As There Are Many Fine Bays In This Island,
I Think Abundance Of Fresh Water Might Be Got By Digging For It.
Bermuda
is all divided into broken islets; the largest, upon which I was, might
be about four or five miles long, by two and a half miles over, all
covered with wood, as cedar and other kinds, but cedar is the most
abundant.
It pleased God, before our ship broke to pieces, that we saved our
carpenter's tools, otherwise we must have remained on the island. With
these tools we went immediately to work, cutting down trees, of which we
built a small bark of about eighteen tons, almost entirely fastened with
trunnels, having very few nails. As for tackle, we made a trip to our
ship in the boat, before she split, cutting down her shrouds, and some
of her sails and other tackle, by which means we rigged our bark.
Instead of pitch, we made some lime, which we mixed with oil of
tortoises; and as soon as the carpenters had caulked a seam, I and
another, with small sticks, plastered the mortar into the seams, and
being fine dry warm weather, in the month of April, it became dry, and
as hard as stone, as soon as laid on. Being very hot and dry weather, we
were afraid our water might fail us, and made therefore the more haste
to get away. Before our departure, we built two great wooden chests,
well caulked, which we stowed on each side of our mast, into which we
put our provision of water, together with thirteen live sea-tortoises
for our food during the voyage, which we proposed for Newfoundland.
There are hogs in the south part of Bermuda; but they were so lean,
owing to the barrenness of the island, that we could not eat them. It
yielded us, however, abundance of fowl, fish, and tortoises. To the
eastwards this island has very good harbours, so that a ship of 200 tons
might ride in them, perfectly land-locked, and with enough of water.
This island also has as good pearl-fishing as any in the West Indies;
but is subject to foul weather, as thunder, lightning, and rain. In
April and part of May, however, when we were there, the weather was hot,
and quite fair.
On the 11th of May it pleased God that we got clear of this island, to
the no small joy of us all, after we had lived in it for five months.
The 20th of that month we fell in with the land near Cape Breton, where
we ran into a fresh water river, of which there are many on this coast,
and took in wood, water, and ballast. Here the people of the country
came to us, being cloathed in furs, with the hair side inwards, and
brought with them sundry sorts of furs to sell, together with great
quantities of wild ducks; and as some of our company had saved a few
small beads, we bought a few of their ducks. We staid only about four
hours at this place, which seemed a very good country, as we saw very
fine champaign ground and woods. We ran from this place to the Banks of
Newfoundland, where we met several vessels, none of which would take us
in. At length, by the blessing of God, we fell in with a bark belonging
to Falmouth, which received us all for a short time; and in her we
overtook a French ship, in which I left my dear friend, Captain de la
Barbotiere, and all his company, remaining myself in the English bark,
in which I arrived at Falmouth in August, 1594.
SECTION VIII.
The unfortunate Voyage of Captain Benjamin Wood, towards the East
Indies, in 1596.[29]
INTRODUCTION.
In the year 1596, a squadron of three ships, the Bear, Bear's Welp, and
Benjamin, was fitted out, chiefly at the charges of Sir Robert Dudley,
and the command given to Mr Benjamin Wood. The merchants employed in
this voyage were, Mr Richard Allot and Mr Thomas Bromfield, both of the
city of London. As they intended to have proceeded as far as China, they
obtained the gracious letters of Queen Elizabeth, of famous memory, to
the king or emperor of that country, recommending these two merchants,
or factors, to his protection.
[Footnote 29: Purchas his Pilgrims, I. 110, Astl. I. 252.]
This their honourable expedition, and gracious recommendations from her
majesty for the furtherance of their mercantile affairs, had no
answerable effects, but suffered a double disaster: first, in the
miserable perishing of the squadron; and next, in losing the history, or
relation, of that tragedy. Some broken plank, however, as after a
shipwreck have yet been encountered from the West Indies, which gives us
some notice of this East-Indian misadventure. Having the following
intelligence by the intercepted letters of the licentiate Alcasar de
Villa Senor, auditor in the royal audience of St Domingo, judge of the
commission in Porto Rico, and captain-general of the province of New
Andalusia, written to the King of Spain and his royal council of the
Indies; an extract of which, so far as concerns this business, here
follows; wherein let not the imputation of robbery and piracy trouble
the minds of the reader, being the words of a Spaniard concerning the
deeds of Englishmen, done in the time of war between us and them.
So far we have exactly followed the introductory remarks of Purchas. In
the sequel, however, we have thought it better to give only an
abridgement of the letter from Alcasar de Villa Senor, which Purchas
informs us, in a side note, he had found among the papers of Mr Richard
Hakluyt. In this we have followed the example of the editor of Astley's
Collection, because the extract given by Purchas is very tedious, and
often hardly intelligible. This letter, dated from Porto Rico, 2d
October, 1601, gives no light whatever into the voyage itself, nor by
what accident the ships, which had set out for the East Indies, had come
into the West Indies; neither what became of the ships, nor the nature
of the sickness which had reduced their men to four, but wholly refers
to what passed after these sailors had quitted their ship, and landed on
the island of Utias, near Porto Rico.
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