_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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