Chapter XVIII: Section IV

_Second Voyage of Sir Thomas Candish, intended for the South Sea, in 1591_.[61]

Though not a circumnavigation, owing to various misfortunes, it appears proper to insert this narrative, giving an account of the unfortunate end of the renowned Candish, by way of appendix to his circumnavigation. From the happy success of his former voyage, and the superior strength with which he undertook the second, in which, after ranging the Spanish coast of the South Sea, he proposed to have visited the Philippine islands and China, he certainly had every reason to have expected, that the profits of this new enterprise would have fully compensated for its expences, and have enabled him to spend the remainder of his days in honourable ease and affluence.

[Footnote 61: Hakluyt, IV. 361.--This narrative, as we learn from Hakluyt, was written by Mr John Lane, or Jane, a person of good observation, who was employed in this and many other voyages.--E.]

* * * * *

The ships fitted out on this occasion, entirely at his own expence, were the galleon named the Leicester, in which Sir Thomas Candish embarked himself as admiral, or general of the expedition; the Roebuck vice-admiral, commanded by Mr Cocke; the Desire rear-admiral, of which Mr John Davis was captain;[62] the Dainty, a bark belonging to Mr Adrian Gilbert, of which Mr Randolph Cotton had the command; and a pinnace named the Black.

[Footnote 62: The author of this narrative informs us that he sailed on this voyage along with Mr Davis.--E.]

§ 1. _Incidents in the Voyage, till the Separation of the Ships_.

With this squadron we sailed from Plymouth on the 26th of August, 1591. The 29th November, we fell in with the bay of St Salvador on the coast of Brazil, twelve leagues to the N. of Cabo Frio, where we were becalmed till the 2d December, when we captured a small bark, bound for the Rio Plata, laden with sugar, haberdashery wares, and negroes. The master of this bark brought us to an isle, called Placencia or _Ilha Grande_, thirty Portuguese leagues W. from Cabo Frio, where we arrived on the 5th December, and rifled six or seven houses inhabited by Portuguese. The 11th we departed from this place, and arrived on the 14th at the island of St Sebastian; whence Mr Cocke and Mr Davis immediately departed, with the Desire and the Black pinnace, on purpose to attack the town of Santos.

We anchored at the bar of Santos in the evening of the 15th, and went immediately in our boats to the town. Next morning about nine o'clock, we reached Santos, and being discovered, we immediately landed, being only twenty-four of us, our long-boat being still far astern. By this promptitude, we took all the people of the town prisoners in the church, being at mass, and detained them there all day. The great object of Sir Thomas Candish in assaulting this town was to supply our wants, expecting to have got every thing of which we stood in need, when once in possession: But such was the negligence of Mr Cocke, who commanded on this occasion, that the Indians were allowed to carry every thing out of the town in open view, and no one hindered them; and next day, our prisoners were all set free, only four poor old men being kept as pledges to supply our wants. By this mismanagement, the town of Santos, which could easily have supplied a fleet the double of ours with all kinds of necessaries, was in three days left to us entirely naked, without people, and without provisions. Sir Thomas Candish came up eight or ten days afterwards, and remained till the 22d January, 1592, endeavouring by treaty to procure what we were once possessed of, but to little purpose; and we were then forced to depart, through want of provisions, glad to procure a few baskets of cassavi meal, going away worse provided than we had come there. We accordingly left Santos on the 22d January, and burnt the town of St Vincent to the ground.

We set sail on the 24th, shaping our course for the Straits of Magellan. On the 7th February we had a violent storm, and on the 8th, our fleet was separated by the fury of the tempest. Consulting with the master of our ship, our captain concluded to go for Port Desire, in the latitude of 48° S. hoping that Sir Thomas would go there likewise, as he had found great relief there in his former voyage. Our captain had not been able to get directions, what course to take in such a contingency as had now occurred, though he had earnestly proposed such a measure. In our way, we fortunately fell in with the Roebuck, which had been in extreme danger, and had lost her boat. We arrived together at Port Desire on the 6th March. The Black pinnace came in there also on the 16th; but the Dainty came not, having gone back for England, leaving their captain, Mr Randolph Cotton, aboard the Roebuck, with nothing but the clothes he wore. He now came aboard our ship, being in great habits of friendship with Captain Davis.

On the 18th Sir Thomas brought the galleon into the roads, and came himself into the harbour in a boat he had got built at sea, for his long-boat and light-horseman were both lost during the storm, together with a pinnace he had set up at Santos. Being on board our ship, the Desire, Sir Thomas informed our captain of all his extremities, and complained severely of his company, and particularly of several gentlemen in his ship, proposing to go no more on board his own ship, but to proceed for the rest of the voyage in the Desire. We were all grieved to hear such hard speeches of our good friends; but having spoken with the gentlemen in the Leicester, we found them faithful, honest, and resolute in their proceedings, although it pleased our general to conceive of them otherwise.

The 20th March we departed from Port Desire, Sir Thomas being in the Desire with us. The 8th of April we fell in with the Straits of Magellan, having sustained many furious storms between Port Desire and the straits. The 14th we passed the first straits, and got through the second, ten leagues beyond the first, on the 16th. We doubled Cape Froward on the 18th, which cape is in 53° 30' S. The 21st we were forced by a furious storm to take shelter in a small cove with our ships, four leagues beyond the cape, and on the southern shore of the straits, where we remained till the 15th of May; in which time we endured much distress, by excessive storms, with perpetual snow, and many of our men died of cold and famine, not having wherewithal to cover their bodies nor to fill their bellies, but living on muscles, sea-weeds, and water, with an occasional supply of meal from the ships stores.[63] All the sick men in the galleon were most uncharitably put on shore into the woods, exposed to the snow, the air, and the cold, which men in health could hardly have endured, where they ended their days in the utmost misery, Sir Thomas remaining all this time in the Desire.

[Footnote 63: It would appear that this expedition had been very improvidently undertaken, with a very inadequate supply of provisions, and, as will afterwards appear, of naval stores, trusting perhaps to obtain supplies from the enemy, as had been attempted in vain at Santos. Either delayed by these views, or from ignorance, the passage through the straits was attempted at a very improper season, three months after the antarctic mid-summer and during the autumnal equinoctial gales. November, December, and January are the summer months, and best fitted for these high southern latitudes.--E.]

Seeing these great extremities of cold and snow, and doubting a disastrous end to the enterprize, Sir Thomas asked our captain's opinion, being a person of great experience in the utmost parts of the north, to which he had made three voyages of discovery in the employ of the London merchants. Captain Davis said, that he did not expect the snow to be of long continuance, for which he gave sufficient reasons from his former experience, and hoped therefore that this might not greatly prejudice or hinder the completion of the enterprize. Yet Sir Thomas called all the company together, telling them that he proposed to depart from the straits upon some other voyage, either proceeding for the Cape of Good Hope, or back again to Brazil. The company answered, that they desired rather to wait God's favour for a wind, if he so pleased, and to submit to any hardships, rather than abandon the intended voyage, considering that they had been here only for a short time, and were now only forty leagues from the South Sea; yet, though grieved to return, they were ready to perform whatever he pleased to command. So he concluded to leave the straits, and make sail for the Cape of Good Hope.

When Sir Thomas Candish returned on board the Desire, from talking with the company, Captain Davis requested he would consider the extremity of our estate and condition, the slenderness of his provision, and the weakness of his men, being in no case for undertaking that new enterprise; as, if the other ships were as ill appointed as the Desire, it would be impossible to perform his new design, having no more sails then were then bent, no victuals, no ground tackle, no cordage save what was already in use; and, of seventy-five persons in the Desire, the master only had knowledge enough for managing the ship, and there were only fourteen sailors besides, all the rest being gentlemen, serving-men, or tradesmen. Captain Davis laid these persuasions before both the general and Mr Cocke; and in fine, in consequence of a petition, delivered in writing by all the chief persons of the whole company, the general determined to depart from the Straits of Magellan, and to return again for Santos in Brazil.

Accordingly, we set sail on the 15th of May, the general being now on board the galleon, his own ship. The 18th we were free of the straits; but on passing Cape Froward, we had the misfortune to have our boat sunk at our stern in the night, by which she was split and sore injured, and lost all her oars. The 20th of May, being athwart Port Desire, the general altered his course during the night, as we suppose, by which we lost him. In the evening he stood close by the wind to leewards, having the wind at N.N.E. and we stood the same course, the wind not altering during the night, and next day we could not see him. We were then persuaded that the general was gone for Port Desire in quest of relief or that he had sustained some mischance at sea, and was gone there to seek a remedy. Our captain then called all hands together, the general's men among the rest, asking their opinion what was to be done, when every one said he thought the general was gone to Port Desire.

Our master, who was the general's man, and careful for his master's service, and also a person of good judgment in sea affairs, represented to the company how dangerous it was for us to go to Port Desire, especially if we should there miss the general; as we had now no boat wherewith to land, neither any anchors or cables which he could trust to in such rapid streams. Yet as we all concluded that it was most probable the general had gone there, we shaped our course for Port Desire, and on our way met the Black pinnace by chance, which had also parted company from the general, being in a miserable plight. So we both proceeded for Port Desire, where we arrived on the 26th of May.

§ 2. _Disastrous result of the Voyage to Sir Thomas Candish_.[64]

Various accounts of the disappointments and misfortunes of Sir Thomas Candish, in this disastrous voyage, are still preserved, but the most copious is contained in his own narrative, addressed to Sir Tristram Gorges, whom he constituted sole executor of his will. In this, Sir Thomas attributes his miscarriage to the cowardice and defection of one of his officers, in the following terms:--"The running away of the villain Davis was the death of me, and the decay of the whole action, and his treachery in deserting me the ruin of all."

[Footnote 64: This portion of the voyage is taken from the supplement in the Collection of Harris, to the circumnavigation of Sir Thomas Candish.--E.]

In this letter he complained also of mutinies, and that, by adverse winds at S W. and W.S.W. he had been driven 400 leagues from the shore, and from the latitude of 50° to that of 40° both S. He says also, that he was surprised by winter in the straits, and sore vexed by storms, having such frosts and snows in May as he had never before witnessed,[65] so that forty of his men died, and seventy more of them sickened, in the course of seven or eight days. Davis, as he says, deserted him in the Desire, in lat. 47° S. The Roebuck continued along with him to lat. 36° S. In consequence of transgressing his directions, Captain Barker was slain on land with twenty-five men, and the boat lost; and soon afterwards other twenty-five men met with a similar fate. Ten others were forsaken at Spiritu Santo, by the cowardice of the master of the Roebuck, who stole away, having six months provisions on board for 120 men, and only forty-seven men in his ship. Another mutiny happened at St Sebastians by the treachery of an Irishman, when Mr Knivet and other six persons were left on shore.

[Footnote 65: Sir Thomas Candish seems not to have been aware, that the month of May, in these high antarctic or southern latitudes, was precisely analogous with November in the high latitudes of the north, and therefore utterly unfit for navigation.--E.]

Intending again to have attempted passing through the straits, he was tossed up and down in the tempestuous seas of the Southern Atlantic, and came even at one time within two leagues of St Helena, but was unable to reach that island. In his last letter, he declares that, rather than return to England after so many disasters, he would willingly have gone ashore in an island placed in lat. 8° in the charts. In this letter, he states himself to be then scarcely able to hold a pen; and we learn that he soon afterwards died of grief. The Leicester, in which Candish sailed, came home, as did the Desire. The Black pinnace was lost; but the fates of the Roebuck and the Dainty are no where mentioned.

The miscarriage of this voyage was certainly prejudicial to the rising trade and spirit of naval adventure in England. The ruin of Sir Thomas Candish threw a damp on such undertakings among the English gentlemen; and, on the return of these ships, several able and experienced seamen were turned adrift, to gain their livings as they best might. These thorough-bred seamen went to other countries; and, as knowledge is a portable commodity, they made the best market they could of their nautical experience in Holland and elsewhere. Among these was one Mr Mellish, who had been a favourite of Sir Thomas Candish, and the companion of all his voyages. This person offered his services to the East India Company of Holland, then in its infancy; and, his proposals being accepted, he was employed as pilot in the circumnavigation of Oliver van Noort, which falls next in order to be related.

§ 3. _Continuation of the Voyage of the Desire, Captain Davis, after parting from Sir Thomas Candish_.

Not finding our general at Port Desire, as we had expected, and being very slenderly provided, without sails, boat, oars, nails, cordage, and other necessary stores, and very short of victuals, we were reduced to a very unpleasant situation, not knowing how to proceed. Leaving ourselves, however, to the providence of the Almighty, we entered the harbour, and, by the good favour of God, we found a quiet and safe road, which we knew not of before. Having moored our ship, by the help of the boat belonging to the Black pinnace, we landed on the southern shore of the bay, where we found a standing pool, which might contain some ten tons of fresh water, by which we were greatly relieved and comforted. From this pool we took more than forty tons of water, yet left it as full as at first. At our former visit to this harbour, we were at this very place and found no water, wherefore we persuaded ourselves that the Almighty had sent this pool for our relief. We found here such remarkably low ebbs as we had never before seen, by means of which we procured muscles in great plenty. Providence also sent such great abundance of smelts about our ship, that all the people were able to take as many as they could eat, with hooks made of crooked pins. By these means we husbanded the ship's provisions, and did not spend any of them during our abode at this place.

Considering what was best to be done in our present circumstances, that we might find our general, and as it was obvious we could not refit our ship for sea in less than a month, our captain and master concluded to take the pinnace and go in search of the general, leaving the ship and a considerable part of the men till the return of the general, who had vowed he would return again to the straits. Hearing of this determination, two pestilent fellows, named Charles Parker and Edward Smith, secretly represented to the men, that the captain and master meant to leave them to be devoured by cannibals, and had no intention to come back; on which the whole company secretly agreed to murder the captain, master, and all those who were thought their friends, among whom I was included. This conspiracy was fortunately known to our boatswain, who revealed it to the master, and he to the captain. To appease this mutiny the captain found it necessary to desist from his intentions, and it was concluded not to depart, but to wait at Port Desire for the return of the general. After this the whole company, with one consent, made a written testimonial of the circumstances by which we had lost company of the general, and the indispensable necessity of returning home.

In this testimony or protest, dated Port Desire, 2d June, 1592, it is represented, that the shrouds of the ship are all rotten, the ropes all so decayed that they could not be trusted; the sails reduced to one shift all worn, of which the topsails were utterly unable to abide any stress of weather; the ship unprovided with pitch, tar, or nails for repairs of any kind, and no means of supplying these wants; the provisions reduced to five hogsheads of salt pork, and such quantity of meal as admitted only an allowance of three ounces for a man each day, and no drink remaining except water. This instrument is signed by John Davis and Randolph Cotton, the captains of the Desire and Black pinnace, and thirty-eight more, but the name John Jane, or Lane, does not appear among them.

After this, they proceeded to refit the ship with all expedition, for which purpose they built a smith's forge, making charcoal for its supply, and made nails, bolts, and spikes. Others of the crew were employed in making ropes from a piece of cable; and others again in all the necessary repairs of the ship, sails, and rigging; while those not fit for such offices, gathered muscles and caught smelts for the whole company. Three leagues from Port Desire there is an island, having four small isles about it, on which there are great abundance of seals, and where likewise penguins resort in vast numbers at the breeding season. To this island it was resolved to dispatch the Black pinnace occasionally, to fetch seals for us to eat, when smelts and muscles failed, for we could get no muscles at neap-tides, and only when the ebb was very low.

In this miserable and forlorn condition we remained till the 6th of August, 1592, still keeping watch on the hills to look out for our general, suffering extreme anguish and vexation. Our hope of the general's return becoming very cold, our captain and master were persuaded that he might have gone directly for the straits; wherefore it was concluded to go there and wait his coming, as there we could not possibly miss seeing him if he came. This being agreed to by the whole company, we set sail from Port Desire on the 6th August, and went to Penguin island, where we salted twenty hogsheads of seals, which was as much as our salt could do. We departed from Penguin island towards night of the 7th August, intending for the straits. The 14th we were driven among certain islands, never before discovered, fifty leagues or better from the shore, east-northerly from the straits.[66] Fortunately the wind shifted to the east, or we must have inevitably perished among these islands, and we were enabled to shape our course for the straits.

[Footnote 66: These are doubtless the Falkland Islands, or Malouines, but to which no name seems to have been affixed on this occasion.--E.]

We fell in with the cape [Virgin] on the 18th of August, in a very thick fog, and that same night came to anchor ten leagues within the straits' mouth. The 19th we passed the first and second narrows, doubled Cape Froward on the 21st, and anchored on the 22d in a cove, or small bay, which we named _Savage Cove_, because we here found savages. Notwithstanding the excessive coldness of this place, yet do these people go entirely naked, living in the woods like satyrs, painted and disguised in a strange manner, and fled from us like so many wild deer. They were very strong and agile, and threw stones at us, of three or four pounds weight, from an incredible distance. We departed from this cove on the 24th in the morning, and came that same day into the N.W. reach of the straits, which is its last or most western reach. On the 25th we anchored in a good cove, within fourteen leagues of the South Sea, where we proposed to await the return of our general, as the strait at this place is only three miles broad, and he could not possibly pass unseen.

After we had remained here a fortnight, in the depth of winter, our victuals fast consuming, and our salted seals stinking most vilely, our men fell sick and died pitifully, through famine and cold, as most of them had not clothes sufficient to defend them from the extreme rigour of winter. In this heavy distress, our captain and master thought it best to depart from the straits into the South Sea, and to proceed for the island of Santa Maria in lat. 37° S. on the coast of Chili, which is situated in a temperate climate, where we might find relief, and could wait for our general, who must necessarily pass by that island. We accordingly set sail on the 13th September, and came in sight of the South Sea. The 14th we were driven back into the straits, and got into a cove three leagues from the South Sea. We again stood out, and being eight or ten leagues free of the land, the wind rose furiously at W.N.W. and we were again forced to return into the straits, not daring to trust to our sails in any stress of weather. We again got into the cove, three leagues from the eastern mouth of the straits, where we had such violent weather that one of our two remaining cables broke, and we were almost in despair of saving our lives. Yet it pleased God to allay the fury of the storm, and we unreeved our sheets, tacks, halyards, and other ropes, and made fast our ship to the trees on shore, close by the rocks. We laboured hard to recover our anchor again, which we could not possibly effect, being, as we supposed, entirely covered over in the ooze.

We were now reduced to one anchor, which had only one whole fluke; and had only one old cable, already spliced in two places, and a piece of another old cable. In this extremity of trouble it pleased God that the wind came fair on the 1st October, on which we loosed our land fastnings with all expedition, weighed our anchor, and towed off into the channel; for we had repaired our boat when in Port Desire, and got five oars from the Black pinnace. On weighing our anchor we found the cable sore broken, holding only by one strand, which was a most merciful preservation. We now reeved our ropes and rigged our ship the best we could, every man working as if to save our lives in the utmost extremity. Our company was now much divided in opinion as to how we should proceed for the best; some desiring to return to Port Desire, to be there set on shore, and endeavour to travel by land to some of the Spanish settlements, while others adhered to the captain and master: But at length, by the persuasion of the master, who promised that they would find wheat, pork, and roots in abundance at the island of St Mary, besides the chance of intercepting some ships on the coasts of Chili and Peru, while nothing but a cruel death by famine could be looked for in attempting to return by the Atlantic, they were prevailed upon to proceed.

So, on the 2d of October, 1592, we again made sail into the South Sea, and got free from the land. This night the wind again began to blow very strong at west, and increased with such violence that we were in great doubt what measures to pursue. We durst not put into the straits for lack of ground tackle, neither durst we carry sail, the tempest being very furious, and our sails very bad. In this extremity the pinnace bore up to us, informing she had received many heavy seas, and that her ropes were continually failing, so that they knew not what to do; but, unable to afford her any relief; we stood on our course in view of a lee shore, continually dreading a ruinous end of us all. The 4th October the storm increased to an extreme violence; when the pinnace, being to windward, suddenly _struck a hull_, when we thought she had sustained some violent shock of a sea, or had sprung a leak, or that her sails had failed, because she did not follow us. But we durst not _hull_ in this unmerciful storm, sometimes _trying_ under our main-course, sometimes with a _haddock_ of our sail; for our ship was very _leeward_, and laboured hard in the sea. This night we lost sight of the pinnace, and never saw her again.

The 5th October, our foresail split, on which our master brought the mizen-sail to the foremast to make the ship work, and we mended our foresail with our spritsail. The storm still continued to rage with the most extreme fury, with hail, snow, rain, and wind, such and so mighty that it could not possibly in nature be worse; the seas running so lofty, and with a continual breach, that we many times were in doubt whether our ship did sink or swim. The 10th, the weather dark, the storm as furious as ever, most of the men having given over labour from fatigue and in despair, and being near the lee-shore by the reckoning both of the captain and master, we gave ourselves up for lost, past all remedy. While in this extremity of distress, the sun suddenly shone out clear, by which the captain and master were enabled to ascertain the latitude, and thereby knew what course to steer, so as to recover the straits. Next day, the 11th October, we saw Cape Deseado, being the southern point of the entrance into the straits, for the northern point is a dangerous assemblage of rocks, shoals, and islands. The cape was now two leagues to leeward, and the master was even in doubt whether we might be able to steer clear of it; but there was no remedy, as we must either succeed or be irretrievably lost.

Our master, being a man of spirit, made quick dispatch, and steered for the straits. Our sails had not been half an hour abroad for this purpose when the foot-rope of the fore-sail broke, so nothing held save the oilet-holes. The sea continually broke over our poop, and dashed with such violence against our sails, that we every moment looked to have them torn to pieces, or that the ship would overset. To our utter discomfort also, we perceived that she fell still more and more to leeward, so that we could not clear the cape. We were now within half a mile of the cape, and so near shore that the counter surge of the sea so rebounded against the side of our ship, that the horrors of our situation were undescribably awful. While in this utmost extremity, the wind and the sea raging beyond measure, and momentarily expecting to be driven upon the rocks, our master veered away some of the main-sheet: Whether owing to this, or by some counter current, or by the wonderful interposition of God, our ship quickened her way and shot past the rock, where we all thought she must have perished. Between this and the cape there was a small bay, so that we were now somewhat farther from the shore; but on coming to the cape, we again looked for nothing but instant death; yet God, the father of mercy, delivered us, and we doubled the cape little more than the length of our ship. When past the cape, we took in all our sails, and, being between the high lands, the wind _blowing trade_, or steadily in the direction of the straits, we spooned before the sea under bare poles, three men being unable to manage the helm, and in six hours we were driven twenty-five leagues within the straits.

In this time we freed our ship from water, and when we had rested a while, our men became unable to move, their sinews being stiff, and their flesh as if dead. Many of them were so covered and eaten with lice, that there lay clusters of them in their flesh as large as peas, yea, some as big as beans. In this state of misery we were constrained to put into a cove to refresh our men, where we moored to the trees as we had done before, our only anchor being to seaward. We here continued till the 20th of October; and being unable to continue longer, through the extremity of famine, we again put off into the channel on the 22d, the weather being then reasonably calm. Before night the wind blew hard at W.N.W. The storm waxed so violent that our men could scarcely stand to their labour; and the straits being full of turnings and windings, we had to trust entirely to the discretion of the captain and master to guide the ship during the darkness of the night, when we could see no shore, and the straits were in some places scarcely three miles broad. When we first passed these straits, our captain made so excellent a draught of them, as I am confident cannot in any sort be made more correct. Which draught he and the master so carefully considered, that they had every turning, creek, and head-land so perfectly in their memory, as enabled them, even in the deepest darkness of the night, undoubtingly to convey the ship through that crooked channel.

The 25th October we came to an island in the straits, named Penguine Isle, where the boat was sent ashore to seek relief, as it abounded with birds, and the weather was calm; so we came to anchor near the island, in seven fathoms. While the boat was ashore, where we got abundance of penguins, there rose a sudden storm, by which our ship was driven over a breach, and our boat sunk at the shore. Captain Cotton and the lieutenant, who were both on shore, leapt into the boat, and freed it of water, throwing away the birds, and with great difficulty got back to the ship. All this time the ship was driving upon the lee-shore; and when we got on board, we helped to weigh the anchor and make sail. Thus, in a severe storm, we got clear of the straits on the 27th October; and on the 30th we got to that Penguin Island which is three leagues from Port Desire, where we purposed to seek relief. Immediately on coming to this isle, our boat was sent ashore, and returned laden with birds and eggs, the men reporting that the penguins were so thick on the isle, that even ships might be laden with them, as they could not step without treading on these birds; at which news we greatly rejoiced.

Then the captain appointed Charles Parker and Edmund Smith, with twenty others, to go on shore, and remain on the island, on purpose to kill and dry these penguins: promising to send others when the ship was safe in harbour, not only for expedition, but to save the small store of victuals that remained in the ship. But Parker and Smith, with the rest of their faction, remembering that this was the place where they intended formerly to have slain the captain and master, thought it was meant here to leave them on shore out of revenge, and refused to land. After some altercation, these men were allowed to proceed in the ship, and ten others were left in the island. The last day of October we entered the harbour of Port Desire. The master, having at our being there before taken notice of every creek in the river, ran our ship aground in a very convenient place on the sandy ooze, laying our anchor out to seawards, and mooring her with the running ropes to stakes on shore, in which situation the ship remained till our departure.

The 3d November our boat was sent off for Penguin Island, with wood and water, and as many men as she could carry; but, being deep laden, she durst not proceed, and returned again the same night. Then Parker, Smith, Townsend, Purpet, and five others, desired that they might go by land, and that the boat might fetch them from the shore opposite the isle, being scarcely a mile across. The captain bid them do as they thought best, only advised them to carry weapons, as they might meet with savages; so they accordingly carried calivers, swords, and targets, departing by land on the 6th November, while the boat went by sea. But these nine men were never more heard of. On the 11th, when most of our men were at the island, only the captain, master, and five more remaining in the ship, there came a great multitude of savages to the shore beside the ship, throwing dust into the air, leaping and running about like so many beasts, having vizards on their faces like dogs, or else their faces actually resembled dogs. We greatly feared they would have set the ship on fire, for they would suddenly make fire, at which we were greatly astonished. They came to windward of the ship, and set the bushes on fire, so that we were enveloped in a very stinking smoke; but coming within shot of us, we fired at them, and hitting one on the thigh, they all fled instantly away, and we never heard or saw them more. Hence we judged that these savages had slain our nine men, who were the ringleaders of those who would formerly have murdered our captain and master, with the rest of their friends; so that God evidently drew just judgment upon them, and we supplicated his divine Majesty to be merciful to us.

While we lay in this harbour, our captain and master went one day in the boat to see how far the river could be penetrated, that if need enforced us, it might be known how far we might proceed by water. They found that this river was only navigable by the boat for twenty miles. On their return, the boat was sent to Penguin Island, by which we learnt that the penguins dried to our entire satisfaction, and were in infinite numbers. This penguin is shaped like a bird, having stumps only in place of wings, by which it swims under water as swiftly as any fish. They live upon smelts, which are found in vast abundance on this coast. In eating, these penguins seem neither fish nor flesh. They lay large eggs; and the bird is about as large as two ducks. All the time we remained at Port Desire, we fared well on penguins and their eggs, young seals, young gulls, and other birds of which I know not the names, all of which we had in vast abundance. In this place also we found plenty of an herb called scurvy-grass, which we eat fried in seal-oil along with eggs, which so purified the blood, that it entirely removed all kind of swellings, of which many had died, and restored us all to as perfect health as when we first left England.

We remained in this harbour till the 22d of December, 1592, in which time we had dried 20,000 penguins. In this time also the captain, with the master and I, made some salt, by filling some holes in the rocks with sea-water, which in six days was changed to salt by evaporation, it being now Midsummer in this southern hemisphere. Thus did God feed us in the desert, even as with manna from heaven. The 22d December we departed from Port Desire for Penguin island, where, with great difficulty, we got 14,000 of the dried birds on board, during which we had nearly lost our captain; and had not our master been very expert in the set of the tides, which ran in many cross directions, we had lost our ship.

We now shaped our course for Brazil, under a regulated allowance of provisions, so that our victuals might last six months, in which time we hoped we might get back to England, though our sails were very bad. This allowance was, two ounces and a half of meal for each man, two days only in the week, or five ounces for a week; three days a week, three spoonfulls of oil were allowed to each man; two days a week, a pint of peas among four men; and every day five dried penguins among four men, with six quarts of water each day to four men. With this allowance, praised be God, we lived, though weak and feeble.

The 30th January, 1593, we arrived at the isle of Placencia, or Ilha Grande, in Brazil, the first place at which we touched when outwards bound. The ship laying off at sea, the captain went aland in the boat with twenty-four men, being the whole night before he could reach the shore. He landed next day at sun-rise, hoping to catch the Portuguese in their houses, and by that means to procure a supply of casava meal; but on coming to the houses, we found them all burnt to the ground, so that we thought no one had remained on the island. The captain then went to the gardens, whence he brought a quantity of fruits and roots for the company, and returned on board. He then brought the ship into a fine creek, where she was moored to the trees on each side, at a place where we had plenty of fresh water. Our case being very desperate, we presently set to work to trim and repair our water-casks, the coopers making new hoops; while others laboured to repair the sails, keeping always a guard on shore, and every man having always his weapons ready at hand. The 3d February, thirty men well armed went to the gardens, three miles from where the ship lay, to dig cassavi-roots, to serve our company instead of bread. This was again repeated on the 5th. They laboured in quietness all the morning; and about ten o'clock, the heat being extreme, they came to a rock near the side of the wood, where they boiled cassavi-roots for dinner. After dinner, some went to sleep, and others to bathe in the sea, no one keeping watch, not a match lighted, nor even a piece charged. While in this unprovided state, and out of sight from the ship, there came suddenly upon them a multitude of Portuguese and Indians, who slew them all to the number of thirteen, two only escaping, one of these very sore hurt, and the other not touched, from whom we learnt the circumstances of this sad massacre.

We manned the boat with all speed, and went ashore, if happily we might succour our men; but we found them all slain, and laid naked in a row, with their faces upwards, and a cross set up beside them. We saw also two large pinnaces coming from Rio de Janeiro, full of men, who, as we supposed, were intended to take us. We were now much reduced, as of seventy-six persons we had on board when we left England, there were now only twenty-seven of us remaining, thirty-two having died formerly, and thirteen being slain in this place. Between those formerly slain by the savages at Port Desire, and those now in the island of Placencia by the Portuguese, all those who had conspired to murder our captain and master were now cut off, the gunner only excepted. Our casks were so greatly decayed, that we could not take in a sufficient supply of water, and what we had was exceedingly bad. Having lost several muskets on shore, which had belonged to our slain men, with good store of powder and shot, we expected to be beaten from our decks by means of our own weapons, by the Portuguese on the island, joined by those coming from Janeiro: and as we were moored to the trees, for want of cables and anchors, we were in dread of having our mooring ropes cut. In this miserable state we knew not what measures to pursue. To depart with only eight tons of bad water, and in bad casks, were to run the risk of starving at sea, and to remain seemed inevitable ruin. These were severe alternatives; but in our perplexity we preferred trusting to the hand of God than to the mercy of our enemies, and concluded to depart. Wherefore, on the 6th February, we unmoored and removed our ship into the channel, putting all our ordnance and small arms in readiness in case of an assault, and having a small gale of wind, we put to sea in deep distress.

Thus bemoaning our sad estate, and recounting our past misfortunes, we came to Cape Frio; being much crossed for three weeks by contrary winds, and our water running short, we were reduced to the utmost distress and perplexity. Some of the people were desirous of going into Bahia, and submitting to the Portuguese, rather than die of thirst; but our captain persuaded them against this measure. In this extremity, it pleased God to send us such abundant rain, that we were enabled to supply ourselves with water. On getting into the hot climate near the line, our dried penguins began to corrupt, and there bred in them many loathsome worms, an inch in length. These worms increased with astonishing rapidity, devouring our victuals so fast that we now seemed doomed to die of famine, as before of thirst We were even in danger of being eaten up by these worms, which devoured every thing except iron. They so gnawed the timbers of our ship, that we feared they would eat holes through her sides. We used every possible contrivance to destroy these noisome vermin, but they seemed only to increase so much the more, so that at last they would eat our flesh, and bite us like mosquitoes when we were asleep.

In this woeful plight, after we had passed the equator towards the north, our men began to fall sick of a most terrible disease, such as, I believe, was never before heard of. It began with a swelling in their ankles, which in two days rose up as high as their breasts, so that they could not breathe. It then fell into the scrotum, which, with the penis, swelled in a most grievous manner, so that they could neither stand, walk, nor lie; and many of them became frantic with grief and distress. Our captain, with extreme distress of mind, was in so miserable a condition, that he wished to die; yet, while scarcely able to speak for sorrow, he continued to exhort us all to patience and reliance on God, desiring us to accept our chastisement like dutiful and thankful children. In this state of misery and wretchedness, several died raving mad, and others in a most loathsome state, or in dreadful pain and agony. None in the ship remained in perfect health, except the captain and one boy; the master also, though oppressed with extreme labour and anxiety, bore up with spirit, so that his disease did not overcome him.

At length all our men died except sixteen, five only of whom were able to move. These were, the captain, who was in good health, the master indifferent, Captain Cotton and myself swollen and short-winded, yet better than the other sick men, and the boy in good health. Upon us five the whole labour of the ship rested. The captain and master, as happened to be necessary, took in and left out the topsails. The master by himself attended to the sprit-sail, and all of us the capstan, being utterly unable to work sheets and tacks. Our misery and weakness were so extreme, that we were utterly unable to take in or set a sail; so that our top-sails and sprit-sail were at length torn in pieces by the weather. The captain and master had to take their turns at the helm, where they were inexpressibly grieved and distressed by the continual and sad lamentations of our few remaining sick men.

Thus lost wanderers on the ocean, unable to help ourselves, it pleased God, on the 11th of June, 1593, that we arrived at Beerhaven in Ireland, and ran the ship there on shore. The Irish helped us to take in our sails, and to moor the ship so as to float her off next tide; for which slender aid it cost the captain ten pounds, before he could get the ship into a state of safety. Thus, without men, sails, victuals, or other means, God alone guided us into Ireland. Here the captain left the master and three or four more of the company to keep the ship; and within five days after our arrival, he and some others got a passage in a fishing-boat to Padstow in Cornwall. For the merciful preservation of this our small remnant, and our restoration to our country, be all honour and glory to God, now and for ever.--_Amen_.