and water, he directed his course to Newfoundland. Baffling winds prolonged the voyage, so that the provisions were exhausted, and it was resolved to return to the Vest Indies. Mona was again reached on the 20th of November, 1593, but while the captain and a party of men landed to seek for provisions, the carpenter secretly cut the cable, and the ship drifted away to sea with only five men and a boy on board. Lancaster, with his lieutenant Barker, and the men who had landed, were left on the island. During twenty-nine days their only food was the stalks of purslane boiled in water, with a few pumpkins. At length a French ship came to off the island, and took the unfortunate Englishmen on board. Lancaster and Barker were taken home, arriving at Dieppe on the 19th of May, 1594.
It had been arranged by Captain Lancaster that Henry May, one of the mates, should take a passage home in another French ship, to report to the owners the proceedings of the Edward Bonaventure and the mutinous condition of her crew. This ship was commanded by M. de la Barbotière, who made sail northwards from the port of Laguna in Santo Domingo. It appears that the pilot was quite out in his reckoning, and on the 17th of December the ship was run on a rock, at about midnight, on the western reef of Bermuda. About twenty-six men, including Henry May, reached the shore on a raft. Luckily the carpenter's tools were saved, and they began to cut down trees, and succeeded in building a small vessel of eighteen tons. Water was stored in two great chests, well caulked, and secured one on each side of the mainmast, and the provisions consisted of thirteen live turtles. On the 11th of May, 1594, they put to sea and made for the banks of Newfoundland, where a vessel from Falmouth took them on board. Henry May's adventures, of which he wrote an interesting narrative, came to an end when he landed at Falmouth in August, 1594.
This first English voyage to the East Indies was disastrous. Lancaster's next enterprise was of a warlike character, and was aided by some merchants of London, who fitted out several vessels to attack Pernambuco. James Lancaster was appointed to the command, with his old lieutenant, Edmund Barker, and John Audley of Poplar as his captains. The expedition was ably and resolutely conducted, and was a complete success. The port of Pernambuco was surprised, taken and held for thirty days in spite of repeated assaults by the Portuguese. About thirty ships
