At Noon Of That Day The Pilots Reckoned
Themselves Twelve Leagues To The South Of That Island, And Certifying
The
Captain that the ship was out of all danger, they demanded and
received their wine of height.[28] After having
Their wine, it would
seem that they became careless of their charge, so that through their
drunkenness and negligence a number of good men were cast away. It
pleased God that I, a stranger among above fifty Frenchmen and others,
was among those who were saved: I trust to his service and glory. At
first we comforted ourselves in the hope that we were wrecked hard by
the shore of the island, being high cliffs; but we found ourselves seven
leagues off. By means of our boat, and a raft which we made, about
twenty-six of us were saved, among whom I was the only Englishman. Being
among so many strangers, and seeing there was not room for half the
people, I durst neither press to get into the boat or upon the raft,
lest they should have thrown me overboard or killed me; so I remained in
the ship, which, was almost full of water, till the captain called me
into the boat, in which he was; so I presently entered, leaving the
better half of our company to the mercy of the sea.
[Footnote 28: Probably alluding to some customary perquisite on getting
safely through the dangerous navigation of the Bahama Islands. - E.]
We rowed all day, and an hour or two of the night, towing the raft after
us, before we got to land:
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