¶ Here followeth a note or declaration of the troublesome voyage, made with the Iesus, the Mynion & foure other shippes to the parties of Buynea & the weste Indies in the years 1567. and 1568. by Iohn Haukins.
THE shippes departed frō Plymmouth the ii. day of October. October. Anno 1567. and had reasonable wether vntill the 7. daie, at which tyme 40. leagues northe from cape Finester there arose an extreame storme which cōtinued 4. daies, A storme. in such sorte that y e fleete was dispersed & all oure great botes loste, & the Iesus oure chieffe shippe in suche case as not thought able to serue y e viage, wher vpon in the same storme we sett our course homewarde, determining to geue ouer y e viadge: but y e ii. daie of the same moneth y e winde chaūged w t faire wether, wherby [Page] we were animated to followe our enterprise, & so did, directinge oure course with the Ilandes of grand Canaries, where according to an order before prescribed, all our shippes before dispersed, mett in one of those Ilandes called Gomera where we toke water & departed from thence the. iiii. daye of November towardes the coaste of Guynea & ariued at Cape Viride the. xviii. of November, Gomera. Nouēber where we landed 150 men hoping to obtaine some Negrose, where we gatt but fewe, and those with great hurte & damage to our men, which cheifelye proceaded of their enuenymed arrowes: Enuenimed arrowes. and althoughe in the beginning it seamed to bee but small hurtes, yet there hardlye escaped anye that had bloude drawne of them, and dyed in strange sorte with there mouthes shutt some. x. dayes before he died, & after there [Page] woundes were hole: where I my selfe had one of the greatest woundes, yet thanks be to god escaped. From thence we past the tyme vppon the coast of Guinea searching with all diligence the riuers from Rio graunde vnto the Searliona till the. xii. of Ianuarie in whiche time we had not gotten together 150 Negrose: Decēber. Ianuarie. yet notwithstanding the sickenes of oure men, and the late time of the yeare commaunded vs awaye, and thus hauinge nothinge wherof to seke the coast of the West Indias, was with the rest of oure companye in consultacion to go to the coast of the Mine hopinge there to haue obtained some gold for our wares and therby to haue defended oure charge. But euen in that presente instante there came to vs a Negro sente from a Kynge oppressed of other kynges hys neyghboures [Page] desiring our aide, with promisse y t as many negrose as by these wars might be obtayned aswell of his part as of ours sholde be at our pleasure whervpon we concluded to geue ayde, & sent 120. of our men which y e 15. of Ianuarie assalted a town of y e negrose of our Alyes aduersaries which had in it 8000. inhabitants & verie strōgly impaled & fenced after ther maner, A towne of 8000. Negrose taken. but were so well defended that oure men preuailed not but loste vi. men and xi. hurt: so y t oure men sent fourth with to me for more help, whervpō cōsidering that the good successe of this interpris might highly furder, the comoditie of oure vioadge, I wēt my self & with y e help of y e king of our side assaulted y e towne bothe by land & sea and very hardly with fyre (their houses beinge couered with drie palme leues) obtayned y e town, & put the inhabitāts to flight [Page] where we toke 250. persones men women & childrē and by our frende the King of oure side there was taken 600. prisoners whereof we hoped to haue had our choyse: but the Negro (in which naciō is seldome or neuer foūd troth) ment nothing lesse, No troth in Negrose. for that night he remoued his camp & prisoners, so that we were fayne to content vs with those few which we had gotten oure selues.
¶ Now had we obtayned betwene 4 & 500. Negrose, wherwith we thought it somewhat reasōable to seke the coast of the West Indians, and there, for our Negrose & other our Marchaūdies we hoped to obtaine wherof to conteruaile oure charges with sōe gaines, whervnto we proceaded with al diligence, fornished our waterīg, toke fuell, & departed the coast of Guynea the. iii. of Februarie continuing at the sea with a passag more harder thē Februari [Page] before hathe bene accustomed, till y e. xxvii. day of March, Marche. which day we had sighte of an Ilande called Dominica vppon the coaste of the West Indies in. xiiii. degres: Dominica. from thence wee coasted from place to place makyng oure traffique with the Spanyardes as wee myght, somewhat hardelye, because the kinge had straightly commaunded all his gouernours in those partes by no meanes to suffer anye trade to be made with vs: notwithstanding we had reasonable trade and courteous intertainemente from the Ile of Margarita vnto Cartagena withoute anye thinge greatly worthe the notynge, Aprill. Maye. sauinge at Capo Delauela in a towne called Rio de la Hache from whence comes all the pearles, the treasurer who had the charge there, woulde by no meanes agre to anye trade, or to suffer vs to take water, he [Page] had fortyfyed hys towne wyth dyuers bulwarkes in all places where it might be entred, and furnyshed hymselfe wyth a 100 Hargebusiers, so that he thoughte by famine to haue inforced vs to haue put a lande our Negrose: of which purpose he had not greatlye failed vnlesse we had by force entred the towne: Iune. Rio de la Hach taken. whiche (after we coulde by no meanes obtaine his fauour) we were inforced to dooe, and so with 200 men brake in vppon there bulwarkes, and entred the towne with the losse onelye of. ii. men of our parts, and no hurt done to the Spanyardes because after there voley of shotte discharged, they all fled.
¶Thus hauing the town w t some circumstance, partly by the Spaniardes desire of Negrose, & partly by frendship of y e treasurer, we obtained a secrete trade: whervppon [Page] the Spanyardes reforted to vs by night, and bought of vs to the nō ber of C C. Negrose, in all other places where we traded the Spainiards inhabitaunts were glad of vs and traded willingly.
¶ At Cartagena the last towne we thought to haue sene in y t coast we coulde by no meanes obtayne to come with any Spanyarde the gouernour was so straight, Cartagena. & because our trade was so neare finished we thought not good eyther to aduenture any landinge, or to detract further tyme▪ but in peace departed from thence the. xxiiii. of Iuly, Iulie. hoping to haue escaped the tyme of ther stormes which thē sone after begā to raigne, the which they call Furicanos, Furicanos. but passing by the West ende of Cuba, towardes the coaste of Floryda there happened to vs the x.i. day of August anextreme storme which continewed [Page] by y e space of iiii. dais, which so bet the Iesus, that we cutt downe all hyr higher buildinges, her ruddar also was sore shaken, and with all was in so extreame a leacke that we were rather vppon the poynte to leue her then to kepe hyr anye longer, yet hopinge to bringe all to good passe soughte the coaste of Floryda where we found no place nor Hauen for oure shippes because of y e shalonesse of the coast: thus beinge in greater dispaire, and taken with a newe storme whiche contynewed other iii. dayes were inforced to take for oure succour the Porte which serueth the Citie of Mexico called Saint Ion de ly whiche standeth in xix. degres, Storme. in seakinge of whiche Porte we toke in oure waye. iii. shippes whiche carried passingers to the nomber of C. whiche passingers we hoped should be a meane to vs the better [Page] to obtayne vittualles for oure money, and a quiet place for the reparinge of oure fleete: shortly after this the xvi. of September we entered the Porte of Sainte Ion de lue, Septēber. Saint Ion de lue. A porte. and in our entrie the Spainyardes thincking vs to be the fleet of Spaine, y e chiefe officers of the cōtry came abord vs, which being deceaued of their expectacion were greatlye dismayed: The Spaniardes deceaued but immediatlye when they sawe oure demaunde was nothinge but victualles were recomforted. I found also in the same Porte xii. shippes whiche had in them by reporte. 200000 lb. in golde and siluer, all whiche (beinge in my possession, with the Kinges Ilande as also the Passingers before in my waye thitherwarde stayde) I sett at libertye, withoute the taking from thē the waight of a grote, onely because I woulde not be [Page] delaied of my dispatche: I stayed ii. men of estimacion and sente poste imediatlye to Mexico, which was. 200. miles from vs, to the Presidentes and Counsels there, shewinge them of oure arriuall there by the force of wether, & the necessitie of the repayre of oure shippes and victualls, which wants we required as frends to Kinge Phillipe to be fornished of for oure money: Our requestes. and that y e Presidentes and Counsell there shoulde with all conuenient spede take order, that at the arriuall of the Spainishe fleete, whiche was dailye loked for, there might no cause of quarrell rise betwene vs and them, but for the better mayntenāce of amitie, their commaundemente mighte be had in that behalfe, this message being sent awaye the. xvi. daye of September at nighte, beinge the very daye of oure arriuall, in the nexte [Page] morninge whiche was the. xvii. daye of the same moneth, we sawe open of the Hauen xiii. great shippes and vnderstandinge them to be the flete of Spaine, The flete of Spaine I sente imediatlye to aduertise the generall of the flete of my beinge ther, doyinge him to vnderstande, that before I woulde suffer them to enter the Porte ther mighte some order of condicions passe betwene vs for oure safe beinge there, & maintenaunce of peace: nowe it is to be vnderstande that this Porte is a lytell Iland of stones not three foote aboue the water in the hyest place, The maner of the Porte S. Ion de lowe. & but a bowe shote of length anye waye, this Ilande standethe from the mayne landes. ii. bowe shotes or more, also it is to bee vnderstode that there is not in all this coaste anye other place for shippes to arriue in safety, because the Northe winde hath there suche [Page] violence that vnles the shippes be verye saftly mored with there ancres fastned vppon this Ilande, there is no remedie for these Northe winds but death: Northe winds perillous. also the place of the Hauen was so lytell that of necessitie the shippes muste ryde one aborde the other, so that we coulde not geue place to them nor they to vs: and here I began to bewayle y e whiche after followed, for nowe sayd I, I am in two dangers and forced to receaue the one of thē. That was, eyther I must haue kepte oute the flete from entringe the Porte the whiche with Gods healpe I was verye well able to doe, or els suffer them to enter in with theire accustomed treason which they neuer fayle to execute where they maye haue oportunitie, or circumuēt it by any meanes, if I had kepte them oute, then had there bene present shipwarke of all [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] the fleete which amounted in value to sixe Millions which was in value of oure money 1800000 lb. 1800. thousand pounde. which I considered I was not able to aunswere, fearinge the Quenes Maiesties indignaciō in so waightie a matter. Thus with my self reuoluinge the doubtes, thought rather better to abyde the Iutt of the vncerteintie, thē y e certeintie. The vncerteine doubte I accompt was their treasure which by good policy I hoped might be preuēted, and therfore as chusinge the least mischife I proceaded to condicions. Now was our firste messinger come and retourned from the fleete with reporte of y e arriuall of a vice Roy, A vice Roye. so that he had auctoritie, both in all this Prouince of Mexico (otherwise called noua Hispania) & in the sea, who sente vs worde that we shoulde sende oure condicions, which of his parte shoulde for the [Page] better maintenance of amitie betwene y e Princes, be both fauorabli graunted, & faithfullye performed, with many faire woords how passinge y e coaste of the Indies he had vnderstod of our honest behauiour towards the inhabitants wher we had to do aswell as in y e same Porte, Fayre woordes begylded the which I lett passe, thus followinge our demaunde we required victuall for our money, & licence to sell as muche ware as mighte fornishe oure wantes, and that there might be of eyther parte. xii. gentlemen as hostages for the mayntenāce of peace and that the Iland for oure better safetie mighte bee in oure owne possession, Oure requestes. duringe oure abode there, and suche ordinance as was planted in the same Ilande whiche was eleuen peces of Brasse, and that no Spaynyarde mighte lande in the Ilande with anye kinde of wepon: these [Page] condicions at the firste, he some what misliked, chieflye the garde of the Iland to be in our owne keping, The peace concluded. whiche if they had, had wee had sone knowē our fare: for with the firste Northe winde they had cutt oure cables and oure shippes had gone ashore: but in the ende he concluded to our request, bringing the xii. hostages to x. whiche with all spede of eyther parte weare receaued, with a writinge from the vice Roye signed with his hande and sealed with his seale of all the condicions cōcluded, & fourthwith a trompet blowne with comaundement that none of eyther parte shoulde be meane to inuiolate the peace vppon payne of death: & further it was concluded that the two generals of the fleets shoulde mete and geue faithe eache to other for the performaunce of the promisses which was so done. Thus at y e end [Page] of iii. dayes all was concluded and the fleete entride the Port, saluting one another as the manner of the sea doth require. This as I saide before thursdaye we entered y e porte, frydaye we sawe the fleete, & on mondaie at nighte they entred the Porte, then we laboured ii. dayes placing the English shippes by thē selues and the Spainish shippes by them selues, Treson. the captaines of eache parte & inferiour men of there partes promissing greate amytie of all sides, which euen as with all fidelitie was ment of our part y e spainyardes ment nothing lesse of their partes, but from the mayne lande had fornished them selues with a supplie of men to the nōber of. 1000 and ment the next thursdaye being y e xxiii. of September at dinner tyme to set vppon vs of all sydes, the same thursdaye in the morning the treason beinge at hande, some apperance [Page] shewed, as shifting of wepon frō shippe to shippe, plantinge and bending of ordinance from the shippe to the Iland where our men warded, passing to and fro of cōpanie of men more then required for their necessarye busynes, & manye other yll licklyhodes which caused vs to haue a vehimēt suspicion, and there withall sent to y e vice Roy to enquire what was mēt bi it, which sent imediatly straight cōmaundement to vnplante all things suspicious, A vice Roy false of his Woorde. & also sent woorde that he in y e faith of a vice Roy would be our defence frō all villayns. Yet we beinge not satisfied with this aunswere because we suspected a gret nomber of men to be hid in a great ship of 900 tonnes which was mored next vnto the Minion sente againe to the vice Roye y e master of the Iesus which had the Spanishe tongue & required to be satisfied if [Page] any such thing were or not, which seing the Vice Roye that the treason must be discouered, The treson brake forthe. fourthwith stayd our master, blewe the trompete, and of all sides set vppon vs, oure men whyche warded a shore beinge stricken with soden feare, Sodden Feare. gaue place, fled, and soughte to recouer succour of the shippes, the Spainyardes beynge before prouided for the purpose landed in all places in multitudes from theyr shippes which they might easelye doe withoute botes, and slewe all our men a shore without mercye, a fewe of them escaped aborde y e Iesus. The greate shippe which had by estimacion 300 men placed in hyr secretlye, immediatlye fell aborde y e minion which by Gods apointment in the time of the suspicion we had, The Minion escaped hardlye. which was onely one halfe houre, the Miniō was made readye to avoyde and so leesinge [Page] hyr hedfastes, and haylinge awaye by the stearne fastes she was gotten out, thus with Gods helpe she defended the violence of the firste brunte of these. C C C. men. The Mynion being paste oute they came aborde the Iesus, The Iesus escaped hardlye. whiche also with very muche a do and the losse of manye of oure men weare defended and kepte oute. Then was there also ii. other shippes that assaulted the Iesus at the same instant, so that she had hard getting louse, but yet with some tyme we had cutt oure hede fastes and gotten out by the stearne fastes. Now when the Iesus and the Mynion weare gotten abrode two shippes length from the Spainishe fleet, Sharp warres. the fighte began hott of all sydes that with in one houre y e Admirall of the Spainyardes was supposed to be soncke, 3. ships of the Spainyardes cō sumed. their vize Admirall burned and one other of there principall [Page] shippes supposed to be soncke, so that the shippes weare lytell able to anoye vs. Then is it to be vnderstande that all the ordinance vppon the Ilande was in the Spainyardes handes, whiche did vs so greate anoyance, that it cutt all the mastes and yeardes of the Iesus, A harde case. in suche sorte that there was no hope to cary hyr awaie: also yt soncke oure smalle shippes, whervpon we determined to place y e Iesus on that side of the Mynion that she mighte abide all the batterie from the land, and so be a defence for the Mynion till nighte, and then to take suche relife of victuall and other necessaries from the Iesus as the tyme woulde suffer vs, and so to leue hyr: as we weare thus determininge and had placed the Minion from the shote of the lande soddenlye the Spainyardes had fired two greate shippes [Page] which we are comming directlye with vs, and hauinge no meanes to auoide the fire, Fyere. it brede among our men a meruelous fear, so that some sayde, lett vs departe with the Minion, other said let vs see where the winde will carie the fire from vs, but to be shorte the Minions men which had alwayes there sayles in a readines thought to make suer woorke and so without either consent of the Captaine or master cutte their saile, so that verie hardly I was receaued into the Minion. The moste part of the men that were lefte a lyue in the Iesus made shift and followed the Minion in a small bote: the reste whiche the lytell bote was not able to receaue, were inforced to abide the mercy of the Spainyards (whyche I doughte was verye lytell) so wyth the Minion onelye and Small hope to bee had of tyrantes. the Iudith (a small barke of [Page] 50. tonne) we escaped which barke the same nighte forsoke vs in oure greate miserie, A storm we were nowe remoued wyth the Mynion from the Spanyshe shippes two bowe shotes & there rode all that night: the next morning we recouered an Iland a myle from the Spainyards where there toke vs a north wind and being lefte onely with. ii. Ancres and. ii. cables (for in this conflycte we lost. iii. cables and. ii. ancres) we thoughte alwayes vppon deathe whiche euer was present, but God preserued vs to a longer tyme. The weather waxed reasonable and y e satterday we set saile, Small hope of lyffe. and hauing a great nomber of mē and lytell victuals our hope of life waxed lesse & lesse: some desired to yelde to y e Spaniards, some rather desyred to obtaine a place wherethei might geue thēselues to y e Infidels, Harde choyse. & some had rather abide w t a littell [Page] pittance the mercie of God at sea, so this with manie sorowfull hartes we wādred in a vnknowne sea by the space of xiiii. dayes, till honger inforced vs to seke the land, for hides weare thoughte verie good meate, myserie. ratts, cattes, mise and dogges none escaped that mighte bee gotten, parrates and monkayes y t were had in great pris, were thoughte ther verie proffitable if they serued the tourne one dinner: this in the ende the viii. daye of October we came to the lande in the botom of the same baye of Mexico in xxxiii. degres ½ wher we hoped to haue founde inhabitantes of the Spainyardes, October. 1568. relife of victuales, and place for y e repaire of our shippes, Mannye miseries. which was so sore beten with shoot from oure ennemies & brused with shotinge of our owne ordinance, that oure wery and weke armes were scare able to defende [Page] and kepe oute the water. But all thinges happened to the contrarie for we founde neither people, victuall nor hauen of relife, but a place wher hauing fayre wether with some perill we might land a bote, oure people being forced with honger desired to bee sett a land, wher vnto I concluded. And suche as were willinge to land I put them aparte, and such as were disirous to go homewards. I put a parte, so that they were indiferently parted 100. of one side & 100. of the other side these 100. men we sett a land with all diligence in this lytell place before sayde, which beinge landed we determined there to refreshe oure water and so with oure litell remayne of victualles to take y e sea. The next daie hauing a land with me l. of our C. men that remayned for the spedier preparinge of oure water aborde, there a rose [Page] an extreme storme so y e in iii. dayes we coulde by no meanes repayre oure shippes: the shippe also was in suche peryll that euery hour we loked for shipwarke. The grea [...]est mise [...]ie of all.
¶But yet God againe had mercie on vs, sent fayre wether, had aborde oure water, and departed the. xvi. daye of October, after whiche daye we had faire and prosperouse wether tyll the. xvi. daye of October, which daie God be praised we weare cleare from the coaste of the Indians and out of the chanell and goulfe of Bahana which is betwene the Cape of Floryda and the Ilandes of Cuba. [...]he goulfe [...]f Baha [...]a. After this groing neare to the coulde Countre, oure men being oppressed with Famine died cōtinually, Nouēber. & they y t were left, grewe into such weaknes that we were scantlye able to manure oure ship, & the winde being alwaies yll for vs to recouer Englād, determined [Page] to go with Galicia, in Spaine, with intēt there to reliue our cōpany & other extreme wants. And beinge arriued y e last daie of Decēber in a place neare vnto Vigo called Pōtefedra, Decēber. our men with excesse of freshe meate grewe into miserable disseases, and died a great parte of them. This matter was borne out as long as it mighte be, but in the ende although there was none of our men suffered to go a land, yet by accesse of the spainyardes, oure feblenes was knowen to thē ▪ wher vpon they feassed not to seke by all meanes to betraie vs, but with all spede possible we departed to Vigo, wher we had some helpe of sertaine English ships & xii. fresh mē wherwith we repayred our wants as we might, & departed the xx. day of Iāuari 1568. arriued in Mounts baye in Corne wale y e xxv. of the same moūth praised be god therfore. Ianuari
[Page]¶If all the miseries and troublesome affayres of this sorowefull voyadge shoulde be perfectlye and throughlye written, there shoulde nede a paynfull man with his penne, and as greate a tyme as he had that wrote the liues and deathes of the martyrs.