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:
