After That The Viceroy, Don Martin Henriques, Had Thus Contrary To His
Faith And Promise Most Cruelly Dealt With Our
General, Master Hawkins,
at St. John de Ullua, where most of his men were by the Spaniards slain
and drowned,
And all his ships sunk and burnt, saving the Minion and
the Judith, which was a small barque of fifty tons, wherein was then
captain Master Francis Drake aforesaid; the same night the said barque
was lost us, we being in great necessity and enforced to move with the
Minion two bow-shots from the Spanish fleet, where we anchored all that
night; and the next morning we weighed anchor and recovered an island a
mile from the Spaniards, where a storm took us with a north wind, in
which we were greatly distressed, having but two cables and two anchors
left; for in the conflict before we had lost three cables and two
anchors. The morrow after, the storm being ceased and the weather
fair, we weighed and set sail, being many men in number and but small
store of victuals to suffice us for any long time; by means whereof we
were in despair and fear that we should perish through famine, so that
some were in mind to yield themselves to the mercy of the Spaniards,
other some to the savages or infidels, and wandering thus certain days
in these unknown seas, hunger constrained us to eat hides, cats and
dogs, mice, rats, parrots, and monkeys, to be short, our hunger was so
great that we thought it savoury and sweet whatsoever we could get to
eat.
And on the 8th of October we came to land again, in the bottom of the
Bay of Mexico, where we hoped to have found some inhabitants, that we
might have had some relief of victuals and a place where to repair our
ship, which was so greatly bruised that we were scarce able, with our
weary arms, to keep out the water. Being thus oppressed, by famine on
the one side and danger of drowning on the other, not knowing where to
find relief, we began to be in wonderful despair. And we were of many
minds, amongst whom there were a great many that did desire our General
to set them on land, making their choice rather to submit themselves to
the mercy of the savages or infidels than longer to hazard themselves
at sea, where they very well saw that if they should all remain
together, if they perished not by drowning, yet hunger would enforce
them, in the end, to eat one another. To which request our General did
very willingly agree, considering with himself that it was necessary
for him to lessen his number, both for the safety of himself and the
rest. And, thereupon, being resolved to set half his people on shore
that he had then left alive, it was a world to see how suddenly men's
minds were altered, for they which a little before desired to be set on
land were now of another mind, and requested rather to stay, by means
whereof our General was enforced, for the more contenting of all men's
minds, and to take away all occasions of offence, to take this order:
first he made choice of such persons of service and account as were
needful to stay, and that being done, of those which were willing to
go, he appointed such as he thought might be best spared, and presently
appointed that by the boat they should be set on shore, our General
promising us that the next year he would either come himself or else
send to fetch us home. Here, again, it would have caused any stony
heart to have relented to hear the pitiful moan that many did make, and
how loth they were to depart. The weather was then somewhat stormy and
tempestuous, and therefore we were in great danger, yet,
notwithstanding there was no remedy, but we that were appointed to go
away must of necessity do so. Howbeit, those that went in the first
boat were safely set ashore, but of them which went in the second boat,
of which number I myself was one, the seas wrought so high that we
could not attain to the shore, and therefore we were constrained -
through the cruel dealing of John Hampton, captain of the Minion, and
John Sanders, boatswain of the Jesus, and Thomas Pollard, his mate - to
leap out of the boat into the main sea, having more than a mile to
shore, and, so to shift for ourselves, and either to sink or swim. And
of those that so were, as it were, thrown out and compelled to leap
into the sea, there were two drowned, which were of Captain Bland's
men.
In the evening of the same day - it being Monday, the 8th of October,
1568 - when we were all come to shore, we found fresh water, whereof
some of our men drank so much that they had almost cast themselves
away, for we could scarce get life in them for the space of two or
three hours after. Other some were so cruelly swollen - what with the
drinking in of the salt water, and what with the eating of the fruit
which we found on land, having a stone in it much like an almond, which
fruit is called capule - that they were all in very ill case, so that we
were, in a manner, all of us, both feeble, weak, and faint.
The next morning - it being Tuesday, the 9th of October - we thought it
best to travel along by the sea coast, to seek out some place of
habitation - whether they were Christians or savages we were
indifferent - so that we might have wherewithal to sustain our hungry
bodies, and so departing from a hill where we had rested all night, not
having any dry thread about us, for those that were not wet being
thrown into the sea were thoroughly wet with rain, for all the night it
rained cruelly.
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