Chapter M (5)

Their success in this voyage, and the immense wealth[2] they brought home, raised much discourse throughout the kingdom; some highly commending, and some as loudly decrying the principles upon which it was acquired. The former alledged, that this enterprize was not only honourable to the Commander who conducted, and the crew who assisted in the performance of it, but to their country; that it would establish our reputation for maritime skill in foreign nations, and raise a laudable spirit of emulation at home; and that, as to the money, our merchants having suffered deeply by the treachery and villainy of the Spaniards in the new discovered country, there was nothing more just than that the nation should receive an equivalent by the reprisals which Drake and his company, at the hazard of their lives, had bravely extorted.

[2] Lopez Vaz, a Spanish writer, says, that Drake carried from the
coast of Peru, 866,000 pezoes of silver, equal to 866 quintals, equal
to 100 pound weight each quintal, amounting to 1,139,200 ducats. He
also carried away 100,000 pezoes of gold, equal to 10 quintals, each
quintal valued at 1500 Spanish ducats; and all this over and above the
treasure in the ship, which was not entered, consisting of gold,
silver, pearls, precious stones, coined money, and other things of
great value. He also rifled the ships from the Philippines, laden with
spices, silks, velvets, and other rich merchandize, the value not
known.--By the above account, the silver only, at 5s. per oz. amounts
to 259,800l. and the gold to 48,000l. sterl. But we have seen a
manuscript that makes the value of the whole cargo brought home by the
Golden Hind (for that was the name that Drake chose his ship, the
Pelican, should be known by) amount to 800,000l. though that which was
divided among the crew was only 80,000l. Is it not reasonable then to
conclude, that the Queen and Council had a considerable share of the
remainder?

The other party argued, that Drake, in fact, was no better than a pirate; that, of all others, it least became a trading nation to countenance such depredations; that the expedition was not only a breach of all our treaties with Spain, but likewise of our old leagues with the House of Burgundy; and that the consequences would infallibly involve the Queen in a war, by which the nation would suffer infinitely more than the riches acquired by a single ship could counterbalance.

These were the sentiments, and these the speculations with which the different parties amused themselves for some time after the arrival of Drake in his native country. At length, the approbation of the Queen determined the dispute; for all acquiesced in the wisdom of their Sovereign.

On the 4th of April, 1581, her Majesty went to Deptford, and dined on board the ship in which so many Kings had been entertained before; and, after dinner, she conferred the honour of knighthood on her Commander; an honour not to be obtained in those days on trivial occasions, but as a reward for signal services. This mark of distinction was a full declaration of her Majesty’s approbation, silenced Drake’s enemies, and gave joy to his friends. She likewise gave directions for the preservation of the ship, that it might remain a monument of his own and his country’s glory.

What contributed the more to render the fame of Drake illustrious, was the frequent attempts that had been made by navigators, the most renowned in their time, to atchieve the fame; but without success. In 1527 the Spaniards sent Gracca de Loaisa, a Knight of Malta, with a squadron of seven ships to follow the rout of Magellan, who, though his ship returned to Spain, yet he himself lost his life, before he arrived at the Malaccas, the promised islands. Loaisa passed the straits, indeed, lost some of his ships in the South Seas, others put into the ports of New Spain, and only his own vessel and one more reached the East Indies, where himself and all his people perished.

In 1526, the Genoese sent two ships to pass the straits, of which one was cast away, and the other returned home without effecting any thing.

Sebastian Cabot, in the service of the crown of Portugal, made the like trial; but, not being able to find the straits, returned into the river of Plate.

Americus Vespusius, a Florentine, from whom the new world received its name, undertook to perform, in the service of the crown of Portugal, what Cabot had promised without effect; but that vain man was still more unfortunate; for he could neither find the straits, nor the river of Plate.

Some years after this, the Spaniards equipped a stout squadron, under the command of Simon de Alcasara; but, before they reached the height of the straits, the crews mutinied, and obliged their Commander to return.

Such repeated miscarriages discouraged even the ablest and boldest seamen; so that from this time both Spaniards and others dropped all thoughts of emulating Magellan, till Drake conceiving his design, as has already been said, concealed it in his breast till ripe for execution.

Being now advanced to eminence, in 1585 he was employed in the Queen’s service, and sent on an expedition to the West Indies as Commander in Chief; and having under him Captain Martin Forbisher, Captain Knollys, and other experienced Officers of the royal navy, he took St. Jago, St. Domingo, Carthagena, and St. Augustin. He returned elated with his success; but, as my author says, not much enriched by the plunder.

In 1587, he was again employed in an expedition to Lisbon, in which Captain Forbisher also bore a part. Here they gained intelligence that a considerable fleet was assembled in the bay of Cadiz, with a view to the forming an armament for the invasion of England; he immediately repaired to their place of rendezvous, and fell upon them at unawares; and, as it is said, burnt 10,000 tons of shipping, with all the stores which they were amassing for the intended invasion.

In their return they fell in with a carrack from the East Indies, richly laden, of which they likewise got intelligence in the port of Lisbon. This was the St. Philip, of which Linschoten gives the following account, when this Dutchman was at Goa, the chief settlement of the Portuguese in the East Indies: “There came in, he says, from the island of Japan, certain Jesuits, and with them three Princes, being the children of so many Kings of that country, wholly apparelled like Jesuits, not one of them above the age of 15 years, being minded by the persuasion of the Jesuits to visit Portingall, and from thence to go to Rome to see the Pope, thereby to procure great profit, privileges, and liberties for the missionaries in that island.

“In 1584, they set sail for Portingallo, and from thence travelled into Spain, where, by the King and all the Spanish nobility, they were with honour received, and presented with many gifts, which the Jesuits kept for themselves.

“Out of Spain, they rode to see the Pope; that done, they travelled throughout Italy, where they were much honoured, and presented with many rich presents, by means of the great report the Jesuits made of them.

“To conclude, they returned to Madrid, where with great honour they took their leave of the King, who furnished them with letters of recommendation to the Viceroy, and all the Portingall Governors of India; so they went to Lisbon, and there took shipping in 1586, and came to Goa in the ship called St. Philip, which ship, in her return to Portingall, was taken by Captain Drake, being the first that was taken coming from the East Indies; which the Portuguese took for an evil sign, because the ship bore the King’s own name;” both Spain and Portugal being at that time governed by the same Sovereign.

“When the Princes and Jesuits of Japan arrived at Goa on their return from Europe, they were received, adds Linschoten, with great rejoicings; for it was verily thought they had all been dead. On their landing they were all three apparelled in cloth of gold and silver after the Italian manner, being the same the Italian noblemen and gentlemen had given them. They came to Goa very lively and in high spirits; and the Jesuits were not a little proud, that through their means the voyage had been successfully performed. In Goa they staid till the monsoon or time of the wind’s setting in to sail for China, and thence to Japan, where, with great triumph and wondering of all the people, they were received and welcomed home, to the great furtherance of the Jesuits.”

The St. Philip, in her voyage to Goa, had been driven by stress of weather into Masambique, where she met with the St. Laurence, homeward bound, that had likewise been driven into the same port disabled, having lost her masts, and received other considerable damage, by which she was rendered unserviceable. The St. Philip, therefore, as soon as she had landed her passengers at Goa, returned to Masambique, and took in the lading of the St. Laurence, which enabled her to make her voyage to Europe about the usual time; a circumstance fortunate for Drake, as it increased both his fame and his fortune.

In 1588, Drake was appointed Vice-Admiral, under Charles Lord Effingham Howard, High-Admiral of England, to oppose the formidable armada that had for three years before been secretly preparing in Spain for the invasion of England. In Drake’s letter to Lord Treasurer Burleigh, acquainting him with the approach of the Spaniards, he concludes with this elegant compliment to his superior: “That, though the strength of the enemy out-went report, yet the chearfulness and courage which the Lord Admiral expressed gave all who had the honour to serve under him assurance of victory;” a compliment which was the more admired in Drake, as in a former letter to the same Minister, in which he tells him of his gallant atchievement in the port of Cadiz, “Not resting, said he, at Lisbon, we sailed so close to the Spanish King, _that we singed his beard_;” a course metaphor, it must be owned, but strongly characteristic.

Drake’s good fortune still accompanied him; for in the engagement which afterwards happened on the arrival of the armada, though he committed the greatest error that ever Commander was guilty of, by pursuing some hulks belonging to the Hans Towns for plunder, when he was entrusted to carry lights in the night for the direction of the English fleet, he misled the Admiral; yet he was the only Commander who profited most by the destruction of the enemy. Lord Howard, supposing the lights of the Spanish Admiral to be the lights which Drake was ordered to carry, was entangled in the very centre of the Spanish fleet, before he found his mistake; but, fortunately, night favouring his escape, he disengaged himself before he was discovered. This blunder was afterwards effaced by the gallant behaviour of Drake, than whom no man was ever bolder, or more determined. We do not, however, find his name among the Commanders whom the Lord High Admiral thought proper to thank for their services on that occasion. On the 2d of July, says Strype, Sir Francis, observing a large Spanish galleon, commanded by Don Pedro de Valdez, who was the reputed projector of the invasion, floating at a distance from both fleets, sent his pinnace to summon the Captain to surrender, who at first vauntingly set him at defiance; but being told it was Drake that required him to yield, he immediately struck his colours, and, with 46 of his crew, came on board the conqueror. In this ship he found 50,000 ducats, with other effects to a much greater amount.

The next year he was appointed Admiral of a squadron sent to place Don Antonio on the throne of Portugal, to which that Prince pretended to have a right. “But, says Rapin, (whose account of this expedition we shall follow) as the Queen was extremely frugal, and an undertaking against Spain could not but be very expensive, she so ordered it, that Drake and Norris took upon them to be at the charge, in hopes of making themselves amends by the booty they should meet with. So she only found them six ships of war, with a present of 60,000 l. with leave to raise soldiers and sailors for the expedition. Drake had already tried the Spaniards in America and in the Channel, and was convinced they were more formidable in common opinion than in reality; wherefore, joining with Sir John Norris, and some other private persons, they equipped a fleet, and embarked 11,000 soldiers and 1500 marines. The Hollanders having also added some ships, the fleet consisted, according to Stow, of 146 sail, transports and victuallers included. Drake commanded at sea, and Norris was General of the land forces. They took with them Don Antonio, who hoped, by the assistance of the English, to be put in possession of his kingdom, where he pretended to have many friends.

“They sailed from Plymouth on the 18th of April, and soon after arrived at the Groyne, where landing their troops, they assaulted the lower town, and carried it by storm. Then they besieged the upper town. But Norris, having advice that the Conde di Andrada was approaching with a body of troops to relieve the place, suddenly raised the siege to march against him; and, overtaking him, slew 3000 of his men. This done, he burnt several villages; and, without returning to the siege, re-embarked his troops, their principal design being against Portugal.

“Whilst they were sailing towards the coasts of that kingdom, they were joined by the Earl of Essex, with some ships he had armed at his own charge, unknown to the Queen. Some days after, they arrived at Panicha, a little town in Portugal, and, taking it, restored it to Don Antonio; from thence Norris marched by land to Lisbon, Drake promising to follow with the fleet up the Tagus. The army marched 40 miles without opposition; and encamping before Lisbon, took the suburbs of St. Catharine: but, as Drake performed not his promise, and the army wanted cannon and ammunition, it was resolved in a council of war to retire. This resolution was taken, because there was no appearance that the Portuguese were inclined to revolt, as Don Antonio had expected; and also, because there was no news of the succours he had boasted of from the King of Morocco. The army marching towards the mouth of the Tagus, met Drake, who had taken the town of Cascaes, and excused himself upon the impossibility of performing his promise. Some days after, the castle of Cascaes surrendering, it was blown up; and, to make themselves amends for the charges of the expedition, the English seized sixty vessels laden with corn, and all manner of naval stores to equip a new fleet against England, belonging to the Hans Towns. Then they went and took Vigo, which was abandoned by the inhabitants; and, firing the town, returned to England. This expedition did some damage to the King of Spain, but was of no benefit to Elizabeth; and the booty was not sufficient to pay for equipping the fleet, though Camden says, they brought home 150 pieces of heavy cannon, and a great booty. Above six thousand men perished in this expedition by sickness.”

The writers of Drake’s life say, that Norris grievously reproached Drake with breach of his promise, and charged the miscarriage of the expedition to his timidity. Indeed, Drake’s good genius seems now to have forsaken him; and happy, say the same writers, if, having received this first check at play, he had withdrawn his stake.

As the war with Spain continued, Hawkins and Drake, who, as it should seem, wanted to continue their old game, where the profits were more, and the danger less, united their interest to persuade the Queen and Council to undertake an effectual expedition to the West Indies, by which the nation might be enriched, and the enemy deprived of those resources by which they were enabled to carry on the war.

For this purpose they procured, according to Rapin, twenty-six of the Queen’s ships, the equipment of which, like the former, seems to have been supplied by private adventure; a practice at that time very common, where plunder was to be the reward. The preparations for this expedition, however, as it far exceeded all former enterprizes to the American Indies, could not be made so privately, or conducted so secretly, but that the Spaniards found means to discover both its strength and destination, and prepared themselves accordingly.

As the places that were to be attacked lay at a great distance, it was necessary to gain time, in order to fortify them. It was, therefore, found necessary to devise some expedient to prevent the sailing of that formidable armament, till every thing was in readiness to oppose it. Accordingly, it was given out, that a second invasion was intended against England; and when the Spanish fleet was ready to sail for America, that had been equipping under pretence of an invasion, a sham attack was made upon Cornwall, in order to spread an alarm, and give it countenance.

This had the desired effect. It was thought improper to part with so many stout ships while the nation was threatened; and the expedition was therefore retarded, till the panic had subsided.

It was therefore the 28th of August, in 1695, before the Commanders obtained permission to sail; and in the mean time the Queen having received advice that the plate fleet was safe arrived in Europe, and that only one ship, which had sprung her mast, remained behind, her Majesty acquainted them with the intelligence, and advised them to attack Porto Rico, before they pursued their grand enterprize, by which they might make themselves masters of the galleon without losing much time in the conquest.

Sir Francis Drake, who was not formed to act in conjunct expeditions, had not been long at sea before he differed in opinion from his fellow Commander, and pursued a project totally different from the first object of the voyage, in which, however, he was seconded by Sir Thomas Baskerville, Commander of the land forces. This scheme was to attack the Canaries in the way to America; in which, however, they failed; and spending necessarily much time in the island of Dominica in landing and refreshing the men, who, being unused to long voyages in hot climates, were many of them unfit to proceed, the Spaniards had so effectually prepared themselves, that, when the Generals came to action, they found an opposition very different from what they expected; and were soon sensible, that what they had formerly effected by surprize with a handful of sailors, was not now to be accomplished with a whole army of disciplined troops.

In their course to Porto Rico, one of the sternmost ships of the English fleet fell into the hands of five Spanish frigates that had been sent from Spain to convoy home the galleon from that port. From this ship they gained the intelligence of the intended attack, the consequences of which being foreseen by Sir John Hawkins, it threw him into a sudden disorder, of which in a few days he died--some say, of a broken heart.

They were now, Nov. 12, 1595, before Porto Rico, and the same evening that Sir John Hawkins died, as the principal officers were at supper, a cannon-shot from the fort pierced the cabin, killed Sir Nicholas Clifford, wounded Captain Stratford, mortally wounded Sir Brute Browne, and struck the stool from under Sir Francis Drake, as he was drinking success to the attack.

The next day, pursuant to a resolution of a council of war, a general attack was made upon the shipping in the harbour, but without effect. The Spaniards suffered much, but the English more; who, finding it impossible to make an impression upon the fortifications of the town, weighed anchor, and steered to Rio de la Hacha, set fire to the town and burned it to the ground: they likewise performed some other exploits of the like kind; but having landed the troops destined to cross the isthmus to attack Panama, after a fatiguing march in which they were great sufferers, they returned, without being able to reach the place. This disappointment materially affected Drake, who having, as he thought, provided a sufficient force to carry into execution the enterprize which he had well-nigh effected with a few sailors and Symerons some years before, could not bear the thought of surviving his disgrace. “Now, says Fuller, began the discontent of Sir Francis Drake to feed upon him. He conceived, that expectation, a merciless usurer, computing each day since his departure, exacted an interest and return of honour and profit proportionable to his great preparations, and transcending his former atchievements. He saw that all the good which he had done in his voyage, consisted in the evil he had done the Spaniards afar off, whereof he could present but small visible fruits in England. These apprehensions accompanying, if not causing, the disease of the flux, wrought his sudden death; and sickness did not so much untie his cloaths, as sorrow did rend at once the robe of his mortality asunder. He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.”

This account of the manner of Sir Francis Drake’s death seems to be authentic, though some have not scrupled to insinuate, that sickness had no part in that catastrophe. Be that as it may, Fuller’s reflections upon it deserve to be remembered. “Thus, says he, we see how great spirits, having mounted to the highest pitch of performance, afterwards strain and break their credit in striving to go beyond it; Or, it may be, God oftentimes leaves the brightest men in an eclipse, to shew that they do but borrow their lustre from his reflection.”

Thus we have endeavoured to trace the actions of this celebrated navigator from beginning to end. If we have withdrawn the veil, which has hitherto covered his infirmities, it has been in the pursuit of truth; not with a design to detract from his real merit, but to shew his character in the true light. In the current of success, even crimes of the deepest die are sometimes patronised even by the public. The actions which gave rise to Drake’s popularity, are such as a courageous leader, with an hundred armed followers, might in these peaceable times easily perform, by entering the cities or towns on the coast of Britain, in the dead of night, cutting the throats of the watch, and all who happen to be awake in the streets, breaking open and plundering houses, and churches, seizing every thing valuable that should fall into their hands, and before the people could recover from their consternation, making their escape with their booty. Were such a company masters of an armed vessel, if there were no ship of force to oppose them, what should hinder their sailing from place to place, and, _provided they could out-run report_, performing the like exploits in every town they came to? Would there be anything truly great in this? Or would the man who should undertake and execute an enterprize of such a horrid nature, be justly entitled to the name of Hero? If not, what shall we say of Drake’s nocturnal enterprize on Nombre de Dios; of his way-laying the treasure in the road from Panama; of his ranging the unarmed coasts of Chili and Peru; and of his plundering villages, towns, and ships belonging to a peaceable unsuspecting people, with whom his nation was at peace, and from whom opposition was not to be dreaded? What, indeed, did the people at that time say? Those who were the sufferers cried out loudly against the plunderer; and Bernardine de Mendoza, the Spanish Ambassador at the court of Queen Elizabeth, insisted that he should be punished for his robberies, and that all the money and effects he had seized should be restored; but, if the Queen was a private adventurer, as, from Drake’s declaration to his followers, and from other instances of the womanish littlenesses of that Princess, there is reason to suspect, What hope was there of justice or restitution from remonstrance? Indeed, it served that avaricious Queen for a pretence to sequester the treasure which Drake brought home, and to convert, it is probable, the greatest part of it to her own use; for, as we have already shewn from good authority in a note, though the whole booty was valued at 800,000l. yet only 80,000l. was divided among the plunderers; and Rapin tells us, that some part of the treasure was afterwards repaid by the Queen to Spain. If she had not retained enough in her hands, no one will suppose, that the Sovereign, who could cause the goods of her favourite Leicester to be set to public sale after his death, for the payment of money she had lent him, would have repaid to Spain from her own coffers the plunder that had been unjustly taken by one of her meaner subjects.

To dignify actions, therefore, of the most infamous piracy with the name of great, is to exalt vice, and to substitute successful villainy in the place of substantial virtue. If we view Drake in the light of a courageous plunderer, he may vie with the De la Poles, the Blackbeards, or any of those daring disturbers of the times in which they lived, who struck a panic wherever they roved to commit their ravages: but, consider him as a Commander, employed in the defence of his country, and we shall see nothing to admire, except his courage. In the first enterprize in which he was engaged, he was indeed successful. The Queen, suspecting an intention in Philip of Spain to revenge the injuries his subjects had received, pitched upon Drake, who had given the offence, as the fittest man to prevent the consequences. He, therefore, as he had done before, attacked the enemy by surprize, and set fire to a defenceless number of transports assembled in the harbour of Cadiz, without a ship of war to protect them, or a gun fired by way of opposition. The accident which afterwards threw the rich India ship in his way, on his return home, did him no honour as a Commander, though it gave him credit as a fortunate adventurer: nor did his behaviour in the Channel, when, instead of maintaining his post, he pursued the Hans merchant ships, add at all to his reputation as a Vice-Admiral. His American enterprize with Lord Carlisle was attended with no laurels; and the only two enterprizes in which he was employed in a joint command, he ruined by his perfidy and self-conceit.

It may, indeed, be urged in Drake’s defence, that it was the policy of the Queen his Sovereign, to countenance her subjects in distressing Spain, and in mortifying the haughty monarch who sat upon the throne; and that almost all the heroes of her active reign, acquired their glory by practices founded on the same prevailing principle.

This argument in his favour cannot be denied its due wright. The expeditions of Sir John Hawkins; of Sir Walter Raleigh; of Lord Carlisle; of Sir John Norris; of the Earl of Essex; of Cavendish; and, indeed, of most others undertaken against Spain; were professedly with a view to plunder; and the charges of fitting them out were chiefly borne by those who were to be sharers in the booty: yet, surely, there is a material difference between the glory that is purchased by valour in the field, and fame that is acquired by compacts to surprize the innocent, and invade the property of the peaceable.

Having now seen Drake in two distinct points of view, as a leader of a company of plunderers, and as a Commander in the royal navy, let us do justice to his character by viewing him as a mariner, and in that light he will hardly have his equal. To project a voyage round the globe, and to conduct it without the assistance of a single mariner on board who had ever crossed the Line, Nuno da Silva, the Portuguese pilot, excepted, was, perhaps, one of the boldest exploits that ever man performed. His navigating his ships along the coast of Brazil; his carrying them through the straits of Magellan in a shorter time than any mariner has ever done since; his keeping the sea in a storm for thirty days together; his skill in navigating the coasts of Chili, Peru, and New Spain, where no English ship had ever sailed; his accuracy in discovering the track of the Spanish ship from the East Indies, and his consummate sagacity in pursuing a new course home to avoid pursuers; cannot be enough admired or applauded. His knowledge of the globe is manifest from the first attempt he made to return home by a northern passage; a passage which he knew would not only secure him from the danger of pursuers, but, were it practicable, would open a free intercourse between his nation and the rich inhabitants of that opulent country in which he was then situated. Finding himself, however, disappointed in this design, how great was his sagacity in the discovery of an unknown country, wherein to repair his ship, refresh his followers, take in wood and water, and to supply himself with every necessary for the vast voyage by sea he was to encounter; and yet, such was his knowledge in making provision against every contingency that might happen, that he lost but one man by sickness during the long run from the coast of New Spain to the Ladrones, in which Commodore Anson lost near half his crew. Nor is his skill less to be admired in his return from the Ladrones, the most dangerous navigation of any part of the known world; for, except the accident upon the rock, as has already been related, he sailed from the Ladrones to Java unembarrassed; from Java to Sierra Leona, on the coast of Africa, without touching at any port, or encountering any difficulty, save from a scarcity of water; a thing hardly to be credited, and which was never performed by any mariner before his time, or since.

THE
VOYAGES
OF
CAPT. THOMAS CAVENDISH,
THE SECOND ENGLISH NAVIGATOR WHO SAILED ROUND THE WORLD.

This Gentleman was descended from an antient family in Suffolk, whose ancestors came into England with William the Conqueror. His father, William Cavendish, of Trimley St. Martin, near Ipswich, dying young, left his son Thomas a minor, and heir to the manors of Trimley, Stratton, and Grimston, with other lands of inheritance to a very considerable amount: but this youth, whose atchievements we are about to relate, being of a high-spirited disposition, and, as soon as he came of age, subject to no controul, fell early into the fashionable gallantries and vices of the times, and dissipated the best part of his ample fortune before he entertained any thoughts of applying to business, or, perhaps, was sensible how deeply his affairs were embarrassed.

But he no sooner began to reflect, and to perceive, that, without application to some kind of employment, he must be undone, than he made choice of a sea-faring life, not only as most suitable to his unsettled turn of mind, but also as the most likely means of restoring his fortune, and establishing his credit.

The kingdom was now involved in war with the Spaniards, the then most powerful, and consequently the haughtiest and most formidable people in Europe, who, drawing immense riches from their new acquisitions in America, not only raised the envy but the enmity of other powers, by their pride and their perfidy.

Gentlemen of fortune, and gentlemen of no fortune, were about this time equally encouraged to distress the enemy. The war laid open an immense field for enterprize; and every one was at liberty to share the harvest, who was willing to bestow the pains of gathering the produce and bringing it home.

Among the most active and the most indefatigable was Sir Walter Raleigh, who not only was the most experienced, but the most successful leader of his time. With him our adventurer first determined to embark; and, as Sir Walter had just projected a new voyage to America at his own charge, he was ready enough to admit associates, who were able and willing to bear a part of the expence. Unfortunately for our new adventurer, all the advantage he derived from this project was only in the knowledge he obtained of sea affairs, and of the temper and genius of the people with whom he had to deal; for the profits that accrued from the voyage by no means answered the sums employed in pursuing it. He observed, that, by means of their great riches, the Spaniards could command intelligence of all that was in agitation against them on this side the globe; but that, if they were to be taken off their guard, the southern hemisphere must be the place of action. He had already an example, in Sir Francis Drake, of the immense wealth that was to be acquired on the coast of Peru, if secrecy could be preserved, and he determined to be upon his guard, and to keep his design solely within his own breast.

With this view he sold a part of the remains of his estate, and set about building two ships proper for his enterprize at Harwich, at that time an obscure port, namely, one called the _Desire_, of 120 tons; and another of 60, called the _Content_; to these he added the _Hugh Gallant_, a bark of 40 tons. In the equipment of this little squadron, he purchased many articles of commerce to cover his design, and then privately laid in guns, ammunition and stores, with a moderate quantity of provisions, intending to purchase the rest at some other convenient port, when he was just ready to depart.

He likewise enlisted but half his complement of men; and when he arrived at Plymouth he supplied the rest. In the whole conduct of what has been already related, he was his own sole director, and none of those who sailed with him knew whither he was bound, till after their embarkation at Plymouth. It is even uncertain whether Lord Hounsdon, who procured his commission, knew the place of his destination.

An enterprize so well concerted cannot fail to excite curiosity; and as it was excellently written by Mr. Pretty, brother to Sir William, who accompanied Cavendish throughout the voyage, it will best appear in its ancient dress.

“We departed, says Mr. Pretty, out of Plymouth on Thursday the 21st of July, 1586, with three sails (to wit, the Desire a ship of 120 tons, the Content of 60 tons, and the Hugh Gallant a bark of 40 tons); in which small fleet were 123 persons of all sorts, with all kind of furniture, and victuals sufficient for the space of two years. On Tuesday the 26th of the same month, we were forty-five leagues from Cape Finis Terræ, where we met with five sails of Biscayers, coming from the Grand Bay in Newfoundland, as we supposed, which our Admiral shot at, and fought with them three hours; but we took none of them, by reason the night grew on.

The 1st of August we came in sight of Fort Ventura, one of the isles of the Canaries, about ten o’clock in the morning.

On Sunday, being the 7th of August, we were gotten as high as Rio del Oro, on the coast of Barbary.

On Monday the 19th, we fell in with Cape Blanco, but the wind blew so much at the North, that we could not get up where the Canters do use to ride and fish: therefore we lay off six hours west-south-west, because of the sand which lieth off the Cape south-west and by south.

The 15th day of the same month we were in the height of Cape Verd, by estimation fifty leagues off the same. The 18th, Sierra Leona did bear east of us, being forty leagues from us; and the same day the wind shifted to the north-west; so that, by the 20th day of the said month, we were in six degrees thirty minutes to the northward of the Equinoctial Line.

The 23d, we set sail for Sierra Leona, and on the 25th day we fell in with the point on the south-side of Sierra Leona, which Mr. Brewer knew very well, and went in before with the Content, which was Vice-admiral: and we had no less than five fathoms water when we had least, and had, for fourteen leagues in south-west, all the way running into the harbour of Sierra Leona, sixteen, fourteen, twelve, ten, and eight fathoms of water.

The 26th of the said month, we put into the harbour; and, in going in, we had by the southmost point at least five fathoms water by the rock, which lieth at the said point: and after we came within two or three cables length of the said rock, we never had less than ten fathoms water until we came up to the road, which is about a league from the point, bordering always on the south-side until you come up to the watering-place, in which bay is the best road: but you must ride far into the bay, because there runs prodigious great tides in the offing, and it commonly floweth into the road at a south-east and by east moon.

It is from England to this place 930 leagues; which we ran from the 21st of July to the 26th of this month of August. On Saturday, being the 27th day, there came two negroes from the shore aboard our Admiral, and made signs unto our General that there was a Portuguese ship within the harbour; so the Hugh Gallant, being the Rear-admiral, went up three or four leagues, but, for want of a pilot, they went no farther; for the harbour runneth up three or four leagues more, and is of a prodigious breadth, and very dangerous, as we were afterwards informed by a Portuguese.

On Sunday the 28th, the General sent some of his company on shore, and there, as they played and danced all the forenoon among the negroes, to the end that they might hear some good news of the Portuguese ship, and as they were returning to go on board, they spied a Portuguese, which lay hid among the bushes, whom we took and brought away with us the same night: and he told us it was very dangerous going up with our boats in search of the ship that was at the town. Whereupon we went not to seek her, because we knew he told us the truth for we bound him and made him fast, and so examined him. He told us also, that his ship was there cast away, and that there were two more of his company among the negroes. The Portuguese’s name was Emmanuel, and was by his occupation a chalker, belonging to the port of Portugal.

On Monday morning, being the 29th day, our General landed with 70 men, or thereabouts, and went up to their town, where we burnt two or three houses, and took what spoil we could, which was but little; but all the people fled: and, in our retiring on board, in a very little plain, at their town’s end, they shot their arrows at us out of the woods, and hurt three or four of our men. Their arrows were poisoned; but yet none of our men miscarried at that time. Their town is very artificially built with mud walls; their houses built round, with their yards paled in, and kept very clean, as are their streets. These negroes used great obedience to their King, as one of our men said, which was an hostage for the negroes which came first. There were in their town, by estimation, about one hundred houses.

The first of September, there went many of our men on shore at the watering-place, and did wash shirts very quietly all the day. And the second day they went again, and the negroes were in ambush round about the place; and the carpenter of the Admiral going into the wood, to do some special business, espied them by good fortune. But the negroes rushed out upon our men so suddenly, that, in retiring to our boats, many of them were hurt; among whom Wm. Pickman, a soldier, was shot in the thigh; who, plucking the arrow out, broke it, and left the head behind; and he told the chirurgeons that he plucked out all the arrow, because he would not have them lance his thigh: whereupon the poison wrought so that night, that he was prodigiously swolen, and the next morning he died; the piece of the arrow with the poison being afterwards plucked out of his thigh.

The 3d day of the said month, divers of our fleet went up four miles within the harbour with our boat, and caught great store of fish, and went on shore, and took lemons from the trees; and, coming on board again, saw two buffaloes.

The 6th day we departed from Sierra Leona, and went out of the harbour, and staid one tide three leagues from the point of the mouth of the harbour, in six fathoms, and it flowed south-south-west.

On Wednesday, being the 7th of the same month, we departed for one of the isles of Cape Verd, which is ten leagues distant from the point of Sierra Leona and about five o’clock the same night we anchored about two miles off the island, in six fathoms water, and landed the same night, and found plantains only upon the island.

The 8th day, one of our boats went out, and sounded about the island, and they passed through a Sound at the west end of the island, where they found five fathoms water round about the island, until they came to the very gut of the Sound, and then for a cast or two they had but two fathoms water, and presently after six fathoms, and so deeper and deeper. And, at the east end of the island, there was a town where negroes resorted at some times, as we perceived by their provision.

There is no fresh water on all the south-side that we could perceive; but, on the north-side, three or four very good places of fresh water: and all the whole island is a wood, save certain little places where the houses stand, which are environed round about with plantain trees, whereof the fruit is excellent meat. This place is subject very much to thunder, rain, and lightning, in this month: I think the reason is, because the sun is near the Line Equinoctial. On Saturday the 10th, we departed from the said island about three o’clock in the afternoon, the wind being at the south-west.

The last of October, running west-south-west, about twenty-four leagues from Cape Frio in Brazil, we fell in with a great mountain, which had an high round knob on the top of it, standing like a tower.

The first of November, we went in between the island of St. Sebastian and the main land, carried several things on shore, set up a forge, and had our casks on shore; our cooper made hoops: and so we remained there until the 23d day of the same month in which time we fitted our things, built our pinnace, and filled our fresh water. And while our pinnace was building, there came a canoe from the river of Janeiro, meaning to go to St. Vincent, wherein were six naked slaves of the country, which did row the canoe, and one Portuguese; and the Portuguese knew Christopher Hare, Master of the Admiral; for that Mr. Hare had been at St. Vincent, in the Minion of London, in the year 1581: and, thinking to have John Whithal, the Englishman, which dwelleth at St. Vincent, come unto us, which is twenty leagues from this harbour, with some others, thereby to have had some fresh victuals, we suffered the Portuguese to go with a letter unto him, who promised to return or send some answer within ten days, for that we told him we were merchants, and would traffic with them; but we never received any answer from him and seeing that he came not according to appointment, our business being dispatched, we weighed anchor, and set sail from St. Sebastian on the 23d of November.

The 16th day of December we fell in with the coast of America, in 47 deg. and 20 min. the land bearing west from us about six leagues off; from which place we ran along the shore until we came into 48 deg. It is a steep beach all along.

The 17th of December, in the afternoon, we entered into an harbour, where our Admiral went in first; wherefore our General named the said harbour Port Desire; in which harbour is an island or two, where there is a wonderful great store of seals, and another island of birds, called grey gulls. These seals are of a wonderful bigness, huge and monstrous of shape; and, for the fore-part of their bodies, cannot be compared to any thing better than to a lion: their head, neck, and fore-part of their bodies, are full of rough hair; their feet are in the manner of a fin, and in form like unto a man’s hand; they breed and cast every month, giving their young milk, yet continually get they their living in the sea, and live altogether upon fish: their young are extraordinary good meat; and being boiled or roasted, are hardly to be known from lamb or mutton. The old ones are of such bigness and force, that it is as much as four men are able to do to kill one of them with great staves; and he must be beaten down with striking on the head of him; for his body is of that bigness, that four men could never kill him, but only on the head; for being shot through the body with an harquebuss, or a musket, yet he will go his way into the sea, and never care for it at the present. Also the fowls that were there were very good meat, and great plenty of them: they have burrows in the ground like conies, for they cannot fly; they have nothing but down upon their pinions; they also fish and feed in the sea for their living, and breed on shore.

This harbour is a very good place to trim ships in, and to bring them on ground and grave them in, for there ebbeth and floweth much water; therefore we graved and trimmed all our ships there.

The 24th of December, being Christmas-eve, a man and a boy of the Rear-admiral went some forty scores from our ships, unto a very fair green valley at the foot of a mountain, where was a little pit or well which our men had digged and made some two or three days before, to get fresh water; for there was none in all the harbour; and this was but brackish; therefore this man and boy went thither to wash their linen: and being in washing at the said well, there were great numbers of Indians which were come down, and found the said man and boy in washing. These Indians being divided on each side of the rocks, shot at them with their arrows, and hurt them both; but they fled presently, being about fifty or threescore, though our General followed them but with sixteen or twenty men. The man was shot quite through the knee, the boy into the shoulder; either of them having very sore wounds. Their arrows are made of little canes, and their heads are of a flint stone, set into the cane very artificially. They are as wild as ever was a buck, or any other wild beast; for we followed them, and they ran from us as we had been the wildest things in the world. We took the measure of one of their feet, and it was eighteen inches long. Their custom is, when any of them die, to bring him or them to the cliffs by the sea-side, and upon the top of them they bury them; and in their graves are buried with them their bows and arrows, and all their jewels which they had in their life-time, which are fine shells that they find by the sea-side, which they cut and square after an artificial manner; and all are laid under their heads. The grave is made with large stones of great length and bigness, being set all along full of the dead man’s darts, which he used when he was living. And they colour both their darts and their graves of a red colour, which they use in colouring themselves.

The 28th of December, we departed out of the port of Desire, and went to an island which lieth three leagues to the southward of it; where we trimmed our saved penguins with salt, for victuals, all that and the next day, and departed along the coast south-west and by-south.

The 31st we fell in with a rock, which lieth about five leagues from the land, much like unto Edistone, which lieth off the sound of Plymouth; and we sounded, and had eight fathoms rocky ground, within a mile thereof; the rock bearing west-south-west. We went coasting along south-south-west, and found great store of seals. This rock standeth in 48 deg. 30 min. to the southward of the Line.

The 2d day of January, we fell in with a very fair white cape, which standeth in 51 degrees, and had seven fathoms water a league off the land.

The 3d, we fell in with another great white cape, which standeth in 52 deg. 45 min. from which cape there runneth a low beach about a league to the southward; and this beach reacheth to the opening of the dangerous strait of Magellan, which is in divers places five or six leagues wide, and in two several places more narrow. Under this cape we anchored, and lost an anchor; for it was a great storm, and lasted three days very dangerous.

The 6th day we put in for the straits.

The 7th day, between the mouth of the straits and the narrowest place thereof, we took a Spaniard, whose name was Hernando, who was there with 23 Spaniards more, which were all that remained of four hundred left there three years before, all the rest being dead with famine. And the same day we passed through the narrowest of the straits, where the aforesaid Spaniard shewed us the hull of a small bark, which we judged to be a bark called the John Thomas, one of Drake’s fleet. It is from the mouth of the straits unto the narrowest of the straits fourteen leagues, and the course lieth west and by-north. The mouth of the straits lieth in 52 degrees.

From the narrowest of the straits unto Penguin island is ten leagues, and lieth west-south-west, somewhat to the southward, where we anchored the 8th day, and killed and salted plenty of penguins for victuals.