One thing which occurred at the beginning of the previous winter I have deferred mentioning till now, so that I might handle it altogether. A ship with goods and many passengers aboard, bound for Virginia, lost herself at sea, either through the incompetence of the captain, or his illness,—for he was so ill with scurvy that he could only lie at the cabin door and give directions,—and it seemed he was poorly helped by the mate and the crew; or perhaps the fear and unruliness of the passengers made them steer a course between the southwest and the northwest, so that they might make land the sooner. They had been six weeks at sea, and had no water or beer or wood left, having burnt up all their empty casks. One of the passengers had a hogshead of wine or two, which was almost used up, and they feared they would be starved at sea or wiped out by disease,—and so they ran this desperate course. But it pleased God that though they either only just avoided the shoals of Cape Cod, or else ran stumbling over them in the night they knew not how, they made right towards a small blind harbour which lies about in the middle of Manamoick Bay, to the south of Cape Cod; and about high water they touched upon a bar of sand that lies across it, but took no harm, the sea being smooth; so they put out an anchor. But towards the evening the wind sprang up at sea, and it was so rough that their cable broke and they were beaten over the bar into the harbour, where they saved their lives and their cargo, though much was injured by salt water, for in the storm they had sprung the butt-end of a plank or two and beat out their oakum; but they were soon over, and ran onto a dry flat within the harbour, close by the beach. So at low water they got out their goods and dried those that were wet, and saved most of their things without any great loss; nor was the ship so badly damaged but that she might be mended and made serviceable again. But though they were glad that they had saved their lives, when they had refreshed themselves a little they began to realize their condition, and not knowing where they were or what they should do they lost heart. Shortly after, they saw some Indians coming to them in canoes, which made them stand upon their guard. But when they heard some of the Indians speak English to them, they were relieved, especially when they asked if they were the Governor of Plymouth’s men, or friends of theirs, and offered to guide them to the English settlement or carry their letters.