3. III.
GOURGUES AT SEA.
The Chevalier de Gourgues received his commission, and his
preparations for the expedition were at once begun. He converted
his goods and chattels into money—his lands and moveables.
He sold everything that he possessed. Nor did he rest
here. He borrowed of friends and neighbors. His credit was
good—his reputation great—himself beloved. It was easy to
inspire confidence in the ostensible objects of his expedition.
The world then conceived very differently of the morals of such
an enterprise, than it does at present. The moneys thus realized
were employed in arming two roberges, or brigantines,—ships of
light burthen, resembling the Spanish caravels; and one patache,
or tender, a vessel modelled after the frigate of the Levant, and
designed for penetrating shallow harbors. One hundred and fifty
soldiers, and eighty sailors, formed his complement of men, of
whom one hundred were armed with the cross-bow. There were
many gentlemen, volunteers, in the expedition; and De Gourgues
had taken the precaution to secure the services of one who had
been a trumpeter under Laudonniere, and had made his escape
with that commander. Provisions for a year were laid in; and
every preparation having been made, and every precaution taken,
as well with the view to secrecy, as to the prosecution of the
object, the squadron sailed for Bordeaux, on the second day of
August, 1567, just two years after the flight of Laudonniere from
Florida. But the fates, at first, did not seem to smile upon the
enterprise. Baffled by contrary winds, our chevalier was at
length driven for shelter into the Charente, where he lay till the
twenty-second, when he put to sea, only to encounter new disappointments.
His ships were separated by a severe tempest, and
some time elapsed before they were re-united. He had provided
against this event by ordering his rendezvous at the mouth of the
Rio del Oro, upon the coast of Africa. From this point he
ranged the coast down to Cape Blanco, where, instigated by the
Portuguese, he was assailed by three African chiefs, with their
naked savages, whom he beat off in two actions. He then proceeded
and continued in safety upon his route, until he reached
Cape Verd, when he turned his prows suddenly in the direction
of America. The first land which he made in this progress was
Dominica, one of the smaller Antilles; thence he drew on to
Porto Rico, and next to Mona; the cacique of which place supplied
him liberally with fresh provisions. Stretching away for
the continent, he encountered a tempest, which constrained him
to seek shelter in the port of San Nicholas, on the west side of
Hispaniola, where he repaired his vessels, greatly shattered by
the storm, but where he vainly endeavored to lay in new supplies
of bread; his biscuit having been mostly damaged by the same
cause;—the Spaniards, with great inhospitality, refusing him all
supplies of food. Scarcely had he left San Nicholas, when he
was encountered by a hurricane, which drove him upon the
coast, exposing him to the most imminent peril, and from the
danger of which he escaped with great difficulty; he gained, after
many hardships, the west side of the Island of Cuba, and found
temporary respite at Cape San Antonio, where he went on shore
for a season.
