on,
had 1637 men, of whom 600 were regular soldiers, divided into five
companies of 120 men in each. The East India Company contributed largely
to the expence, but does not appear to have equipped any ships on this
occasion.

SECTION I.

_Incidents of the Voyage from Holland to the South Sea_.

This armament, usually called the Nassau fleet, was by far the most
considerable that had hitherto been sent against the Spaniards in the
new world, and none so powerful has since navigated along the western
coast of America in an hostile manner. It sailed on the 29th April,
1622, from Goeree roads, all but the Orange, which joined next day.

On the 7th June, while chasing a Barbary corsair, a Christian slave, who
happened to be at the helm, ran the corsair on board the Dutch
vice-admiral, and immediately he and other slaves took the opportunity
of leaping on board to escape from slavery. The captain of the corsair,
who happened to be a Dutch renegado, followed them, and demanded
restitution of his slaves; but the vice-admiral expostulated so strongly
with him on the folly and infamy of deserting his country and religion,
that he sent for every thing belonging to him out of the corsair, and
agreed to go along with the fleet, to the regret of the Turks, who thus
lost their captain and seventeen good men.

On the 5th July the fleet anchored in the road of St Vincent, which is
extremely safe and commodious, where they procured refreshments of
sea-tortoises, fish, goats, and oranges. The islands of St Vincent and
St Antonio are the most westerly of the Cape Verds, being in from 16 deg.
30' to 18 deg. N. latitude, and about two leagues from each other. The bay
of St Vincent, in which they anchored, is in lat. 16 deg. 56' N. and has a
good firm sandy bottom, with eighteen, twenty, and twenty-five fathoms
water. The island of St Vincent is rocky, barren, and uncultivated,
having very little fresh water, though they found a small spring which
might have served two or three ships. By digging wells they procured
plenty of water, but somewhat brackish, to which they attributed the
bloody flux, which soon after began to prevail in the fleet. The goats
there, of which they caught fifteen or sixteen every day, were very fat
and excellent eating. The sea-tortoises which they took there were from
two to three feet long. They come on shore to lay their eggs, which they
cover with sand, leaving them to be hatched by the heat of the sun.