- E.]

The 4th November, putting to sea, the Desire and Content beat to and fro to windward off the head land of California; and that very morning one of the men in the admiral, going aloft to the topmast, espied a ship bearing in from seaward for the cape.

Putting every thing in readiness for action, Candish gave chase, and coming up with her in the afternoon, gave her a broadside and a volley of small arms. This ship was the Santa Anna of 700 tons burden, belonging to the king of Spain, and commanded by the admiral of the South Sea. Candish instantly boarded, finding the Spaniards in a good posture of defence, and was repulsed with the loss of two men slain and four or five wounded. He then renewed the action with his cannon and musquetry, raking the St Ann, and killing or wounding great numbers, as she was full of men. The Spaniards long defended themselves manfully; but the ship being sore wounded, so that the water poured in a-main, they at last hung out a flag of truce, praying for quarter, and offering to surrender. This was immediately agreed to by Candish, who ordered them to lower their sails, and to send their chief officers to his ship. They accordingly hoisted out their boat, in which came the captain, the pilot, and one of the chief merchants, who surrendered themselves, and gave an account of the value of their ship, in which were 122,000 pezos in gold, with prodigious quantities of rich silks, satins, damasks, and divers kinds of merchandise, such as musk, and all manner of provisions, almost as acceptable to the English as riches, having been long at sea.

The prize thus gloriously obtained, Candish returned to Aguada, or Puerto Seguro, on the 6th November, where he landed all the Spaniards, to the number of 150 persons, men and women, giving them plenty of wine and victuals, with the sails of their ship and some planks, to build huts or tents for them to dwell in. The owners of the prize being thus disposed of, the next thing was to share the booty; which ungracious work of distribution soon involved Candish in all the troubles of a mutiny, every one being eager for gold, yet no one satisfied with his share. This disturbance was most violent in the Content; but all was soon appeased and compromised by the candid and generous behaviour of Candish. The 17th of November, being the coronation day of queen Elizabeth, was celebrated by discharges of ordnance, and vollies of small shot, and at night by fireworks. Of the prisoners taken in the Spanish ship, Candish reserved two Japanese boys, three natives of the island of Luzon or Manilla, a Portuguese who had been in China and Japan, and a Spanish pilot, who was thoroughly versant in the navigation between New Spain and the Philippine islands. Accapulco is the haven whence they fit out for the Philippines, and the Ladrones are their stated places of refreshment on this voyage.

Having dismissed the Spanish captain with a noble present, and sufficient provision for his defence against the Indians, and removed everything from the prize which his ships could contain, Candish set the Santa Anna on fire on the 19th November, having still 500 tons of her goods remaining, and saw her burnt to the water's edge.

SECTION III.

Voyage Home to England.

This great business, for which they had so long waited, being now accomplished, they set sail cheerfully on their return for England. The Content staid some short time behind the Desire, which went on before, expecting she would soon follow, but she never rejoined company. Pursuing the voyage, therefore, in the Desire, Candish directed his course for the Ladrones across the Pacific Ocean, these islands being nearly 1800 leagues distant from this harbour of Aguada Segura in California. This passage took forty-five days, from the 19th November, 1587, to the 3d January, 1588. On this day, early in the morning, they had sight of Guam, one of the Ladrones, in lat. 13 deg. 40' N. and long. 143 deg. 30' E. Sailing with a gentle gale before the wind, they came within two leagues of the island, where they saw sixty or seventy canoes full of savages, who brought cocoas, plantains, potatoes, and fresh fish, to exchange for some of their commodities. They gave them in return some pieces of old iron, which they hung upon small cords and fishing lines, and so lowered down to the canoes, getting back, in the same manner, what the savages offered in exchange. In the course of this traffic the savages crowded so much about the ship, that two of their canoes were broken; yet none of the savages were drowned, as they were almost as familiar with the water as if they had been fishes. The savages continued following the ship, and would not quit her company till several shots were fired at them; though 'tis ten to one if any of them were killed, as they are so very nimble, throwing themselves immediately into the water, and diving beyond the reach of danger on the slightest warning.

These islanders were large handsome men, extraordinarily fat, and of a tawny colour, mostly having very long hair, some wearing it tied up in large knots on the crown of their heads, like certain wooden images at the heads of their canoes. Their canoes were very artificially made, considering that they use no edge-tools in their construction; and are about seven or eight yards in length, by half a yard only in breadth, their heads and stems being both alike, and having rafts made of canes or reeds on their starboard sides, being also supplied both with masts and sails. These latter are made of sedges, and are either square or triangular. These canoes have this property, that they will sail almost as well against the wind as before it.

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