leavinge so honorable forces when they had neede of our companie: and God knoweth that had I had but judgment which way to have cast for them, I would rather have lost my life then so forsake the like. He deposed on the bible, and Christianitie made me believe him. But playinge it up and downe about twelve of the clocke, and discoveringe none of them, the wind blew so contrary that the seamen affirmed by houldinge this course we should be cast backe in the bay, and they perswaded that our fleete could not attaine St. Tomarto, but were gone over for Jamaica, whither they would follow then. I plainly forsaw that if we missed them there, it was like that we should no more meete till we came to England, which would have made me to perswade a longer search upon the maine; but my hope of their beinge there, together with the weakness of our men and the small meanes we had to retaine them, fearinge lest my delay might endanger Her Majesties shippes and the whole companie, I yielded to theyr perswasions. We were in ten degrees and a halfe when we put from hence, and we came till the twenty-second, when we had sight of a very dangerous shoale which our seamen thought they had passed neare two dayes before. If we had fallen with it in the night we had bin all lost. The shoale is named Secrana. On Shrove Wensday, being the twenty-fourth, we fell with Jamaica, and by meanes of a Mulatow and an Indian, we had, this night, forty bundles of dried beife, which served our whole companie so many dayes. We came to anchor at the westermost parte of the iland, in a faire, sandie bay, where we watered, and stayed, in hope to have some newes of our fleete, seven dayes. This, our stay, brought no intelligence, wherfore our seamen thought that our fleet, not able to recover this place, were fallen eyther with Cape Corantes or Cape St. Antoine[9]; these places we ment to touch in our course; and hence we went the first of March. On the sixth we sawe a shippe on the leaward of us, and the next morninge we made her to be the Pegasine, one of our fleete, who, as they sayde, lost the admirall neere the time as we did, beinge by the coronell sent to the Susan Bonaventure, whom they left in greate distresse, by reason of a lake they had taken, and I greatly feared, by theyr reporte, they are perished. There were in her one hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty persons, many gallant gentlemen and good men. If they perish, this shippe shall repent it. Houldinge our course for these places, we descried five sayles a stern of us. We stayed for them, and soone made them to be none of our fleete; and we had good reason to perswade us they were enimies. They had the winde of us, but we soone regained it upon them, which made them, upon a peece of ordinance shott of by the greatest shippe, tacke about; we tackt with them; when the captain of this shippe faithfully protested unto me not to shoote a peece of ordinance till we