478 Charles I, Naval Expeditions, Ac. of the English, Book 1IL

1625. pared; But their Expectations werefrustrated.

Towards eight of the Clock atNight, it fell calm, so that our Shipscame to an Anchor, when the Com-mander of the Dutch Fleet sent the Ma-ster of his Ship, accompanied by someother Merchants, and Masters, aboardthe Royal James, to inform CaptainWeddell, that their Commander hadsent them to fee how he did, and whathe thought the Ships and Frigats to be,which he had descryed. The Com-mander, Weddell, answered, that theycould be no other than the PortugueseArmada, which had been two Yearspreparing to meet with the English andDutch, and that now they were come inSearch of them, from Goa, unto thisPlace, hoping first to conquer both oursand their Nation, and afterwards to fallto work upon Ormus, Kijhme, and Gom-broon, to destroy our settled Trade, andto extirpate and root us out, with allHostility and Dishonour. Then theDutch demanded Captain WeddeW's Re-solution, concerning so common and o-pen an Enemy; He told them, that hisResolution was,that,to theGlory of Go r,the Honour of his Nation, the Profit ofthe worthy Employers, and the Safe-guard of their Lives, Ships and Goods,he would fight it out, as long as a Man’ r was living in his Ship, to bear a Sword,and that he doubted not but the otherthree Ships, under his Command, wereall of the fame Mind and Courage; Towhom theDutchmen answered, that they' ' were of the like Resolution, and wouldstick as close to the EngUJh as theirShirts to their Backs, and so in friendlyManner each took Leave of one anotherfor that Night.

The first of February, the DutchAdmiral weighed Anchor, an Hour be-fore Day-light, and the EngUJh present-ly after him ; But the Dutch got theStart of us all, tho’ we made all the Sailwe could ; At last, the EngUJh came upto him, with their whole Fleet, but heJheJrst discharged the first Shot at the Portu-ayS ' g ue s Admiral, who presently answeredhim with three for one.

Friends and Foes being now withinMusket-fhot of each other, it fell calm,whereby our Ships would not work, butas the Tide set them, So that when thePortuguese were board and board theyhad a great Advantage of us with theirFrigats, that often towed them clear■ vneof another, which Help we wanted.

Thus we lay, four or five Hours, pelt- 1625.ing and beating one another with ourOrdnance ; Whilst the Frigats plyed uswith their small Shot, as fast as theycould; The Royal James, being forcedto keep the Barge ahead, to pull theShips Head too and fro. Towards theAfternoon, there arose a fine Gale; Butthe Enemy had the Wind of us, where-upon the Admiral and Vice-Admiral ofthe Portuguese bore up room upon us,making Account to lay the Royal Jamesaboard, one on the Starboard, the otheron the Larboard-Side, which CaptainWeddel perceiving, scarce being able toshun it, he called to the Master, andtold him the Purpose of the Enemy, toavoid which Danger, he commandedthe Master to bear a little lasking, toseparate them farther from each other,that he might have more Room to gobetween them. The Vice-Admiral of theEnemy, seing the James bear up solasking, she likewise bore up with her,when suddenly Captain Wsddel, perceiv-ing their was Hopes to weather him,caused his Mizzen, and Mizzen-top-sailto be set, and so presently got the Windof him, edging close up with the Ad-miral, being within Musket-fhot ofthem both. The Portuguese Admiralput to Stay, by which Means the Jamesgot the Wind of him also, having muchto do to get out a Weather of him, com-ing so close under his Stern, that hisBoats were close at our Ship’s Side, asshe sheered by. Presently we gave hima whole Broadside (every Shot rakinghim fore and aft) and tacking forthwithstood after him. Thus the first DaysFight lasted till five at Night whereinthe Royal James lost eight Men kil-led, and some others had some smallHurt. Also this Day, the Dutch lost < -their chief Commander, a brave andvaliant Man, who lived and died nobly,in the Bed of Honour, this Fight wasterrible and fierce for the Time; Forthe Royal James alone spent near sevenHundred great Shot, and all the otherShips, EngUJh and Dutch, did propor-tionably do the like. The Sun beingset, the Enemy fell off, and came to anAnchor, at the East End of Kijhme, theEngUJh being North-North-West fromthem two Leagues, and thus was con-cluded the first Days Fight.

The .second of February, the Windwas very little, which blew off from p ne 0jKijhme, so that the Enemy had the Ad- n s % i0s a#vantage of it, but never offered to make Advantage

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