ship were put under hatches, coupled
together in irons; and, after they had been three or four days
prisoners, a Spanish ensign in the ship, who had a brother slain in the
armada that went against England, took a fancy to revenge his brothers
death, and to shew his own manhood on these captives; whereupon, taking
a poinard, he stabbed six of them to the heart as they sat below in
irons. Two others of them perceiving this atrocious action, clasped each
other about the body, and leapt into the sea, where they were drowned.
This infamous act was much disliked by all the Spaniards, so that the
assassin was carried prisoner to Lisbon; upon which the king of Spain
commanded him to be sent to England, that the queen might use him
according to her pleasure; which sentence, at the earnest request of the
friends of the murderer, was commuted to an order for his being
beheaded; but on Good Friday, when the cardinal was going to mass, the
captains and commanders made such intercession for him, that he was
finally pardoned. I thought good to note this incident, that the bloody
and dishonourable minds of the Spaniards to those who were under
subjection to them, might be made manifest.

The same two English ships, which followed the Spanish admiral till he
took shelter under the guns of the fort, put out to sea, where they met
with the only remaining vessel of that fleet which had been scattered in
the storm, all the rest being now in the road. This small ship they
took, sending all me men on shore unhurt; but it they had known what had
been done to the English captives, I believe they would have taken
vengeance, as many an innocent soul afterwards paid for the atrocity of
the Spanish ensign. The ship now taken by the English, was the same
which had been formerly confiscated at Tercera, and was sold to the
Spaniards that then came from the Indies, who sailed in her to San
Lucar; where it also was arrested by the duke, and appointed to go along
with the others, to fetch the silver from Tercera, as it was a good
sailer; but it was the meanest of all that fleet. By this means, it was
taken from the Spaniards and carried to England, where the owners got it
again when they least expected.

On the 19th March 1590, having laden the kings silver and received
Alvaro Flores with his company, and good provision of necessaries,
warlike ammunitions and soldiers, the before-mentioned 19 ships sailed
from Tercera, firmly resolved, as they set forth