But Their Officers Encouraged Them,
Alleging That The Fire Could Be Easily Extinguished, On Which They Again
Stood Stiffly To Their Defence; Yet At Length The Fire Grew So Strong,
That I Plainly Saw It Was Beyond All Help, Even If She Had Yielded To
Us.
We then wished to have disentangled ourselves from the burning
carak, but had little hope of success; yet we plied water with great
diligence to keep our ship safe.
At this time I had little hope but our
ship, myself, and several of our wounded men must have been all
destroyed along with the carak. Most of our people indeed might have
saved themselves in boats on board our consorts. When we were at the
worst, by Gods providence our spritsail-yard with the sail and ropes,
which were fast entangled with the spritsail-yard of the carak, were so
burned that we fell away, with the loss of some of our sails. The
Exchange also, being farther aft and more distant from the fire, was
more easily cleared, and fell off abaft.
As soon as God had put us out of danger, the fire caught hold of the
forecastle of the carak, where I think there was great store of benzoin,
or some such combustible matter, for it flamed and flowed over the
carak, which was almost in an instant all over in flames. The Portuguese
now leapt over-board in great numbers, and I sent captain Grant with
the boat, bidding him use his discretion in saving them. He brought me
on board two gentlemen. One of them was an old man named Nuno Velio
Pereira, who had been governor of Mozambique and Sofala in the year
1582, and had since been governor of a place of importance in the East
Indies. The ship in which he was coming home was cast away a little to
the east of the Cape of Good Hope, whence he travelled by land to
Mozambique, and got a passage in this carak. The other was named Bras
Carrero, who was captain of a carak that was cast away at Mozambique,
and came likewise as a passenger in this ship. Also three men of the
inferior sort; but only these two gentlemen we clothed and brought home
to England. The rest, and others which were saved by our other boats,
were all set on shore on the island of Flores, except two or three
negroes, one of whom was a native of Mozambique, and the other of the
East Indies.
This fight took place in the open sea, 6 leagues to the southward of the
sound or channel between Fayal and Pico. The people whom we saved
informed us, that the cause of the carak refusing to yield was, that she
and all her goods belonged to the king, being all that had been
collected for him that year in India, and that the captain of her was
greatly in favour with the king, and expected to have been made viceroy
of India at his return. This great carak was by no means lumbered,
either within board or on deck, being more like a ship of war than a
merchant vessel; and, besides her own men and guns, she had the crew and
ordnance that belonged to another carak that was cast away at
Mozambique, and the crew of another that was lost a little way to the
east of the Cape of Good Hope. Yet, through sickness caught at Angola,
where they watered, it was said she had not now above 150 white men on
board, but a great many negroes. They likewise told us there were three
noblemen and three ladies on board; but we found them to disagree much
in their stories. The carak continued to burn all the rest of that day
and the succeeding night; but next morning, on the fire reaching her
powder, being 60 barrels, which was in the lowest part of her hold, she
blew up with a dreadful explosion, most of her materials floating about
on the sea. Some of the people said she was larger than the Madre de
Dios, and some that she was less. She was much undermasted and
undersailed, yet she went well through the water, considering that she
was very foul. The shot we made at her from the cannon of our ship,
before we laid her on board, might be seven broadsides of six or seven
shots each, one with another, or about 49 shots in all. We lay on board
her about two hours, during which we discharged at her about 20 sacre
shots. Thus much may suffice for our dangerous conflict with that
unfortunate carak.
On the 30th of June, after traversing the seas, we got sight of another
huge carak, which some of our company took at first for the great San
Philippo, the admiral of Spain; but on coming up with her next day, we
certainly perceived her to be a carak. After bestowing some shots upon
her, we summoned her to yield, but they stood stoutly on their defence,
and utterly refused to strike. Wherefore, as no good could be done
without boarding, I consulted as to what course we should follow for
that purpose; but as we, who were the chief captains, were partly slain
and the rest wounded in the former conflict, and because of the
murmuring of some disorderly and cowardly fellows, all our resolute
determinations were crossed: To conclude in a few words, the carak
escaped our hands. After this, we continued to cruize for some time
about Corvo and Flores, in hopes of falling in with some ships from the
West Indies; but, being disappointed in this expectation, and provisions
falling short, we returned for England, where I arrived at Portsmouth on
the 28th of August 1594.
SECTION XVII.
_List of the Royal Navy of England of the demise of Queen
Elizabeth_[395].
The following list of the royal navy of England, as left in good
condition by Queen Elizabeth at her death in 1603, was written by Sir
William Monson, a naval officer of that and the two following reigns,
"By which, he observes, she and her realm gained honour, by the exploits
and victories they and her subjects obtained." It would occupy too much
space to give a contrasted list of the royal navy in the present year,
1813; but which our readers can easily obtain from the monthly lists
published at London.
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