All These Circumstances Were
Probably Communicated In A Former Letter, Alluded To In The Commencement
Of That Which Was Intercepted,
As it proceeds upon having received a
commission from the royal audience, to punish certain offenders who had
usurped a
Great quantity of property belonging to the King of Spain in
the island of Utias; the plunder taken by the English, and with which
these four men had landed in that island - E.
* * * * *
It appears by this letter, that three English ships bound for the East
Indies, belonging to Portugal, had captured three Portuguese ships, one
of them from Goa, from the captain of which they took a large rich
precious stone, which the captain had charge of for the King of Spain;
the particulars of which had been communicated the year before in a
letter from Alcasar to the king, together with a copy of the declaration
of one Thomas, of the goods he and his three companions had in the said
island of Utias. They had also many bags of ryals of eight and four,
intended for the pay of the garrison in a frontier castle of India, and
much more goods belonging to the Portuguese.
After this all the men died of some unexplained sickness, except four
men, whose names were Richard, Daniel, Thomas, and George. These men,
with all the jewels, money, and rich goods they could remove, put into a
river or bay of the island of Utias,[30] three leagues from Porto
Rico; where, after landing their goods, their boat sunk, and they
remained on that island with only a small boat made of boards, which
they had taken from some fishermen at Cape San Juan, the north-east
headland of Porto Rico. With that small boat they crossed over to Porto
Rico in search of water, and, on their return to Utias, left George
behind them on Porto Rico. He, being found by Don Rodrigo de Fuentes and
five others, gave information of all that had happened to them, and of
the large stone, jewels, gold, plate, testoons, and other rich goods
that were in the said island, and of the places where the other three
Englishmen and their goods might be found.
[Footnote 30: From the context, it would appear, that the island of
Utias is to the east of Porto Rico, among or towards the group called
the Virgin isles. The ships of Wood were probably suffering from scurvy
and famine, like the Edward Bonadventure; and, endeavouring, like
Lancaster, to seek relief in the West Indies, may have perished among
the Virgin isles. - E.]
Consulting together on this information, they agreed to pass over into
the island, to take possession for their own benefit of these rich
goods, and did so, carrying with them a letter from George the
Englishman to his: comrades, advising them to submit to the Spaniards,
and to deliver up to them their arms and riches. Coming near to where
the three Englishmen dwelt, these Spaniards displayed a white flag in
token of peace, and the Englishmen set up another; after which they held
a friendly conference together, the Spaniards pledging their good faith
and friendship. Upon which the Englishmen yielded themselves to Don
Rodrigo and his companions, with their arms and all their goods, which
they took possession of, and parted all the money among themselves. They
hid and kept secret the great stone and other jewels, with a great
quantity of gold, silver, and other rich goods; keeping out only a small
quantity of silver in bars, and some silks, as a cover for the rest.
And, that it might not be known what quantity of jewels, gold, silver,
and other rich goods they had usurped, they agreed to murder the three
Englishmen with whom they had eaten, drank, and slept in peace. They
accordingly killed Richard and Daniel, and would have slain George, but
he escaped from them to a mountain. They then returned to Porto Rico,
where they put George to death by poison, and sent to Utias to seek out
Thomas and put him to death; but he got over to this island in a
wonderful manner by means of a piece of timber; which they hearing of,
sought by all the means they could to kill him, but to no purpose.
Meanwhile Don Rodrigo, and two others of his accomplices, came to the
city of San Juan, and informed the governor that they had found a small
quantity of goods in the island of Utias, having slain three Englishmen
in fight to get them; and their other accomplices presented themselves
as witnesses, falsely declaring that they had found no more goods. But
not agreeing in their story on farther investigation, and Thomas the
Englishman being at length procured as evidence against them, they were
all sent to prison; whence Don Rodrigo, though bolted and guarded by two
soldiers, contrived to get out by filing off his irons in the night.
After Don Rodrigo's escape, the rest confessed the whole affair; but
either through favour or fear, no one would assist Alcasar to bring this
rascally ringleader to justice. He pronounced sentence on all the rest,
with a denunciation that they were to be put to death in five days,
unless the goods were delivered up.
How this affair ended does not appear, as the letter was written before
the expiry of the five days. Neither indeed is this letter of much
importance, except to shew the miserable end of that unfortunate voyage,
the villainy of Don Rodrigo and his comrades in murdering the poor
Englishmen to conceal their plunder, and that Alcasar, in the
prosecution, was solely intent upon recovering the treasure for the King
of Spain, without any consideration of the murder of the three
Englishmen; who, in his letter, are treated as robbers and thieves,
though England was then at war with Spain, and they were consequently
justifiable in taking the Portuguese ships as lawful prizes.
SECTION IX.
Voyage of Captain John Davis to the East Indies, in 1598, as Pilot to a
Dutch Ship.[31]
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