First Sentence

"PURPOSING with myselfe to present this journall, or travis book, to you, which is usually kept of seafayringe men and mariners, in ther navigation of long voyagies and unknowne countryes; and having been lett thes two yeares, being travelling upon the sea to mayntayn my poore estat of wife and children; and this winter being at home, and remembring the manyfold cortesies shewed by you to my anciente father, Nicholas Gatonde, I thought good this simple labour, such as it is, to offer vnto you, right worshipful, desiring you to accept it, as a gift that proceedeth from such a one who hartily wisheth you well, and would, if ability served, present you with a better, seeing and knowing you worship and your ancesters have been always well-wishers to this towne and the inhabitants of the same; wherefor I intreat your worship to pervse it over."