Upon This We Weighed Anchor, And
Made A Shirt To Stand Out To Sea, The Wind Being S.S.W., But The Hart
Fell Three Leagues To Leeward Of Us.
These ships chased us from 9 A.M.
till 5 P.M. but could not make up with us.
At night, when we joined the
Hart, on asking why she fell to leeward, they pretended that they durst
not make sail to windward, lest they had carried away their
fore-top-mast. Having been thus obliged to abandon our watering-place,
we were under the necessity of boiling our meat-in sea-water, and to
reduce our allowance of drink to make it hold out, as we now shaped our
course homewards.
[Footnote 269: Mowree is 4-1/2 leagues east from the castle of Minas,
and Lagoua or Laguy is 9 leagues east from the same place. - Astl. I.
168. a.]
On the 16th of March we fell in with the land, which I judged to be Cape
Misurado, about which there is much high land. The 18th we lost sight of
the Hart, and I think the master wilfully went in shore on purpose to
lose us, being offended that I had reproved him for his folly when
chased by the Portuguese. The 27th we fell in with two small islands
about 6 leagues off Cape Sierra Leona; and before we saw them we
reckoned ourselves at least 30 or 40 leagues from them. Therefore all
who sail this way must allow for the current which sets N.N.W. or they
will be much deceived. The 14th April we met two large Portuguese ships,
which we supposed were bound to Calicut. The 23d we saw a French ship of
90 tons to windward of us, which came down upon us as if to lay us on
board, sending up some of his men in armour into the tops, and calling
out to us to strike. Upon this we saluted him with some cross-bars,
chain-shot, and arrows, so thick that we made their upper works fly
about their ears, and tore his ship so miserably, that he fell astern
and made sail. Our trumpeter was a Frenchman, at this time ill in bed;
yet he blew his trumpet till he could sound no more, and so died. The
29th we arrived at Plymouth, and gave thanks to God for our safety.
SECTION VI.
_Third Voyage of William Towerson to Guinea, in 1558_[270].
On the 30th of January of the above year, we set sail from Plymouth with
three ships and a pinnace, bound by the grace of God for the Canaries
and the coast of Guinea. Our ships were the Minion, admiral; the
Christopher, vice-admiral; the Tiger, and a pinnace called the Unicorn.
Next day we fell in with two hulks[271] of Dantziek, one called the Rose
of 400 tons, and the other the Unicorn of 150, both laden at Bourdeaux,
mostly with wine.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 242 of 441
Words from 126625 to 127125
of 230997
