floting crosse the stearne of a shipp the blubber is cut from the flesh by peeces 3 or 4 foote long and being rased is rowed on shore towards the coppers They place 2. or 3. coppers on a roe and the chopping boat on the one side and the cooling boate on the other side to receiue the oyle of the coppers the chopt blubber being boyled is taken 〈◊〉 out of the coppers and put in wiker baskets or barowes throwg h which the oyle is dreaned and runÌ„es into the cooler which is fall of water out of which it is convaied by troughs into buts or hogsheads The manner of killing the Seamorces The manner of kilâ—â—ing Beares The Seamorce is in quantity as bigg as an oxe When the whale is killed hee is in this mann towed to the shipps by twoe or three shallops made fast one to another The peeces of blubber are towed to the shore side by a shallop and drawne on shore by a crane or caried by twoe menn on a barrowe to the twoe cutters which cutts them the breadt h of a trencher and very thinÌ„e by twoe boys are caried w th handhooks to the choppers Thus they make cleane and scrape the whale fins A tent and Coopers at worke Gods Power and Providence in the preservation of eight Men in GREENLAND nine Moneths and twelve Dayes But wee had the sentence of death in our selves that wee should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom wee trust that hee will yet deliver us 2. Cor. 1. ver 9 10. GREENLAND is a Country very farre Northward situated in 77. degrees and 40. minutes that is within 12. degrees and 20. minutes of the very North Pole it selfe The Land is wonderfull mountainous the Mountaines all the year long full of yce and snow the Plaines in part bare in Summer time There growes neither tree not hearbe in it except Scurvygrasse and Sorrell The Sea is as barren as the Land affording no fish but Whales Sea-horses Seales another small fish And hither there is a yearely Fleet of English sent Wee eight men therefore being employed in the service of the Right Worshipfull Company of Muscowie Merchants in the good ship called the Salutation of London were bound for this Greenland aforesaid to make a voyage upon Whales or Sea-horse for the advantage of the Merchants and the good of the Common-wealth Wee set sayle from London the first day of May 1630. and having a faire gale wee quickly left the fertile bankes of Englands pleasant shoares behindeus After which setting our comely sayles to this supposed prosperous gale and ranging through the boysterous billowes of the rugged Seas by the helpe and gracious assistance of Almighty God wee safely arrived at our desired Port in Greenland the eleventh of Iune following Wherupon having moored our ships and carryed our caske ashoare wee with all expedition fell to the fitting up of our Shallops with all things necessarie for our intended voyage Wee were in companie three Ships all which were then appointed by the order of our Captaine Captaine William Goodler to stay at the Foreland untill the fifteenth of Iuly with resolution that if we could not by that time make a voyage according to our expectation then to send one ship to the Eastward unto a fishing place some fourescore leagues from thence whither at the latter end of the yeare the Whales use more frequently to resort A second of the three ships was designed for Green-harbour a place some fifteene leagues distant to the Southward thereto trie her skill and fortune if it were possible thereto make a voyage The third ship which was the same wherein wee were was appointed to stay at the Fore-land untill the twentieth of August But the Captaine having made a great voyage at Bell Sownd dispatches a Shallop towards our ship with a command unto us to come to him at Bell Sownd aforesaid his purpose being both to have us take in some of his Trane Oyle as also by joyning our forces together to make the Fleete so much the stronger for the defence of the Merchants goods homeward bound the Dunkirkers being very strong and rise at sea in those dayes Upon the eighth day of Angust thereupon leaving the Foreland wee directed our course to the Southward towards Green-harbour thereto take in twenty of our men which had out of ourships company beene sent into the lesser ship for the furtherance of her voyage But the winde being now contrary our ship could no way lye our course The fifteenth day being calme and cleare and our ship now in the Offing some foure leagues from Blacke point and about five from the Maydens pappes which is a place famous both for very good and for great store of Venison our Master sent us eight men here named altogether in a shallop for the hunting and killing of some Venison for the ships provision Wee thus leaving the ship and having taken a brace of dogs along with us and furnish our selves with a snap-hance two lances and a tinder-boxe wee directed our course towards the shoare where in foure houres wee arrived the weather being at that time faire and cleare and every way seasonable for the performance of our present intentions That day we laid fourteene tall and nimble Deere along and being very weary and throughly tyred first with rowing and now with hunting wee fell to eate such victuals as wee had brought along agreeing to take our rest for that night and the next day to make an end of our hunting and so fairely to returne to our ship againe But the next day as it pleased God the weather falling out something thicke and much yce in the Offing betwixt the shoare and the ship by reason of a Southerly winde driving alongst the coast our ship was forced so farre to stand off into the Sea to be cleare of they yce that wee had quite lost the fight of her neither could wee assure our selves whether shee were inclosed in the drift yce or not and the weather still growing thicker and thicker we thought it our best course to hunt alongst the shoare and so to goe for Greene-harbour there to stay aboard the ship with the rest of our men vntill our own ship should come into the Port. Coasting thus along towards Greene-harbour wee kill'd eight Deere more and so at last having well loaden our Shallop with Venison wee still kept on our course towards Green-harbour where arriving upon the seventeenth day wee found to our great wonderment that the ship was departed thence together with our twenty men aforesaid That which increased our admiration was for that wee knew they had not victuals sufficient aboard to serve them by proportion homewards bownd which made vs againe to wonder what should be the reason of their so sudden departure Perceiving our selves thus frustrated of our expectation and having now but bare three dayes
according to appointment to the uttermost expiration of our limited time for our departure out of the Country we thought it our best course to make all possible speed to get to Bell Sownd unto our Captaine fearing that a little delay might bring a great deale of danger For the lightening therefore of our Shallop that she might make the better way through the waters wee heaved our Venison over-board and cast it all into the Sea Having thus forsaken Green-harbour with a longing desire to recover Bell Sownd from thence distant some sixteene leagues to the Southward that night wee got halfe way about the point of the Nesse or point of land called Low-Nesse But the darknesse or mistie fogge increasing so fast upon us that it was impossible for us to get further even there betweene two rocks we coved from the seventeenth day at night untill the eighteenth day at noone At which time the weather being somewhat clearer though very thicke still wee left the Nesse behinde us still desirous to recover Bell Sownd but having never a Compasse to direct our course by nor any of our company that was Pilot sufficient to know the land when he saw it we were faine to grabble in the darke as it were like a blinde man for his way and so over-shot Bell point at least tenne leagues to the Southward towards Horne Sownd Some of us in the meane time knowing that it was impossible to bee so long a rowing and sayling of eight leagues for wee did both row and sayle made enquirie How the Harbour lay in whereunto there was a ready answer made That it lay East in Taking the matter therefore into our better consideration some of us judged that it could not possibly be further to the Southward our reason being our observation of the lands rounding away and trenting towards the Eastward and resolved thereupon to row no further on that Course for the finding of Bell Sownd And though wee were againe perswaded by William Fakely our Gunner a proper Sea-man though no skilfull Mariner who had been in the Country five or sixe times before which none of our Sea-men had beene that it was further to the Southwards yet we trusting better to our own reasons than unto his perswasions againe returned towards the Northward which was our best and directest Course indeed for the finding of Bell Sownd Steering of which Course wee were now come within two miles of Bell Point the weather being faire and cleare wee presently descryed the tops of the loftie mountaines William Fakely thereupon looking about him presently cries out unto us That wee were all this while upon a wrong Course upon hearing of which words some of our companie yea the most were perswaded to wend about the Boates head the second time unto the Southwards which one action was the maine and onely cause of our too late repentance though for mine owne part as it is well knowne I never gave consent unto their counsell And thus upon the fatall twentieth day of August which was the utmost day of our limited time for staying in the Country wee againe returned the quite contrary way namely to the Southward Thus utterly uncertaine when and where to finde the Sownd a thousand sadde imaginations overtooke our perplexed minds all of us assuredly knowing that a million of miseries would of necessitie ensue if wee found not the ships whereby to save our passage In this distracted time of our thoughts wee were now againe the second time runne as farre to the Southward as at the first and finding by all reason thereupon how that there was no likelihood at all of finding any such place further to the Southward we wended the Shallop the second time unto the Northward William Fakely hereupon being unwilling to condescend unto our agreement still perswaded us that That could not possibly bee our Course but we not trusting any longer unto his unskilfull perswasions though all in him was out of good will and strong conceit of his being in the rights bent our Course to the Northward and hee not consenting to steere any longer I tooke the Oare out of his hand to steere any longer I tooke the Oare out of his hand to steere the Boate withall The weather all this while continued faire and cleare and it pleased God at the very instant time to send the winde Easterly which advantage wee thankfully apprehending presently set sayle The winde increased fresh and large and our Shallop swiftly running we arrived the one and twentieth day at Bell point where wee found the winde right out of the Sownd at East Northeast so fiercely blowing that we could not possibly row to Wind-wards but being forced to take in our sayle we were faine to betake our selves unto our Oares by helpe of which wee recovered some two miles within the shoare where we were constrained for that time to Cove or else to drive to Lee-wards Thus finding this to be the very place we had all this while sought for he now also agreeing thereunto we forth with sought out and found an harbor for our Shallop and having brought her thereinto two of our men were presently dispatched over land unto the Tent at Bell Sownd to see if the Ships were still there of which by reason of the times being expired and the opportunitie of the present faire winde wee were much afraid The Tent being distant ten miles at the least from our Shallop our men at their comming thither finding the ships to be departed out of the Roade and not being certaine whether or not they might be at Bottle Cove three leagues distant on the other side of the Sownd riding there under the Loome of the land againe returne unto us with this sadde newes The storme of winde hitherto continuing about mid-night fell starke calme whereupon we unwilling to lose our first opportunity departed towards Bottle Cove betwixt hope and feare of finding the ships there whither comming the two twentieth and finding the ships departed we having neither Pilot Plat nor Compasse for our directors to the Eastward found our selves God he knoweth to have little hope of any delivery out of that apparent danger Our feares increased upon us even whil'st we consulted whether it were safest for us either to goe or stay If goe then thought wee upon the dangers in sayling by reason of the much yce in the way as also of the difficultie in finding the place when wee should come thereabouts If we resolved still to remaine at Bell Sownd then wee thought that no other thing could be looked for but a miserable and a pining death seeing there appeared no possibility of inhabiting there or to endure so long so darksome and so bitter a winter And thus were our thoughts at that time distracted thus were our feares increased nor were they causelesse feares altogether Well wee knew that neither Christian or Heathen people had ever before inhabited those desolate and untemperate Clymates This
also to increase our feares had wee certainly heard how that the Merchants having in former times much desired and that with proffer of great rewards for the hazarding of their lives and of sufficient furniture and provision of all things that might bee thought necessary for such an undertaking to any that would adventure to winter in those parts could never yet finde any so hardy as to expose their lives unto so hazardous an undertaking yea notwithstanding these proffers had beene made both unto Mariners of good experience and of noble resolutions and also unto divers other bold spirits yet had the action of wintering in those parts never by any beene hitherto undertaken This also had we heard how that the company of Muscovie Merchants having once procured the reprive of some malefactors that had here at home beene convicted by Law for some haynous crimes committed and that both with promise of pardon for their faults and with addition of rewards also if so be they would undertake to remaine in Green-land but one whole yeare and that every way provided for too both of Clothes Victuals and all things else that might any way be needfull for their preservation These poore wretches hearing of this large proffer fearing present execution at home resolved to make tryall of the adventure The time of yeare being come and the ships ready to depart these condemned creatures are imbarked who after a certaine space there arriving and taking a view of the desolatenesse of the place they conceived such a horrour and inward feare in their hearts as that they resolved rather to returne for England to make satisfaction with their lives for their former faults committed than there to remaine though with assured hope of gaining their pardon Insomuch as the time of the yeare being come that the ships were to depart from these barren shoares they made knowne their full intent unto the Captaine who being a pittifull and a mercifull Gentleman would not by force constraine them to stay in that place which was so contrary to their minds but having made his voyage by the time expired hee againe imbarked and brought them over with him into England where through the intercession and meanes of the Worshipfull Companie of Muscovie Merchants they escaped that death which they had before beene condemned unto The remembrance of these two former stories as also of a third more terrible than both the former for that it was likely to be our own case more miserably now affrighted us and that was the lamentable and unmanly ends of nine good and able men left in the same place heretofore by the selfe same Master that now left us behinde who all dyed miserably upon the place being cruelly disfigured after their deaths by the savage Beares and hungry Foxes which are not onely the civilest but also the onely inhabitants of that comfortlesse Countrey the lamentable ends and miscarriage of which men had beene enough indeed to have daunted the spirits of the most noble resolution All these fearefull examples presenting themselves before our eyes at this place of Bottle Cove aforesaid made us like amazed men to stand looking one upon another all of us as it were beholding in the present the future calamities both of himselfe and of his fellowes And thus like men already metamorphosed into the yce of the Country and already past both our sense and reason stood wee with the eyes of pittie beholding one another Nor was it other mens examples and miscarriages and feares alone that made us amazed but it was the consideration of our want of all necessary provision for the life of man that already strooke us to the heart For we were not only unprovided both of clothes to keepe us warme and of foode to prevent the wrath of cruell famine but vtterly destitute also wee were of a sufficient house wherein to shrowd and shelter our selves from the chilling cold Thus for a space standing all mute and silent weighing with our selves the miserie wee were already fallen into and knowing delay in these extremities to be the mother of all dangers we began to conceive hope even out of the depth of despaire Rowsing up our benummed senses therefore wee now lay out heads and counsels together to bethinke our selves of the likeliest course for our preservation in that place seeing that all hopes of gaining our passage into England were then quite frustrate Shaking off therefore all childish and effeminate feares it pleased God to give us hearts like men to arme our selves with a resolution to doe our best for the resisting of that monster of Desperation An agreement thereupon by a generall consent of the whole Companie we then entred into to take the opportunity of the next faire weather and goe for Green-harbour to hunt and kill Venison for part of our winter provision Having thus agreed amongst ourselves the five and twentieth day of August the weather and wind being both faire wee direct our course towards Green-harbour some sixteene leagues as I before told you distant from Bell Sownd and the winde being fresh and faire within the space of twelve houres we there arrived Upon which place being now landed the first thing we did was to make us a Tent with the sayle of our Shallop pitcht up and spread upon our Oares a sorry one God knowes though it were yet under it we resolved to rest our selves that night to refresh our bodies with such food as wee there had and the next day to returne againe unto our hunting The weather that night proving faire and cleare wee made our sleepe the shorter and alas what men could sleepe in such an extremitie and fitting our selves and Shallop the best we might to Coles Parke we went a place some two leagues distant from us and well knowne unto Thomas Ayers that was one of our Companie to be well stored with Venison Comming a-shoare at which place though we found not so many Deere as we indeed expected yet seven we killed the same day and foure Beares to boote which wee also intended to eate But the weather beginning now to overcast and not likely to continue good for hunting wee that night returned againe unto Green-harbour where making us a Tent of our Sayle and Oares as is before described we fell to eate of such meate as God had sent us and betooke our selves to our rest upon it Having rested ourselves a while and now finding the weather to cleare up we broke off our sleepe for that time fitting our selves and two dogges againe to goe a hunting leaving William Fakely and Iohn Dawes behinde us in the Tent at Green-harbour as our Cookes for the time to dresse some meate that wee had for our refreshment at our returne Departing thus from the Tent wee rowed towards Coles Parke in the way whither upon the side of a hill by the Sea side wee espyed seven Deere feeding whereupon presently a-shoare we went and with our Dogs kill'd sixe of
them after which the weather againe overcasting wee thought it to little purpose to goe any further at that time but resolved to hunt all along the side of that hill and so at night to returne unto our Tent. Going thus along wee kill'd sixe Deere more which wee had no sooner done but it began to blow and raine and to be very darke whereupon wee hasted towards the Tent there intending to refresh our selves with victuals and with rest for that night and the next day to returne againe unto our hunting This purpose of ours was by the foule weather the next day hindered for it fell so blacke so cold and so windy that we found it no way fitting for our purpose Lading therefore our owne Shallop with Beares and Venison and another Shallop which we there found haled up and left by the Ships Companie as every yeare they use to doe lading this other Shallop I say with the Graves of the Whales that had beene there boyled this present yeare which wee there found in heapes flung upon the ground wee dividing our selves into two equall companies that is to say William Fakely with one Sea-man and two Land-men with him betaking themselves unto one Shallop and Edward Pellham with another Sea-man and two Land-men more with him going into the other Shallop wee all committed our selves unto the Sea intending with the next faire weather to goe to Bell Sownd unto our Tent which was the place wee set up our Rest upon to remaine at all the Winter Towards Bell Sownd therefore we went with a purpose there to lay up our Store of what victuals wee had already gotten together and with the next faire winde to come hither againe to trie if it were possible for us there to provide our selves of some more Venison for our Winter provision Having thus laden both our Shallops appointed our Companie and all ready now for our departure wee were overtaken with the night and there forced to stay upon the place The next day was Sunday wherefore wee thought it fit to sanctifie the Rest of it and to stay our selves there untill Munday and to make the best use we could of that good day taking the best course wee could for the serving of God Almighty although we had not so much as a Booke amongst us all the whole time that wee staid in that Country The Sabbath day being shut up by the approaching night we betooke our selves to our Rest sleeping untill the Sunne awakened us by his beginning to shew himselfe upon the Munday morning The day was no sooner peept but up we got fitting our selves and businesse for our departure The weather was faire and cleere at the first but after some foure houres rowing the skie began so to over tast and the winde to blow so hard that we could not possibly get to Bell Sownd that night but Coved halfe way untill the next morning at which time we recovered Bottle Cove To which place when wee were once come we found the winde then at Southwest to blow so hard that it was impossible for us to reach Bell Sownd but were forced to stay at Bottle Cove for that night Our Shallops we made fast one unto another with a Rope fastning the head of the one unto the sterne of the other and so casting our Grabnell or Anchor over-board we left them riding in the Cove But see now what a mischance for the tryall of our patience and for the making of us to relye more upon his providence than upon any outward meanes of our owne God now suffered to befall us We being now all a-shore the Southwest winde blew so hard and right into the Cove that it made the Sea go high our Anchor also comming home at the same time both our Shallops casting alongst the shoare sunke presently in the Sea wetting by this meanes our whole provision the weather withall beating some of it out of the Boates which wee found swimming up and downe the shoare For comming out of our Tent in the meane time judge you what a sight this was unto us to see by mischance the best part of our provision the onely hope of our lives to be in danger utterly to be lost or at least spoyled with the Sea-water for which we had taken such paines and run such adventures in the getting In this our miserie wee saw no way but one and that a very desperate one namely to runne presently into the high-wrought Sea getting by that meanes into our Shallops to save the remainder of our provisions ready now to be washt quite away by the billowes A Halser thereupon we got which fastning unto our Shallops wee with a Crabbe or Capstang by maine force of hand heaved them out of the water upon the shoare This done all along the Sea side we goe seeking there and taking up such of our provisions as were swumme away from our Shallops Having by this meanes gleaned up all that could be gotten together we resolved from thenceforth to let our Boates lye upon the shoare till such time as the weather should prove faire and better and then to goe over unto Bell Sownd The third of September the weather proving faire and good we forthwith lanched our Shallops into the water and in them wee that day got into Bell Sownd Thither so soone as we were come our first businesse was to take our provision out of our Shallops into the Tent our next to take a particular view of the place and of the great Tent especially as being the place of our habitation for the ensuing Winter This which we call the Tent was a kinde of house indeed built of Timber and Boards very substantially and covered with Flemish Tyles by the men of which nation it had in the time of their trading thither beene builded Fourescore foot long it is and in breadth fiftie The use of it was for the Coopers employed for the service of the Company to worke lodge and live in all the while they make caske for the putting up of the Trane Oyle Our view being taken we found the weather beginning to alter so strangely and the nights and frosts so to grow upon us that wee durst not adventure upon another hunting voyage unto Green-harbour fearing the Sownd would be so frozen that wee should never be able to get backe to our Tent againe By land it was we knew in vaine for us to thinke of returning for the land is so mountainous that there is no travelling that way Things being at this passe with us we bethought our selves of building another smaller Tent with all expedition the place must of necessity be within the greater Tent. With our best wits therefore taking a view of the place we resolved upon the South side Taking downe another lesser Tent therefore built for the Land-men hard by the other wherein in time of yeare they lay whilest they made their Oyle from thence we fetcht our materials That Tent furnisht us with
which â—…e flung away â—â—â—er the Oyle 〈◊〉 gotten out 〈◊〉 it excepting from the* Frittars or Graves of the Whale a very loathsome meane of which we allowed our selves sufficient to suffice our present hunger and at this dyet we continued some three moneths or thereabouts Having by this time finished what ever we possibly could invent for our preservations in that desolate desert our clothes shooes also were so worne and torne all to pieces almost that wee must of necessity invent some new device for their reparations Of Roape-yarne therefore we made us thread of Whale-bones needles to sew our clothes withall The nights were wax't very long and by the tenth of October the cold so violent that the Sea was frozen over which had beene enough to haue daunted the most assured resolutions At which time our businesse being over and nothing now to exercise our mindes upon our heads began then to be troubled with a thousand sorts of imaginations Then had wee leisure more than enough to complaine our selves of our present and most miserable conditions Then had wee time to bewaile our wives and children at home and to imagine what newes our unfortunate miscarriages must needes be unto them Then thought wee of our parents also and what a cutting Corasive it would be to them to heare of the untimely deaths of their children Otherwhiles againe wee revive our selves with some comfort that our friends might take in hoping that it might please God to preserve us even in this poore estate untill the next yeare Sometimes did we varie our griefes complaining one while of the cruelty of our Master that would offer to leave us to these distresses and then presently againe fell wee not onely to excuse him but to lament both him and his companie fearing they had beene overtaken by the yce and miserably that way perished Thus tormented in mind with our doubts our feares and our griefes and in our bodies with hunger cold and wants that hideous monster of desperation began now to present his ugliest shape unto us he now pursued us hee now laboured to seize upon us Thus finding our selves in a Labyrinth as it were of a perpetuall miserie wee thought it not best to give too much way unto our griefes fearing they also would most of all have wrought upon our weakenesse Our prayers we now redoubled unto the Almighty for strength and patience in these our miseries and the Lord graciously listned unto us and granted these our petitions By his assistance therefore wee shooke off these thoughts and cheer'd up our selves againe to use the best meanes for our preservations Now therefore began we to thinke upon our Venison and the preserving of that and how to order our firing in this cold weather For feare therefore our firing should faile us at the end of the yeare we thought best to roast every day halfe a Deere and to stow it in hogsheads Which wee putting now in practice wee forthwith filled three Hogsheads and an halfe leaving so much raw as would serve to roast every Sabbath day a quarter and so for Christmas day and the like This conclusion being made amongst us then fell wee againe to bethinke us of our miseries both passed and to come and how though if it pleased God to give us life yet should we live as banished men not onely from our friends but from all other companie Then thought we of the pinching cold and of the pining hunger these were our thoughts this our discourse to passe away the time withall But as if all this miserie had beene too little we presently found another increase of it For examining our provisions once more wee found that all our Frittars of the Whale were almost spoyled with the wet that they had taken after which by lying so close together they were now growne mouldie And our Beare and Venison we perceived againe not to amount to such a quantity as to allow us five meales a weeke whereupon we were faine to shorten our stomacks of one meale more so that for the space of three moneths after that we for foure dayes in the weeke fed upon the unsavory and mouldie Frittars and the other three we feasted it with Beare and Venison But as if it were not enough for us to want meate we now began to want light also all our meales proved suppers now for little light could we see even the glorious Sunne as if unwilling to behold our miseries masking his lovely face from us under the sable vaile of cole-blacke night Thus from the fourteenth of October till the third of February we never saw the Sunne nor did hee all that time ever so much as peepe above the Horizon But the Moone we saw at all times day and night when the cloudes obscured her not shining as bright as shee doth in England The Skie 't is true is very much troubled with thicke and blacke weather all the Winter time so that then we could not see the Moone nor could discerne what point of the Compasse shee bore upon us A kinde of day-light wee had indeed which glimmer'd some eight houres a day unto us in October time I meane for from thence unto the first of December even that light was shortened tenne or twelve minuts a day constantly so that from the first of December till the twentieth there appeared no light at all but all was one continued night All that wee could perceive was that in a cleare season now and then there appeared a little glare of white like some show of day towards the South but no light at all And this continued till the first of Ianuary by which time wee might perceive the day a little to increase All this darkesome time no certainety could wee have when it should be day or when night onely my selfe out of mine owne little judgement kept the observation of it thus First bearing in minde the number of the Epact I made my addition by a day supposed though not absolutely to be known by reason of the darknesse by which I judged of the age of the Moone and this gave me my rule of the passing of the time so that at the comming of the Ships into the Port I told them the very day of the moneth as directly as they themselves could tell mee At the beginning of this darkesome irkesome time wee sought some meanes of preserving light amongst us finding therefore a piece of Sheete-lead over a seame of one of the Coolers that we ript off and made three Lampes of it which maintaining with Oyle that wee found in the Coopers Tent and Roape-yarne serving us in steed of Candle-weekes wee kept them continually burning And this was a great comfort to us in our extremity Thus did we our best to preserve our selves but all this could not secure us for wee in our owne thoughts accounted our selves but dead men and that our Tent was then our darkesome dungeon and we did but waite our
Dogge but he was growne so fat and lazie that hee could not pull downe the Deere Seeking further out therefore we found abundance of Willocks egges which is a Fowle about the bignesse of a Ducke of which egges though there were great store yet wee being but two of us together brought but thirty of them to the Tent that day thinking the next day to fetch a thousand more of them but the day proved so cold with so much Easterly winde that wee could not stirre out of our Tent. Staying at home therefore upon the 25. of May we for that day omitted our ordinary custome Our order of late since the faire weather was every day or every second day to goe up to the top of a mountaine to spie if wee could discerne the water in the Sea which untill the day before we had not seene At which time a storme of winde comming out of the Sea brake the maine yce within the Sownd after vvhich the vvinde comming Easterly carried all the yce into the Sea and cleared the Sownd a great vvay although not neere the shoare at first seeing the cleare vvater came not neere our Tent by three miles at least This 25. of May therefore vvee all day staying in the Tent there came two Ships of Hull into the Sownd vvho knowing that there had been men left there the yeare before the Master full of desire to know vvhether vve vvere alive or dead man'd out a Shallop from the Ship with order to row as farre up the Sownd as they could and then to hale up their Shallop and travell over-land upon the snow unto the Tent. These men at their comming ashore found the Shallop which we had haled from our Tent into the water with a purpose to goe seeke some Sea-horses the next faire weather the Shallop being then already fitted with all necessaries for that enterprize This sight brought them into a quandary and though this encounter made them hope yet their admiration made them doubt that it was not possible for us still to remaine alive Taking therefore our lances out of the Boate towards the Tent they come wee never so much as perceiving of them for wee were all gathered together now about to goe to prayers in the inner Tent onely Thomas Ayers was not yet come in to us out of the greater Tent. The Hull men now comming neere our Tent haled it with the usuall word of the Sea crying Hey he answered againe with Ho which sudden answer almost amazed them all causing them to stand still halfe afraid at the matter But we within hearing of them joyfully came out of the Tent all blacke as we were with the smoake and with our clothes all tattered with wearing This uncouth sight made them further amazed at us but perceiving us to be the very men left there all the yeare with joyfull hearts embracing us and wee them againe they came with us into our Tent. Comming thus in to us wee shewed them the courtesie of the house and gave them such victuals as we had which was Venison roasted foure moneths before and a Cuppe of cold water which for noveltie sake they kindly accepted of us Then fell wee to aske them what newes and of the state of the Land at home and when the London Fleete would come to all which they returned us the best answers they could Agreeing then to leave the Tent with them wee went to their Shallop and so a-board the Ship where we were welcomed after the heartiest and kindest English manner and there we stayed our selves untill the comming of the London Fleete which we much longed for hoping by them to heare from our friends in England Wee were told that they would be there the next day but it was full three dayes ere they came which seemed to us as tedious a three dayes as any we had yet endured so much we now desired to heare from our friends our wives and children The 28. of May the London Fleete came into the Port to our great comfort A-board the Admirall we went unto the right noble Captaine Captaine William Goodler who is worthy to be honoured by all Sea-men for his courtesie and bounty This is the Gentleman that is every yeare chiefe Commander of this Fleete and right worthy he is so to be being a very wise man and an expert Mariner as most be in England none dispraised Unto this Gentleman right welcome we were and joyfully by him received hee giving order that we should have any thing that was in the Ship that might doe us good and increase our strength of his owne charges giving us apparell also to the value of twenty pounds worth Thus after fourteene dayes of refreshment wee grew perfectly well all of us whereupon the noble Captaine sent William Fakely and Iohn Wyse Masons own Apprentice and Thomas Ayers the Whale-Cutter with Robert Good fellow unto Master Masons Ship according as themselves desired But thinking there to be as kindly welcomed as the lost Prodigall these poore men after their enduring of so much misery which through his meanes partly they had undergone no sooner came they a board his ship but he most unkindly call'd them Run-awayes with other harsh and unchristian termes farre enough from the civility of an honest man Noble Captaine Goodler understanding all these passages was right sorie for them resolving to send for them againe but that the weather proved so bad and uncertaine I for mine owne part remained with the Captaine still at Bottle Cove according to mine owne desire as for the rest of us that staid with him hee preferr'd the Land-men to row in the Shallops for the killing of the Whales freeing them thereby from their toylesome labour a-shoare bettering their Meanes besides And all these favours did this worthy Gentleman for us Thus were wee well contented now to stay there till the twentieth of August hoping then to returne into our native Countrey which day of departure being come and we imbarked with joyfull hearts we set sayle through the foaming Ocean and though cross'd sometimes with contrary windes homeward bound yet our proper ships at last came safely to an Anchor in the River of Thames to our great joy and comfort and the Merchants benefite And thus by the blessing of God came wee all eight of us well home safe and sound where the Worshipfull Companie our Masters the Muscovie Merchants have since dealt wonderfully well by us For all which most mercifull Preservation and most wonderfully powerfull Deliverance all honour praise and glory by unto the great God the sole Author of it He grant us to make the right use of it Amen FINIS