On Shrove Wensday, being the twenty-fourth, we fell with Jamaica, and by meanes of a Mulatow and an Indian, we had, this night, forty bundles of dried beife, which served our whole companie so many dayes. We came to anchor at the westermost parte of the iland, in a faire, sandie bay, where we watered, and stayed, in hope to have some newes of our fleete, seven dayes. This, our stay, brought no intelligence, wherfore our seamen thought that our fleet, not able to recover this place, were fallen eyther with Cape Corantes or Cape St. Antoine[9]; these places we ment to touch in our course; and hence we went the first of March. On the sixth we sawe a shippe on the leaward of us, and the next morninge we made her to be the Pegasine, one of our fleete, who, as they sayde, lost the admirall neere the time as we did, beinge by the coronell sent to the Susan Bonaventure, whom they left in greate distresse, by reason of a lake they had taken, and I greatly feared, by theyr reporte, they are perished. There were in her one hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty persons, many gallant gentlemen and good men. If they perish, this shippe shall repent it. Houldinge our course for these places, we descried five sayles a stern of us. We stayed for them, and soone made them to be none of our fleete; and we had good reason to perswade us they were enimies. They had the winde of us, but we soone regained it upon them, which made them, upon a peece of ordinance shott of by the greatest shippe, tacke about; we tackt with them; when the captain of this shippe faithfully protested unto me not to shoote a peece of ordinance till we came boord and boorde, and then I promised him, with our small shot, to win the greatest or lose our persons. This we might have done without endangeringe Her Majestie’s shippes; but our enimie, playinge upon us with theyr ordinance, made our gunners fall to it ere we were at musket shot, and no nearer could I bringe them, though I had no hope to take any of them but by boordinge. Heere we popt away powder and shott to no purpose, for most of our gunners would hardly have stricken Paule’s steeple had it stoode there. I am a yonge seaman, yet my small judgment and knowledge makes me avowe, that never shippe of Her Majestie’s went so vilely manned out of her kingdom; not twenty of them worthy to come into her shippes; and I know not what had possessed the captaine, but his mind was cleane altered, tellinge me that he had no authoritie to lay any shippe aboorde, wherby he might endanger this, Her Majestie’s; and they beinge, as he sayd, the kinge’s men of warre, they would rather fire with us than be taken. Had I beene a marchant of her burden (God favoringe me), they would have bin mine, as many as stoode to the tryall of theyr fortune; but the paltrie Pegosie we lately met withall never came neere us by a league, which was some colour to our men to give them over. So after I had endeavored by mysealfe, my lewetenant and other gentlemen, by perswasion, to worke the captaine resolutely to attempt them, and findinge no disposition in him but to consume powder and shott to no purpose, but firinge it in the ayer, I yielded to give them over, perswadinge mysealfe that God had even ordained that we should not with any nature attempt where we were resisted with never so weake forces. Thus away we went, and the winde choppinge us southerly, our seamen held that our fleete coulde neither ride at Corants nor at St. Antony, which made me condescend to leave the Indies, with all her treasure, and to plye the next course to disembogue,[10] for little hope was left me that we should do Her Majestie any service, or good to our selves, when, upon the feigned excuses of endangering her shippes which she sent forth to fight if occasion were offered; and to perswade mysealfe that. Her Majestie priseth not her ships deerer than the lives of so many faithful subjects, who gladly would have ventured theyr lives, and upon no brain-sick humour, but from a trew desire to do Her Highness some service for the charge and adventure she had been at in this glorious spoken-of jorney. Fortune’s child was dead, thinges would not fall into our mouthes, nor riches be our portions, howe dearly soever we adventured for them. Thus avoydinge Silla (after the proverbe), we felle into Charibdis, and indeede we were not nowe farre from it.