The last of November, 1593, Monsieur de la Barbotiere departed from a port called Laguna, in Hispaniola. The 17th of December we had the misfortune to be cast away on the north-west part of the island of Bermuda, about midnight. At noon of that day the pilots reckoned themselves twelve leagues to the south of that island, and certifying the captain that the ship was out of all danger, they demanded and received their _wine of height_.[28] After having their wine, it would seem that they became careless of their charge, so that through their drunkenness and negligence a number of good men were cast away. It pleased God that I, a stranger among above fifty Frenchmen and others, was among those who were saved: I trust to his service and glory. At first we comforted ourselves in the hope that we were wrecked hard by the shore of the island, being high cliffs; but we found ourselves seven leagues off. By means of our boat, and a raft which we made, about twenty-six of us were saved, among whom I was the only Englishman. Being among so many strangers, and seeing there was not room for half the people, I durst neither press to get into the boat or upon the raft, lest they should have thrown me overboard or killed me; so I remained in the ship, which, was almost full of water, till the captain called me into the boat, in which he was; so I presently entered, leaving the better half of our company to the mercy of the sea. [Footnote 28: Probably alluding to some customary perquisite on getting safely through the dangerous navigation of the Bahama Islands.--E.] We rowed all day, and an hour or two of the night, towing the raft after us, before we got to land: and, being all that day without drink, every man dispersed in search of water, but it was long before any was found. At length one of the pilots, by digging among a tuft of weeds, found water, to our great comfort. As there are many fine bays in this island, I think abundance of fresh water might be got by digging for it. Bermuda is all divided into broken islets; the largest, upon which I was, might be about four or five miles long, by two and a half miles over, all covered with wood, as cedar and other kinds, but cedar is the most abundant.