I asked him all the particulars of their voyage, and found they were a Spanish ship, bound from the Rio de la Plata to the Havanna, being directed to leave their loading there, which was chiefly hides and silver, and to bring back what European goods they could meet with there; that they had five Portuguese seamen on board, whom they took out of another wreck; that five of their own men were drowned when first the ship was lost, and that these escaped through infinite dangers and hazards, and arrived, almost starved, on the cannibal coast, where they expected to have been devoured every moment.
Interrogato da me su i particolari del suo viaggio, mi raccontò come avesse fatto parte de’ naviganti d’un vascello spagnuolo che veniva dal Rio la Plata per condursi all’Avana a lasciare ivi il loro carico, consistente principalmente in pellami o argento, e riportarne quelle merci pregiate in Europa in cui si sarebbero abbattuti; come avessero preso a bordo cinque marinai portoghesi salvatisi da un altro naufragio; come cinque de’ loro fossero rimasi annegati quando il loro vascello perì; come campati in mezzo ad infiniti pericoli e traversie fossero arrivati quasi morti di fame ad una costa di cannibali, ove si aspettavano a ciascun istante di essere divorati.