Chap. XIII. from the I, oj James I, to the Revolutiom
•MAP.
1616
“ ral, larger than all the Rest, and" his Companion.
" They seemed all prepared for any" desperate Assault, whereupon we<s immediately made ready our Ord-" nance and small shot, and with nolittle Resolution prepared ourielves" to withstand them. This being done,“ we went to Prayers, and then to Din-" ner, where our Master gave us such,c noble Encouragement, that ourHearts“ even thirsted to prove the Success,and being in Readiness for the Fight,our Master went upon the Poop, and" spake to us in the following Man-" ner.
The MastersSpeech to the tcMen.
Cc
ou-ntrymex and Fellows, youlee into what an Exigency it haspleased God to suffer us to fall: Letus remember that we are but Men,and must of Neceffity dy; When,
" where, and how, is alone in God’s" Knowledge and Appointment; But" if it be his .Pleasure, that this must‘ c . be the last of our Days, his Will be“■ done, and let us for his Glory, our" Soul’s Welfare, our Country’s Hon-our, and the Credit of ourselves,
" fight it valiantly to the last Gasp.
" Let us prefer a noble Death before a" slavish Life; And if we dy, let us‘ c dy to gain a better Life. For my" Part, 1 will fee, if we escape this" Danger, that, if any be hurt andcc maimed in the Fight, they shall be“ carefully provided for, for their" Health and Maintenance, as long as" they live. Be, therefore, resolute," stand to it, here is no shrinking. We" must be either Men or Slaves. Dy" with me, or, if you will not, by" God’s Grace, I will dy with you.
‘ f This done, he waved his Swordthree Times, snaking it with suchdauntless Courage, as if he had al-ready won the Victory. Hereupon weseconded him with like Forwardness,and he causing his Trumpets to. sound,gave unto us much more Encourage-ment then before, and* being withinShot of them, our Master command-ed his Gunner to make his Level,and to. shoot, which he did, but mif-fed them all. At this, the foremostof them bore up apace, for he had
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the Wind of us, and returned us■' worse than we sent, for theirr Shot killed one of our Men.
“ Then ensued, for a grem „ r -
f a most fierce Encounter betwixt _ us, ^f and they having the Advantage of us,*r by Reason of the Wind, by about‘ eleven or twelve a Clock they had‘ torn our Ship in such Manner., that“ we used our Guns clear of the Ports,
:c they having left us no Ports on the:<r Quarters, but all open. We were,
:c however, not in their Debt, for wehad not left them one. Man alives ‘ from their Main-mast forward : Be-" sides, We dismounted their Ordnance,
" and tore them so near the Water,
" that their chief Commanders were" forced, with their Cutlaces to heat" their own Men, and to drive them" to their Duty. By this Time, they" laid us aboard, with one of their" Ships, which was of 200 Tuns (V/) ortc or thereabouts, and had m her 25" Pieces of Ordnance, (<?) and a-
“ bout two Hundred and fifty Men.
" The Captain thereof was one Wal-Jingham, who seemed, by .hisName to" be, as we afterwards found, he was an“■ Englishman , and Admiral of the" Fleet j For so it signified by the Flagts in his Main-top. Having, ; as I said,
" boarded our Ship, ^e entered pn the" Larboard-Quarter, his. Men armed,some, with Sables, which we calledte Fauchions, some with Hatchets, and<( some with half Pikes, where theytf staid half an Hour or thereabouts,-" tearing up our Nail-Boards upon the“ Poop, and the Trap-Fatch; But we" having a Murtherer in the ...Round-“ house, kept the Larboard Side, clear,
" whilst our Men, with the other Ord-" nance and Mufquets, and a, Murder-“ er in our Trap-Hatch play’d upon" their Ship.; Yet, for all this, . theytf pbed our Gallery with small Shot, inluch Sort, that we stood in great
“ Danger to yield.
- " Ax the last, we shot them quite
" t^to’ and thro’, and they us likewise;
" But they being afraid they shouldhave been sunk by us, bore a-head^ of our Ship, , and, as they passed a-^ long, - WR gave them a Broad-side," that they were forced to lay by theLee, and to stop their Leaks. This
-(e) Is Teyfet's Account five and thirty.
( d ) Taylor’s Account fays three Hundred.