Thus, With Dutiful Thanks To The Mercy Of God For His Gracious
Assistance In That Danger, The English Ships Proceeded In Their
Navigation.
And coming as high as Algiers, a port town upon the coast
of Barbary, they made for it, of purpose to refresh themselves after
their weariness, and to take in such supply of fresh water and victuals
as they needed.
They were no sooner entered into the port but
immediately the king thereof sent a messenger to the ships to know what
they were. With which messenger the chief master of every ship
repaired to the king, and acquainted him not only with the state of
their ships in respect of merchandise, but with the late fight which
they had passed with the Spanish galleys, reporting every particular
circumstance in word as it fell out in action; whereof the said king
showed himself marvellous glad, entertaining them in the best sort, and
promising abundant relief of all their wants; making general
proclamation in the city, upon pain of death, that no man, of what
degree or state soever he were, should presume either to hinder them in
their affairs or to offer them any manner of injury in body or goods;
by virtue whereof they despatched all things in excellent good sort
with all favour and peaceableness. Only such prisoners and captives of
the Spaniards as were in the city, seeing the good usage which they
received, and hearing also what service they had performed against the
foresaid galleys, grudged exceedingly against them, and sought as much
as they could to practise some mischief against them. And one amongst
the rest, seeing an Englishman alone in a certain lane of the city,
came upon him suddenly, and with his knife thrust him in the side, yet
made no such great wound but that it was easily recovered. The English
company, hearing of it, acquainted the king of the fact; who
immediately sent both for the party that had received the wound and the
offender also, and caused an executioner, in the presence of himself
and the English, to chastise the slave even to death, which was
performed, to the end that no man should presume to commit the like
part or to do anything in contempt of his royal commandment.
The English, having received this good justice at the king's hands, and
all other things that they wanted or could crave for the furnishing of
their ships, took their leave of him, and of the rest of their friends
that were resident in Algiers, and put out to sea, looking to meet with
the second army of the Spanish king, which waited for them about the
mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar, which they were of necessity to pass.
But coming near to the said strait, it pleased God to raise, at that
instant, a very dark and misty fog, so that one ship could not discern
another if it were forty paces off, by means whereof, together with the
notable fair Eastern winds that then blew most fit for their course,
they passed with great speed through the strait, and might have passed,
with that good gale, had there been five hundred galleys to withstand
them and the air never so clear for every ship to be seen. But yet the
Spanish galleys had a sight of them, when they were come within three
English miles of the town, and made after them with all possible haste;
and although they saw that they were far out of their reach, yet in a
vain fury and foolish pride, they shot off their ordnance and made a
stir in the sea as if they had been in the midst of them, which vanity
of theirs ministered to our men notable matter of pleasure and mirth,
seeing men to fight with shadows and to take so great pains to so small
purpose.
But thus it pleased God to deride and delude all the forces of that
proud Spanish king, which he had provided of purpose to distress the
English; who, notwithstanding, passed through both his armies - in the
one, little hurt, and in the other, nothing touched, to the glory of
His immortal name, the honour of our prince and country, and the just
commendation of each man's service performed in that voyage.
- - -
THE UNFORTUNATE VOYAGE MADE WITH THE JESUS, THE MINION, AND FOUR OTHER
SHIPS, TO THE PARTS OF GUINEA AND THE WEST INDIES, IN THE YEARS 1567
AND 1568. BY MASTER JOHN HAWKINS.
The ships departed from Plymouth the 2nd day of October, anno 1567, and
had reasonable weather until the seventh day, at which time, forty
leagues north from Cape Finisterre, there arose an extreme storm which
continued four days, in such sort that the fleet was dispersed and all
our great boats lost, and the Jesus, our chief ship, in such case as
not thought able to serve the voyage. Whereupon in the same storm we
set our course homeward, determining to give over the voyage; but the
11th day of the same month the wind changed, with fair weather, whereby
we were animated to follow our enterprise, and so did, directing our
course to the islands of Grand Canaries, where, according to an order
before prescribed, all our ships, before dispersed, met in one of those
islands, called Gomera, where we took water, and departed from thence
the 4th day of November towards the coast of Guinea, and arrived at
Cape Verde the 18th of November, where we landed one hundred and fifty
men, hoping to obtain some negroes; where we got but few, and those
with great hurt and damage to our men, which chiefly proceeded from
their envenomed arrows; although in the beginning they seemed to be but
small hurts, yet there hardly escaped any that had blood drawn of them
but died in strange sort, with their mouths shut, some ten days before
they died, and after their wounds were whole; where I myself had one of
the greatest wounds, yet, thanks be to God, escaped.
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