III.
GOURGUES AT SEA.
The Chevalier de Gourgues received his commission, and his preparationsfor the expedition were at once begun. He converted his goods andchattels into money--his lands and moveables. He sold everything that hepossessed. Nor did he rest here. He borrowed of friends and neighbors.His credit was good--his reputation great--himself beloved. It was easyto inspire confidence in the ostensible objects of his expedition.The world then conceived very differently of the morals of such anenterprise, than it does at present. The moneys thus realized wereemployed in arming two _roberges_, or brigantines,--ships of lightburthen, resembling the Spanish caravels; and one _patache_, or tender,a vessel modelled after the frigate of the Levant, and designed forpenetrating shallow harbors. One hundred and fifty soldiers, and eightysailors, formed his complement of men, of whom one hundred were armedwith the cross-bow. There were many gentlemen, volunteers, in theexpedition; and De Gourgues had taken the precaution to secure theservices of one who had been a trumpeter under Laudonniere, and had madehis escape with that commander. Provisions for a year were laid in; andevery preparation having been made, and every precaution taken, as wellwith the view to secrecy, as to the prosecution of the object, thesquadron sailed for Bordeaux, on the second day of August, 1567, justtwo years after the flight of Laudonniere from Florida. But the fates,at first, did not seem to smile upon the enterprise. Baffled by contrarywinds, our chevalier was at length driven for shelter into the Charente,where he lay till the twenty-second, when he put to sea, only toencounter new disappointments. His ships were separated by a severetempest, and some time elapsed before they were re-united. He hadprovided against this event by ordering his rendezvous at the mouth ofthe _Rio del Oro_, upon the coast of Africa. From this point he rangedthe coast down to Cape Blanco, where, instigated by the Portuguese, hewas assailed by three African chiefs, with their naked savages, whom hebeat off in two actions. He then proceeded and continued in safety uponhis route, until he reached Cape Verd, when he turned his prows suddenlyin the direction of America. The first land which he made in thisprogress was Dominica, one of the smaller Antilles; thence he drew on toPorto Rico, and next to Mona; the cacique of which place supplied himliberally with fresh provisions. Stretching away for the continent, heencountered a tempest, which constrained him to seek shelter in the portof San Nicholas, on the west side of Hispaniola, where he repaired hisvessels, greatly shattered by the storm, but where he vainly endeavoredto lay in new supplies of bread; his biscuit having been mostly damagedby the same cause;--the Spaniards, with great inhospitality, refusinghim all supplies of food. Scarcely had he left San Nicholas, when he wasencountered by a hurricane, which drove him upon the coast, exposing himto the most imminent peril, and from the danger of which he escaped withgreat difficulty; he gained, after many hardships, the west side of theIsland of Cuba, and found temporary respite at Cape San Antonio, wherehe went on shore for a season.
The Lily and the Totem; or, The Huguenots in Florida Page 48
