ion which I had not before taken during the whole voyage.
It pleased God at midnight, while all the men were asleep, that the
current gently carried our ship upon one of the shoals, which made such a
roaring noise that it might have been heard and discovered at the distance
of a league. Then the fellow who felt the rudder strike and heard the
noise, immediately began to cry out, and I hearing him got up immediately,
for no one had as yet perceived that we were aground. Presently the master
whose watch it was came upon deck, and I ordered him and other sailors to
take the boat and carry out an anchor astern, hoping thereby to warp off
the ship. Thereupon he and others leapt into the boat, as I believed to
carry my orders into execution; but they immediately rowed away to the
other caravel which was half a league from us. On perceiving that the boat
had deserted us, and the water ebbed apace to the manifest danger of our
ship, I caused the masts to be cut away, and lightened her as much as
possible in hopes to get her off. But the water still ebbed, and the
caravel remained fast in the shoal, and turning athwart the stream the
seams opened and all below deck became filled with water."

"Meanwhile, the boat returned from the other caravel to our relief, for
the people in the Nina, perceiving they had fled, refused to receive them,
and obliged them to return to our ship. No hopes of saving the ship
appearing, I went away to the other caravel to save the lives of the
people; and great part of the night was already spent, while yet we knew
not which way to get from among the shoals, I lay to with the Nina till
daylight, and then drew towards the land within the shoals. I then
dispatched James de Arana the provost, and Peter Gutieres, your highnesses
secretary, to acquaint the king with what had happened, and to inform him,
that as I was bound to his own port to pay him a visit, according to his
desire, I had lost my ship on a flat opposite his town. On receiving this
intelligence, with tears in his eyes, the king expressed much grief for
our loss, and immediately sent off all the people in the place with many
large canoes to our assistance. We accordingly began immediately to unload,
and with our own boats and their canoes, we soon carried on shore every
thing that was on the deck. The aid given us on this occasion by the king
was very great; and he afterwards, with the assistance of his brothers and
kindred, took all possible