Some Were Set To Rummage The Hold In Search Of The Leak,
And Others To Stick Our Sprit-Sail Full Of Oakum, With Which We Made
Several Trials Under The Ship's Bilge, But Could Not Find The Leak.
We
at length found, by divers trials within board, that the leak was before
the main-mast; and we,
Next morning, fitted the sprit-sail again,
letting it down at the stern, and brought it forwards by degrees, and at
length, by God's blessing, our leak was partly stopped, as the water
only rose about six inches in a glass, which had before risen twelve
inches. Bat within three glasses, the oakum being washed out, the leak
increased as before. This night we got an additional pump from the Bull,
to free the water from the fore part of our ship, where it stood
eighteen inches deeper than in our well. The 11th, we again fitted our
sprit-sail with oakum and let it down again, when it pleased God so to
favour us, that in an hour after our ship was tighter than ever.
On the morning of the 12th we espied a sail, which the Gift came up with
in the afternoon, being a Portuguese ship belonging to Don Pedro de
Almeyda, from Mozambique bound for Diu, laden principally with about
fifty quintals of elephants teeth. In the morning of the 20th the Bee
rejoined us from Swally roads, informing us that the rest of our fleet
was safe in that anchorage. They had brought in with them a junk and two
other ships, which they had chased on the 16th. The junk was a great
ship of Surat, belonging to the mother of the Great Mogul, burden about
1200 or 1400 tons, having in her above 1000 persons, and twenty-nine
tons of silver, though some said a great deal more. The other two were
English interlopers, called the Francis and the Lion: the former of 160
tons, belonging to - - -, and commanded by Captain Neuce; and the latter
of 120 tons, fitted out by Philip Bernardy, an Italian merchant in
London, commanded by Thomas Jones, who had formerly been boatswain of
the Hector.
This evening we anchored in the road of Swally, where we found the rest
of our fleet, with the foresaid junk and the two English privateers. On
oar arrival, we heard of two Dutch ships having been cast away at
Gowdever;[261] the Rotterdam of 1000 tons, and a small pinnace. The
9th October, I sent up twenty-one chests of coral to Surat, which were
landed two days before from the Ann; and at night I sent up eight tons
and four hundredweight of elephants teeth, taken out of our Portuguese
prize. This afternoon twenty sail of frigates from Goa arrived at the
bar of Surat, commanded by the Captain-major Don Pedro de Asadedo,
[Asovedo?] From one of these, five of the country people came ashore
among our men, two of whom were taken by our guard, and confessed they
came from Goa a month before, having orders from the viceroy to range
the coast, to discover the English, when they were to return; but if the
English were not on the coast, they were to proceed for Cambay, to
capture the caffila, or convoy of country vessels.
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