On Monday the 30th of September 1555, we sailed from the harbour of Newport, in the Isle of Wight, with two good ships, the Hart and the Hind, both belonging to London, of which John Ralph and William Carters were masters, bound on a voyage for the river Sestos, in Guinea, and other harbours in that neighbourhood. Owing to variable winds, we could not reach Dartmouth before the 14th of October; and having continued there till the 20th of that month, we warpt out of the harbour, and set sail to the S.W. and by next morning had run 30 leagues. On the 1st November, by the reckoning of our master, we were in lat. 31° N. and that day we ran 40 leagues. The 2d we ran 36 leagues; and on the 3d we had sight of Porto Santo, a small island about three leagues long and one and a-half broad, belonging to the Portuguese, and lying in the ocean. As we came towards it from the N.N.W. it seemed like two small hills near each other. The east end of the island is a high land like a saddle, having a valley which gives it that appearance; while the west end is lower, with several small round hillocks[227]. Porto Santo is in about lat. 33° N. The same day at 11 o'clock A.M. we raised the island of Madeira, which is 12 leagues S.W. from Porto Santo. Madeira is a fine and fertile island belonging to the Portuguese, and rises from afar like one great high mountain. By 3 P.M. being athwart of Porto Santo, we set our course to the S.W. leaving both Madeira and Porto Santo to the eastwards, being the first land we had seen after leaving England. About three next morning we were abreast of Madeira, within three leagues of its west end, and were becalmed under its high land. We estimated having run 30 leagues in the past day and night. The 4th we remained becalmed under the west end of Madeira till 1 P.M. when the wind sprung up at east, and we continued our course S.W. making in the rest of that day 15 leagues. The 5th we ran 15 leagues.
[Footnote 226: Hakluyt, II. 480, Astl. I. 150.--From several passages in this journal it appears that Towerson had been on the former voyage to Guinea with Captain Lock; but in the present voyage he appears to have acted as captain or chief director, and seems to have been the author of the journal here adopted from Hakluyt.--Astl. I. 150, 2.]
[Footnote 227: The saddle-backed hills of old navigators, are to be considered in reference to the old demipique or war-saddle, having high abrupt peaks, or hummocks, at each end, with a flattish hollow between.--E.]
The 6th in the morning we got sight of Teneriffe, otherwise called the Peak, being very high land, with a peak on the top like a sugar loaf; and the same night we got sight of Palma, which also is high land and W. from Teneriffe [W.N.W.] The 7th we saw Gomera, an island about 12 leagues S.E. from Palma, and eight W.S.W. from Teneriffe; and lest we might have been becalmed under Teneriffe, we left both it and Gomera to the east, and passed between Palma and Gomera. This day and night our course was 30 leagues. These islands, called the Canaries, are 60 leagues from Madeira, and there are other three islands in the group to the eastward of Teneriffe, named Gran Canarea, Fuertaventura, and Lancerota, none of which we saw. All these islands are inhabited by Spaniards. On this day likewise we got sight of the Isle of Ferro, which is 13 leagues south from Gomera, and belongs to the Spaniards like the others. We were unable all this day or the following night to get beyond Ferro, unless we had chosen to go to the westwards, which had been much out of our proper course; wherefore we put about, and stood back five hours E.N.E. in hope of being able to clear it next tack, the wind keeping always S.E. which is not often met with in that latitude by navigators, as it generally keeps in the N.E. and E.N.E. Next morning, being on the other tack, we were nearly close in with the island, but had room enough to get clear past.
The 8th, our due course to fetch the Barbary coast being S.E. by E. we were unable to keep it by reason of the wind being scant, but lay as near it as we could, running that day and night 25 leagues. The 9th we ran 30 leagues; the 10th 25; and 11th, 24 leagues. The 12th we saw a sail under our lee, which we thought to be a fishing bark, and stood down to speak with her; but in an hour there came on so thick a fog that we could neither see that vessel nor our consort the Hind. We accordingly shot off several guns to give notice to the Hind of our situation, but she did not hear or answer us. In the afternoon the Hind fired a gun, which we heard and answered with another gun. About half an hour afterwards the fog cleared away, and we were within four leagues of the Barbary coast, when sounding we had 14 fathoms water. The bark also had come room[228] with us, and anchored here likewise, the wind being contrary for going down the coast, or to the southwards. On falling in with the land, we could not judge precisely whereabout we were, most of that coast being low, the forepart of the coast being white like chalk or sand, and very deep unto the hard shore[229]. Immediately on coming to anchor we began to fish, and got abundance of that kind which the Portuguese call Pergosses, the French saders, and our men salt-water breams. Before the fog entirely cleared away, the vessel we had followed shaped such a course that we lost sight of her, chiefly because we had bore up to find the Hind again. Our pilot reckoned that we were upon that part of the coast which is 16 leagues eastwards[230] from the Rio del Oro.
[Footnote 228: This antiquated nautical word, which occurred before in the journal of Don Juan de Castro, is here obviously going down the wind, large, or to leeward.--E.]
[Footnote 229: The meaning of this passage is not obvious, and seems to want some words to make out the meaning: It may be that the shore is very steep, or that the water continues deep close to the shore.--E.]
[Footnote 230: Eastwards from Rio del Oro is directly into the land; so that they must either have been N.N.E. or S.S.W. probably the former.--E.]
In the afternoon of the 13th we spied a sail coming towards us, which we judged to be that we had seen the day before, and we immediately caused the Hind to weigh anchor and go towards her, manning likewise our own skiff, to lay her on board or to learn what she was, and within half an hour we weighed also. When the vessel noticed us, she put about and sailed from us; and soon after there came on so heavy a fog that we could not see her, and as the fog continued the whole night we had to quit the chase. In the afternoon the wind came about fair, so that we were able to shape a course S.W. by W. to keep clear of the coast, and ran that night 16 leagues. The 14th in the morning was very foggy, but the fog cleared away about noon, when we espied a caravel of 60 tons fishing, and sent our skiff on board with five men unarmed. For haste the caravel slipped her anchors and set sail, yet our unarmed boat overtook her and made her strike sail, and brought her away, though she had fourteen or fifteen men on board, all armed, but they had not the heart to resist. On coming to us they anchored, as we were likewise, because the wind had become foul; on which I made our skiff come for me, and I went on board the caravel, to take care that no harm was offered, and to see if they would spare us any thing for our money. Accordingly we got from them three tapnets of figs, two small jars of oil, two pipes of water, and four hogsheads of salt fish, which they had taken on the coast, besides some fresh fish, which they held of no value, as they are so plentiful on that coast that one man may often take as many in an hour or less as will serve twenty men a whole day. For these things, some wine we drank while on board their ship, and three or four great cans which they sent on board our ships, I paid them 27 pistoles, being twice as much as they would willingly have taken. We then let them go to their anchor and cable which they had slipped, and assisted them to recover. After this we made sail, but the wind obliged us to come to anchor again about 12 leagues from the Rio del Oro, as we were informed by the Portuguese. There were five other caravels in this place, but immediately on our appearance they all made away for fear of us.
The 15th we continued at anchor, as the wind was still foul. The 16th we set sail and run our course 40 leagues, being this day, according to our pilots, right under the Tropic of Cancer, in lat. 23° 30' N. The 17th we ran 25 leagues, mostly in sight of the coast of Barbary. The 18th we ran 30 leagues, and at noon, by the reckoning of our pilots, were abreast of Cape Blanco. The 22d they reckoned we were abreast of Cape Verd. The 12th of December we got sight of the coast of Guinea, towards which we immediately hauled, standing to the N.E. and about 12 at night, being less than two leagues from the shore, we lay to and sounded, finding 18 fathoms water. We soon afterwards saw a light between us and the shore, which we thought might have been a ship, from which circumstance we judged ourselves off the river Sestro, and we immediately came to anchor, armed our tops, and made all clear for action, suspecting it might be some Portuguese or French ship. In the morning we saw no ship whatever, but espied four rocks about two English miles from us, one being a large rock and the other three small; whence we concluded that the light seen during the night had been on shore. We then weighed and stood E.S.E. along shore, because the master did not rightly know the place, but thought we were still to the westward of Sestro river. All along this coast the land is low, and full of high trees close to the shore, so that no one can know what place he falls in with, except by means of the latitude. I think we ran 16 leagues that day, as we had all night a stiff gale, with much thunder and lightning.