Volume Vii Part 19 (1/2)
[Footnote 265: Bore down upon them.--E.]
[Footnote 266: Meaning apparently that she lay too much over to leeward.--E.]
When the French admiral was clear of them, he lay as near the wind as possible and ran to seaward after the rest, while we followed the enemy to leeward. Then seeing us alone and in chase, they put about, which we did likewise to keep the wind of them, and in this situation we sailed within _base_ shot of them, but they shot not at us, because we had the weather gage and they could not therefore harm us. We continued in this course till night, when we lost sight of them. All the rest of our s.h.i.+ps made to seawards with all the sail they could carry; and, as they confessed themselves afterwards, they gave us their prayers, and no other help had we at their hands.
Next day, the 28th, we rejoined our own consort and pinnace, and two of the French s.h.i.+ps, but the third, which was a s.h.i.+p of 80 tons belonging to Rouen, had fled. I took my skiff and went to them to know why they, had deserted me. John Kire said his s.h.i.+p would neither rear nor stear[267]. John Davis said the pinnace had broke her rudder, so that she could sail no farther, and had been taken in tow by the Hart. I found the French admiral to be a man of resolution, but half his crew was sick or dead. The other Frenchman said his s.h.i.+p could bear no sail, and 16 of his men were sick or dead, so that he could do nothing. After this the French s.h.i.+ps durst not come to anchor for fear of the Portuguese.
[Footnote 267: Meaning perhaps, would neither wear nor tack?--E.]
The 29th, on finding our pinnace incapable of farther use, we took out her four bases, anchor, and every thing of value, and set her on fire, after which we ran along the coast. On the 3d February we anch.o.r.ed about 4 leagues from a town, which we saluted with two guns, on which the chief came to the sh.o.r.e, to whom I sent Thomas Rippon who knew him.
After some conference, the chief came off to me; as it was become late, he did not enter into bargain for any price, but exchanged pledges and, returned on sh.o.r.e. Next day I went on sh.o.r.e, and though some French s.h.i.+ps had been there and spoiled the market, I took 5-1/2 oz. of gold.
The 5th I took 8-1/2 oz. but could perceive that the negroes thought the French cloth better and broader than ours; wherefore I told Captain Blundel that I would go to leeward, as where he was I should do no good.
The 6th there came an Almadie or canoe to us with some negroes, inviting me to their town, where they had plenty of gold and many merchants. I did so, but could do no good that night, as the merchants were not come from the interior. On the 7th our negro George came to us, having followed us at least 30 leagues in a small canoe, and soon after his arrival we settled the terms of dealing with the natives. George had been left in Shamma at the time of the fight, which he saw from the sh.o.r.e, and told us that the Portuguese had gone afterwards into that river, when they said that two of their men had been slain by a shot, which was from our s.h.i.+p. This day I took 5 libs. 1-1/4 oz. of gold; the 8th 19 libs. 3-1/2 oz.; the 9th 2 libs. 6-1/2 oz.; the 10th 3 libs. The 11th. Jerome Baudet, the French vice-admiral, came to us in his pinnace, saying that they could do no good where they were, and that he meant to go to the eastwards: But we told him this could not be allowed, and desired him to return to his comrades, which he refused; till we shot three or four pieces at his pinnace; on which his s.h.i.+p put about and ran out to sea followed by the pinnace. This day I took 1 lib. 5 oz.
The 12th one of the French pinnaces came with cloth, but we would not allow them to trade, and made them remain all day close to our s.h.i.+p.
This day we took 5 lib. 6-1/2 oz. The 17th we went to another town, where we understood that three of the Portuguese s.h.i.+ps were at the castle, and the other two at Shamma. Though the Portuguese were so near that they might have been with us in three hours, we yet resolved to remain and make sales if we could. The chief of this town was absent at the princ.i.p.al town of the district visiting the king, but came soon back with a weight and measure. The 18th some of the kings servants came to us, and we took 1 lib. 2-1/8 oz. of gold. The 19th we took 5 libs. 1 oz.
the 20th 1 lib. 4 oz; the 21st 4 libs. 1 oz; the 22d 3-1/2 oz.
Having sent one of our merchants with a present to the king, he returned on the 23d, saying that he had been received in a friendly manner by _Abaan_, who had little gold but promised if we would stay that he would send all over his country in search of gold for us, and desired our people to request our king to send men to his country to build a fort, and to bring tailors with them to make them apparel, and to send good wares and we should be sure to sell them; but that the French had for the present filled the market with cloth. This town where the king Abaan resides, is about 4 leagues up the country, and in the opinion of our people who were there is as large in circ.u.mference as London, though all built like those we had already seen. Around the town there was great abundance of the wheat of the country, insomuch that on one side of it they saw 1000 ricks of wheat and of another sort of grain called _mill_ or millet, which is much used in Spain. All round this town there is kept a good nightly watch, and across all the roads or paths they have cords stretched and connected with certain bells; so that if any one touch the cords the bells, immediately ring to alarm the watchmen, on which they run out to see what is the matter. In case of any enemies, they have nets suspended over the paths ready to let fall and entangle them. It is impossible to get to the town except by the regular paths, as it is every where environed with trees and thick underwood; besides which the town is surrounded by a fence of sedge bound with thick ropes made of the bark of trees[268].
[Footnote 268: It is hard to discover what place this was. Perhaps it was _Great Commendo_ or _Guaffo_, which stands on a river that runs by the town of the _Mina_, and is still the residence of a negro king; in which case the port they put in at might have been little _Commendo._ But the royal city is very far from being as large as London was in 1556, not having above 400 houses. The contrivance for apprizing the watchmen of the approach of an enemy, and for taking them prisoners, seems a notable invention of our countrymen; for surely an enemy might easily destroy these net-traps to catch soldiers, these pack-thread fortifications.--Astl. 1. 167. a.]
As in this country it is necessary to travel in the night to avoid the heat of the day, our men came to the town about five in the morning.
About nine the king sent for them, as no one must go to him unless sent for, and they proposed carrying their present, but were told they must be brought before him three times, before their gift could be offered.
They then waited upon him and were graciously received. And having been sent for three several times, they carried their present the last time, which was thankfully accepted; and calling for a pot of Palm wine, the king made them drink. Before drinking they use the following ceremonies: On bringing out the pot of wine, a hole is made in the ground into which a small quant.i.ty of the wine is poured, after which the hole is filled up, and the pot set on the place. Then with a small cup made of a gourd sh.e.l.l, they take out a little of the wine, which is poured on the ground in three several places. They set up likewise some branches of the Palm tree in different parts of the ground, where they shed some of the wine, doing reverence to the palms. All these ceremonies being gone through, the king took a gold cup full of wine which he drank off, all the people calling out Abaan! Abaan! together with certain words, as is usual in Flanders on twelfth night, _the king drinks._ When he had drank, then the wine was served round to every one, and the king allowed them to depart. Then every one bowed three times, waving his hands, and so departed. The king has usually sitting beside him, eight or ten old men with grey beards.
On the 23d we took 1 lib. 10 oz. of gold; the 24th 3 lib. 7 oz.; the 25th 3-1/4 oz.; the 26th 2 libs. 10 oz.; the 27th 2 libs. 5 oz.; the 28th 4 libs. Then seeing that there was no more gold to be had, we weighed anchor and continued along the coast. The 1st of March we came to a town called _Moure_, where we found neither boats nor people; but when about to depart there came some people to us in two canoes from another town, from whom we took 2-1/2 oz. of gold, and who told us that the inhabitants had removed from Mowre to _Lagoua._[269]. The 2d we were abreast the castle of Mina, where we saw all the five Portuguese s.h.i.+ps at anchor, and by night we were off Shamma or Chama, where we meant to water. But next day we saw a tall s.h.i.+p of about 200 tons to windward within two leagues, and then two more astern of her, one a s.h.i.+p of 500 tons or more and the other a pinnace. Upon this we weighed anchor, and made a s.h.i.+rt to stand out to sea, the wind being S.S.W., but the Hart fell three leagues to leeward of us. These s.h.i.+ps chased us from 9 A.M.
till 5 P.M. but could not make up with us. At night, when we joined the Hart, on asking why she fell to leeward, they pretended that they durst not make sail to windward, lest they had carried away their fore-top-mast. Having been thus obliged to abandon our watering-place, we were under the necessity of boiling our meat-in sea-water, and to reduce our allowance of drink to make it hold out, as we now shaped our course homewards.
[Footnote 269: Mowree is 4-1/2 leagues east from the castle of Minas, and Lagoua or Laguy is 9 leagues east from the same place.--Astl. I.
168. a.]
On the 16th of March we fell in with the land, which I judged to be Cape Misurado, about which there is much high land. The 18th we lost sight of the Hart, and I think the master wilfully went in sh.o.r.e on purpose to lose us, being offended that I had reproved him for his folly when chased by the Portuguese. The 27th we fell in with two small islands about 6 leagues off Cape Sierra Leona; and before we saw them we reckoned ourselves at least 30 or 40 leagues from them. Therefore all who sail this way must allow for the current which sets N.N.W. or they will be much deceived. The 14th April we met two large Portuguese s.h.i.+ps, which we supposed were bound to Calicut. The 23d we saw a French s.h.i.+p of 90 tons to windward of us, which came down upon us as if to lay us on board, sending up some of his men in armour into the tops, and calling out to us to strike. Upon this we saluted him with some cross-bars, chain-shot, and arrows, so thick that we made their upper works fly about their ears, and tore his s.h.i.+p so miserably, that he fell astern and made sail. Our trumpeter was a Frenchman, at this time ill in bed; yet he blew his trumpet till he could sound no more, and so died. The 29th we arrived at Plymouth, and gave thanks to G.o.d for our safety.
SECTION VI.
_Third Voyage of William Towerson to Guinea, in 1558_[270].
On the 30th of January of the above year, we set sail from Plymouth with three s.h.i.+ps and a pinnace, bound by the grace of G.o.d for the Canaries and the coast of Guinea. Our s.h.i.+ps were the Minion, admiral; the Christopher, vice-admiral; the Tiger, and a pinnace called the Unicorn.
Next day we fell in with two hulks[271] of Dantziek, one called the Rose of 400 tons, and the other the Unicorn of 150, both laden at Bourdeaux, mostly with wine. We caused them to hoist out their boats and come on board, when we examined them separately as to what goods they had on board belonging to Frenchmen[272]. At first they denied having any; but by their contradictory stories, we suspected the falsehood of their charter parties, and ordered them to produce their bills of lading. They denied having any, but we sent certain persons to the place where they were hid, and thus confronted their falsehood. At length they confessed that there were 32 tons and a hogshead of wine in the Unicorn belonging to a Frenchman, and 128 tons in the Rose belonging to the, same person; but insisted that all the rest was laden by Peter Lewgues of Hamburgh, and consigned to Henry Summer of Campvere. After a long consultation, considering that to capture or detain them might lose our voyage, already too late, we agreed that each of our s.h.i.+ps should take out as much as they could stow for necessaries, and that we should consider next morning what was farther to be done. We accordingly took out many tuns of wine, some aquavitae, cordage, rosin, and other things, giving them the rest of the Frenchmans wines to pay for what we had taken of their own, and took a certificate under their hands of the quant.i.ty of French goods they had confessed to, and then allowed them to continue their voyage.
[Footnote 270: Hakluyt, II. 504. Astley, I. 169.--In the last London edition of Hakluyt, 1810, it is dated erroneously in 1577, but we learn from the editor of Astley's Collection that in the edition 1589, it is dated in 1557. Yet, notwithstanding that authority, we may be a.s.sured that the date of this voyage could not have been earlier than January 1558, as Towerson did not return from his former voyage till the 29th of April 1557.--E.]
[Footnote 271: Probably meaning large unwieldy s.h.i.+ps.--E]
[Footnote 272: It is to be noted, that at this time there was war between England and France.--This observation is a side note of Hakluyt: And it may be worth while to notice that, so early as 1557, free bottoms were not considered by the English as making free goods.--E.]