In The Morning We Set Our Foresail, Meaning To Bear Up
To The Northward, Standing Off And On To Keep Away From The Current,
Which Otherwise Would Have Set Us To The South, Away From, All Known
Land.
When the foresail was set, and we were about to hand our other
sails, to accomplish our before-mentioned
Purpose, our men unanimously
declared that they would stay no longer in this country, and insisted
upon directing our course for England; and as they would listen to no
persuasions, the captain was under the necessity of giving way to their
demand, leaving all hope of the great possibility we had of making some
rich prizes.
[Footnote 22: Most probably what we now call arrack is here meant. - E.]
Accordingly, on the 8th of December, 1592, we made sail for the Cape of
Good Hope, passing the Maldive Islands, and leaving the great island of
St Lawrence to starboard, or on our right hand; we passed its southern
end in lat. 26 deg. S. In our passage from the island of St Lawrence, or
Madagascar, to the main-land of Africa, we found immense quantities of
bonitos and albicores, which, are large fishes, and of which our
captain, who was now recovered from his sickness, took as many with a
hook in two or three hours as would have served forty persons a whole
day. This skole of fish continued with us for five or six weeks, in
all which time we took every day as many as sufficed our whole company,
which was no small refreshment to us.
In February, 1593, we fell in with the eastern coast of Africa, at a
place called Baia de Agoa, something more than 100 leagues to the
north-east of the Cape of Good Hope; and having contrary winds, we spent
a month before we could double the cape. After doubling that cape in
March, we steered for the island of St Helena, where we arrived on the
3d of April, and remained there to our great comfort nineteen days, in
which time several individuals amongst us caught thirty sizeable congers
in a day, with other rock fish, and some bonitos. I, Edmund Barker, went
one day on shore, with four or five Peguers and our surgeon, where I
found an Englishman in a house near the chapel, one John Segar, of Bury,
in Suffolk, who was left there eighteen months before by Abraham Kendal;
who put in there with the Royal Merchant, and who left him there to
refresh on the island, being like to perish on shipboard. At our coming
he was fresh in colour, and seemed in perfect health of body; but he was
crazed in mind, and half out of his wits, as appeared afterwards.
Whether it was that he was terrified at our arrival, not knowing at
first whether we were friends or foes, or if sudden joy so affected him
on finding again his countrymen and old comrades, I know not, but he
became quite light headed, and during eight days and nights he could not
get any natural rest, so that he died for lack of sleep. At this place
two of our men recovered their health in a short time, one of whom was
diseased with the scurvy, and the other had been nine months sick of the
flux. We found abundance of green figs, fine oranges and lemons, plenty
of goats and hogs, and numbers of partridges, pintados, and other wild
fowls. Having now supplied the ship with fresh water, and having some
store of fish, our discontented mariners insisted upon resuming the
voyage home; and our captain, being inclined to go for Fernambuco, in
Brasil, agreed to their request. We departed therefore from St Helena
about the 12th April, 1593, directing our course for the Brasils; and
next day, on calling the sailors to finish a foresail they had then in
hand, some of them declared they would not put their hands to any thing,
unless the ship's course was directed for England; so that he was
obliged to follow their humour, henceforwards directing our course
towards our own country, which we continued to do till we came to lat.
8 deg. N. between the equator and which latitude we spent about six weeks,
with perpetual calms or contrary winds from the north, sometimes
north-east and north-west; owing to which loss of time, and our small
store of provisions, we were very doubtful of being able to keep our
course. At this time some of our men became very mutinous, threatening
to break up other people's chests, to the entire consumption of our
provisions and ourselves; for every man had now his share of provisions
in his own custody, that they might know what they had to trust to, and
husband that the more thriftily.
Anxious to prevent the occurrence of absolute famine, and being informed
by one of the ship's company who had been at the island of Trinidada, in
a voyage with Mr Chudlei, and that we might be sure of having provisions
there, our captain directed the course for that island; but not knowing
the currents, we overshot it in the night, getting into the gulf of
Paria, in which we were for eight days, unable to get out again, as the
current constantly set in, and our ship was often in three fathoms
water. At length the current put us over to the western side of the
gully under the main-land, so that by keeping close in shore, and having
the wind off the land in the night, we got out to the northward. Being
now clear, we came in four or five days to the isle of Mona, where we
anchored and remained about eighteen days, during which time the Indians
of Mona gave us some victuals. In the mean time there arrived a French
ship of Caen, in Normandy, of which one Monsieur de Barbaterre was
captain, from whom we bought two butts of wine, with some bread, and
other provisions.
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