It was very generous of your royal highness to give us a royal charter. But alas now all I wish is to go home and see my family again. Every morning I wake up from my dreams with my mother in it and just wish I could sleep forever. Each day I remember all the hard work we must do. Then I remember our little house by the sea and that salty smell. Now all I wish is to get off the sea and the smell. Every morning I see seagulls flying around our ship and I think of my family. Some nights I cannot sleep because of the boat swaying back and forth, left and right. I am so sorrowful that I cry myself to sleep some nights. I can not explain my sadness in this letter, for it was very hard for me to part from my family for such a long period of time.

My crew mates and I have been at sea for 12 long weeks. We all wish to return to Spain after this long and hard journey. We have encountered many dangers and hardships, but luckily have all survived.

Life is challenging when you have this many men cooped up on a sailing ship. We have had a thief among our ranks. This thief has been stealing food and water from our supplies. At first, I thought the thief was Napoleon. He has been sneaking around the ship from time to time and is always busy. I have been keeping a close watch on his every move, just in case.

Another problem was we were caught in a Dull Drums. We were stuck, stranded and bored. We were stranded for 2-3 days. For fun, we had cockroach fights and rat hunting. Not only was the rat hunting a way to pass time but also a way to get rid of those disease carrying rodents. Finally the wind picked up again.

The crew has talking about mutiny! The crew is unhappy because we have been at sea for 6 weeks and have found no land. Also our supplies are running low. I don’t know how long the crew will hold. I hope we find land soon so we can re-stock on food. The crew has become so hungry that we were hunting rats for food. The long time as sea has lowered everyone’s moral. I pray we find land soon before a mutiny begins!

The rats aboard ship have nowhere to go so they have been attacking back and getting vicious. They are biting people and scratching too. We were so bored and losing hope. Our crews moral is very low that many want to give up.

A mast also broke in a horrible storm. There was thunder, lightning and rain which just kept beating down on us. We weren’t able to get to the mast, it snapped and almost sunk the ship. Luckily, Marco, Napoleon and I got it fixed. Immediately after the repair, we were able to set sail.

In addition, we had a kitchen fire. During a rough wave, the cook was cooking lunch when we hit the wave. The stove and pots fell over and hit the wooden boat which sent up a fire. We were all so alarmed by this fire. We also had fear the boat might sink. Cortes was smart during the commotion. He sent a bucket tied to rope over the rail of the boat into the water and quickly put the fire out before it could do any major damage. There was small damage though, the floor was burnt.

Finally, Napoleon has spotted land! The crew is over joyed. Napoleon was the one to spot land therefore, he received a big reward. He gave the crew each 1, 000 of his 10, 000 reward, but I told him to keep my share. I do not think that Napoleon is the thief anymore. It might have been some one else, but what I know now is that the thief had stopped stealing our food and water.

Once we set foot onto land, we noticed eyes were following us as we climbed ashore. Then three or four natives jumped out from a bush. We all drew our swords. The three natives slowly walked back at the sight of our swards, but one walked forward curiously and touched the end of our captain’s sword. Blood dripped from his hand from the cut the sword left. He started to back up slowly but our surgeon stopped him and repaired his hand. The natives were thankful and gave us fresh food and water. We had enough food for the journey back home. We stayed the night on the island until the next morning when we packed up to go home.

As we started sail aboard the Saint Danilo, I heard a faint weeping. I looked around and saw that it was a native. Our captain thought that it was a good idea to bring a few natives back to Spain to “civilize” them. I watched him with his hands out to the island. I believe he is going to miss home just as I have. I am longing to go home and see my family again. My heart was sad for the native who was being taken away from his home.

In the beginning of our journey home, we had one of our biggest problems. We saw a big coral reef sucking everything within it’s range. One of our men spotted it and warned. We had all hands on deck. We got into the outer rim of the coral reef but the captain was able to steer us out of it. During this rough voyage, I realized that we were so lucky that no life was lost. I thought about this for a while as we sailed home. I was very eager to see my family there with open hands.

I am very proud to serve my country in this voyage. I have missed my family greatly but it is my duty to serve my country, king and queen. Thank you, your highness, for giving me this royal charter to sail. Also, for giving me the adventure as well as experience.
Your loyal servant,