Next Day They Sent Us 12 Baskets Full, And
Continued To Send More Daily Till The 9th March, By Which Time We Had
Made Up 64 Serons Of Pepper And 28 Elephants Teeth.
By this time, as our
constitutions were unused to the climate of Benin, all of us were seized
with fevers; upon which the captain sent me down to Goto with the goods
we had collected.
On my arrival there, I found all the men belonging to
our pinnace sick, so that they were unable to convey the pinnace and
goods to the ship; but fortunately the boat came up to Goto from the
ship within two hours after my arrival, to see what we were about, so
that I put the goods into the boat and went down to the ship: But by the
time I had got on board several of our men died, among whom were Mr
Benson, the copper, and the carpenter, with three or four more, and I
was in so weak a state as to be unable to return to Benin. I therefore
sent up Samuel Dunne and the surgeon, that he might let blood of them if
it were thought adviseable; but on their arrival they found the captain
and your son William Bird both dead, and Thomas Hempstead was so very
weak that he died two days after.
In this sorrowful state of affairs they returned with all speed to the
ship, with such pepper and elephants teeth as they had got, as will
appear by the cargo. At their coming away; the _veador_ told them he
would use all possible expedition to procure them more goods if they
would remain longer; but the sickness so increased among us, that by the
time our men came back we had so many sick and dead, that we looked to
lose our ship, lives, country, and all. We were so reduced that it was
with much difficulty we were able to heave our anchors; but by Gods
blessing we got them up and put to sea, leaving our pinnace behind, on
the 13th of April. After which our men began to recover and gather
strength. Sailing between the Cape de Verd islands and the Main, we came
to the Azores on the 25th of July; and here our men began again to fall
sick, and several died, among whom was Samuel Dunn, those who remained
alive being in a sad state. In the midst of our distress, it pleased God
that we should meet your ship the _Barke Burre_ on this side the North
Cape, which not only kept company with us, but sent us six fresh men on
board, without whose assistance we must have been in a sad condition. By
this providential aid we are now arrived at Plymouth, this 9th
September; and, for want of better health at this present. I must refer
you for farther particulars till my arrival in London. - Yours to
command,
ANTHONY INGRAM.
SECTION XVII.
_Second Voyage of James Welsh to Benin, in 1590_[317].
In the employment of the same merchants, John Bird and John Newton, and
with the same ship as in the former voyage, the Richard of Arundel,
accompanied by a small pinnace, we set sail from Ratclif on the 3d
September 1590, and came to Plymouth Sound on the 18th of that month. We
put to sea again on the 22d, and on the 14th October got sight of
Fuertaventura, one of the Canary islands, which appeared very rugged as
we sailed past. The 16th of October, in the lat. of 24 deg. 9' N. we met a
prodigious hollow sea, such as I had never seen before on this coast;
and this day a monstrous great fish, which I think is called a
_gobarto_[318], put up his head to the steep-tubs where the cook was
shifting the victuals, whom I thought the fish would have carried away.
The 21st, being in lat. 18 deg. N. we had a _counter-sea_ from the north,
having in the same latitude, on our last voyage, encountered a similar
sea from the south, both times in very calm weather. The 24th we had
sight of Cape Verd, and next day had a great hollow sea from the north,
a common sign that the wind will be northerly, and so it proved. The
15th November, when in lat. 6 deg. 42' N. we met three currents from west to
north-west, one after the other, with the interval of an hour between
each. The 18th we had two other great currents from S.W. The 20th we saw
another from N.E. The 24th we had a great current from S.S.W. and at 6
P.M. we had three currents more. The 27th we reckoned to have gone 2-1/2
leagues every watch, but found that we had only made _one_ league every
watch for the last 24 hours, occasioned by heavy billows and a swift
current still from the south. The 5th December, on setting the watch, we
cast about and lay E.N.E. and N.E. and here in lat. 5 deg. 30' our pinnace
lost us wilfully. The 7th, at sunset, we saw a great black spot on the
sun; and on the 8th, both at rising and setting we saw the like, the
spot appearing about the size of a shilling. We were then in lat. 5 deg. N.
and still had heavy billows from the south.
[Footnote 317: Hakluyt, II. 618. Astley, I. 203.]
[Footnote 318: In a side note, Astley conjectures this to have been a
great shark.]
We sounded on the 14th December, having 15 fathoms on coarse red sand,
two leagues from shore, the current setting S.E. along shore, and still
we had heavy billows from the south. The 15th we were athwart a rock,
somewhat like the _Mewstone_ in England, and at the distance of 2
leagues from the rock, had ground in 27 fathoms.
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