Ovington (John)

English clergyman and traveller who was chaplain to James II. In the book he published under the title A voyage to Suratt in the year 1689 (London 1696), he deals with Madeira, giving information that would be of interest were it not for several more or less gross falsehoods among it. As a curiosity, we give below a translation of his account of a ‘mishap’ that befell the ship’s company before leaving the landing place of Funchal. ‘Some of our sailors having failed to answer the roll-call, we supposed that they had fallen into the hands of the Jesuits, who, zealous to spread their faith, seize every opportunity to convert foreigners. A letter was sent to the Governor asking for the return of our men, but it seems he had no authority over that order.

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Our commander then resolved to land on the beach with 14 armed men, in order to replace the sailors he needed with fishermen.

A happy chance, however, brought his way a small boat carrying an abbot and a vicar to Funchal, who, to their great surprise, found themselves taken prisoner by the crew of our launch.

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We made them write at once to the governor, telling him of the situation they were in, while at the same time a note was sent to our consul to pass on to the authorities, demanding an exchange of prisoners. ‘The affair was turning sour, because the news of the priests’ capture endangered the English merchants settled in Funchal, but happily everything was settled: we recovered our sailors and the priests were sent ashore, where they were received with great rejoicing by the people.

If the arrest of the British ship’s crew really took place, as Ovington relates, it was most probably due not to the Jesuits’ zeal for converting foreigners but to the Englishmen’s zeal in the worship of the god Bacchus, which may have led to the intervention of the alcaide (town officer with police and jail duties), who at that time was responsible for maintaining order in the city.