Note 1 — Chapter XXVII

The rigging and sails were so rotten that repairs were incessant, and splicing and sewing was constantly needed. These were evils that could not be amended. The main mast was sprung from the step, and the step of the bowsprit, from not being morticed, hung on one side, taking the bowsprit with it, which caused us great anxiety. The sprit sail with all its gear fell into the sea, and none of it could be recovered. The main stay carried away a second time, and it was necessary to make another stay with part of the hemp cable, and the backstays of the mainmast, which were unrove for the purpose. There was not a yard that was not bent downwards owing to parted lifts, the topsail ties were gone, and perhaps for three days at a time the sail was flapping in the waist, because no one cared to hoist it with a rope that had been spliced thirty-three times. We took down the topsails and mizen in order to mend the courses, which at last were the only sails we used. Of the hull of the ship it may be said with truth that only the beams kept the people above water, for they were of that excellent wood of Guayaquil called guatchapeli,1 which never seems to grow old. The ship was so open in the dead wood that the water ran in and out of the ship when we sailed on a bowline.