Though This Loss Was Not Material
To The Ships, Yet It Was Feared It Might Be Hurtful To Our People
On shore,
as Quibio would willingly have made peace to get his children restored,
and there being now no hostage
Left it was reasonable to suspect he would
now make war with the greater fury.
Being thus afflicted with many troubles, having nothing to trust to but
our anchors and cables, and in great perplexity to get intelligence from
the shore, it was proposed that, since the Indians to recover their
liberty had ventured to leap into the sea a league from shore, some of our
people to save themselves and so many more, might venture to swim on shore,
if carried by the boat which remained as far as where the waves did not
break. Only one boat now remained belonging to the Bermuda, that of the
Biscaina having been lost in the affray, so that we had only one boat
among three ships. Hearing of this bold proposal among the seamen, the
admiral agreed that it should be attempted, and the boat carried them
within a musket-shot of the land, not being able to go any nearer on
account of the heavy waves that broke on it. Here Peter de Ledesma, a
pilot of Seville, threw himself into the water and got on shore. He there
learnt the condition of our people, who had unanimously determined not to
remain in that forlorn condition, and therefore entreated the admiral not
to sail till he had taken them off, as to leave them there was sacrificing
them; more especially as dissensions had already arisen among them, and
they no longer obeyed the lieutenant or the other officers, all their care
being to get on board with the first fair wind; and as this could not be
done conveniently with the only boat which they had, they proposed to
endeavour to seize upon some canoes to assist in their embarkation. Should
the admiral refuse to receive them, they were resolved to attempt saving
their lives in the ship which had been left with them in the river, and
rather trust to fortune than remain at the mercy of the Indians, by whom
they were sure to be massacred. With this answer Ledesema returned by
swimming through the surf to the boat, and thence went to the admiral, to
whom he gave a full report of the state of affairs on shore.
Being fully informed of the disaster which had befallen the colony, and
the confusion and despair which reigned onshore, the admiral determined to
remain and take off the people, though not without great risk and danger,
as his ships lay in an open road without hopes of escape if the weather
had become boisterous. But it pleased GOD, that in the eight days we
continued here, the weather moderated so much that all the people on shore
got off in safety. This they effected by means of their boat, assisted by
several large canoes bound fast two and two together that they might not
overset; and they used such diligence after the surf disappeared, that in
two days they brought every thing away, leaving nothing but the hull of
the ship, which was become quite unserviceable in consequence of the
ravages of the worms.
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