to return to Havana for repair. Upon the fleet's arrival 

 there, divers were sent down to examine the Nuestra 

 Senora's hull and to patch the rotten timbers. Twenty- 

 four hours later the convoy got under way once more. 



This time it had just reached the narrowest part of 

 the Bahama canal, between Florida and the Bahama is- 

 lands, when it was set upon by a hurricane. The Nuestra 

 Senora was tossed and beaten about by the huge waves. 

 Her sails were torn away in the violent winds, and the crew 

 hastened to cut down the tall masts, which threatened to 

 overturn the galleon. The dozy timbers of her leaky hull, 

 wrenched apart by the violence of the seas, let in such 

 quantities of water that in spite of desperate work at the 

 pumps, the ship was in constant danger of foundering. 



However, when the storm was over, the Nuestra 

 Senora was still afloat, but separated from the other ships, 

 and well north of the spot where the hurricane had first 

 struck. The admiral, after surveying the damage, decided 

 it would be necessary to head for the nearest Spanish base 

 at Puerto Rico for repairs before continuing the voyage 

 across the ocean. But first he ordered the ship hove to for 

 several days while masts were jury-rigged and emergency 

 sails prepared. The pumps were operated continuously 

 in an attempt to lower the level of the water in the holds, 

 and wherever it was possible, repairs were made to the 

 leaky hull from the inside. 



At last the ship was able to get underway once more, 

 although sadly handicapped by her makeshift sails. Her 

 course carried her east until the ship's pilots declared they 

 had gone far enough to clear the last outposts of the Ba- 

 hama islands. Then the Nuestra Seiiora was headed south. 



The admiral protested that they had not gone far 

 enough to the east, and that if they changed course at this 

 point, it would bring them into dangerous waters along 

 the eastern shores of the Bahamas. The pilots refused to 



The Silver Shoals 235 



