JOURNAL OF GALLEGO. 241 



were not able of themselves to do it ; but God and His Blessed 

 Mother willed that it should be done.^ Then I ordered the sailors 

 to unfurl a little of the sail ; but before two gaskets were loosed, the 

 fore-sail went into two thousand pieces, and only the bolt-ropes re- 

 mained. For more than half-an-hour the ship was in great peril 

 until the main-mast was cut away.^ And soon I ordered them to 

 make a sail of a frecada^ and of a piece of a bonnet {boneta) ; with 



this the ship was able to answer her helm * The weather 



besran to clear. We were driven from our course more than 50 

 leagues, because the storm overtook us in latitude 32^°, and when it 

 beofan to clear we found ourselves in 80°. When this weather came 

 upon us we were 70 leagues south-east-by-south ^ from the Cabo de 

 Fortunas ; and when it began to clear we were 120 leagues, rather 

 more than less. 



" We headed on our course with only the fore-sails, as we had no 

 other sails, since the sailors had lost the bonnets overboard. On the 

 21st of October, the wind went round to the opposite quarter, and 

 lasted until the 29th. Coursing north-east with much wind and 

 sea, we sailed close-hauled on one tack or the other, because it was 

 no longer possible to sail free as the sea would engulph us. The 

 ship did not behave well in a beam sea, for soon she shipped seas on 

 either side, and she lost as much way as she made. On the evening 

 of the 29th of October, the wind went round to the south-east, and 

 there was a heavy sea. The wind was so strong that we were un- 

 able to make any sails, as they were carried away. All that night 

 we lay in the trough of the sea with much wind and thunder and 

 licrhtnino-, so that it seemed like the overwhelming of the world.*^ 

 On the following morning I ordered them to clear away the sprit- 

 sail and use it as a fore-sail, so that we might steer the ship. Before 

 we had run for a watch to the north-east, the wind went round to 

 the south, and with such force that it carried away the sails and we 



1 This reference to the launching of the boat, in order, I infer, to lighten the vessel, is 

 ambiguously expressed. Figueroa, in his account, would appear to imply that the boat was 

 merely relieved from its weight of ropes and water ; but further on in his account, Gallego 

 expressly refers to their being without a boat. 



2 Figueroa adds to this account. He says that the General gave the order to cut away 

 the mainmast, and that it carried away a portion of the bulwarks. 



3 Frazada in the account of Figueroa. 



* " Para atras hechamos el camarote de popa a la mar. " 



5 I cannot understand this bearing. 



6 Fisrueroa in his account states that there was always a foot and a half of water in the 

 hold. 



Q 



