Holding On Their Course Steadily With A Fair Wind, They Made Such Way,
That On The 9th Of February, The
Pilots believed they had got to the south
of the Azores; but in the opinion of the admiral, they were
Still 150
leagues to the west of these islands, and his reckoning turned out to be
true. They still found abundance of weeds, which, when they formerly
sailed to the West Indies, had not been seen until they were 263 leagues
west from the island of Ferro. As they sailed thus onwards with fair
weather and favourable winds, the wind began to rise, and increased from
day to day with a high sea, till at length they could hardly live upon it.
The storm had so increased on Thursday the 14th of February, that they
could no longer carry sail, and had to drive whichever way the wind blew;
but the Pinta, unable to lie athwart the sea, bore away due north before
the wind, which now came from the south; and though the admiral always
carried a light, she was entirely out of sight next morning. Considering
their consort to be certainly lost, and believing themselves in imminent
hazard, the whole company betook themselves to prayers, and cast lots
which of them should go on pilgrimage for the whole crew to the shrine of
our Lady of Guadaloupe, which fell upon the admiral. They afterwards drew
for another to go to Loretto, and the lot fell upon Peter de Villa, a
seaman of Port St Mary; and they cast lots for a third to watch all night
at the shrine of St Olave of Moguer. The storm still increasing, they all
made a vow to go barefooted, and in their shirts, to some church of our
Lady at the first land they might come to. Besides these general vows,
several others were made by individuals. The tempest was now very violent,
and the admirals ship could hardly withstand its fury for want of ballast,
which was fallen very short in consequence of the provisions and water
being mostly expended. To supply this want, they filled all the empty
casks in the ship with sea water, which was some help and made the ship to
bear more upright, and be in less danger of oversetting. Of this violent
storm the admiral wrote thus to their Catholic majesties:
"I had been less concerned at the tempest had I alone been in danger, for
I know that I owe my life to my Creator, and I have often been so near
death that only the slightest circumstance was wanting to its completion.
But, since it had pleased God to give me faith and assurance to go upon
this my undertaking in which I have been completely successful, I was
exceedingly distressed lest the fruits of my discoveries might be lost to
your highnesses by my death; whereas if I survived, those who opposed my
proposal would be convinced, and your highnesses served by me with honour
and increase of your royal state.
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