There were two vessels, the _GoldenHind_ of forty tons, and the _Squirrel_ of ten tons, this lastbeing a mere boat then called a frigate, a small vessel propelled by bothsails and oars, quite unlike the war-ship afterwards called by that name.On both these vessels the men were so distressed that they gathered on thebulwarks, pointing to their empty mouths and their ragged clothing. Theofficers of the _Golden Hind_ were unwilling to return, but consentedon Sir Humphrey's promise that they should come back in the spring; theysailed for England on the 31st of August. All wished him to return in the_Golden Hind_ as a much larger and safer vessel; the _Squirrel_,besides its smallness, being encumbered on the deck with guns, ammunition,and nettings, making it unseaworthy. But when he was begged to remove intothe larger vessel, he said, "I will not forsake my little company goinghomeward with whom I have passed so many storms and perils." One reasonfor this was, the narrator of the voyage says, because of "hard reportsgiven of him that he was afraid of the sea, albeit this was ratherrashness than advised resolution, to prefer the wind of a vain report tothe weight of his own life."On the very day of sailing they caught their first glimpse of some largespecies of seal or walrus, which is thus described by the old narrator ofthe expedition:--"So vpon Saturday in the afternoone the 31 of August, we changed ourcourse, and returned backe for England, at which very instant, euen inwinding about, there passed along betweene vs and towards the land whichwe now forsooke a very lion to our seeming, in shape, hair and colour, notswimming after the maner of a beast by moouing of his feete, but rathersliding vpon the water with his whole body (excepting the legs) in sight,neither yet in diuing vnder, and againe rising aboue the water, as themaner is, of Whales, Dolphins, Tunise, Porposes, and all other fish: butconfidently shewing himselfe aboue water without hiding: Notwithstanding,we presented our selues in open view and gesture to amase him, as allcreatures will be commonly at a sudden gaze and sight of men.
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