Being On Board Our Ship, The
Desire, Sir Thomas Informed Our Captain Of All His Extremities, And
Complained Severely Of
His company, and particularly of several
gentlemen in his ship, proposing to go no more on board his own ship,
But to proceed for the rest of the voyage in the Desire. We were all
grieved to hear such hard speeches of our good friends; but having
spoken with the gentlemen in the Leicester, we found them faithful,
honest, and resolute in their proceedings, although it pleased our
general to conceive of them otherwise.
The 20th March we departed from Port Desire, Sir Thomas being in the
Desire with us. The 8th of April we fell in with the Straits of
Magellan, having sustained many furious storms between Port Desire and
the straits. The 14th we passed the first straits, and got through the
second, ten leagues beyond the first, on the 16th. We doubled Cape
Froward on the 18th, which cape is in 53 deg. 30' S. The 21st we were forced
by a furious storm to take shelter in a small cove with our ships, four
leagues beyond the cape, and on the southern shore of the straits, where
we remained till the 15th of May; in which time we endured much
distress, by excessive storms, with perpetual snow, and many of our men
died of cold and famine, not having wherewithal to cover their bodies
nor to fill their bellies, but living on muscles, sea-weeds, and water,
with an occasional supply of meal from the ships stores.[63] All the
sick men in the galleon were most uncharitably put on shore into the
woods, exposed to the snow, the air, and the cold, which men in health
could hardly have endured, where they ended their days in the utmost
misery, Sir Thomas remaining all this time in the Desire.
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