Band 
Vol. II.
Seite
408
JPEG-Download
 

j

408 James I. Naval Expeditions 7 Scc. oj the English, Book Il£

1605. Augramert, having dined with them,and met with a courteous Entertainment,would needs, under a Pretext of a Re-turn for the Civility, have the Engiijlogo with him to his Quarters, where hepromised to furnish them with whateverProvisions they wanted.

Mr-St. Mr. 8t. with seventeen others,

John, with accepted of the Invitation; But insteadsixteen mere of carrying them to their Quarters, theykilled. lead them into an Ambush of above

NarrowEscape ofone Man.

IncredibleValour of asmall Num-ber of En-glifh.

The wonder-ful Escapeofsome sewof them.

five Hundred Savages, where being sur-rounded and attacked, on every Side,with Volleys of Arrows, after doing allthat Men could do in their own De-fence, they were overpower’d, and allslain but one John Nicols , being someof them pierced with above a HundredArrows.

He who made his Escape from thisbloodySlaughterwas forced to hide him-self in a Wood, then swim a Lake, andso, with great Difficulty, returnedHome, having three Arrows in his Bo-dy, just Time enough, to give hisCompanions the Alarm For it was notlong before they appeared before theirHouses, in Order to assatdt them; But,upon letting fiy their small Piece ofOrdnance amongst them, they quicklymarched oif again.- In two or threeDays Time they returned, to the Num-ber of thirteen or fourteen HundredMen, who, after having in vain attack-ed their little Fort and Houses, for sevenDays together, with little Success, atLength, thought of the pernicious Stra-tagem of sending in Fire with their Ar-rows, which in a short Time, reducedthe Habitations of the English, and allthey had, to a Heap of A sites. Theycontinued, however, to defend them-selves in so brave a Manner, that theIndians, seing they could not accomplishtheir Design against this Handful ofMen, resolved at last to abandon theEnterprise.

After their Departure, some of theNeighbouring Savages, less savage thanthe Rest, furnished them with the Ne-cessaries of Life for about a Week, andthen were prevailed upon, for a Rewardof Hatchets, Knives and Beads, to fur-nish them with an old pitiful Boat.This they fitted up, as well as theycould, and nineteen of them, the mise-rable Remains of sixty-eight, of whichtwelve were wounded, ventured out toSea in her, without Chart or Compass,and having only four or five Gallons ofWater, with a few Plantans and Pota-

toes, about twenty Biscuits, and a little i6oyRice; But what was worse than all theRest not one Mariner amongst them,and their Provisions hardly sufficient forthree Days.

In this little Boat, so over loadenthat her Gunnil lay almost even withthe Water, they lived at Sea ten Days,four of them being obliged by Turns,

Day and Night, to keep scooping outof the Water. The tenth Day, whenall Hopes began to fail them,and one oftheir Company was just expired,they dis-covered Land; But they could not reachit before Night, and then came upon itbefore they were aware, and split theirBoat upon a Rock. With much Dif-ficulty they scrambled up the Rocks,and saved themselves from the Fury ofthe Waves, to run the Hazard of dyingby Famin; For the Land proved to bean uninhabited Island, which affordedno Manner of Sustenance. In this mi-serable Plight, they had no Remedybut to repare their Boat again, as wellas they could, and to fend over five oftheir Men to the Continent to seek Re- ■lief. After many Difficulties and Dan-gers, these Men came to an India/iTownon the Continent called Eocoya, fromWhence, after fifteenDays Absence, theycarried Succour to their miserable Com-panions, of whom five died, in themean Time, for Want of it. Theywere now reduced to thirteen, who gottogether to a Spanish Town, called Coro,where, tho’ they were treated withgreat Humanity, two more of them di-ed. Three of them went from thenceto Carthagena, and were followed thi-ther by two more, where they got aPassage to Spain ; But what came of theRest, I no where find.

Th 1 s Year, the Dutch began to shew Rapin.they were no longer the poor distressedStates, as they filled themselves to theQueen, in the foregoing Reign. King sjfrcnt of-James having sent the Earl of iiertfordN e \^ra-in Ambassy to Brussels, whilst he was at hurlSea, a Dutch Man of War failed by,and refusing to strike, the English Com-mander (Sir William Monson ) preparedto compel him, but the Ambassadorwould not give him Leave. This Wasthe first Indignity of that Nature receiv-ed by England from the Dutch ; which,however, King James thought fit to Put up byput up, tho’ he would easily have ob- Kingtained Reparation, if he had demandedit, under the Circumstances the UnitedProvinces were then in. The English ,

however,

J

1

I

!