2 20

Eli£. Naval Expeditions , &c. of the Englisli, Book B*

^ Councilheld on,Board theAdmiral*

1586. happily fell into the Hands of People,who were very little acquainted withthe true Worth and Excellency of it;And would have been glad to have ex-changed it for a few Buts of good Wine.

From the Pilot of this Ship, theylearnt the Fate of Mr. John Drake , ofwhich I have given some Account inMr. Fen ton's Voyage, in the eleventhChapter. He told them, that Mr.Drake was yet living, and in goodHealth, the last Year, at Tucaman ,whither he himself had carried him ;And that Richard Fairweather had mar-ried in the Country.

The twelfth, they came to Seal-I-fland, and the fourteenth to Green-I~jland where, and in the Neighbour-hood of which Places, they remainedsixteen Days to water, and to take inSeals and other Provisions. During thisTime they took on Board Miles Philips ,one of the Men left by Captain Haw-kins, in the Idlest-Indies.

The seventh of February , being atSea, the Admiral called a Council of allthe Officers and Gentlemen, who werein the Fleet, on Board his own Ship, todetermine what Course, under theirpresent Circumstances, was mdst pro-per to be taken. They differed so muchin their Opinions that Day, that theCouncil adjourned without coming to a-ny Resolution. The next Day, after.having taken a View of their Provisions,'the Prized ^ey concluded, to take the best Necef-and resolve fanes out of the Prizes, and then to castto pursue the them off; And, the Wind comingVoyage. North, they determined to ply awayfor the Streights. They found them-selves, however, afterwards obliged,They alter partly for Want of Provisions, andpart-their Reso- ly on Account of the Season of theYear, to put off their Design, ’tillSpring ; And, in the mean Time, toseek some proper Harbour to recruit.The Majority being for bearing roomwith the Coast of Brasil, they came, atlast, unanimously to that Resolution.

Thf eight and twentieth of March,being in the Height of one and twentyDegrees, they saw a Sail, which, by herCourse, they judged to be come out ofthe Streight and pleased themselveswith the Hopes of a rich Prize. ButNight coming on, they lost Sight ofher, and saw her no more.

The fifth of Jpril, they got Sight ofthe Coast of Brasil, with which theyfell in at about sixteen Degrees. Theywatered first in the Roacl of Camana ,

*5

86 .

lution, andproceed for _the Coast ofBrasiJ;

Come toAnchor atBaya inBrasil;

where they took in Store of Bullocksand Hogs, and afterwards came to anAnchor, on the eleventh, before theTown of Baya. Here they found aFleet of eight or nine Portuguese Ships,one of which was of two Hundred andfifty Tuns, and four and twenty Guns.

Four of the best of them, they forcedthe Portuguese , tWoNights afterwards,torelinquish, and towed them off, in Spight fitsof all their Thunder of great and small p 0 rtugud®Shot, from the Shoar, and the Rest of Ships, a *the Ships. They landed too, and got r s Ja f e .Relief from the Shoar, tho’ the Portu- ° aguese and Indian Troops were drawn upto oppose them.

As they were towing of their Prizes,they past by a large Hulk, which pre-tended to be a Flujhinger ; But they or-dered her to follow them, which shedid, and brought with her a Caravel,with forty or fifty Buts of Wine in her,and another small Bark. The least ofall the Prizes was of one Hundred andthirty Tun, tho’ the most they got bytaking of them was some great Guns,and the forty or fifty Buts of Wine. Thesixth of May, the Pinnace, with a Boator two, being gone alhoar to victual,withfifty or sixty Men, were attacked intheir Return by a Portuguese Gaily withfour Hundred Men, Portuguese, besidesIndians , of which not thirty went backalive, to give an Account of the Recep- -pifty otftion they met with. They came on with tyDrums and Shouts; But the few whichescaped the Bravery of this Handful of portug de *’Englijh-men , in Comparison of theirNumber, went off as quiet as Lambs.

The English lost no more than threeMen, killed in the Action, and some rfew wounded, but not mortally.

The sixteenth, they went alhoar a- der ^in-gain, and plundered some of the Por- ^io’s-tuguese Ingenious, the People being all hfled. In the purging House they founda Thousand Pots of Sugar, some halfpurged, some a Quarter, and the Restnewly put into the Pots. Every Mantook his Pot for his own Provision, andthe Rest was all burnt.

The seventeenth, they took a smallCaravel; But finding nothing of Valuein her, set Fire to her.

The twenty-second, they put to Seaagain, and arrived, on the twenty-third,at an Island twelve Leagues to theSouthward of Bapa, where they staidto take in Wood and Water. The fourand twentieth, they took a Canoe, witha Portuguese and an Indian, and the for-mer