272 EliZ. Naval Expeditions, St c. of the Englifli, Book H

CHAP. XXXV.

The last and disastrous Voyage of the famous Thomas Candisti, (or Cavendish) Efiqj

to the Streight of Magellan,

I $9 1 -

Harris'x Col.

Vol.I.p.Cpj.

Hackluyt,

P.III.p.842.

Purchas,

Vol. IV. p.

1x92.

Cavendilh’x

lastVoyage.

He is be-■ealmd underthe Line-

Arrives onthe Coast ofBrafil.

Takes asmall Ship.

■Hha Grande,

^ H E Fleet fitted out for this Ex-pedition consisted of five Sail:

The Leicester Gallion, Ad-miral, commanded by Mr. Ca-vendish himself.

The Roebuck, Vice-Admiral, Capt.Cock, Commander.

The De pre, Rear-Admiral, Capt.Davis.

The Dainty , Captain Randolph Cot-ton. And

The Black Pinnace.

They departed from Plymouth, thesix and twentieth of August: But no-thing remarkable happened to them inthis Voyage, till they came under theEquinoctial Line, where they drove se-ven and twenty Days to and fro, with-out a Breath of Wind, in which Time,most of their Men fell sick of the Scur-vy, the violent Heat of the Sun, toge-ther with the nocturnal Damps and Va-pours, not a little contributing to thebringing this troublesome Malady a-mong them.

After so long a Calm, under theLine, a fair North-West-Wind beganto blow, with which, in twenty Day'sSail, they got Sight of the Coast of'Brafil, on the nine and twentieth ofNovember. They were, however, ig-norant what Part it was, ’till comingnear the Shoar, the second of Decem-ber, they took a small Vessel ; loadedwith Sugar, Haberdashery Wares andNegroes, and learnt from the Pilot, thatthey were then at Cape Frio, twelveLeagues from the River of Janeiro,and thirty from Santos ; the very Placethey had formed a Design upon.

Their new Pilot carried them tollha Grande, twelve Leagues from San-tos, where they landed, and found someRefreshments. But the Pleasure theAdmiral might have enjoyed, on thatAccount, was not a little allayed bycontinual Feuds and Quarrels amonghis Men, which oblig’d him to givethem a Diversion, by hastening hisDesign on the Town of Santos. Hack-luyt fays, the Master of the Bark they

had taken, carried them to an Istand 159. 1 'called Placentia, thirty Leagues West Placenta-of Cape Frio, where they arrived the f -pfifth of December, and rifled six or seven y emeHouses, inhabited by the Portuguese, guescssW^They continued at this Place, ’sill theeleventh, and the fourteenth arrived atthe Iste of St. Sebastian's. From hencethey resolved to pursue their Design onthe Town of Santos. The PortuguesePilot informed them, that the Place wasin no Condition of Defence 3 they, there-fore, concluded, that their Long-boatand Shallop alone, with about a Hun-dred Men, would be sufficient for thisPurpose, and so great Disputes arose,who should be of the Party, that theAdmiral was forced to use his Authori-ty to appease and decide them. Ac-cording to Hackluyt, Captain Cock andCaptain Davis, with the Define and theBlack Pinnace, departed from St. Se-bastian’s on this Expedition alone, andthe Admiral did not arrive there ’tilleight or ten Days after. ^

The Party which went out on this £l e J to sService very happily executed the De- e j a ^ en isign, in the Manner they were ordered.

They landed at the Time the Portuguesewere at Church, in the Middle of HighMass, and having thus surprized themat their Devotion, they found no greatMatter of Resistance. They easily gotthe Swords out of the Hands of thosewho had any, and then kept Guardupon them, ’till the Rest of their Com-pany, appointed for this Expedition,came up to them. This Exploit wasperformed by three and twenty Men,{Hackluyt fays four and twenty Gentle-men) tho’ there were above three Hun-dred Portuguese in the Church, besidesWomen and Children. .Upon theChurch being beset, those who were in.the Town took the Alarm, and, as fastas they could, disposed of themselvesand their Mony, into Places of moreSecurity; But for those who were takenPrisoners, the Admiral discharged themall but seven or eight of the Principal.

Tns