So they all set sail, and shortly after were nearly cast ashore; for after a night's watch on deck in a fresh gale of wind, when the next night drew on, Hawkins and the master of the _Dainty_, feeling need of a good night's rest, set the watch and went to their hammocks, the care of the steerage being entrusted to the mate. But he, too, was drowsy, and dozed off, letting the ship fall away towards the shore. In an hour or little more the master, being sound asleep, suddenly awoke in a hot fright and sat up trembling--he knew not why. So he awoke the boy who slept in the cabin with him. "Boy, how goeth the watch?" "Why, master, 'tis but an hour or so since you laid yourself down to rest." "Humph! my heart be so unquiet, I cannot by any means get to sleep." Anon the master rose with a grunt, put on his night-gown (as a dressing-gown was then called), and went up upon the deck. He had not been there many minutes when, shading his eyes with his hands, for the starlight puzzled him, he shouted, "Land on the port bow!" "I see no land, master," said the look-out, yawning sleepily. "Then, what is yon--sandy and low! And hark! thou canst hear the surf abreaking! Helm! hard a-starboard!" the master shouted, "and quick! the sounding-line!" The ship tacked and edged off just in time, for the seaman found scant three fathoms water; and Hawkins ends his relation by these words: "Hereby we saw evidently the miraculous mercy of our God, that if He had not watched over us, as He doth continually over His, doubtless we had perished without remedy: to whom be all glory and praise everlastingly, world without end." No doubt this deliverance heartened the ailing crew, for they knew their commander to be a God-fearing man, and now they had tasted, they believed, of the good results of sailing with one of God's favoured children. The next evil which met them was the want of water; for the sick of the scurvy were attacked by an unquenchable thirst. Then Sir Richard's scientific knowledge served him in good stead. For he tells us: "With an invention I had in my ship I easily drew out of the water of the sea sufficient quantity of fresh water to sustain my people with little expense of fuel; for with four billets I stilled a hogshead of water, and therewith dressed the meat for the sick and whole; the water so distilled is found to be wholesome and nourishing." Thus a so-called modern discovery turns out to be more than three hundred years old, and in those days the means of distilling were hard to come by. On arrival at St. Anne's Islets they set up tents for the sick, and here found many young gannets in their nests and plenty of stuff for salads, so that many quickly recovered. But by this time Hawkins had lost half his people by sickness, and therefore he burnt one of his ships.