From thence we held on ten leagues farther to the east to the last land which we saw on the continent, called Marmora[16]; and on Monday the 1st of May 1503, we stood to the northwards, having the wind and current from the east, which made us lay our course as near the wind as possible.  Though all the pilots said we should be to the east of the Caribbee islands, yet the admiral feared we should not be able to make Hispaniola, as it afterwards proved.  Upon Wednesday the 10th of May we were in sight of two very small low islands called Tortugas or the Tortoises, on account of the prodigious multitudes of these animals which so swarmed about these islands, and in the sea about them that they resembled rocks.  On the Friday following, we came in sight about evening of that great cluster of islands on the coast of Cuba, called Jardin de la Reinas or the Queens Garden, about thirty leagues from the Tortugas.  We came here to anchor about ten leagues from the coast of Cuba, full of trouble and perplexity; our men had now nothing to eat but biscuit, with some little oil and vinegar, and our ships were so worm-eaten and leaky, as to keep the people labouring at the pumps day and night.  In this forlorn state a great storm arose, and the Bermuda dragging her anchors ran foul of us, and broke in our stem and her own stern.  It pleased GOD that we got the ships loosened again, though with much difficulty, owing to the rough sea and high wind.  Although we let go all our anchors none would hold but the sheet anchor, and when day returned we discovered that its cable held only by one strand, so that if the night had continued an hour longer it must have given way, and the sea being all full of rocks, we could not fail to have been dashed in pieces upon some of those astern.  But it pleased GOD to deliver us here as he had done before from many dangers.

Sailing from hence with great toil, we came to an Indian town on the coast of Cuba named Mataia, where we procured some refreshments; and as the winds and currents set so strong towards the west that we could not possibly stand for Hispaniola, we now sailed for Jamaica as our only hope of preserving our lives.  The ships were now so worm-eaten and leaky that we never ceased working day and night at all the three pumps in both ships; and when any of the pumps gave way, we were forced to supply the deficiency while it was mending by bailing out the water in buckets and kettles.  Notwithstanding all this labour, on the night before midsummer eve, the water gained on as and came up almost to our deck.  With infinite labour we held on till day, when we put into a harbour on the north shore of Jamaica called Puerto Bueno, or the Good Harbour; which, though good to take shelter in against a storm, had no fresh water or any Indian town in its neighbourhood.  Having made the best shift we could, we removed on the day after the festival of St John, 26th of June, from that harbour to one