In this sorrowful state of affairs they returned with all speed to the ship, with such pepper and elephants teeth as they had got, as will appear by the cargo. At their coming away; the veador told them he would use all possible expedition to procure them more goods if they would remain longer; but the sickness so increased among us, that by the time our men came back we had so many sick and dead, that we looked to lose our ship, lives, country, and all. We were so reduced that it was with much difficulty we were able to heave our anchors; but by Gods blessing we got them up and put to sea, leaving our pinnace behind, on the 13th of April. After which our men began to recover and gather strength. Sailing between the Cape de Verd islands and the Main, we came to the Azores on the 25th of July; and here our men began again to fall sick, and several died, among whom was Samuel Dunn, those who remained alive being in a sad state. In the midst of our distress, it pleased God that we should meet your ship the Barke Burre on this side the North Cape, which not only kept company with us, but sent us six fresh men on board, without whose assistance we must have been in a sad condition. By this providential aid we are now arrived at Plymouth, this 9th September; and, for want of better health at this present. I must refer you for farther particulars till my arrival in London.--Yours to command,
ANTHONY INGRAM.
SECTION XVII.
Second Voyage of James Welsh to Benin, in 1590[317].
In the employment of the same merchants, John Bird and John Newton, and with the same ship as in the former voyage, the Richard of Arundel, accompanied by a small pinnace, we set sail from Ratclif on the 3d September 1590, and came to Plymouth Sound on the 18th of that month. We put to sea again on the 22d, and on the 14th October got sight of Fuertaventura, one of the Canary islands, which appeared very rugged as we sailed past. The 16th of October, in the lat. of 24° 9' N. we met a prodigious hollow sea, such as I had never seen before on this coast; and this day a monstrous great fish, which I think is called a gobarto[318], put up his head to the steep-tubs where the cook was shifting the victuals, whom I thought the fish would have carried away. The 21st, being in lat. 18° N. we had a counter-sea from the north, having in the same latitude, on our last voyage, encountered a similar sea from the south, both times in very calm weather. The 24th we had sight of Cape Verd, and next day had a great hollow sea from the north, a common sign that the wind will be northerly, and so it proved. The 15th November, when in lat. 6° 42' N. we met three currents from west to north-west, one after the other, with the interval of an hour between each. The 18th we had two other great currents from S.W. The 20th we saw another from N.E. The 24th we had a great current from S.S.W. and at 6 P.M. we had three currents more. The 27th we reckoned to have gone 2-1/2 leagues every watch, but found that we had only made one league every watch for the last 24 hours, occasioned by heavy billows and a swift current still from the south. The 5th December, on setting the watch, we cast about and lay E.N.E. and N.E. and here in lat. 5° 30' our pinnace lost us wilfully. The 7th, at sunset, we saw a great black spot on the sun; and on the 8th, both at rising and setting we saw the like, the spot appearing about the size of a shilling. We were then in lat. 5° N. and still had heavy billows from the south.
[Footnote 317: Hakluyt, II. 618. Astley, I. 203.]
[Footnote 318: In a side note, Astley conjectures this to have been a great shark.]
We sounded on the 14th December, having 15 fathoms on coarse red sand, two leagues from shore, the current setting S.E. along shore, and still we had heavy billows from the south. The 15th we were athwart a rock, somewhat like the Mewstone in England, and at the distance of 2 leagues from the rock, had ground in 27 fathoms. This rock is not above a mile from the shore, and a mile farther we saw another rock, the space between both being broken ground. We sounded off the second rock, and had ground at 20 fathoms on black sand. We could now see plainly that the rocks were not along the shore, but at some distance off to sea, and about 5 leagues farther south we saw a great bay, being then in lat. 4° 27' N. The 16th we met a French ship belonging to Harfleur, which robbed our pinnace: we sent a letter by him. This night we saw another spot on the sun at his going down. Towards evening we were athwart the mouth of a river, right over which was a high tuft of trees. The 17th we anchored in the mouth of the river, when we found the land to be Cape Palmas, there being a great ledge of rocks between us and the Cape, a league and half to sea, and an island off the point or foreland of the Cape. We then bore to the west of the Cape, and as night came on could see no more of the land, except that it trended inwards like a bay, in which there ran a stream or tide as it had been the Thames. This was on the change day of the moon.
The 19th December, a fair temperate day, with the wind S. we sailed east, leaving the land astern of us to the west, all the coast appearing low like islands to the east of Cape Palmas, and trending inwards like a great bay or sound. We went east all night, and in the morning were only three or four leagues from shore. The 20th we were off Rio de las Barbas. The 21st we continued along shore; and three or four leagues west of Cape Three Points, I found the bay to be set deeper than it is laid down by four leagues. At 4 P.M. the land began to shew high, the first part of it being covered by palm trees. The 24th, still going along shore, the land was very low and full of trees to the water side. At noon we anchored off the Rio de Boilas, where we sent the boat towards the shore with our merchants, but they durst not put into the river, because of a heavy surf that broke continually on the bar. The 28th we sailed along shore, and anchored at night in seven fathoms, to avoid being put back by a current setting from E.S.E. from Papuas.
At noon on the 29th we were abreast of Ardrah, and there we took a caravel, the people belonging to which had fled to the land. She had nothing in her except a small quantity of palm oil and a few roots. Next morning our captain and merchants went to meet the Portuguese, who came off in a boat to speak with them. After some communing about ransoming the caravel, the Portuguese promised to give for her some bullocks and elephants teeth, and gave us then one tooth and one bullock, engaging to bring the rest next day. Next day being the 1st January 1591, our captain went a-land to speak with the Portuguese, but finding them to dissemble, he came on board again, when presently we unrigged the caravel and set her on fire before the town. We then set sail and went along the coast, where we saw a date tree, the like of which is not on all that coast, by the water side. We also fell a little aground at one place. Thus we went on to Villalonga where we anchored. The 3d we came to Rio de Lagoa, or Lagos Creek, where our merchants went to land, finding 3 fathoms on the bar, but being late they did not go in. There is to the eastward of this river a date tree, higher than all the other trees thereabouts. Thus we went along the coast, anchoring every night, and all the shore was full of trees and thick woods. The morning of the 6th was very foggy, so that we could not see the land; but it cleared up about three in the afternoon, when we found ourselves off the river Jaya; and finding the water very shallow, we bore a little out to seawards as we had done in the former voyage, and came to anchor in five fathoms. We set sail again next day, and came about noon abreast the river of Benin, where we anchored in four fathoms.