He Continued In
These Parts For The Space Of Two Months, Sailing Round About The
Islands, And Landed In Graciosa
And Fayal, as I have already mentioned.
He took several ships and caravels, which he sent off to England, so
That the people of the islands durst not put forth their heads. At one
time, about three or four days after the earl had been at the island of
Fayal, and was departed from thence, there arrived there six ships of
the Indies, the general of which was one _Juan Dorives_, which landed in
that island four millions of gold and silver[382]. Then, being much in
fear of the English, and having refreshed themselves with all speed,
they set sail and arrived safe at San Lucar, without meeting an enemy,
to the great good luck of the Spaniards and bad fortune of the English;
for, within less than two days after the gold and silver was again laden
into the Spanish ships, the earl of Cumberland sailed past the island
again; so that if he had once got sight of these valuable ships, without
doubt he had got them all, as the Spaniards themselves confessed.
[Footnote 382: The denomination is not mentioned, perhaps _pezos_, or
what we call dollars. - E.]
In the month of November, two great ships arrived in Tercera, being the
admiral and vice-admiral of the fleet laden with silver, which had been
separated from the fleet in a great storm, and were in great jeopardy
and distress, ready to sink, being forced to use all their pumps, and so
terrified, that they wished a thousand times to have met the English, to
whom they would willingly have given all the silver, and every thing
they had on board, only to preserve their lives. Although the earl still
hovered about the islands, yet did he not meet with these ships, which
got with much labour and difficulty into the road of Angra, where with
all speed they unladed and landed about five millions in silver, all in
great pieces or ingots of 8 or 12 great pounds, so that the whole quay
lay covered with plates and chests of silver, full of pieces of eight
rials, most wonderful to behold: Each million being worth ten hundred
thousand ducats, besides gold, pearls, and other precious stones, which
were not registered. The admiral and chief commander of these ships, and
of the whole fleet to which they belonged, was _Alvaro Flores de Quin
Quiniones_, who was sick of the Neapolitan disease, and was brought to
land; and of which malady he died soon afterwards at Seville. He had
with him the kings commission under the great seal, giving him full
authority as general and commander in chief upon the seas, over all
fleets and ships, and in all places, lands, and islands, on shore
wherever he came; wherefore the governor of Tercera shewed him much
honour, and between them it was concerted, seeing the weakness of the
ships and the danger from the English, that they should send the ships
first empty of treasure to Seville or Lisbon, under a guard of soldiers,
when the king might give orders afterwards to fetch the silver home
under safe convoy. The said admiral Alvaro Flores staid there, under
colour of taking care of the silver, but chiefly because of his disease
and fear of the English. He had for his part alone, above the value of
50,000 ducats in pearls, which he shewed us, and sought to sell or
barter them with us for spices or bills of exchange. These two ships
sailed from Tercera with three or four hundred men, including those who
came with them from the Indies and soldiers; but while at sea in a
storm, the admiral split and sunk outright, not one man being saved; and
the vice-admiral, after cutting away her masts, ran aground hard by
Setubal, where she broke in pieces, some of the men saving themselves by
swimming, who brought the news of all the rest being drowned.
In the same month of November 1589, there came two great ships out of
the Spanish Indies, and when within half a mile of the road of Tercera,
they were met with by an English ship which fought them both together
for a long while, and took them both. About seven or eight months
before, there came an English ship to Tercera, pretending to be a
Frenchman come for traffic, and began to load woad, but being discovered
was confiscated to the king, both ship and cargo, and the men all made
prisoners, yet were allowed to roam up and down to get their livings, by
labouring like slaves, being considered in as safe custody in the island
at large as if in a prison. But at length, upon a Sunday, they all went
behind the hills called _Bresil_, where they found a fishing boat, in
which they rowed out to sea to the ships of the Earl of Cumberland, who
chanced for their good fortune to come to the island, and anchored with
his ships about half a mile from the road of Angra, close to two small
islands about a bare shot from the shore of Tercera, which are full of
goats, deer, and sheep, belonging to the inhabitants of Tercera. These
sailors knew this well, wherefore they rowed to these islands in their
boats, whence they took as many goats and sheep as they needed, which
was well seen by those of the town and main island, but they durst not
go forth to hinder them. By this exploit, there only remained behind the
master and merchant of the detained English ship. This master had a
brother-in-law in England, who, on hearing of his brothers imprisonment,
got a licence from the queen to fit out a ship, with which to endeavour
to recover his losses by cruizing against the Spaniards, by which to
redeem his brother from imprisonment in Tercera, and it was he who took
the two Spanish ships before the town:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 186 of 226
Words from 189991 to 191006
of 230997
