The casting away of the Tobie neere Cape Espartel
corruptly called Cape Sprat without the Straight of
Gibraltar on the coast of Barbarie. 1593.
THE Tobie of London a ship of 250 tunnes manned with
fiftie men, the owner whereof was the worshipfull M.
Richard Staper, being bound for Livorno
, Zante
and
Patras
in Morea
, being laden with marchandize to the
value of 11 or 12 thousand pounds sterling, set sayle
from Black-wall the 16 day of August 1593, and we
went thence to Portesmouth where we tooke in great
quantitie of wheate, and set sayle foorth of Stokes bay
in the
Isle of Wight, the 6. day of October, the winde
being faire: and the 16 of the same moneth we were
in the heigth of
Cape S. Vincent, where on the next
morning we descried a sayle which lay in try right a
head off us, to which we gave chase with very much
winde, the sayle being a Spaniard, which wee found in
fine so good of sayle that we were faine to leave her
and give her over. Two dayes after this we had sight
of mount Chiego, which is the first high-land which
we descrie on the Spanish coast at the entrance of the
Straight of Gibraltar, where we had very foule weather
and the winde scant two dayes together. Here we lay
off to the sea. The Master, whose name was George
Goodlay, being a young man, and one which never tooke
charge before for those parts, was very proud of that
charge which he was litle able to discharge, neither
would take any counsel of any of his company, but did
as he thought best himselfe, & in the end of the two
dayes of foule weather cast about, and the winde being
faire, bare in with the straights mouth. The 19 day
at night he thinking that he was farther off the land
then he was, bare sayle all that night, & an houre and
an halfe before day had ranne our shippe upon the
ground on the coast of Barbarie without the straight
foure leagues to the
South of Cape Espartel. Whereupon being all not a litle astonied, the Master said unto
us, I pray you forgive me; for this is my fault and
no mans else. The company asked him whether they
should cut off the maine maste: no sayd the Master
we will hoyse out our boate. But one of our men
comming speedily up, sayd, Sirs, the ship is full of
water, well sayd the Master, then cut the mayne-mast
over boord: which thing we did with all speede. But
the after part suddenly split a sunder in such sort that
no man was able to stand upon it, but all fled upon
the foremast up into the shrouds thereof; and hung
there for a time: but seeing nothing but present death
approch (being so suddenly taken that we could not
make a raft which we had determined) we committed
our selves unto the Lord and beganne with dolefull tune
and heavy hearts to sing the 12 Psalme. Helpe Lord
for good and godly men &c. Howbeit before we had
finished foure verses the waves of the sea had stopped
the breathes of most of our men. For the foremast
with the weight of our men & the force of the sea fell
downe into the water, and upon the fall thereof there
were 38 drowned, and onely 12 by Gods providence partly
by swimming and other meanes of chests gote on shoare,
which was about a quarter of a mile from the wracke
of the ship. The master called George Goodley, and
William Palmer his mate, both perished. M. Caesar also
being captaine and owner was likewise drowned: none of
the officers were saved but the carpenter.
We twelve which the Lord had delivered from extreme
danger of the Sea, at our comming ashore fell in a
maner into as great distresse. At our first comming
on shore we all fell downe on our knees, praying the
Lord most humbly for his mercifull goodnesse. Our
prayers being done, we consulted together what course
to take, seeing we were fallen into a desert place, &
we travelled all that day untill night, sometimes one
way and sometimes another, and could finde no kinde
of inhabitants; onely we saw where wilde beasts had
bene, and places where there had bene houses, which
after we perceived to have bene burnt by the Portugals.
So at night falling into certaine groves of olive trees,
we climed up and sate in them to avoid the danger of
lions and other wilde beasts, whereof we saw many the
next morning. The next day we travelled untill three
of the clocke in the afternoone without any food, but
water and wilde date roots: then going over a mountaine,
we had sight of
Cape Espartel; whereby we knew
somewhat better which way to travell, and then we went
forward untill we came to an hedgerow made with great
long canes; we spied and looked over it, and beheld
a number of men aswell horsemen as footmen, to the
number of some five thousand in skirmish together with
small shot and other weapons. And after consultation
what we were best to do, we concluded to yeeld our
selves unto them, being destitute of all meanes of resistance. So rising up we marched toward them, who
espying us, foorthwith some hundred of them with their
javelings in their hands came running towards us as
though they would have run us thorow: howbeit they
onely strooke us flatling with their weapons, and said
that we were Spaniards: and we tolde them that we were
Englishmen; which they would not beleeve yet. By
and by the conflict being ended, and night approching,
the captaine of the Moores, a man of some 56 yeres
olde, came himselfe unto us, and by his interpretor
which spake Italian, asked what we were, and from
whence we came. One Thomas Henmer of our company which could speake Italian, declared unto him
that we were marchants, and how by great misfortune
our ship, marchandise, & the greatest part of our company were pitifully cast away upon their coast. But he
void of humainity & all manhood, for all this, caused
his men to strip us out of our apparell even to our
shirts to see what money and jewels we had about us:
which when they had found to the value of some 200
pounds in golde and pearles they gave us some of our
apparel againe, and bread and water onely to comfort
us. The next morning they carried us downe to the
shore where our shippe was cast away, which was some
sixteene miles from that place. In which journey they
used us like their slaves, making us (being extreame
weake,) to carry their stuffe, and offering to beat us
if we went not so fast as they. We asked them why
they used us so, and they replied, that we were their
captives: we sayd we were their friends, and that there
was never Englishman captive to the king of Marocco.
So we came downe to the ship, and lay there with
them seven dayes, while they had gotten all the goods
they could, and then they parted it amongst them.
After the end of these seven dayes the captaine appointed
twenty of his men wel armed, to bring us up into ye
countrey: and the first night we came to the side of a
river called Alarach, where we lay on the grasse all
that night: so the next day we went over the river in
a frigate of nine oares on a side, the river being in that
place above a quarter of a mile broad: and that day
we went to a towne of thirty houses, called Totteon:
there we lay foure dayes having nothing to feed on but
bread and water; and then we went to a towne called
Cassuri, and there we were delivered by those twenty
souldiers unto the Alcaide, which examined us what we
were: and we tolde him. He gave us a goode answere,
and sent us to the Jewes house, where we lay seven
dayes. In the meane while that we lay here, there were
brought thither twenty Spaniards and twenty Frenchmen,
which Spaniards were taken in a conflict on land, but
the Frenchmen were by foule weather cast on land
within the Straights about
Cape de Gate, and so made
captives. Thus at the seven dayes end we twelve
Englishmen, the twelve French, and the twenty Spaniards
were all conducted toward Marocco with nine hundred
souldiers, horsemen and fotmen, and in two dayes
journey we came to the river of Fez, where we lodged
all night, being provided of tents. The next day we
went to a towne called Salle, and lay without the towne
in tents. From thence we travelled almost an hundred
miles without finding any towne, but every night we came
to fresh water, which was partly running water and
sometime raine water. So we came at last within three
miles of the city of Marocco, where we pitched our tents:
and there we mette with a carrier which did travell in
the countrey for the English marchants: and by him we
sent word unto them of our estate: and they returned
the next day unto us a Moore
, which brought us victuals,
being at that instant very feeble and hungry; and
withall sent us a letter with pen, inke, and paper, willing
us to write unto them what ship it was that was cast
away, and how many and what men there were alive.
For said they we should knowe with speed, for to
morow is the kings court: and therefore we would
know, for that you should come into the citie like
captives. But for all that we were carried in as captives
and with ropes about our neckes as well English as
the French and Spaniards. And so we were carried
before the king: and when we came before him he did
commit us all to ward, where wee lay 15 dayes in close
prison: and in the end we were cleared by the English
Marchants to their great charges: for our deliverance
cost them 700 ounces, every ounce in that country con
tayning two shillings. And when we came out of prison
we went to the Alfandica, where we continued eight
weekes with the English marchants. At the end of which
time being well apparelled by the bountie of our marchants we were conveyed downe by the space of eight
dayes journey to S. Cruz, where the English ships road:
where we tooke shipping about the 20 of March, two in
the Anne Francis of London, and five more of us five
dayes after in the Expedition of London, and two more
in a Flemish flie-boat, and one in the Mary Edward also of
London, other two of our number died in the countrey
of the bloodie-fluxe: the one at our first imprisonment
at Marocco, whose name was George Hancock, and the
other at S. Cruz, whose name was Robert Swancon,
whose death was hastened by eating of rootes and other
unnaturall things to slake their raging hunger in our
travaile, and by our hard and cold lodging in the open
fields without tents. Thus of fiftie persons through the
rashnesse of an unskilfull Master ten onely survived of
us, and after a thousand miseries returned home poore,
sicke, and feeble into our countrey.
| Richard Johnson. | Thomas Henmore. |
| William Williams Carpenter. | John Silvester. |
| John Durham. | Thomas Whiting. |
| Abraham Rouse. | William Church. |
| John Matthewes. | John Fox. |
