\596. WILLIAM ADAMS. l6l 



degree of latitude beyond that which at this period 

 had ever been attained ; and though no name is 

 given, yet it is evident, from the exact date and 

 other circumstances, that this Enghshman could 

 have been no other than William Adams. 



Diogo de Couto,=^ in detailing the disastrous 

 circumstances of the expedition sent by the Dutch 

 round Cape Horn, in the year \59S, under the 

 Vice-admiral Simon de Cordes, observes, that one 

 of the ships was driven by a storm on the coast 

 of Japan, having lost by a contagious disease her 

 Captain, whom he calls Corda, and one hundred 

 and fifty men ; only twenty-five remaining alive, 

 who had more the appearance of corpses than of 

 living beings, and utterly unable to manage the 

 ship. '' The pilot of this ship," says Couto, "was 

 an Englishman, a good cosmographer, and with 

 some knowledge of astrology. He averred to the 

 Jesuits at iVIeaco, that the Prince of Orange had 

 on several occasions employed him on services of 

 much importance ; and particularly in the years 

 1593, 1594, and 1595, he sent him to discover the 

 route above Biarmia and Finmarchia for his ships 



* Diogo de Couto, Decad. xii. Chap. 2.-— The Author is in- 

 debted for this passage in Couto, and for the account of the 

 Cortereals, to his highly esteemed friend Thomas Murdoch, Esq. 

 of Portland Place, whose extensive acquaintance with Spanish 

 and Portugueze literature would, and it is to be hoped will, 

 enable him to favour the public with many hidden treasures in 

 those languages. 



VOL. I. H 



