CHAPTER 7 – HURRICANE
Chapter 7
One day, three of my friends came to our house.
They told me that they wanted to go to Africa. They asked me if I wanted to go with them. I said, “Yes, I want to go with you.” We started to prepare all the necessary things for the journey. Soon we were ready to go. I said goodbye to my wife. Then we started our journey. Our plan was to be back in two months.
We left Brazil on the first of September sixteen fifty-five. Our ship was very big. But we were only seventeen men. The ship was full of things for business. We had cups, glass, mirrors, knives and other products.
The weather was good but very hot at the beginning of our journey. A hurricane came one week later. The hurricane was extremely strong. Our ship was in danger.
When the hurricane was away, we saw that we were close to the northern part of South America. We were near the Orinoco River. This wasn’t part of our plan. The ship was broken. We couldn’t go to Africa. The captain wanted to go back and repair the ship. But I didn’t want to go back. We talked about it. We decided to go to Barbados. We wanted to repair the ship there.
Before we got to Barbados, a second hurricane came in the evening. The wind was very strong. The waves were big. Then one man shouted, “Land!”
When the man shouted “Land!”, the ship stopped. The sea wasn’t deep enough. It was bad for our broken ship. The ship could break every second. We had to go on a smaller boat. This was very dangerous. The boat was very small for 17 men. But we had to do it if we wanted to save our lives.
So we were on a small boat. The waves were very big. The wind was extremely strong. The wind pushed us to big rocks. We knew that the crash was close.
Suddenly, a big wave came. The wave overturned the boat. I was under water. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t see the other men. I didn’t see the boat.
Then my head was above water. It was only a short moment. But I could breathe. I saw a little beach between the rocks. A big wave pushed me to the beach. I was still in water. But I felt a land under my feet.
I knew that I had to stand up. I had to get out of the water before another wave came. But my body was weak. I couldn’t stand up fast. When another wave came, I was under the water again.
I couldn’t breathe for a while. But then another wave threw me back on the beach.
I tried to get up. I tried to go further from the sea. I was able to move ten metres up. I was safe. But my arms and legs were very weak. I collapsed. I didn’t move for some time.
After some time, I was able to get up. I looked for the others. I couldn’t find the other men.
WORDS FROM CHAPTER 7
