The Famous Voyage Of Sir Francis Drake Into The South Sea, And Therehence About The Whole Globe Of The Earth, Begun In The Year Of Our Lord 1577 Narrative By Francis Pretty
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Which Being Done, And They Departed, We Ransacked
The Town; And In One House We Found A Pot, Of The Quantity Of A
Bushel, Full Of Reals Of Plate, Which We Brought To Our Ship.
And here
one Thomas Moon, one of our company, took a Spanish gentleman as he
was flying out of the town; and, searching him, he found a chain of
gold about him, and other jewels, which he took, and so let him go.
At
this place our General, among other Spaniards, set ashore his Portugal
pilot which he took at the islands of Cape Verde out of a ship of St.
Mary port, of Portugal. And having set them ashore we departed hence,
and sailed to the island of Canno; where our General landed, and
brought to shore his own ship, and discharged her, mended and graved
her, and furnished our ship with water and wood sufficiently.
And while we were here we espied a ship and set sail after her, and
took her, and found in her two pilots and a Spanish governor, going
for the islands of the Philippinas. We searched the ship, and took
some of her merchandises, and so let her go. Our General at this place
and time, thinking himself, both in respect of his private injuries
received from the Spaniards, as also of their contempts and
indignities offered to our country and prince in general, sufficiently
satisfied and revenged; and supposing that her Majesty at his return
would rest contented with this service, purposed to continue no longer
upon the Spanish coast, but began to consider and to consult of the
best way for his country.
He thought it not good to return by the Straits, for two special
causes; the one, lest the Spaniards should there wait and attend for
him in great number and strength, whose hands, he, being left but one
ship, could not possibly escape. The other cause was the dangerous
situation of the mouth of the Straits in the South Sea; where
continual storms reigning and blustering, as he found by experience,
besides the shoals and sands upon the coast, he thought it not a good
course to adventure that way. He resolved, therefore, to avoid these
hazards, to go forward to the Islands of the Malucos, and therehence
to sail the course of the Portugals by the Cape of Buena Esperanza.
Upon this resolution he began to think of his best way to the Malucos,
and finding himself, where he now was, becalmed, he saw that of
necessity he must be forced to take a Spanish course; namely, to sail
somewhat northerly to get a good wind. We therefore set sail, and
sailed 600 leagues at the least for a good wind; and thus much we
sailed from the 16th of April till the third of June.
The fifth of June, being in 43 degrees towards the pole Arctic, we
found the air so cold, that our men being grievously pinched with the
same, complained of the extremity thereof; and the further we went,
the more the cold increased upon us.
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