made answere that in the Kingâ— Maiesties name his Master hee received vs a buena querra and swore by God Almightie and by the habit of A cautara whereof he had received knighthood and in token whereof hee wore in his breast a greene crosse which is the ensigne of that order that he would giue vs our liues with good entreatie and send vs as speedily as he could into our owne countrey In confirmation whereof he tooke of his gloue and sent it to mee as a pledge With this message Iohn Gâ—mes returned and the Spaniards entred and tooke possession of our shippe every one crying buena querra buena querra oy pâ—r in maniana porti with which our Company began to secure themselues The Generall was a principall Gentleman of the ancient Nobilitie of Spaine and brother to the Conde de Lemos whose intention no doubt was according to his promise and therefore considering that some bad intreaty and insolency might be offered vnto me in my shippe by the common Souldiers who seldome haue respect to any person in such occasions espâ—cially in the case I was whereof hee had enâ—ormed himselfe for prevention hee sent a principal Captaine brought vp long time in Flaunders called Pedro Alueres de Pulgar to take care of me and whilest the shippes were one abourd the other to bring me into his ship which hee accomplished with great humanitie and courtesiâ— dâ—spising the barres of gold which were shared before his face which hee might alone haue enioyed if hee would And truely hee was as after I found by tryall a true Captaine a man worthy of any charge and of the noblest condition that I haue knowne any Spaniard The Generall received me with great courtesie and compassion even with teares in his eyes and words of great consolation and commaunded mee to bee accommodated in his owne Cabbine where hee sought to cure and comfort mee the best he could the like hee vsed with all our hurt men sixe and thirtie at least And doubtlesse as true courage valour and resolution is requisit in a Generall in the time of battle So humanitie mildnes and courtesie after victorie SECT LXIII WHilst the shippes were together the maine-mast of the Daintieâ—ell â—ell by the bourd and the people being occupied in ransacking and seeking for spoile and Pillage neglected the principall whereof ensued that within a short space the Dainâ—ie grew so deepe with water which increased for want of prevention that all who were in her desired to forsake her and weaved and cryed for succour to bee saved being out of hope of her recoverie Whereupon the Generall calling together the best experimented men hee had and consulting with them what was best to bee done it was resolued that Generall Michaell Angell should goe abourd the Daintie and with him threescore Marriners as many Souldiers and with them the English men who were able to labour to free her from water and to put her in order if it were possible and then to recover Perico the port of Panama for thâ—t of those to wind wards it was impossible to turne vp to any of them and neerer then to le-ward was not any that could supply our necessities and wants which lay from vs east north east aboue two hundreth leagues Michaell Angell being a man of experience and care accomplished that he tooke in hand although in clearing and bayling the water in placing a pumpe and in fitting and mending her fore-saile he spent aboue sixe and thirtie howers During which time the shippes lay all a hull but this worke ended they set sayle directed their coursâ— for the Iles of Pearles And for that the Daintie sayled badly what for want of her maine-sayle and with the advantage which all the south-sea shippes haue of all those built in our-North sea The Admirall gaue her a tâ—we which notwithstanding the wind calming with vs as we approached neerer to the land twelue dayes were spent before we could fetch sight of the Ilands which lye alongst the coast beginning some eight leagues West south-west from Panama and run to the south-wards neere thirtie leagues They are many and the most vnhabited and those which haue people haue some Negroes slaues vnto the Spaniards which occupie themselues in labour of the land or in fishing for Pearles In times past many inriched themselues with that trade but now it is growne to decay The maner of fishing for Pearles is with certaine long Pinaces or small barkes in which there goe foure fiue sixe or eight Negroes expert swimmers and great deevers whom the Spaniards call Busos with tract of time vse and continuall practise having learned to hold their breath long vnder water for the better atchieving their worke These throwing themselues into the Sea with certaine instruments of their art goe to the bottome and seeke the bankes of the Oysters in which the Pearles are ingendered and with their force and art remoue them from their foundation in which they spend more or lesse time according to the resistance the firmenes of the ground affordeth Once loosed they put them into a bagge vnder their armes and after bring them vp into their boates having loaden it they goe to the shoare there they open them and take out the Pearles they lie vnder the vttermost part of the circuite of the Oyster in rankes and proportions vnder a certaine part which is of many pleights and folds called the Ruffe for the similitude it hath vnto a Ruffe The Pearles increase in bignes as they be neerer the end or ioynt of the Oyster The meate of those which haue these pearles is milkie and not very wholesome to be eaten In Anno 1583. In the Iland of Margarita I was at the dregging of Pearle Oysters after the maner we dregge Oysters in England and with mine owne hands I opened many tooke out the pearles of them some greater some lesse and in good quantitie How the Pearle is ingendred in the Oyster or Mussell for they are found in both divers and sundry are the opinions but some ridiculous whereof because many famous and learned men haue written largely I will speake no more then hath beene formerly spoken but referre their curious desires to
Complaints of master Thomas Candish Folio 14 Of master George Raymond ibid Company sicke 38. dismayed Folio 84 Losse of the Edward Cotton Folio 33. Clothes made in Coquimbo Folio 107 Crabby Cove Folio 84 Care of Currants Folio 33 D DEparture from Lyma Folio 103 Devises in sudden accidents Folio 76. Directions to be secret Folio 130 Discipline of the Spanish Folio 67 Cause of their prosperities ibid Discipline neglected by the English Folio 8 Pried into by the Spaniards Folio 134 And by them imitated ibid Vse of Discoueries Folio 1 Discouery on the coast to be avoyded Folio 100 The Dolphin Folio 42 Sir Francis Drake vpon the sothermost part of the world Folio 9â— Providence of the Dutch â—7 Ducks Folio 74 E ELizabeths Bay  Disvse of Engines of Antiquitie Folio 143 The English carry vp their flag Folio 20 English Authours of Sea Disâ—ipline Folio 8 Carelesnesse of the English Folio 127 Exchange of trifles Folio 98 Of sheepe ibid Exercise alwayes necessary Folio 26 F Ed Fenton Folio 85 Iuan Fernandes Folio 100 Danger of Fier 39. By heating of Pitch ibid. By taking Tobacco ibid. By Candle light ibid. By hooping and scutling Folio 40 By nature of waters ibid Strange tree in Fiero Folio 25 Beginning of the Spanish Fight 126. Their intertainment Folio 122 The English 75. The Spanish 130 ibid. pay deere for their rashnes 135. Take a new resolution Folio 1â—6 Flying fishes Folio 44 French and English salute Folio 20 French surprised Folio 57 To know wholsome fruits Folio 55 Fuego Folio 29 End of Fugitiues Folio 135 G GAnnetts Folio 54 God propitions Folio 84 Therefore praised ibid One Shippe and some Gold taken Folio 101 Euery shower a shower of Gold ibid. S R Greenfild at Flores Folio 10 Guls. Folio 73 Deceit of the Gunner Folio 127 H MAster Thomas Hampton Folio 20 Annoyances in Harbours Folio 51 Vse of Havas purgativas Folio 55 Master Wil Hawkins Folio 86 Hawkins Mayden-â—and Folio 70 Helm-man Folio 54 I SAint Iago 29. sacked ibid S. Iames Ilands Folio 54 The Iesus of Lubeck Folio 3 Ienero Folio 77.59 Vnwholsome Ilands 27 Their heat ibid. The breze ibid. The best remedie Folio 28 Inconvenience of Imprests Folio 15 Their true vse Folio 16 Indians howsing 63. and manner of sleeping ibid Indians apparrell Folio 98 Indians poligamy Folio 63 Indians trechery Folio 97 Indians foresight Folio 81 Indians industry 57. dismissed 123. led by a Mulato Folio 124 Consequence of Instructions Folio 17 Isla Graund Folio 60 Planting of Iuca Folio 62 By women ibid L VNknowne Land Folio 69 Care of approch ibid New devise for stopping Leakes without Bourd Folio 104 Best time to paâ—se the Lyne Folio 48 M Madera Folio 24 Who to be accounted a Mariner Folio 128 His knowledge ibid. and materials ibid. for navigation ibid The Mariners revenge Folio 43 Wilfulnesse of Mariners Folio 100 S. Maries Folio 100 Care of the Master Folio 53 Vnskilfulnesse of the Masters Mate Folio 52 Fittest places of meeting Folio 17 Mocha Folio 96 Monkies Parrots Folio 31 Influence of the Moone Folio 28 Mutinies how to be winked at Folio 94 Vnadvisednesse of the multitude Folio 126 O OBiections resolved Folio 141 Office of a Master Folio 129 Of a Pilot. ibid Of the Boteswaine ibid Of the Steward ibid Of the Carpenter ibid Of the Gunner Folio 130 Lawes of Oloron Folio 111 Vertue of Oranges Folio 52 Beds of Oreweed Folio 70 P MOdestie of Sir Hen Palmer Folio 8 Patience of the Earle of Nottingham Folio 93 Parts requisite in a Comâ—â—nder at Sea Folio 8 The Palmito Folio 29.55 Palmito Iland Folio 59 Pearles Folio 88 Iland of Pengwins Folio 72 Described ibid Hunting of Pengwins Folio 73 Kept for store ibid Care of the Pentagones Folio 63 King Philips comming into England Folio 21 Pilats Fishes Folio 44 Challenging of pillage Folio 110 Prevention of vndue pillage Folio 113 What to be reputed pillage Folio 112 Placentia Folio 30 The Plaintaiâ— Folio 30 Dutie of Pynaces Folio 24 Pynace lost Folio 13 Porke good foure yeare old Folio 96 Danger of open Ports Folio 5 Providence of God Folio 53 Corrupt or scantie ProvisioÌ„s Folio 109 Provisions better provided at Pliâ—â—â—outh Folio 5 Puerto Viejo Folio 122 Puma Folio 121 Purgatiues Folio 5â— Purflain Folio 55 Q. BAy of Quintera Folio 105 R. PRevention of Ratts Folio 89 Calamities they bring ibid Long Reach Folio 81 The Repentance Folio 3 Reasons of returne dangerous Folio 87 The Revenge Folio 2 Spare Râ—dders Folio 105 Runnawayes Folio 68 S SAbboth reserved for holy exercises Folio 27 Sailes of Cotton cloth Folio 102 Ilands of Salomon Folio 1â—0 Arrivall at Santos Folio 49 Forbidden to trade Folio 50 Pedro Sarmiento Folio 71 The Scurvy 35. The signes ibid The causes ibid Seething Meat in Salt water Folio 36 Corruption of Victuall ibid Vapours of the Sea ibid The remedies By Dyet ibid By Shift ibid By labour ibid By early eating and drinking ibid. By sower Oranges and Lemmons ibid By Doctor Stevens water ibid By oyle of â—itry ibid By ayre of the Land ibid Abuses of Sea-faring men Folio 14 Seales Folio 75 Setting the Ship vpon a Rocke 83. diligence to free it ibid Shething of Ships Folio 78 In Spaine and Portingall Folio 79 With double Plankes ibid. With Canvas ibidem With burnt Planks ibid With Varnish in Chiâ—â— ibid In England Folio 80 Best manner of Shething Folio 80 The Sharke Folio 43 What requisit in Shipping Folio 2 The honour of his Maiesties Ships Folio 20 Ships of trade Folio 138 The Prince his Ships ibid All Ships of warre are not to be low built Folio 139 Foure Ships taken Folio 10â— Dutie of a small Ship against a greater Folio 141 Shooting at Sea 19. Mischances therevpon ensuing ibid Sloth cause of fancies Folio 82 Care of sounding Folio 32 Spanish discipline Folio 132.133.134 Spanish officers Folio 134 Spanish Admirall commeth to Leeward Folio 131 Spaniards parley Folio 134 Inexperience of the Spaniards Folio 126. Weaknesse of the Spaniards Folio 9 Vain-glory of the Spaniards Folio 142 Severitie of Spaine Folio 144 Care of Steerage Folio 53 Exquisite in the Spaniards and Portingals ibid The Straights Folio 70 Second peopling of the Straights Folio 76. South part of the Straights Ilands Folio 95 Effects of courage in Stormes Folio 10 A cruell Storme Folio 99 Birds like Swans 68. how caught good refreshment Folio 69 Swearing remedied Folio 41 T DEscription of Tenerif Folio 25 The Thunderbolt of London Folio 3. Tobias Cove Folio 83 Concealement hindereth Trading Folio 113 Point Tremontame Folio 70 Entertainment of Time Folio 88 V CAptaine Vavisor Folio 10 Importance of a small Vessell Folio 100. Place of Vice-admirall Folio 9 Considerations for Voyages Folio 4 Voyages overthrowne by pretences Folio 95 Overthrow of the Voyage Folio 66 The cause ibid Infidelitie ibid W ORder of the Flemish Wafters Folio 8. Deteyning of Wages Folio 110 Warehouses sacked Folio 101 Obiection of wast Folio 78 answered ibid
Wast of men Folio 57 Distilling of Salt water Folio 52 Contagious Waters Folio 56 Care of Watches Folio 34 Fruits of good Watch. Folio 58 Concealement of Weakenes Folio 103 Wilfulnesse of Mariners Folio 6 Wine more dangerous then the enemy Folio 103 Spanish Wines and Fevers vnknowne in England Folio 103 Wine consumeth treasure Folio 104 Fight of the Whale Folio 45 With the Sword fish ibid With the Thresher ibid Taking of the Whale Folio 46 By the Indians Folio 47 Warning against Wormes Folio 78 Y YOnkers ever necessary in the top Folio 26 FINIS The necessary vse of Discoveries Of travaile Oâ— Shipping Improper Names for Shipping The Revenge See Mâ—ster Hacâ—uâ—ts Relations The Thunderbolt oâ— London The Iesus of Lubeck The Repentance The Iourney of Spaine Considerations for pretended Voyages Provisions better provided at Plimmouth then at London Note Note The Providence oâ— the Dutch The English Authors of Sea discipline By them againe nâ—glected The modesty of Sir Henry Palmer Parts required in a Commander at Sea The losse of the Burdieux Fleete Anno â—592 The causâ— The weaknes of the enemy The Voyage of Sir Iohn Hawkins Anno 1590. Sir Richard Greenfield at Flores Captaine Vavisor Parts requisite in a good Mariner A cruell Storme And therein the effects of courage and advise The losse of the Pynace Abuses of some Sea-faring men Master Thomas Candish Master George Reymonâ— The inconvenience of Imprests The true vse of Imprests The consequence of Instructions at departure Obiections against meeting in Harbours Answered False Calking For prevention thereof Example Advise for shooting at Sea Sundry mischanâ—es for neglect thereof Obiect Answer Master Thomas Hampto's The French and English Fleete salute one another The English carry vp their flagg in the French Seas The honour of his Maiesties ships Practised at the comming in of Kâ—ng Philip into England And in the passage of Dona Anna de Austria As also in her repasâ—age The dutie of Pynaces The Madera Ilands Canaria Ilands Gorgoshâ— The Description of Tenerif Of a Tree in Fierro The first discoverers of these Ilands Note Exercises vpon the Southwards of the Canaries Cape de Verd. The vnwholsomnesse thereof The heatt The Brezes The remedie The influence of the Moone in hot Countries Saint Iago Sacked by Manuel Serades St. Francis Drake and Sir Anthony Shyrley Fuego Bravo The Palmito The Plantane Platentia The Cocos and â—heir kindes Cyvet-Catts Munkeyes Parrots Note The losse of the Edward Cotton The Scurvey The signes The cause Seething of meat in Salt water Corruption of victuall Vapours of the Sea Azores The remedies By dyet By shift By labour By early eating and drinking By sower Oranges and Lemmons By Doctor Stevens water By oyle of Vitry By the ayre of the land The company sicke and dismayed Brasill Cape S. Augustine Farnambuca Todos Santos De Vitoria Dangers of Fire By heating of Pitch By taking Tobacco By Hooping and Scutling of Caske By natures of waters By Swearing The Dolphin The Bonito The Sharke flying Fishes Alcatrace The fight of the Whale with the Sword-fish and Thresher The taking of the Whale Amber-greece The Beazar stone Amber greece By the Indians Bâ—st times to passe the lyne from the North-wards to the South-ward For prevention of annoyances c. in Harbours The vertue of Oranges Distilling of Salt water Vnskilfulnesse of the Masters Mate Providence of God and the care of the Master Care of Steeridge Exquisit in the Spanyards and Portingalls Cape Blanco Saint Iames Ilands alias Saint Annes Gannets Purslane Cherries Palmitos Purgatiues The vse of Havas purgativas Artechoques or Prick-Peares A good note to take or refuse vnknowne fruits Contagious water Wast and losse of men Industry of the Indians They surprise the French San-sebastian kill the English and discover vs. The events of good watch Palmito Iland Ienero Little Iland Islâ— Grand Shells of mother of pearle Price of Neâ—roes Cassavi meale The preparing thereof for â—ood Agnanapes And for Beveraâ—e The manner of planting Iuca with the labour of the women Polygamy of the Indians Their attire Their manneâ— of housing And sleeping The description of Brasill It s Havens Its Commodities Its wants The bestiall thereof The discommodities Santa Catalina Variation of the Compasse The overthrow of the Voyage The cause Infidelitie Disciplâ—ne of the Spanish the only cause of their prosperities The cunning of Runnawayes and ignoble Captaines verified at their returnes Birds like Swans caught with linâ— and hooke Proue good refreshment Care of the Pentagones A description of the vnknovvne land A caveat for comming suddenly too nere an vnknowne land Poynt Tremountaine Payre Iland Condite head Hawkins-maidâ—n-land Bedds of Oreweed with white flowers Our comming to the Straites Pedro Sarmiâ—nto buâ—ldâ—th San-Philip Note The Ilands of Pengwins Good provision in the Straites The description of the Pengwin Hunting the Pengwin The keeping for store The Gulls Ducks Of Seales or Sea-wolues Devises in sudden accidents The second peopling of the Spaniards Elizabeths Bay The River of Ieronimo Blanches Bay Obiection of wast Answere Warning against wormes Sheathing of Shippes In Spaine and Portugall with double plankes With Canvas With burnt plankes In China with Varnish In England Best manner of sheathing Long Reach Note English Bay Sloth cause of imagination Tobias Cove Setting of the Ship vpon a Rocke The company dismayed Diligence to 〈◊〉 it To the laborious God propitious and thereâ—ore praysed Crabby Cove Voyages â—verthroune by pretences Edward Fâ—nton and master Thomas Candâ—sh Master William Hawkins Danger to hearken vnto reasons of returnâ— The mending of an vnserviceable Anchor Entertainement oâ— time to avoyd idlenesse In gathering of Winterâ— Barke Of Pearles Prevention of Raâ—s The Calamities they bring to a ship Backwardnes in the Companie and the consequences thereof Advertisements â—or Câ—mmanders The advantage of obedience Advertisâ—ments â—or yong Serviâ—ors The patience of the Earle of Nottingham Mutenies not alwayes to be winked at South part of the Straites Ilands Sir Francis Drake imbraceth the Southermost poinâ— of the world Mâ—cha Baldivâ—a Trechery of the Indians Exâ—hanges oâ— tâ—ifles Oâ— Sheepe Their apparell and housing People 〈◊〉 Chily Their weapons Their hate to the Spâ—niards A cruel storme The important losse of a small vessell Saint Maries Citty of Concâ—ption Ivan Fernandes Good to avoâ—d discovery Wilfulnesse of Mariners They seize â—pon 4. Ships And the warehouses They seize vpon another Shippe and some gold Light Anchors brouâ—ht from the North Sâ—a And the first Artillerie Sayles of Cotton câ—oth They depâ—rt from Lyma and concâ—ale their weaknes The noâ—leâ—es of Alonso â—e Soto The enemy lesse dangerous then the Wine Spanish Wines and burning Feavers vnknowne in England And consumeth treasure Description of the Bay A new devise for stopping a Leake without board Spare Rudders Bay of Quintera Nota verum hispanum Coquinbo Arica in Chily much commended For all sorts of fruâ—tes And plenty of Gold The Indians forbid the search of gold Every showre a showre of