Yet Such Was The
Suddenness Many Times, Although The Masters Of The Ships Were Very
Careful And Diligent, That It Could Hardly Be Done In Time.
From the 20th of May till the 21st of June, we lay mostly becalmed, or
with contrary winds at south; and, standing to and again to bear up
against this contrary wind, we got with much ado to 2 deg.
N. where we
espied a ship, to which the general gave chace, commanding all the
ships to follow him. By two in the afternoon we got up with and took
her. She was of Viana, in Portugal, and came from Lisbon, in company of
two caraks and three galleons, bound for the East Indies, but had parted
from them at sea. The three galleons were ships of war, intended to keep
the coast of India from being traded with by other nations. From this
ship we took 146 butts of wine, 176 jars and 12 casks of oil, and 55
hogsheads and vats of meal,[102] which were of great service to us
afterwards during our voyage. The general divided these victuals
impartially among all the ships, giving a due proportion to each.
[Footnote 102: Probably wheaten meal or flour. - E.]
The 31st June about midnight we crossed the line, having the wind at
S.E. and lost sight of the north star; and continuing our course S.S.W.
we passed Cape St Augustine about 26 leagues to the eastward. The 20th
July, we reached the latitude of 19 deg.
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