Sir Francis Drake: His Voyage, 1595 / Together with the Spanish account of Drake's attack on Puerto Rico

by active 1595 Thomas Maynarde

1. In the first place, omit not divine worship, and let this order be observed twice a-day, unless no opportunity offers.

2. Secondly, great care must be taken to keep company and to come to speak with your admiral twice a-day; and if you cannot do it more than once, yet let it be done every day; and take great care to observe every order given you, and to be always in company, as the weather shall allow.

3. And should it happen that any ship or small vessel, through stress of weather or other cause that may be, parts company, they must look for us first of all in the island of Bayona, on the coast of Galicia, and the fleet will wait till it is time to proceed and you shall have found us; and thence, if you should not find us, you shall go to Puerto Sancto, and there you shall wait for us three days; and should we not be there, you shall make for the island of Guadaloupe (a small island near Dominica towards the north-east), where we will stay three days, and will leave some signal that you may know what course we shall have taken, which shall be for Puerto Rico; there we will stay ten days.

4. If in the course of this voyage you meet with any foul wind or bad weather, you must take in all sail at night till morning, unless you see that one of your admirals carries sail, in which case you shall do the same.

5. And if foul wind or bad weather should come on at night, your admiral will hang out two lanterns, one above the other, and the height of a man asunder, that you may steer by them.

6. And if we should all shorten sail over night on account of the weather, and it be necessary to make sail the same night, you must show, before we make sail, a single lantern with a light at the bow, and another at the fore-top.

7. You shall keep no light in any of the ships, but only the light in the binocle, and this with the greatest care that it be not seen, excepting the admiral’s ship; and to avoid the danger of fire, you must not bear about any candle or light in the ship, unless in a lantern; and neither more nor less, you must take the greatest care with the fire in the galley.

8. No vessel, square or cutter-rigged, should go ahead of the admiral at night, particularly in rough weather; or get under the lee of large vessels, in tacking from side to side.