The 14th April We Met Two Large Portuguese Ships,
Which We Supposed Were Bound To Calicut.
The 23d we saw a French ship of
90 tons to windward of us, which came down upon us as if to lay us on
board, sending up some of his men in armour into the tops, and calling
out to us to strike.
Upon this we saluted him with some cross-bars,
chain-shot, and arrows, so thick that we made their upper works fly
about their ears, and tore his ship so miserably, that he fell astern
and made sail. Our trumpeter was a Frenchman, at this time ill in bed;
yet he blew his trumpet till he could sound no more, and so died. The
29th we arrived at Plymouth, and gave thanks to God for our safety.
SECTION VI.
_Third Voyage of William Towerson to Guinea, in 1558_[270].
On the 30th of January of the above year, we set sail from Plymouth with
three ships and a pinnace, bound by the grace of God for the Canaries
and the coast of Guinea. Our ships were the Minion, admiral; the
Christopher, vice-admiral; the Tiger, and a pinnace called the Unicorn.
Next day we fell in with two hulks[271] of Dantziek, one called the Rose
of 400 tons, and the other the Unicorn of 150, both laden at Bourdeaux,
mostly with wine. We caused them to hoist out their boats and come on
board, when we examined them separately as to what goods they had on
board belonging to Frenchmen[272]. At first they denied having any; but
by their contradictory stories, we suspected the falsehood of their
charter parties, and ordered them to produce their bills of lading.
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