The 3d May was held as a day of thanksgiving and prayer; and on the 21st they passed the tropic of Cancer, catching every where such abundance of fish, that, besides supplying their immediate wants, they salted and dried a considerable store. On getting near the Açores, they found no more fish, and had to use those they had dried and salted; and by this food many distempers were produced among them, particularly the scurvy. The men became as it were parched within, and so thirsty that they could not be satisfied with drink; and their bodies were covered all over with red spots, like a leprosy. The 7th, the captain was informed that some of the men had stolen biscuit; but he durst not punish the guilty, as they were the only vigorous and healthy men in the ship, and nothing could be done without them. The ship got into the English Channel on the 6th July, when the captain landed at Dover to purchase an anchor and cable; but not being able to procure any, he sailed again that night. On the 13th, while off the mouth of the Maese, waiting the tide, and having a pilot on board, the wind came suddenly contrary, and forced him into the channel of Goeree, where a seaman died, being the sixty-ninth who died during the voyage. The thirty-six who remained alive gave thanks to God, who had preserved them through so many dangers, and had vouchsafed to bring them home. CHAPTER V. VOYAGE OF GEORGE SPILBERGEN ROUND THE WORLD, IN 1614--1617.[92] SECTION I. _Narrative of the Voyage, from Holland to the South Sea_. As the directors of the Dutch East-India Company were still anxious to make trial of the route to India by the Straits of Magellan, they appointed George Spilberg, or Spilbergen, to make this attempt in 1614, as admiral of six ships, the Great Sun, the Full Moon, the Huntsman, and a yacht called the Sea-mew, all belonging to Amsterdam, with the Eolus of Zealand, and the Morning-star belonging to Rotterdam. Spilbergen was a person of established reputation for knowledge and experience, and was allowed to chuse most of his officers. The ships were all equipped in the best possible manner, and were ready a little after Midsummer; but as the admiral was of opinion that they would arrive in the Straits of Magellan at an improper season, if they sailed so early, the directors thought proper to postpone the commencement of the voyage till the month of August. [Footnote 92: Harris, I. 44. Callender, II. 191.]