daring the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.
CHAP. XIX.
The firtl 'Expedition for Account of the Earl of Cumberland, intended f
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N the Year, 15B6. the Noble andValiant George, Earl of Cumberland,of whom I lhall have frequent Oc-casion to make honourable Mention,in the Sequel of this History, fitted out,at his own Charge, a little Fleet, con-sisting of three Ships and a Pinnace.viz.
Th e Red Dragon, Admiral, of TwoHundred and sixty Tuns, and one Hun-dred and thirty Men, commanded byCaptain Robert IVidrington.
The Bark Clifford , Vice-Admiral, ofone Hundred and thirty Tuns, and se-venty Men, Captain C hr iftopher Lifter,Commander.
The Roe, Rear-Admiral, command-ed by Captain Hawes, And.
The Dor othy-Pinnace, formerly be-longing to Mr. Walter Raleigh.
With this Fleet, they set Sail, theseventeenth of August, from Plymouth,designing for the South-Sea, and, thetwentieth,had a Skirmish in the Channel,with some Northern Hulks, to theNumber of sixteen, who pretendedthey belong’d to Hamburgh, and werecome from Lisbon. The first Occasionof theirQuarrel was because they refusedto strike; But the English suspecting af-terwards, that they had Spanijh Effectson Board, rifled some of them of whatthey thought proper, chiefly Provisions.The next Day, they met with five Sailmore, who likewise pretended theycame from Hamburgh ; But, the Nightcoming on, they could not get up withthem.
The seventeenth of September, theyfell in with the Coast of Barbary, bawl-ing in with the Road of Santa Cruz,afterwhich they anchored in Rio del Oro.From thence they sailed, in Qflober, toSierra Leona. While they lay there, totake in Water and Wood, being oneDay on Shoar, about fifty in Number,they unawars fell upon a Town of Ne-groes, who saluted them with a Volleyof Arrows: But, upon the first Returnwith Fire Arms, they retired and fledinto the Woods.
The fourth of November they wenton Shoar to a Town of Negroes, on the
Numb. XII.
South-East Side of the Harbour, which 1 5they found was but lately and neatlybuilt, and consisting of about two Hun-dred Houses, with a Wall of largeTrees and Stakes, so compact that aRat could not get through. Theychanced to fall in just upon a Port whichthey found open, and entring briskly,the Negroes all fled. They found lit-tle or no Booty, and therefore set Fireto the Town; But in the Neighbour-hood they met with a large Quantity ofRice, in Stacks, of which they carriedon Board about fifteen Tuns. Beingsufficiently refreshed, the seventeenth ofNovember, they proceeded for the Coast They arriveof America, which they fell in with, in on , Cm ftthe South Latitude of thirty Degrees and ^ ITienCaqforty Minutes, with calm, temperateWeather, the Beginning of January, '
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The fourth, they fell in with a highand bold Shoar, and founding at six.
Leagues Distance, found fifteen FathomWater. Here they thought to havewater’d z But finding no convenient Har-bour, they put out to Sea again.
The tenth, being about eightLeaguesfrom the Shoar, and a little short of theRio della Plata, they took asmall Portuguese Ship, of no great Va-lue, her Loading being little more thanNegroes. This Ship, which was of a-bout fifty Tuns Burden, was bound toa Town called Santa Fe, in that Ri-ver; from whence her Cargo was tohave been carried in Carts to Peru. HerMaster, or Pilot, was one AbrahamCook, an Englishman, born at Lee. Shehad five and forty Negroes on Board,and two Portuguese Women and aChild, Passengers, with some Sugar,
Rice and Sweetmeats.
The next Day,they met with another Take twoortuguefe Ship, the only Riches of Portuguesewhich (besides Slaves and Friars, the 1 * r # s ’latter of which especially was a Sort ofLuggage they did not much Care to betroubled with) were Beads, Pictures,and other spiritual Trinkets. ThisFurniture, which was designed for theUse of a New Monastery, cost, as theysaid, a Thousand Duckets; But it un-
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