AUSTRIALIA DEL ESPIRITU SANTO 181 



about 9 at night. We began to sound, to find whether 

 there was bottom for us to anchor, but could find none. 

 It was dark, and there is no anchorage in all that bay, 

 except in that one corner. At this time such a strong 

 gust came from the South, off the land, that undoubtedly 

 we should have come to grief if we had persisted. We 

 could get no soundings, but we saw that there were lights 

 near the beach, apart from each other, and that they must 

 be our vessels. We were under small sail, and the wind 

 kept increasing in violence, so that we were only able 

 to show a fore course to it. The general and officers 

 then decided that we should tack, and then stand for the 

 middle of the bay, as we were near a rock ; and, even if 

 we had been closer, we should not have got soundings. 

 All these ships built in Peru are bad under little sail. A 

 man aloft said he had seen the Almirante anchored to 

 windward of us, but we could never make up the distance. 

 Every time we tacked we went away to leeward, the wind 

 blowing fresh. For this reason it was resolved by the same 

 persons that we should run before it, only under a spritsail, 

 striking the topmasts that we might find shelter from the 

 point to windward ; and so it was done. At dawn (June 

 1 2th) we were about four leagues out at sea, outside the 

 Bay. All night we had the lanterns burning, that the other 

 ships might follow us ; but they did not do so. We stood 

 off and on, and at the mouth of the^ Bay, in sight of the 

 port, the weather continuing the same, without the other 

 ships joining company, and always with the topmasts 

 struck ; and in this way we remained three days, till we 

 found ourselves nine leagues to leeward of the Cape. . . . 

 We worked from the I3th to the iQth, striving if the wind 

 would let us get into the Bay ; but by no means could 

 we succeed, for the weather not only remained the same, 

 but got worse. On the 20th, seeing that the weather 

 did not improve, the General, with the concurrence of 

 the crew, decided, if the wind permitted us, to go as far 

 as 10 20' S. to make for Santa Cruz where we might wait 

 for our consorts, and get in necessary supplies." l 



1 Quiros, ed. Markham, vol. ii. pp. 394-5. 



