Those caravels came to view us, and perceiving what we were made after us; upon which the English ships left us and made towards the caravels, because the caravels thought them friends and shunned them not, as supposing them of our company: But we shot three or four times, and made signs to them that they should make towards the island, which they presently did. On perceiving that, the Englishmen made out to sea: and then the caravels sent on board us, saying that the people of the island were all in arms, having received advice from Portugal, that Sir Francis Drake was in readiness, and meant to come to the islands. They likewise brought us news of the overthrow of the Spanish armada which had gone against England, and that the English had been at the gates of Lisbon; for which reason it win the king's commands that we should put into the island of Tercera, and remain there under the protection of its castle, till we received further orders, as it was then thought too dangerous for us to continue our voyage to Lisbon. These news put all our fleet in great fear, making us look upon each other as not knowing what to do or say; as it was dangerous for us to put into the road, which lies open to the sea, so that although they had the kings commands for so doing, the India ships durst not anchor there, but only used to come thither, standing off and on, and sending their boats a-land for such necessaries as they wanted, without coming to anchor. But now necessity compelled us to this measure, owing to our fears for the three small English ships, also because of the kings orders, and because we understood that the Earl of Cumberland was not far from these islands with sundry ships of war. We made therefore a virtue of necessity, and entering the road of Tercera, anchored close under the castle, in waiting for orders from the king to pursue our voyage, it being then the 24th of July or St Jameses day.

The 12th of August, the Earl of Cumberland, with six or seven ships of war, sailed past the island of Tercera; and to our great good fortune passed out of sight. We then set out in all haste, and, for our greater security, took along with us 400 Spaniards of those who were in garrison in the island, and made sail for Lisbon with a favourable wind, so that in eleven days we arrived in the river Tagus with great joy and triumph. For, had we been one day longer of getting into the river, we had all been taken by Captain Drake, [Sir Francis Drake] who came before Cascais with 40 ships, at the very time when we cast anchor in the Tagus under the guard of several gallies.

While I remained in Tercera, the Earl of Cumberland came to St Marys to take in fresh water and other victuals; but the inhabitants would not suffer him to have it, and wounded both the earl himself and several of his men, so that they were forced to depart without having any thing. Likewise, while I was at Tercera, the same earl came to the island of Graciosa, where he went to land in person with seven or eight others, demanding certain beasts, poultry, and other victuals, with wine and fresh water, which they willingly gave him, after which he departed without doing any injury, for which the inhabitants were very thankful, praising his courtesy and faithfulness to his promise. The earl came likewise at that time to Fayal, where at the first they begun to resist him; but by reason of some controversy among themselves, they let him land, when he razed the castle, throwing all the cannon into the sea, and took with him certain caravels and ships that lay in the road, with all such provisions as he wanted, and then departed. Thereupon, the king caused the principal actors in that transaction to be punished, and went thither a company of soldiers, which went from Tereera, with all kind of warlike ammunition and great shot, rebuilding the cattle the better to defend the island, and no more trusting to the Portuguese inhabitants.

The 9th of October 1589381, there arrived in Tereera fourteen ships from the Spanish West Indies, laden with cochineal, hides, gold, silver, pearls, and other rich wares. When they departed from the harbour of the Havannah, they were fifty in company; of which eleven sunk in the channel [of Florida] by reason of foul weather, and all the rest were scattered and separated from each other in a storm. Next day there came another ship of the same fleet, which sailed close under the island endeavouring to get into the road; when she was met by an English whip that had not above three cast pieces [of ordnance], while the Spaniards had twelve. They fought a long while together, which we in the island could distinctly see. The governor of the island sent out two boats filled with musketeers to aid the Spanish ship; but before they could get up to her assistance; the English had shot her below water, so that we saw her sink into the sea with all her sails up, and she entirely disappeared. The Englishmens boat saved the Captain and about thirty others, but not one pennyworth of the goods, which were to the value of 200,000 ducats, in gold, silver, and pearls. All the rest of the crew were drowned, to the number of about fifty persons, among whom were some friars and women, whom the English could not save. The English set all the people they had saved on shore, and then sailed away. The 27th of the same month of October 1589, these fourteen ships sailed from Tercera, for Seville; and on coming to the coast of Spain, they were all taken by some English ships that watched for them, two only excepted which made their escape, all the rest being carried to England.

About this time, the earl of Cumberland, with one of the queens ships and five or six others, kept hovering about the islands, and came oft-times close to the island of Tercera, and to the road of Angra, so near that the people on land could easily count all the men on his decks, and could even distinguish one from another; they of the island not once shooting at them, which they might easily have done, as they were often within musket-shot of the town and fort. He continued in these parts for the space of two months, sailing round about the islands, and landed in Graciosa and Fayal, as I have already mentioned. He took several ships and caravels, which he sent off to England, so that the people of the islands durst not put forth their heads. At one time, about three or four days after the earl had been at the island of Fayal, and was departed from thence, there arrived there six ships of the Indies, the general of which was one Juan Dorives, which landed in that island four millions of gold and silver382. Then, being much in fear of the English, and having refreshed themselves with all speed, they set sail and arrived safe at San Lucar, without meeting an enemy, to the great good luck of the Spaniards and bad fortune of the English; for, within less than two days after the gold and silver was again laden into the Spanish ships, the earl of Cumberland sailed past the island again; so that if he had once got sight of these valuable ships, without doubt he had got them all, as the Spaniards themselves confessed.

In the month of November, two great ships arrived in Tercera, being the admiral and vice-admiral of the fleet laden with silver, which had been separated from the fleet in a great storm, and were in great jeopardy and distress, ready to sink, being forced to use all their pumps, and so terrified, that they wished a thousand times to have met the English, to whom they would willingly have given all the silver, and every thing they had on board, only to preserve their lives. Although the earl still hovered about the islands, yet did he not meet with these ships, which got with much labour and difficulty into the road of Angra, where with all speed they unladed and landed about five millions in silver, all in great pieces or ingots of 8 or 12 great pounds, so that the whole quay lay covered with plates and chests of silver, full of pieces of eight rials, most wonderful to behold: Each million being worth ten hundred thousand ducats, besides gold, pearls, and other precious stones, which were not registered. The admiral and chief commander of these ships, and of the whole fleet to which they belonged, was Alvaro Flores de Quin Quiniones, who was sick of the Neapolitan disease, and was brought to land; and of which malady he died soon afterwards at Seville. He had with him the kings commission under the great seal, giving him full authority as general and commander in chief upon the seas, over all fleets and ships, and in all places, lands, and islands, on shore wherever he came; wherefore the governor of Tercera shewed him much honour, and between them it was concerted, seeing the weakness of the ships and the danger from the English, that they should send the ships first empty of treasure to Seville or Lisbon, under a guard of soldiers, when the king might give orders afterwards to fetch the silver home under safe convoy. The said admiral Alvaro Flores staid there, under colour of taking care of the silver, but chiefly because of his disease and fear of the English. He had for his part alone, above the value of 50,000 ducats in pearls, which he shewed us, and sought to sell or barter them with us for spices or bills of exchange. These two ships sailed from Tercera with three or four hundred men, including those who came with them from the Indies and soldiers; but while at sea in a storm, the admiral split and sunk outright, not one man being saved; and the vice-admiral, after cutting away her masts, ran aground hard by Setubal, where she broke in pieces, some of the men saving themselves by swimming, who brought the news of all the rest being drowned.