Conclusion of an excerpt from a letter to KING PHILLIP II of Spain dated October 4, 1589: Captain Francisco de CUELLAR recounts his adventures after the shipwreck off the west coast of Ireland the year prior that had claimed more than 20 Spanish ships and their crews. -- "When they heard me speak Spanish and call on the Mother of God, they also exclaimed, 'Holy Virgin, be with us.' Then I was reassured, and went up to them and asked if they were Spaniards. They answered, 'Yes, we are, for our sins. Eleven of us together were robbed of everything on the beach, and naked as we were we went to look for some place where Christians dwelt, and on the way we met a troop of the enemy, who killed eight of us. The three of us escaped into a wood which was so thick that they could not find us, and that night God led us thither to these huts, and here we stayed to recover from our fatigue, although there were no people and nothing to eat.' I told them always to commit themselves to God and to be of good cheer, for we were in the neighbourhood of friends and Christians, for I had information of a village that was about three or four leagues away from us, which belonged to my Lord Ruerque (O'Rourke), where many of the wrecked Spaniards had taken refuge, and that although I was very badly used up and wounded we should start on our journey thither the next day. The poor fellows were delighted, and asked me who I was. I told them that I was Captain Cuellar. They could hardly believe it, for they thought I was drowned, and rushed up to me and hugged me almost to death. One of them was a sergeant and the other two common soldiers. And as this tale is ludicrous, and true as I am a Christian, I have written it all out for your Majesty's diversion. I buried myself deep in the straw, taking care not to disturb it or disarrange it from the way it was; and, having agreed to get up early in the morning for our journey, we went to sleep without supper, and without having had anything to eat except mulberries and water-cress. While it was daytime I was already wide awake with a great pain in my legs, and I heard noises and talking, and just then a savage came to the door with a battle-axe in his hand, and looked around at the oats, muttering to himself. I and my companions, who had also waked up, lay still without drawing a breath, peering attentively through the straw at the savage to see what he would do. God willed that he went out and betook himself, with a number of others who had come with him, to work at reaping near the huts, in such a place that it was impossible for us to go out without their seeing us. We lay still, buried alive, talking over what we had better do, and agreed not to get out of the straw or to move from that place as long as those savages and heretics were there; for they belonged to that neighbourhood where the people treated the poor Spaniards whom they caught so dreadfully, and they would have done the like to us if they had found us there, where there was no one to help us but God. All day passed in this way, and when night came those wretches betook themselves to their huts. We waited for the moon to rise, and then, wrapped up in straw and hay, because it was bitter cold, we left that dangerous place without waiting for daylight." ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> To: <irelandgenweb@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 8:01 AM Subject: [Irish Genealogy] Part 2: Recount of Shipwreck West Coast Ireland,1588 -- Francisco de CUELLAR/Capt. Spanish Armada <snip>