When The 30 Days Were Expired, And
Windham Saw His Men Dying So Fast, He Sent Orders To Pinteado And The
Rest To Come Away Without Any More Delay.
Pinteado and the others wrote
back to inform him of the large quantity of pepper already gathered, and
that
They looked daily for more, desiring him to consider the great
praise they would all get on their return if the voyage turned out
profitable, and the shame that must attend returning without a full
loading. Not satisfied with this answer, more especially as the men
continued to die in great numbers, Windham sent a second message
ordering them to return immediately, or that he would go away and leave
them. Thinking to prevail upon him by reasonable means, Pinteado
returned to the ships under an escort provided by the negro king.
In the mean time Windham, enraged at Pinteado, broke open his cabin and
all his chests, spoiled all the cordials and sweetmeats he had provided
for his health, and left him nothing either of his cloaths or nautical
instruments; after which strange procedure he fell sick and died. When
he came on board, Pinteado lamented as much for the death of Windham as
if he had been his dearest friend; but several of the mariners and
officers spit in his face, calling him Jew, and asserted that he had
brought them to this place on purpose that they should die; and some
even drew their swords, threatening to slay him. They insisted that he
should leave the coast immediately, and though he only requested them to
wait till those who were left at the court of the king of Benin could be
sent for, they would by no means consent. He then prayed them to give
him a boat, and as much of an old sail as might serve to fit her out, in
which he proposed to bring Nicholas Lambert[197] and the rest to
England, but even this they would not consent to. Finding all his
representations in vain, he wrote a letter to the merchants at court,
informing them of all that had happened at the ships, promising, if God
spared his life, that he would return as soon as possible for them.
[Footnote 197: This Lambert was a Londoner born, his father having been
Lord Mayor of London. - Hakluyt.]
Pinteado, thus kept on board against his will, was thrust among the
cabin-boys, and worse used than any of them, insomuch that he was forced
to depend on the favour of the cook for subsistence. Having sunk one of
their ships for want of hands to navigate her, the people departed from
the coast with the other. Within six or seven days, Pinteado died
broken-hearted, from the cruel and undeserved usage he had met with, - a
man worthy to have served any prince, and most vilely used. Of 140 men
who had sailed originally from Portsmouth on this unfortunate and
ill-conducted voyage, scarcely 40 got back to Plymouth, and many even
of those died soon afterwards.
That no one may suspect that I have written in commendation of Pinteado
from partiality or favour, otherwise than as warranted by truth, I have
thought good to add copies of the letters which the king of Portugal and
the infant his brother wrote to induce him to return to Portugal, at the
time when, by the king's displeasure, and not owing to any crime or
offence, he was enforced by poverty to come to England, where he first
induced our merchants to engage in voyages to Guinea. All these writings
I saw under seal in the house of my friend Nicholas Lieze, with whom
Pinteado left them when he departed on his unfortunate voyage to Guinea.
But, notwithstanding these friendly letters and fair promises, Pinteado
durst not venture to return to Portugal, neither indeed durst he trust
himself in company with any of his own countrymen, unless in the
presence of other persons, as he had secret intimation that they meant
to have assassinated him, when time and place might serve their wicked
purpose.
* * * * *
The papers alluded to in this concluding paragraph by Richard Eden, do
not seem necessary to be inserted. They consist of, a commission or
patent dated 22d September 1551, appointing Pinteado one of the knights
of the royal household, with 700 _rees_, or ten shillings a month, and
half a bushel of barley every day so long as he should keep a horse; but
with an injunction not to marry for six years, lest he might have
children to succeed in this allowance. The second document is merely a
certificate of registration of the first. The third is a letter from the
infant, Don Luis, brother to the king of Portugal, dated 8th December
1552, urging Pinteado to return to Lisbon, and intimating that Peter
Gonzalvo, the bearer of the letter, had a safe conduct for him in due
form. From the introduction to these papers, it appears that Pinteado
had suffered long disgrace and imprisonment, proceeding upon false
charges, and had been at last set free by means of the king's confessor,
a grey friar, who had manifested his innocence. - E.
SECTION III.
_Voyage to Guinea, in 1554, by Captain John Lok_[198].
As in the first voyage of the English to Guinea, I have given rather the
order of the history than the course of navigation, of which I had then
no perfect information; so in this second voyage my chief purpose has
been to shew the course pursued, according to the ordinary custom and
observation of mariners, and as I received it from the hands of an
expert pilot, who was one of the chiefest in this voyage[199], who with
his own hand wrote a brief journal of the whole, as he had found and
tried in all things, not conjecturally, but by the art of navigation,
and by means of instruments fitted for nautical use[200]. Not assuming
therefore to myself the commendations due to another, neither having
presumed in any part to change the substance or order of this journal,
so well observed by art and experience, I have thought fit to publish it
in the language commonly used by mariners, exactly as I received it from
that pilot[201].
[Footnote 198:
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