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A67021
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Tyranny of the Dutch against the English wherein is exactly declared the (almost unvaluable) loss which the commonwealth of England hath sustained by their usurpation : and likewise the sufferings and losses of Abraham Woofe, then factor at Lantore, and others in the island of Banda / formerly collected in loose sheets by Mr. Woofe himself ; and now illustrated and extracted out of his papers by John Quarles.
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Woofe, Abraham.
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1653
(1653)
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Wing W3523A; ESTC R10179
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37,267
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96
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amongst the Seamen his proportion and Strength wee have often admired I my self have seen him and President Iourden in the Great Iames together President Iourden being as remarkable for his shortness and valour as Sir Thomas Daile was for his stature and courage these two I have seen walking upon the Decks sporting away the time with much friendship and love but at last a difference arose about the 〈◊〉 of their Commissions which caused much distraction in the Fleet upon which Sir Thomas Daile after he had beaten the Dutch away to the Eastward sayled out of the Straits of Sunday for the Coast of Cormodell to the Port of Meslapotan After this President Iourden commanded the Little Iames a Vessell of about 400 Tunnes to go for England and President Ball that was President before Iourden came to Bantam and was Ordered to goe in her for England but whether he came home that year I cannot exactly remember and then Captaine Iourden took upon him the command of Sir Thomas Dailes Fleet which as I told you before was the ground of their difference The aforenamed Sir Thomas Daile advanced his fortunes in France for being there Resident when a Spaniard came into France and desired to venter his life with the skilfullest Mounsieur there upon which occasion Sir Thomas Daile addressed himself to some of the Nobillity and importuned them to crave leave of the King that he might be permitted to encounter with the Spaniard which thing the King having well resented gave consent and a day was forthwith appointed the time being come the Heroick Spaniard in the field was forthwith entertained with much gallantry by Sir Thomas Daile who maintained the fight with as much Courage and Valour as could be expected and after a hot encounter the Spanniard being much wounded began to want the life of Strength and immediately after wanted the strength of life and so yeelded the conquest and dyed The report of this honourable atchievment being bruted abroad brought such a generall applause to the renowned Victor that both the hearts and eyes of the people were so much fixed upon him that every one made it their study how to respect him according to his deserts the King also gratifying him recommended him to his Master the King of England giving a sufficient Narrative of his worth and valour which brought him into high esteem in our English Nation so receiving a Knighthood was afterwards intrusted by Sir Thomas Smith then chief in England for the Virginia Company who imployed and intrusted him to go chief Governor for Virginia at which time I Abraham Woâ—…fe was shipt in the Ship called the Clove bound for the samâ—… place whereof Captain Nuport was chief and after the well and true performance of thâ—… service in which to my best remembranâ—… he was seven years he was intrusted with 6. 〈◊〉 to the East-Indies the namâ—… of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sun the Moon the Globe the Clove the Samson and the Pepper-corn with which Ships he came safe to the Cape and from thence set well forth and so sailed within 30. leagues short of the Straits of Sunday but in the dark of the night the Ship aforenamed the Sun which was the Ambrall and the biggest in the Fleet being headmost fell foul of the shoules of the Islands of Angania and could not get off but was there lost some of her men being cast ashoar on that Island were most cruelly murthered by the Inhabitants thereof but those that were well in health endeavoured to get a way to which purpose they got one of the ships Boats and the weather being very temperate and calm they put to Sea and came to Bantam where being arrived they forthwith repaired to the President and related to him how many of the English were murthered and most barbarously used by the Inhabitants of Angania and that they conceived if the President thought it convenient to send away a Vessel to that Island many of the men which lay there then sick might be preserved from the hands of the cruell Islanders and that much of the Ships goods which was cast away might be recovered The President hearing this forthwith commanded a Ship to be preparâ—…d â—…nd sent speâ—…dily away for the Island of Angania which being done they set Sayl in a short time came to the Island where being come they perceived how most unhumanely the Inhabitants had dealt with the English they fell upon them and being very much enraged put many of them to death and afterwards we returned and gave the President an Account of what they had done who was something incensed at the killing of so many of the Inhabitants although they had been so barbarous to our men Now Sir Thomas Daile having by this time come with much difficulty within the Straits Mouth of Sunday and having dropt Anchor forthwith Man'd out a Boat and sent up to Bantam to desire men to help them to furle their Sayles and weigh their Anchors whereof I the Testator was one that was commanded out to their assistance they of themselves being so extream and unbelievably weak that they could not performe any service convenient for that time but we comming weighed their Anchors and did other things requisite and brought their Shipps safely to Bantam in the memorable year of the Blazing-Starre before the death of Queen Anne but during the time of Sir Thomas his abode with us his men having received the benefit and refreshment of the place were most of them again restored to their former healths they having suckt and rubb'd their aggrieved parts with Limes and Lemons which is the best cure for the Scurvey that can be thought of for it cureth to my knowledge the soreness of the mouth fastens the teeth and asswages the swelling of the flesh and fastens it again to the bones Suddenly after the well recovery of Sir Thomas Daile and his men Sir Thomas being a man of an active spirit and hating dronish Idleness betook himself again to Sea and sayled to a Port called Meslapotaine where being come he was arrested by Death at the Suit of Nature and gave an Acquittance to the World and dyed at which place a Monument was erected which I believe is to be seen to this day in memory of so worthy and valiant a Knight whose death was sadly deplored by all the Seamen for their hearts were so much united to him that their griefs for his loss swelled into great extreams Thus leaving Sir Thomas in his Tomb I will return to Captain Iourden and give the Reader a short yet true Relation of what befell him by the Treachery of the perfidious Dutch This Captain Iourden being a man more valiant then prudent sayling from Bantam upon a design not known nor to this day can be imagined with two Shipps the one called the Sampson and the other the Hound to the great Islands of Burnew and Anchored in a Port called Suckedany and after a short stay there he
from the violent heat by day or the vapourous cold by night and againe I am confident we were so odious to the Dutch that not any of them were guilty of so much commiseration as to furnish us with the least of any thing that might adde comfort to our distresse onely this most horrible comfort we should constantly have intruded into our ears that within two dayes more a rope should be our Phisitian but we could not perswad them that were sick of Tyranny to use it themselves some of them would often flatter us to our faces and say That no men in the world would become a halter like an Englishman Judge then Judicious Reader how dissonant these expressions were to our depressed Spirits and I beseech you let your serious consideration reflect upon their Tyrannyes and our extremeties think but how feelingly we were lash'd into miserie and when we thought that our complaints would have induced them to be compassionate their dispositions were so contaminated with Barbarisme that their joyes were as exuberous as our sorrow May not these enormeties well prove Arguments to invite us to beleeve That if their Power were correspondent to their sanguine thoughts wee should finde them worse Task-masters then ever experience made the Hebrewes find from the hands of the Egyptians And for my own part I seriously Protest that if it pleased the Great Determiner of all things to command me to yeeld my body to be tormented I had farr rather choose the Turks then the Dutch Tortures for the cruelty of their mercyes I am confident are far transcending the Turkish extremeties and I know that their Viperous inclinations towards us would not be consumated till compleated fury riotts it self into an unparaleld revenge Yet had the People which are too much ebrietated with Mallice but so much consideration as to remember how many eminent favours our Nation has formerly accumulated upon them sure they could not but ingenuously confess their dissabillity to compensate our deserts but their Ingratitude has been our reward Sed de his satis quia ingratos dixi but I will here desist from progressing any further into their ingratitude and return to my former subject Being as I have formerly told you thus carbonadoed in our bodies and sadly perplexed in our minds we began to ruminate what course we might best take to procure some ease to our distressed and distempered selves And after a short pause we thought it convenient to perswade our enemies to furnish us with pen inke and paper that in a Petitionall way we might expresse our mindes to the chief in the ship called Holland the effect whereof was That in respect of our daily vexations and troubles our bodies were very much impaired and our hearts dejected we desired so much favour from the chief of them as to be a little free'd from our chains and obtaine so great a priviledge as to walk or sit between the Decks of the ship that so our bodies and mindes might finde the comfort of a short relaxation After some consideration our hearts were exhillerated with the newes of our release we being forthwith taken from our Irksome Chains began to conceit our selves into a strange kind of happines but this happines as it was soon obtained so it as soon expired for we were forthwith through their goodnesse and clemency commanded to be put into a great bolt of Iron about Eight foot long at the least insomuch that we were forced to be idle because we could not stirr but onely sit upon the Deck and God knowes wee had enough of that before if their pleasures would have given them leave to consider it but they that felt no misery themselves knew not how to commiserate ours yet the extent of their favours was such that every other day we were severally brought out of our bolts but not for our ease but for their pleasures for we were compelled every one of us severally to answer to certain Interrogatories insomuch that if they had found us in severall tales England had never heard this sad truth from my mouth but our constant sitting and lying grew so tedious to us that we thought it convenient to Petition them againe for ease yet we were something doubtfull in respect of our former Success but the violence of our Sufferings strengthened our intentions and we resolved to Petition that we might finde so much favour from their hands as to be reinchained and permitted to walke above or below the Decks as our Chains should permitt and our occasions require our Petition being granted we were acquitted of our troublesom Bolt but new Torments like the Hydra's heads presently succeeded the old wee were no sooner out of our Bolts but we were presently exalted and carryed up and set in the heat and colde as formerly neither was that all for our leggs were forthwith salluted with a Bolt of about a foot long with both our knees wrung together so hard that our Torments may better be imagined then exprest our conditions were so lamentable that we could not so much as stirr our bodies from the place where we lay but with miserable content we were constrained to undergoe our extreamities In this most deplorable condition we continued the space of 48 hours unpittied by those merciless Neroes being in extremity of pain wee earnestly importuned them for the possession of our great Bolts again which request was accordingly granted and we put in lawfull possession by them where we remained compleat 16 dayes hearing nothing so much as the dialects of hanging and tortering which must needs be very placent to our distressed hearts Being thus almost worne out with Sufferings one of my miserable associats over-burthened with Oppression was deprived of his health and with an extream Flux was very much debilletated in his body Mr â—…dolph all this while kept himself in a good condition of health and so continued as for my self I thank my Great Preserver GOD I continued in health and was aegrotus animo magis quam corpore more imbecill in minde then body but one thing I cannot without praise to God and admiration omitt to recite which is That in the space of 21 dayes I never enjoyed the benefit of Nature more then four times and yet all the while was very sane in my body but as for my concometant Mr. Gates he was in the time of his sickness most sadly used by them in respect of his often necessity being troubled with an exceeding Flux these incomparable Villans in the absence of the Provose would not let this poor man out of the Bolts but compelled him to use the Platter wherein we constantly eat our meat these things were very unsavery to us yet these inhumane Creatures would not in the least be sensible of our callamities thus we lay sadly wasting our tedious and tiresom hours expecting every minute to have heard the tidings of death but the hand of heaven restrained them and as our sins led