10 Another African Voyage

CHAPTER 10 Another African Voyage I boarded the ship on September 1, 1659, exactly eight years to the day since I had taken the first fateful voyage from Hull. I tried not to think about it, I didn't want to jinx my trip. The ship carried 120 tons of supplies, and fourteen men plus my captain, his servant, and me. We didn't have a lot of cargo on

board, just what we needed to trade with the Africans. When we set sail that day, the weather was wonderful. The sun shone brightly. The wind blew in exactly the right direction. We made our way north—meaning to sail for Africa when we reached ten or twelve degrees latitude. The violent storm hit after we had already been sailing for twelve days. We had to hold tight as it furiously tossed the ship this way and that. We lost three men during that hurricane. One died of pneumonia, and two others were washed right overboard. For two straight weeks the storm raged. We were terrified. After what felt like an eternity, the weather finally calmed. We were thrown well off course and the captain needed to figure out where we were. I spent hours in the captain's cabin with him trying to decide

what to do; we poured over our maps, charts and diagrams. "Maybe we should make for home," the captain said after much careful thought. "But we're so far off course," I replied, "it might be safer to head for the Caribbean Islands. At least there we can refit the ship and maybe find a couple of sailors willing to join our crew." "That's true." He looked carefully at the papers on his table. "We could reach them in the next few weeks. I think you are right— that's our best plan." The captain informed the crew we were heading for the Caribbean, and we immediately changed our course. The ship was badly damaged and leaking heavily. Despite these problems, we were confident we could reach Barbados in about two weeks, give or take a day.