The governor too was kindly disposed towards Ralegh, and not realizing how deeply his guest was disliked and feared by the authorities at home, he sent a letter to Gondomar, the ambassador in London, in which he stated how exemplary had been the conduct of Ralegh's men. The respite from the stress of the voyage was short. On September 24, three days after they left the Canary Islands, the sickness which had been prevalent among the men during their fortnight's stay, broke out with fury. On the evening of the 24th fifty men lay helpless on the _Destiny_. The other ships were not exempt. Two captains and a provost-marshal died on them. The chief surgeon and several officers followed on the 31st. As the plague-stricken ships made for the Brava roads a hurricane burst over them; the hurricane sank one ship and inflicted terrible damage upon the others. The storm abated, but the sickness continued. Four more officers died, and most of Ralegh's personal servants, so that, though he was himself suffering from a severe calenture, he was attended only by pages. The death of John Talbot grieved him sorely. John Talbot was one of those completely trustworthy old servants that a man of Ralegh's calibre is wont to have. "He was my honest friend," wrote Ralegh, "an excellent general scholar and as faithful and true a man as lived. I lost him to my inestimable grief." John Talbot had shared Ralegh's imprisonment of his own free will. He was as devoted to Ralegh as Keymis even himself. Pigott, the Lieutenant-General of the land service, died on October 13. It is finely typical of Ralegh that in spite of the calamities which fell thickly upon him, the plague, the tempest, his own illness--he made and recorded observations which, as Edwards points out, furthered nautical science considerably. On November 11 the fleet arrived at Cape Orange, which was then called Cape Wiapoco, and on the 14th they sailed into the harbour, made by the River Cayenne, which Ralegh calls Caliana. On this voyage every possible disaster had fallen upon the fleet, and yet the full business of the expedition had only now begun. Ralegh lay on a sick-bed, an old man, but he did not falter, though all the weight of arrangement was upon him. As soon as he arrived he wrote to Lady Ralegh. The bearer of the letter was one Captain Alley, who was suffering from an infirmity in his head, and obliged on that account to return home with all speed--"an honest, valiant man," according to Ralegh's description.