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the topsails. The master by himself attended to the sprit-sail, and all of us the capstan, being utterly unable to work sheets and tacks. Our misery and weakness were so extreme, that we were utterly unable to take in or set a sail; so that our top-sails and sprit-sail were at length torn in pieces by the weather. The captain and master had to take their turns at the helm, where they were inexpressibly grieved and distressed by the continual and sad lamentations of our few remaining sick men. Thus lost wanderers on the ocean, unable to help ourselves, it pleased God, on the 11th of June, 1593, that we arrived at Beerhaven in Ireland, and ran the ship there on shore. The Irish helped us to take in our sails, and to moor the ship so as to float her off next tide; for which slender aid it cost the captain ten pounds, before he could get the ship into a state of safety. Thus, without men, sails, victuals, or other means, God alone guided us into Ireland. Here the captain left the master and three or four more of the company to keep the ship; and within five days after our arrival, he and some others got a passage in a fishing-boat to Padstow in Cornwall. For the merciful preservation of this our small remnant, and our restoration to our country, be all honour and glory to God, now and for ever.--_Amen_. CHAPTER IV. VOYAGE OF OLIVER VAN NOORT ROUND THE WORLD IN 1598--1601.[67] * * * * * INTRODUCTION. The inhabitants of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, after their separation from the Spanish monarchy, found themselves extremely at a loss for means to supply the expences of the long and vigorous war in which they were engaged for the defence of their liberties. This gave them the more uneasiness, as their great enemy, Philip II. carried on the war against them, more by the length of his purse than the force of his arms, and because the riches, of the Spanish monarchy were derived from sources of commerce and colonization that were prohibited to them, even if they had submitted themselves to the yoke of Spain. The sense, therefore, of these difficulties, joined to the vast advantages they were likely to reap by overcoming them, induced the government and people of Holland to prosecute the advancement of trade in general with the greatest vigour, and particularly to establish a commercial intercourse with the East and West Indies, the great sources of wealth to their ty
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