gain Africa, till we made Cape Augustine; from whence going farther into
the ocean, out of sight of land, we steered as though we were bound for
the isle Fernand de Norenba, leaving the islands on the east; and then
it was that we met with a terrible tempest, which continued for twelve
days successively, so that the wind carried us wheresoever they pleased.
In this perplexity one of our men died, and one man and a boy were
washed overboard. When the weather cleared up a little, we found
ourselves eleven degrees north latitude, upon the coast of Guinea. Upon
this the captain gave reasons for returning; which I opposed,
counselling him to stand away for Barbadoes, which as I supposed, might
be attained in fifteen days. So altering our course, we sailed
north-west and by west, in order to reach the Leeward Islands; but a
second storm succeeding, drove us to the westward; so that we were
justly afraid of falling into the hands of cruel savages, or the paws of
devouring beasts of prey.

In this great distress, one of our men, early in the morning cried out,
_Land, land!_ which he had no sooner cried out, but our ship struck upon
a sand bank, and in a moment the sea broke over her in such a manner
that we expected we should all have perished immediately. We knew
nothing where we were, or upon what land we were driven; whether an
island or the main, inhabited or not inhabited; and we could not so much
as hope that the ship would hold out many minutes, without breaking in
pieces, except the wind by a miracle should turn about immediately.
While we stood looking at one another, expecting death every moment, the
mate lay a hold of the boat, and with the help of the rest got her flung
over the ship's side, and getting all into her, being eleven of us,
committed ourselves to God's mercy and the wild sea. And now we saw that
this last effort would not be a sufficient protection from death; so
high did the sea rise, that it was impossible the boat should live. As