Fray Andrés de San Miguel, Translated by John H. Hann. 2000. An Early Florida Adventure Story. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. 96 pp; a foreword, translator's introduction, an introductory essay by the original publisher (1902), and an index.
"There was a sword-maker in Seville..." so starts the account of Andrés de Segura, a teenaged Spanish sailor shipwrecked off the coast of the New World in 1595. Written some decades after de Segura's adventure, and published for the first time in Spanish in 1902, this new English translation by John H. Hann (site historian at the San Luis Archaeological and Historic Site) is lively and entertaining, with enough ethnographic data on Spanish and English sailors and the Native American people of what is now Georgia and Florida to satisfy any historian. And of course, de Segura tells a terrific story.
Of special use is the introductory passages, although my recommendation is that at first you read only the foreword, then plunge right into de Segura's account. The introductions give far too much of the story away ahead of time. But after you're finished, return and read the introductions, then read the text again with close attention to the footnotes. Does it sound like a lot of work? Not a bit; the translation of the 17th century Spanish presented interesting challenges to Hann, who reveals his trepidation at the task by quoting a Portuguese saying: "to translate is to betray."
Of special use is the introductory passages, although my recommendation is that at first you read only the foreword, then plunge right into de Segura's account. The introductions give far too much of the story away ahead of time. But after you're finished, return and read the introductions, then read the text again with close attention to the footnotes. Does it sound like a lot of work? Not a bit; the translation of the 17th century Spanish presented interesting challenges to Hann, who reveals his trepidation at the task by quoting a Portuguese saying: "to translate is to betray."
An Early Florida Adventure is a little rough going at first; the cadence is unusual to modern ears, and Hann indicates in his introduction that de Segura wasn't much interested in punctuation. But excitement, peril and sheer wonder at the new world he has landed on shines through de Segura's writing. This is a thoroughly interesting book, and a ton of fun.
