Therefore he called to him Thomas Moore, the carpenter of the Swanne; and, taking him aside, told him to make auger holes in the bottom of that ship.

Moore, who was a good sailor, made a great resistance to the orders; but upon the admiral assuring him that it was necessary, for the success of the enterprise, that one of the ships should be destroyed, he very reluctantly undertook the task.
Previous to this Captain Drake had ordered all the booty, and a considerable portion of the stores of both ships, to be hauled on shore; so that they might lose nothing of value to them.
The next morning, Ned and his friends were sitting on the bulwark of the vessel, watching the fish playing about in the depths of the clear blue water.
"We seem to be lower in the water than usual," Ned said.

"Does not it seem to you that we are not so high above the sea as we are wont to be ?" The others agreed that the vessel had that appearance; but as it seemed clearly impossible that it should be so, especially when she was lighter than usual, they thought that they must be mistaken, and the subject was put aside.

Half an hour later Captain Drake himself, rowing alongside, called to his brother, who came to the side.
"I am going to fish," he said; "are you disposed to come, also ?" Captain John expressed his willingness to do so.
"I will wait for you," his brother said.
Captain John was turning to go into his cabin to get his cap and cloak, when Captain Francis cried out: "Is not your ship very low in the water this morning ?" "The same as usual, I suppose," Captain John said, laughing; but looking over the side himself, he said, "Methinks she does lie deep in the water;" and, calling the carpenter, he bade him sound the well.
The latter, after doing so, cried out loudly that there were four feet of water in the ship.
A great astonishment seized upon both officers and crew, at this unexpected news.

All hands were at once set to work, the pumps were rigged and, with buckets and all sorts of gear, they strove manfully and hard to get rid of the water.