Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/640

 516 D£S£RTED 1584-6 Deserted agftin. Thesur- vivort account. Expecta- tions of relief. Attempt to escape. Another wreck. besides the three that he had seen there were fifteen more (tnv^elve men and three women). The General then desired that two soldiers, the companions of him who had embarked, should be instructed to go to the other Spaniards and inform them that if they desired to leave the place they should come to the shore nearest the ships and he would receive them all on board. With this message the two soldiers departed, and the boat left the shore. When the General arrived on board he found the wind favour- able for advancing up the Strait; upon which, without any waiting, he ordered the anchors to be taken up, and the ships immediately sailed forward, leaving the wretched remains of the Spanish colon j with this cruel disappointment added to their other miseries, and utterly abandoned of man — ^both friend and foe. The Spaniard who was received into the English ships wa£ named Tom6 Hernandez. From a public declaration which he made many years afterwards has been received all that is known of the history of this neglected colony subsequent to the departure of Sarmiento from the Strait 'Jlie following is a summary of the account given by Hernandez : — The Spanish settlers were landed from the ships in February, 1584. In the latter part of May, their General was forced out of the Strait by a gale of wind, and there remained no vessel with the colony. In August, the Spaniards who had been left at Nombre de Jesus judged it necessary to quit that station and to remove to the town of San Felipe, to which place they travelled by land, but sustenance for so many people could not be obtained at San Felipe; and Captain Andres de Yiedma, who commanded after the depart- ure of Sarmiento, sent two hundred men back to Nombre de Jesus, who had no other means to support themselves in tlie journey than by seeking for shell-fish along the coast. Many died during the winter. The ensuing spring and summer were passed in constant and anxious expectation of the return of Sarmiento, and of receiv- ing relief from the Spanish colonies in South America ; but neither Sarmiento nor relief of any kind arrived. When the summer wub far advanced, Viedma, who remained with the people at the town of San Felipe, caused two small barks to be buHt, in which he em- barked with all the people who were then living at that place, being fifty-five in number — fifty men and five women. (Hernandez has described the time so indistinctly that it appears uncertain whether this event took place in the beginning of 1585 or of 1586.) They set sail towards the eastern entrance of the Strait ; but when they proceeded only six leagues from San Felipe, one of the barks was cast on the rocks and wrecked. This accident was en- tirely occasioned by there not being among them any mariners who could manage the vessel. The people got from the wreck safe to the land, but the remaining bark was not large enough to carry the whole ; and this loss, with their want of a stock of provisions suffi- Digitized by Google