who inhabited the Florida keys were noted for their 

 cruelty to shipwrecked mariners. 



With both sliips destroyed, they had only three small 

 craft — a longboat, a yawl which was merely a double- 

 ended rowboat, and the captain's barge. It was hundreds 

 of miles to the English Port Royal in South Carolina, from 

 whence they had come; and it was a considerable distance, 

 with unfavorable winds, to the nearest English settlement 

 of New Providence in the heart of the Bahamas. 



There was no water available on the sandy islet upon 

 which they found themselves; all they had were the few 

 casks which they had been able to salvage from the 

 wrecked ships. It was apparent also that a heavy storm 

 would, in all probability, carry the seas completely over 

 the surface of the low island. Their predicament was grave 

 indeed. 



As Captain Utting pondered their unhappy pros- 

 pects, a lookout spied a sloop at sea, headed toward the 

 northwest. When it failed to answer their signals, the cap- 

 tain commanded that the men arm themselves and take 

 three small craft after it. He ordered them to use every 

 means in their power to capture it, for it might well be 

 their only means of escape. 



The little flotilla did not return until the next morn- 

 ing, but they brought the sloop with them. Its Spanish 

 crew, they reported, had escaped in the ship's lone boat 

 and headed back toward Havana. 



Captain Utting immediately set the men to work to 

 equip the four available boats for their journey. The sides 

 of the longboat were built up with timbers from the 

 wrecked Looe, to increase its capacity and its safety, and 

 all four boats were supplied as generously as possible with 

 bread, water and ammunition. 



By noon of the fourth day they were ready to start. 



The Florida Keys 23 



