22 2

Elix, Naval Expeditions , &c of the English, Book H'

3586. and fifty Men, with Fire-Arms, on theTwo other Shoar. They sent the Ship off withPrizes tak- tvvo j\/[ en only, and with the other se-ven boarded the Caravel, so near theShoar, that the valiant Spaniards couldthrow Stones at them ; But they hadnot the Courage to attack them with aHundred and fifty Men, under the Co-ver of their own Fort; And, therefore,suffered them to carry her off. TheEnglijh, on their Side, had not one Maneither killed or wounded.

They were now returning, with theirPrizes, for England, when, being offthe Islands, in the Height of about onev i n° and forty Degrees, they discovered amaces fight' large Fleet ata Distance. They resolvedfour and immediately to send Home their Prizes,tw dJ% ?P a f and then having only sixty Men left,m ' with their two small Barks,they had theBravery to attack a Fleet of two largeCarracks, one of twelve and the otherof eleven Hundred Tun, ten Galleons,and twelve smaller Ships and Caravels.If they had succeeded in taking

some of them, their Bravery would 1^86-have been richly rewarded ; For theywere all laden with Treasure, Spice,and Sugar. To this End, they keptCompany with them two and thirtyHours, fighting with them, and harass-ing them, the whole Time. But thetwo Carracks keeping between them andthe Fleet, so that they could not seizeany of them, and their Powder beingspent, they were forced, much againsttheir Wills, to suffer this rich Booty toescape out of their Hands. They then j n d ret#*made the best of their Way for England , to Eng la0 "and arrived at Plymouth, within sixHours after the Prizes, which they hadsent away forty Hours before them.

From thence they carried their Prizesto Southampton, with their Cargoes,which consisted of Sugar, Ele-phants Teeth, Wax, Hides, Rice,Brasil-Wood, &c. where a Repartitionwas made, and she Officers and Ma-riners received their Shares.

CHAP, XXI.

Captain John Davis’/ three Voyages, to discover a North-west Passage

to India.

1586.

Camden.

Harris’/Col. P. I.

P- 57 P-Hackluyt,P. III. p.

The Namesof bis twoBarks.

By whom fit-ted out.

U RIN G these Transactions,in other Parts of the World,one Mr. John Davis wasthoughtful of discovering aNew Pajfage, by the North-West Partsof America, to the Eajl-Indies.

For this Discovery two Barks werefitted out; The Sun-Shtne, of fifty Tuns,

- and three and twenty Men, viz, a Ma-ster and Master’s Mate a Merchant, aGunner, a Carpenter, a Boatswain, tenMariners,two, Boys, and fourMusicians;commanded by hlr.Davis, himself: And.

The Moon-Shine , of five and thirtyTuns, and nineteen Men, viz. a Masterand seventeen Mariners commanded byCaptain William Bruton.

Some Authors fay these Barks weresent out, at the Charge of Mr. WilliamSaunderjon, a Globe maker, and otherLondoners: While others fay, at theCharge of several Noblemen, Gentlemenand Merchants.

On the seventh of June, 1585,Mr. John Davis sailed from Dartmouth,with these two Barks; But it was the

eight and twentieth before he got clear * 3 . ^frlmFalmuth.

Holding his Course Northward, at j^ifiojynear five Hundred Leagues from the theSouthern Cape of Ireland, called Mis- ffjte ^senhead, on the nineteenth of July, he-fip.

met with very much Ice, and, on the fpjjtwentieth, got Sight of the Coast of ^Greenland, and it’s High Mountains, Gr#^covered with Snow, the Isiand beingcompasied about, as it were, with anIcy Bulwark, for the Breadth of twoLeagues, from the Land, so thatthere was no Access to it. This LandDavis called the Land of Desolation ;

Because of the hidious Noise, theBreaking and Cracking of the Icecontinually made.

Following, therefore, the Tractthereof, which winded first towards theWE, and then towards the North, ’till*on the nine and twentieth of the sameMonth, having past the Ice, he discover'ed Land bearing North-East of thermin sixty-four Degrees, and fifteen Mi'nutes, Latitude ; being several siouriffi'

ing

I