THE AFRICAN VOYAGES
In the days of Queen Elizabeth, when Michael Locke and Martin Frobisher
were contemplating the revival of the search for the North-West Passage,
a certain James Alday wrote to the former, asking to be employed in the
project.[262] As a recommendation he put forward the claim to have
‘invented’ the trade to the coast of Barbary in the reign of Edward VI.
Sir John Lutterell and other merchants, he said, appointed him to
command the first expedition to that land in the year 1551. But a great
epidemic of the sweating sickness broke out; most of the promoters of
the voyage died, and Alday himself was struck down. The ship, called the
_Lion_ of London, a vessel of 150 tons, was then at Portsmouth. Thomas
Wyndham assumed the command and, leaving Alday behind, took her out to
the Atlantic coast of Morocco to a port named Santa Cruz. There he
traded, presumably with success, and returned, bringing with him two
Moors of noble blood to England. Such is all that is now known of the
opening voyage of the African trade, which assumed great importance in
the decade which followed.
Thomas Wyndham was the son of a Norfolk knight who had served at sea
against the French, and who became a councillor and vice-admiral under
Henry VIII. He himself also served in the navy, taking part in the
fighting against the French and Scots in 1544–5, and filling spare
moments with piracy as did William Hawkins and others of Henry’s
officers. In 1547 he was vice-admiral in the fleet which accompanied
Somerset’s army up the east coast to the Battle of Pinkie. His next
exploit was the Barbary voyage above described. By all accounts he was a
fierce, masterful man, making more enemies than friends among his
equals, but always able to command the loyalty of his crews; just the
type of character of which the service and personality of King Henry
bred such numerous examples, and whose traditions were handed on to the
golden age of Elizabeth’s sea captains.
A second voyage to the Barbary coast was set forth in 1552, on a larger
scale, and its history was written by Hakluyt[263] from the relation of
James Thomas, Wyndham’s page on the expedition. Three vessels, the
_Lion_, 150 tons, the _Botolph_, 80 tons, and a Portuguese caravel of 60
tons purchased at Newport in Wales, the whole fleet manned by 120
persons, sailed from Bristol at the beginning of May 1552 with Wyndham
in chief command. Sir John Yorke, Sir William Gerard, Sir Thomas Wroth,
Francis Lambert, and other London merchants, were the promoters or
‘adventurers’, as the investors were then called. After a prosperous
passage, which occupied only a fortnight, the fleet arrived at Zafia on
the coast of Barbary, in 32° latitude. Some goods were there set on
shore to be conveyed to the city of Morocco, and they then proceeded to
Santa Cruz, where the _Lion_ had been in the previous year. A French
ship was already in the port on their arrival, and hastened to take
refuge under the walls of the town, a precaution which was not
unjustifiable in view of the reputation for piracy which the English had
by this time established at sea. The townspeople, mistaking their
intentions, at first fired on them, but on recognizing them as having
been there before, received them amicably. Three months were spent at
this place before cargoes were completed, consisting of sugar, dates,
almonds, and molasses.
On the return voyage the ships stood well out into the ocean in order to
get a west wind for England. The _Lion_ sprang a leak, and it was
decided to make for Lancerota in the Canary Islands to effect repairs.
Part of the _Lion’s_ cargo was unloaded on the island, some of the men
being set to guard it. The inhabitants took note of these proceedings
and, seeing that the caravel was not of English build and supposing that
she had been unlawfully acquired, made a sudden attack on the shore
party. Some of the latter were captured and seventy chests of sugar were
carried off. Seeing this, Wyndham sent three boats full of men to the
rescue and put the Spaniards to flight, killing many and making prisoner
the governor of the island, an old gentleman of seventy. After this,
both sides having suffered losses, a parley ensued and a mutual
restoration of prisoners was agreed upon. In addition, the Spaniards
gave an acknowledgement of the damage inflicted which, it was decided,
was to be recovered from the Spanish merchants residing in London.
The leak being mended the voyage was resumed. As the English were
leaving the roadstead a Portuguese armed fleet sailed in, but did not
give chase. The Portuguese had already taken great offence at the
English trading on the African coast, and threatened to treat as
belligerents any Englishmen found there. When it came to fighting,
however, they were generally very faint-hearted, and they never
succeeded in capturing an English ship.
After seven or eight weeks’ sailing Wyndham and his fleet reached
Plymouth, and thence proceeded to London, arriving at the end of October
1552.
The experience gained in these voyages emboldened those interested to
attempt a much more distant adventure, having for its object the
acquisition of cargoes more valuable than dates and sugar. There was in
London at that time a Portuguese refugee named Antonio Anes Pinteado. He
is described as a skilled pilot and captain, who had formerly served on
the coasts of Brazil and Guinea, and who was therefore well acquainted
with the intricacies of the navigation in the latter region. The cause
of his quarrel with his own country is not known, but he was so much in
dread of his compatriots that he would not venture unaccompanied into
their society even in London; neither was he to be deceived by the fair
promises made him by the Portuguese Government, which doubtless was
eager to stop the mouth of one who knew so much. This man placed his
services at the disposal of the African adventurers, and was engaged by
them to guide an expedition to the coasts of Guinea and Benin, where
gold, ivory, and other rare commodities were obtainable. With him went
Thomas Wyndham, who assumed the chief command. It does not plainly
appear whether Pinteado was intended to have any share of the control of
the expedition beyond what his duty as pilot entitled him to; if such
was the intention of the promoters it was soon overruled by Wyndham, who
kept the Portuguese in a strictly subordinate position.
The sole existing account of the voyage is not very satisfactory. It was
written by Richard Eden and published by him in his _Decades of the New
World_ in 1555.[264] It is marred by the deep prejudice against Wyndham
and a corresponding bias in favour of Pinteado displayed by the writer.
Eden, although he did his contemporaries good service by arousing their
interest in travel and geography, was one of those unhappy people who
can discover nothing good in their own country and have nothing but
censure for the acts of their own countrymen. His temperament can best
be illustrated by a quotation of his own words. In the preface to the
work above mentioned, after a general eulogy of the Spaniards and King
Philip and a severe condemnation of those Englishmen who resented that
monarch’s intrusion into the affairs of England, he proceeds: ‘Stoop,
England, stoop, and learn to know thy lord and master, as horses and
other brute beasts are taught to do. Be not indocible like tigers and
dragons, and such other monsters noyous to mankind.... But oh,
unthankfull England and void of honest shame! Who hath given the face of
a whore and the tongue of a serpent without shame to speak venomous
words in secret against the anointed of God ...’, with a great deal more
to the same effect. To such a man Wyndham, asserting his authority, was
an insane tyrant, ‘a terrible Hydra, with virtues few or none adorned’;
while Pinteado, a renegade and traitor to his own country, selling that
country’s most cherished secrets to its rivals, was ‘a wise, discreet
and sober man, ... a man worthy to serve any prince, and most vilely
used’. A realization of Eden’s infirmity is necessary to a just
appreciation of his account of the voyage.
On August 12, 1553, not quite a month after Mary’s accession, the little
squadron consisting of two ships and a pinnace set sail from Portsmouth.
The ships were the _Lion_, which had made the two Barbary voyages, and
of which Wyndham was part owner, and the _Primrose_, the pinnace being
named the _Moon_. The two last-mentioned belonged to the navy and were
lent for the expedition.[265] The three vessels were manned by 140 men,
including several of the merchants who had ‘adventured’ the voyage. Most
of them were destined never to return. They touched first at Madeira,
where wines were bought and duly paid for. Here they encountered a great
Portuguese galleon, full of men and guns, expressly sent to prohibit
their voyage; but, on a closer view, she refrained from interfering with
them, and they proceeded unmolested. At this point the disagreements
between Wyndham and Pinteado began. Eden implies that hitherto they had
had equal authority, the fleet ‘having two captains’, an improbable
arrangement. However that may have been, Wyndham was henceforth supreme,
and was evidently backed by the officers and crews, while the merchants,
if we are to believe Eden, sided with Pinteado. Voyaging in leisurely
fashion so as not to arrive on the coast before the end of the hot
season, and touching at various islands on the way, they at length
reached the River of Sestos in the westernmost part of Guinea, known as
the Grain Coast (the modern Liberia). They did not tarry to load the
‘grains’ of the district, although cargoes of them were frequently
brought to Europe by the Portuguese;[266] but, ‘by the persuasion or
rather inforcement of this tragical captain’, they pushed on to the Gold
Coast, and there traded on either side of the Castle of Mina, the
head-quarters of the Portuguese.
The position of the latter on the Guinea coast at this time somewhat
resembled that of the English and French on the coast of Coromandel at
the opening of Clive’s career, with the exception, of course, that the
Portuguese officials were the servants of the Government and not of a
trading company. There was no effective occupation of the hinterland or
even of the entire coast, but at various places along the latter were
Portuguese forts and trading stations, of which Mina, not far from the
modern Cape Coast Castle, was the chief. Other places on the coast were
ruled over by native chiefs in a state of vassallage to the Portuguese,
whose hold over them was not sufficiently rigorous to prevent them from
trading with the English and French. Thus there was no colony in the
sense in which the word was applied to the Spanish settlements in
America, but merely a chain of commercial ‘factories’. Liberty of trade
among the Portuguese themselves was restricted to those who had the
royal licence for that purpose, a fact which redoubled their annoyance
at the invasion of their preserves by others.
Wyndham did not touch at Mina itself, but exchanged his wares with the
native chiefs, obtaining in all about 150 lb. weight of gold, a sum
which in itself would have cleared all the expenses of the expedition
and have paid a handsome profit besides. Eden asserts that it was
Wyndham’s unbalanced brain which then caused him to leave this lucrative
trade and push on to Benin to seek pepper. But, judging from the
accounts of later voyages, it is probable that no more gold was then
forthcoming, or that the demand for English goods had slackened. Only
one other expedition of which we have particulars secured more than 150
lb. of gold, the supply being limited; and the natives were always very
grasping and prone to take offence. The record of Wyndham’s career
certainly gives no ground for the supposition that he would forsake the
certainty of gold for the possibility of pepper.
The decision to make for Benin was the prelude to a series of disasters.
Pinteado opposed it owing to the lateness of the season, and a violent
scene was the result. ‘Wyndham ... fell into a sudden rage, reviling the
said Pinteado, calling him Jew, with other opprobrious words, saying:
This whoreson Jew hath promised to bring us to such places as are not,
or as he cannot bring us unto: but if he do not, I will cut off his ears
and nail them to the mast.’ Pinteado submitted, and piloted the fleet to
the river of Benin,[267] up which he himself with Nicholas Lambert and
other merchants proceeded for some sixty leagues in the pinnace. Having
completed this distance, they left the pinnace and travelled thirty
miles inland to the town of a native king, by whom they were civilly
received. The king could speak Portuguese, and promised to buy all their
merchandise in exchange for pepper. In the course of a month eighty tons
of pepper were collected, and the merchants were assured that more would
be obtained until the fleet should be fully laden.
In the meantime the inaction and the climate were producing dire effects
on the crews left at the mouth of the river. The men ate without
moderation of the tropical fruits, and drank the liquor exuding from the
trunks of palm trees, ‘and in such extreme heat running continually into
the water, ... than which nothing is more dangerous, were thereby
brought into swellings and agues’, so that they sickened and died at a
terrible rate, sometimes four or five in a day. This could not go on for
long without entailing utter extermination to an expedition which
numbered only 140 men to begin with. Therefore, a month having elapsed,
Wyndham sent word to Pinteado and the others to return immediately,
contenting themselves with such cargo as the pinnace could bring down.
But they failed to comply, and wrote instead, telling of the quantity of
pepper which they hoped to secure. Wyndham replied with a peremptory
order to come back at once, under threat of being left behind; then, in
desperation at their callous disregard of the sufferings of the crews,
he lost control of himself and ‘all raging, brake up Pinteado’s cabin,
brake open his chests, spoiled such provision of cold stilled waters and
suckets as he had provided for his health, and left him nothing, neither
of his instruments to sail by, nor yet of his apparel; and in the
meantime falling sick, himself died also.’
On receipt of the second summons Pinteado had started for the coast to
expostulate, the other merchants still remaining up the river. Before
his arrival Wyndham was dead. The surviving officers and men were
thoroughly exasperated, and gave him a very bad time with copious abuse
and threats of violence. In vain he asked to be allowed to fetch his
companions from the interior. They would stay for nothing, and refused
even to let him remain behind with the ship’s boat and an old sail, with
which he promised to bring Lambert and the others back to England.
Eden’s account is very confused, and there is no mention of the pinnace
having come down the river again, the messages having evidently been
conveyed by smaller boats, possibly by natives. If the merchants still
had the pinnace their case would not be altogether desperate. There is
no information as to their ultimate fate.
Before commencing the homeward voyage one of the ships was abandoned and
sunk for lack of men.[268] A week afterwards Pinteado, who had been
degraded to a menial position, fell sick and died ‘from very pensiveness
and thought, that struck him to the heart’; and when the remaining
vessel at length reached Plymouth scarcely forty men were left of all
those who had set forth.
The lessons enforced by the disasters of this voyage were taken well to
heart by subsequent adventurers. The succeeding expeditions confined
themselves to the Guinea coasts, and left Benin severely alone. They
were also careful not to remain on the coast after the beginning of the
season of extreme heat, and, as they probably took greater personal
precautions against disease, we hear of very little mortality
thenceforward. The importance of the information supplied by Pinteado
cannot be overestimated. The arrival without a hitch on the Grain Coast,
the successful trading in the neighbourhood of Mina, the finding of the
native town 150 miles up the Benin river which none of the English had
ever seen before, all point to the fact that the expedition was availing
itself of the experience that the Portuguese had taken a century to
gather. It is no wonder that Pinteado, lending himself to such a
purpose, went in fear of his life, as his admirer tells us, from his own
countrymen. No provocation can justify a man in betraying his country’s
interests, and we cannot feel much commiseration for his melancholy end;
he was a traitor receiving a traitor’s wages. Eden’s denunciations of
Wyndham’s character as a commander are largely discounted by the fact
that he was in command at all. He was a tried man, and his record was
known; no company of merchants would have entrusted him with their lives
and goods if he had been the irresponsible maniac whom Eden depicts. No
doubt he was jealous of his authority, and rightly so, for a hazardous
adventure cannot be conducted on republican lines. In the days when
success at sea depended primarily on the captain’s personal powers of
discipline, harshness was often the only justifiable course, as Drake
and many another were to prove.
Terrible as had been the personal sufferings in Wyndham’s last voyage,
the commercial possibilities of the Guinea coast had been proved to be
most encouraging. A strong syndicate was therefore formed to send out
another expedition in 1554, including among others the names of Sir
George Barnes, Sir John Yorke, Thomas Locke, Anthony Hickman, and Edward
Castlyn. Five vessels were prepared—the _Trinity_, 140 tons, the _John
Evangelist_, 140, the _Bartholomew_, 90, and two pinnaces, one of which
foundered before getting clear of the English coast—the whole being
placed under the command of John Locke. Locke was a merchant rather than
a sailor, and the arrangement was thus analogous to that which obtained
then and long afterwards in the navy, when the captain of a ship was
commonly a soldier, the master being responsible for the handling of the
vessel. This was the same John Locke who had made a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem in the previous year, of which Hakluyt prints a very
entertaining account. Eden again supplies the story of this voyage and,
having no quarrel with any individual concerned, gives a much more
intelligible description of what occurred.[269]
The squadron sailed from the Thames on October 11, 1554, was detained
for a fortnight at Dover by adverse winds, and again for three or four
days at Rye. After touching once more at Dartmouth the English coast was
finally lost sight of on the night of November 1. Thence a fair passage
was made to Guinea, the first point of which, Cape Mensurado, was
sighted on December 21. Next day they entered the River of Sestos, the
principal haven on the Grain Coast, and remained there for a week,
trading for grains. Five more days were spent at the mouth of another
stream, the Rio Dulce, 75 miles to the south-eastward, and altogether
630 butts of grains were obtained. On January 3, 1555, the expedition
made sail along the coast to the eastward, passing Cape Palmas which
marks the division between the Grain Coast and the Ivory Coast.
Apparently no stay was made at the latter on the outward passage, for by
the 11th they had reached Cape Tres Puntas, which similarly divides the
Ivory Coast from the Gold Coast. Fifteen miles to the west of Cape Tres
Puntas there was a Portuguese fort named Arra. Their head-quarters, the
Castle of El Mina, lay about 90 miles to the eastward of the same cape,
and well in the middle of the Gold Coast.
Very successful trading was done at the native settlements on either
side of El Mina, and altogether 400 lb. of gold was secured—the greatest
haul recorded by any single expedition. In particular, they were well
received at a town called Cape Corea (probably Cape Corso, the present
Cape Coast Castle), where a native chief named Don John maintained his
independence against the Portuguese. At another place, called Samma,
however, the negroes were in possession of two or three cannon, with
which they fired at the English after taking a hostage. The hostage was
detained, and the ships had to go on without him. During this time the
_Trinity_ had proceeded still further east to the limits of the Gold
Coast, and, the others having overtaken her, the homeward voyage was
begun from Perecow Grande, otherwise called Egrand, the easternmost port
of all. Although it is not specifically mentioned, considerable trading
must have been done on the Ivory Coast while the ships were slowly
beating westwards against wind and current; for Eden relates that there
were 250 tusks among the cargo brought home, and there was no time for
these to have been obtained on the outward passage. Also, at some town
not named, Robert Gainsh, master of the _John Evangelist_, kidnapped
five natives, who were brought home as slaves.[270] This had an
unfavourable effect on the attitude of the natives towards succeeding
expeditions.
Up to this point Eden follows closely the log of the pilot who gave him
the account of the voyage, but here he diverges into a dissertation on
elephants, and gives only very meagre details of the homeward passage.
Although the latter was begun in the middle of February, it was April 22
before the latitude of 9° was reached, but this was a common experience.
Wind and current made it extremely difficult for ships rigged in the
fashion of the time to get away from the Guinea coast, and even when
that had been accomplished, the course had to be laid well out into the
ocean, and contrary winds were met with until the Azores were passed.
The expedition arrived in England at some time in July or August 1555.
Eden does not give the date, but says the passage took twenty weeks and
that twenty-four men died on the way home. Financially, it must have
been a dazzling success; the value of the grains and ivory is difficult
to estimate, but the gold alone was easily worth £20,000 in the currency
of the time, and none of the large ships had been lost.
When these transactions became known in Portugal intense indignation was
aroused; already, before the return of John Locke, a protest had been
lodged, and on July 18, 1555, the Privy Council sent instructions to the
authorities of London and Bristol to stop all voyages to Guinea until
further orders.[271] This did not mean that the Portuguese view was
already accepted, but simply that no decision on the matter had yet been
arrived at. The chief factors in the situation were these: King Philip,
still remaining in England since his marriage in the previous year, was
a supporter of the Portuguese monopoly, based as it was on the papal
bull which divided all extra-European lands between Spain and Portugal;
it was clear to him that if English merchants carried their point in
this affair, a challenge of his own monopoly in the west was certain,
sooner or later, to arise. The Council, next in importance so far as
effective influence went, were naturally desirous of encouraging the
efforts of their fellow countrymen, but at the same time stood in
considerable awe of Philip and would not go to the length of defying his
clearly expressed commands. Finally, the queen, priest-ridden, harassed,
and miserable, but yet at bottom a patriot, was torn between reverence
to the decree of Rodrigo Borgia and a consciousness that, in obeying
that decree, she was betraying the nation whose crown she wore. While
the decision was still in suspense Philip sailed, early in September,
for the Netherlands, whence he still continued to exercise his authority
over the affairs of England. The Portuguese ambassador, Lopez de Sousa,
continued to urge his suit, and the queen committed the negotiations to
the Council, which had arrived at no conclusion as late as October
21.[272] A week later they transmitted a copy of his allegations to
Philip, together with their own opinion thereupon.[273]
The Portuguese statement was to the following effect:[274] News had been
received that in January of this same year, 1555, three large English
merchant ships (evidently John Locke’s squadron) had visited the coasts
of Guinea, which were either in the possession of the King of Portugal
or under his protection, and had forcibly exchanged their merchandise
with the natives for huge quantities of gold and ivory, of which
commodities they had wellnigh stripped the whole country; in which
process they had stirred up the resentment of the natives against the
Portuguese. This trade was only permitted under restrictions to the King
of Portugal’s own subjects, those who infringed the regulations being
severely punished. The ambassador was therefore to demand the punishment
of the Englishmen concerned, the handing over of any Portuguese who
should have assisted them, the restitution of the treasure, and a
proclamation forbidding such enterprises in future under the severest
penalties.
[Illustration:
MAP OF GUINEA AND BENIN, 1558.
From Add. MS. 5415. A. 7.
]
Such was the position, based on the world-dividing bull of Alexander VI,
taken up by the two nations of the Peninsula, and now for the first time
flaunted in all its arrogance in the face of an English Government. The
Government, already discredited in the eyes of the country, and
entangled in the net of the Counter-Reformation, lacked the insight and
the courage to take up the challenge. For many a year to come it was to
be left to private men, with the fear of the gallows before them, to
assert the right of Englishmen to sail all seas and do business in all
lands, the prohibitions of popes and emperors notwithstanding. The reply
of the merchants opens with words which might serve as the title-deed of
a commercial empire.
‘First we say we be merchants who, by common usage of the world, do
use traffique in all places of the world, as well Asia and Africa and
Europa, and have never been restrained from resort to any places....
And following this our accustomed usage we have of late resorted to
sundry places both towards the south and north parts of the world, in
both which we find the governors and the people of the places well
willing to receive us friendly and gently. Amongst other places, our
factors did about two years past resort to sundry places where we
found several princes or governors, and with them traffiqued,
exchanging merchandises for merchandises, and from them returned
quietly, thinking that without any offence we might use there (where
we found no resistance) the same liberty that we use and do find in
all other places of the world.’
After their return, they continued, they prepared to set forth another
expedition to the same place, but were stayed by the Council and
commanded not to enter any dominion of the King of Portugal or any other
prince without his permission; which command their factors punctually
obeyed, not landing in any place where the said king had a town,
fortress, or officers or other persons that forbade them. Their factors
did not land in any force, but awaited in their ships the resort of the
people to them, and even then did not trade with them until the people
assured them that they were no subjects of the King of Portugal. The
inhabitants offered them ground to build upon if they wished to land and
fortify the country, and the assistance of slaves in the work without
any charge.[275] Their factors were also with a king of those parts, ‘a
prince of power’, whom they call the King of Bynne, in whose country
they traded after obtaining his licence; and they left behind them there
three English merchants to further view the country, bringing with them
also certain men of that country to England, and promising to return in
a short time.[276] Accordingly, they made preparations for another
voyage at the beginning of this last summer, but were again stayed by
command of the king and queen, the King of Portugal saying that his
subjects were wronged by these navigations, and promising to show proofs
in six weeks or two months at latest. They obeyed this second command,
and in the meantime had heard that three ships had sailed from France to
those countries, and that two others were preparing to sail. Upon which
they continued their preparations, and, if the voyage were now stayed,
they would be ruined. They concluded by begging to be allowed to
continue the voyage, and offered to bind themselves not to visit or do
violence to any of the possessions or merchants of the Portuguese, nor
to trade with any country without its ruler’s consent.[277]
The Council, as has been said, forwarded to King Philip a copy of the
ambassador’s statement, and put before him at the same time their own
advice as to the course to be pursued, namely, that the merchants were
within their rights in making these voyages, and ought not to be
debarred from the same, especially as they were also being made by the
French. Their opinion was, then, that the merchants should be allowed to
proceed at their own risk, after giving the sureties which they
themselves had offered for their good behaviour.
The intercession of the Council, and also that of the queen, was
unavailing: Philip, seeing the great principle involved, was obdurate,
and commanded that the voyage should be stayed. In a later communication
(December 17, 1555),[278] he expressed a wish to have the merchants
compensated, but took no active steps to secure that end. A memorandum
of the Council’s affairs, however, suggests that the queen herself paid
them the costs of the goods which they had provided for the trade.[279]
On December 30 Edward Castlyn, Jeffrey Allen, Rowland Fox, and Richard
Stockbridge were summoned before the Council to hear its reluctant
decision. By the queen’s command they and all other merchants concerned
were to bring their ships to such places as were convenient, and there
to discharge all the wares they had provided for the Guinea trade, such
as were not vendible in any other place; receipts should be given and
compensation paid. As to their other expenses, the matter of
compensation should be considered.[280]
The queen at the same time wrote a letter to the King of Portugal
acquainting him with the above decision.[281] The Venetian envoy, in a
dispatch to his Government, states that the queen interceded with the
ambassador of Portugal to consent to the Guinea voyage being made ‘this
once only’, but that he would not agree. He adds that two or three ships
had nevertheless gone secretly.[282]
The official prohibition of the Guinea trade was more ostensible than
real. The Council had no intention of stopping it—possibly some of its
members were financially interested—and was not prepared to go further
than a purely paper submission to the demands of Philip and the
Portuguese. Even the steps taken to prevent the individual voyage of
Castlyn and his associates were not effectual; for although metal basins
and sham jewellery formed part of the cargoes taken to Guinea, there was
also generally a considerable quantity of cloth, which would not come
under the description of goods not vendible elsewhere, and which would
therefore not be surrendered. Such being the attitude of the Council,
that of the customers and port authorities throughout the country may
well be imagined. When large armed vessels were being manned and
provisioned for long voyages and laden with goods which would find a
market in no European port, they shut their eyes, or looked another way.
And so, besides the three remaining Guinea expeditions of Mary’s reign
of which Hakluyt has preserved the particulars, there are traces of
several others, doubtless quite as successful, which King Philip, with
all his influence over the queen, was quite unable to prevent.
While the official decision had been still under consideration, and
while the ships of the syndicate already mentioned had been under a
provisional arrest pending a final prohibition, another expedition had
slipped off to Guinea on September 30, 1555, sailing from Newport in the
Isle of Wight. It was under the command of William Towerson, a merchant
of London, and was probably unconnected with the venture of Castlyn and
his friends, of whom no mention is made. Towerson, who is himself the
narrator of the voyage,[283] refers to the presence of other merchants
in the ships, but it is very likely that he himself was the principal
adventurer. This time there were only two ships, the _Hart_, of 60 tons,
commanded by John Ralph, who had sailed with Locke in the previous year,
and the _Hind_, commanded by William Carter, and probably not much
larger, since Towerson himself sailed in the _Hart_. After finally
clearing from Dartmouth on October 20 they made a fair run down to the
Canary Islands, which were sighted on November 6. Thence standing in to
the main land they fished in 14 fathoms and caught a quantity of sea
bream. A day or two later they saw six Portuguese caravels fishing in
the neighbourhood of the Rio del Oro in the present Spanish territory to
the south of Morocco, and overhauling one of them they took various
stores out of her which they liberally paid for.
On December 12 they sighted the Guinea coast, and on the 15th entered
the River St. Vincent, eight leagues to the eastward of the River of
Sestos. They found it impossible to beat back to the latter river on
account of the winds and currents which set always to the eastward. In
the River St. Vincent they obtained a small quantity of grains and
ivory, but found the inhabitants very greedy and no profitable trading
to be done. After coming very nearly to blows they departed and sailed
on towards the Ivory Coast, doubling Cape Palmas on the 23rd. During the
ensuing week they bought ivory in a river lying about 40 miles to the
east of the cape, and on January 3, 1556, they sighted Cape Tres Puntas,
the westernmost boundary of the Gold Coast. Arriving at the town of
Samma, where last year a man had been kidnapped and the ships fired
upon, they went in cautiously and were able to do little trading at
first, but afterwards obtained a fair quantity of gold there. They next
proceeded to Don John’s town, beyond the Mina, and after some bartering
the sons of that chief attempted to betray them to the Portuguese. Some
of the _Hart’s_ men narrowly escaped an ambush, whereupon cannon were
mounted in the ships’ boats, which sailed in close to the shore and
engaged in an artillery duel with the Portuguese upon a hill. The
English suffered no damage. At another place they found the negroes
distrustful because some of them had been carried off by the master of
the _John Evangelist_ in the previous voyage.
From January 14 to February 4, however, they did excellent business on
the more easterly portion of the coast, taking several pounds of gold
daily. On the latter date, having taken stock of the provisions, and
finding them running low, and finding also that the beer, without which
no sailor at that time considered himself properly fed, was turning
sour, they decided to begin the return voyage. One entry in Towerson’s
log is significant as pointing to the existence of other clandestine
expeditions at this time: ‘The fifth day we continued sailing and
thought to have met with some English ships, but found none.’ He had
evidently received information of their presence on the coast.
Towerson made a better homeward passage than did his predecessors. By
February 13 he was clear of Cape Palmas, having passed the whole of the
Gold and Ivory Coasts in nine days. He had found by experience, he says,
that from two hours after midnight until eight in the morning the wind
blew off the shore from the north-north-east, although all the rest of
the time it was at south-west. On March 22 he had reached the latitude
of Cape Verde, and a month later that of the Azores. On May 14, 1556,
both his vessels dropped anchor at Bristol after a most prosperous
voyage. Apparently not one man died in either crew. He does not give the
total amount of the treasure secured, but a reckoning up of the various
daily takings mentioned shows a total of about fifty tusks and 130 lb.
of gold. Considering the small size of the two ships employed, and
consequently of the general working expenses, this must have yielded an
excellent return on the outlay.
The successful return of the _Hart_ and the _Hind_ was the signal for
renewed preparations for further Guinea adventures, and for a fresh
outburst of activity on the part of the Council, ostensibly intended to
frustrate the same. On July 7, 1556, orders were sent to all customers,
&c., not to permit any one to ship goods for ‘Mina, Guynye, Bynney or
any other place thereabouts within the King of Portingales dominions’;
and on the 28th the command was repeated with instructions for warning
to be given to all merchants. Again on August 8 the Council addressed a
letter to Anthony Hussey, Governor of the Merchant Adventurers in the
Low Countries, to the effect that they had heard that Miles Mordeyne, a
London merchant, had prepared a cargo in Flanders to be sent to Bristol
and thence to Guinea. Hussey was to make search for the wares and
sequester them until further orders, sending particulars as to their
condition and value. On the same date they also sent word to the Mayor
and Customers of Bristol to arrest and unload two ships which certain
merchants contemplated setting forth for Guinea. The cargoes had been
secretly conveyed to the Welsh coast to be loaded. Miles Mordeyne, who
was apparently at Bristol, was to be sent before the Council. On
September 22 Giles White and Thomas Chester were held to bail in £500 as
a guarantee of their appearance when called upon in the matter of
sending two ships from Bristol to Guinea.[284]
These measures give the impression that the Council was actually in
earnest; but the fact remains that, in spite of them, Towerson and
others were able to sail once more for Guinea in this same autumn. If
there had been any genuine desire to put a stop to these enterprises
nothing would have been easier than to imprison the adventurers on their
return and to confiscate their spoils. The fact that this was never done
leads to the conclusion that the Council was merely making a show of
zeal to deprecate Philip’s anger.
Towerson, on his second expedition,[285] had to use more precaution than
formerly in order to get safely away. The _Tiger_, of 120 tons, his
principal ship, was equipped at Harwich, and sailed from thence to
Scilly on September 14, 1556. At Scilly he was to meet the _Hart_ and a
pinnace of 16 tons which had been prepared at Bristol. These may have
been the two vessels which the Council professed itself so anxious to
arrest. The _Hart_ and the pinnace failed to appear at the rendezvous,
at which the _Tiger_ arrived on the 28th. After waiting for some time
Towerson in the _Tiger_ put back to Plymouth, being joined there by his
consorts shortly before the middle of November, and on the 15th of that
month the whole squadron set sail for Africa nearly two months after the
intended time of departure. The nature of the intrigue which finally set
them at liberty can only be imagined, as no clue has survived, but it is
difficult to suppose that they departed otherwise than with the
knowledge and connivance of the Council.
As was usual, a fairly quick outward passage was made, the Guinea coast
being sighted on December 30. The inaccuracy of the prevailing methods
of calculating longitude is illustrated by the fact that the River of
Sestos, the intended landfall, was overshot by some 150 miles. Shortly
after reaching the coast the sails of three ships and two pinnaces were
seen to windward. The English prepared for action, manœuvred to recover
the wind, and then gave chase. The strangers likewise cleared for action
and, when ready, offered battle ‘very finely appointed with their
streamers and pendants and ensigns, and the noise of trumpets very
bravely’. When within hailing distance, however, it was discovered that
the opposing fleet was manned, not by Portuguese, but by Frenchmen,
bound upon the same errand as the English; and, instead of fighting, an
alliance was struck up, both sides agreeing to trade without cutting
prices and to support each other against the Portuguese. The French
ships were from Havre, Rouen, and Honfleur, under the chief command of
Denis Blondel. He informed Towerson that they had been six weeks upon
the Grain Coast with very little result, apparently fearing to push on
to the Gold Coast on account of reports of a Portuguese armed fleet at
Mina. They had fallen upon a single Portuguese vessel of 200 tons in the
River of Sestos, and had burned her, only three or four of the crew
being saved. Blondel seemed extremely glad of the presence of the
English, and offered to share his victuals with them and act under their
orders in all things.
For the first fortnight of January 1557 they all proceeded slowly along
the Ivory Coast, arriving at Cape Tres Puntas on the 14th. A small
quantity of ivory was picked up on the way, but for the most part the
negroes were shy of trading. At one point they attempted elephant
hunting on their own account, without success. Their methods certainly
read as if they were designed rather for the assault of a city than of
an elephant: thirty men were landed, ‘all well armed with harquebusses,
pikes, long-bows, cross-bows, partizans, long swords, and swords and
bucklers: we found two elephants, which we stroke divers times with
harquebusses and long-bows, but they went away from us and hurt one of
our men’.
At a native town where they were well received the negroes told them
that they had witnessed a fight of two ships against one a month before;
and further on they received definite intelligence of the presence of
another English ship on the coast, which had brought back one of the
negroes kidnapped by Robert Gainsh two years previously. The Frenchmen
also asserted that they knew of five other French vessels making the
same voyage.
The combined squadrons were now past Cape Tres Puntas and doing daily
business with the inhabitants of the Gold Coast, who seem at this time
to have been in a state of hostility towards the Portuguese. On January
25, while they were anchored off Samma with most of the ships’ boats and
merchants ashore, five Portuguese ships suddenly appeared. Guns were
fired, the crews hastily embarked, and anchors were weighed; but by this
time night had fallen and nothing could be done but prepare for action
on the following day. In the morning it was seen that the Portuguese had
anchored near the shore; the English and French did likewise, ‘within
demiculverin shot of them’. It was not for them, in their rôle of
peaceful traders, to commence hostilities, but the challenge was
sufficiently obvious. Night again came on without further developments
taking place.
Next day both sides made sail, but the allies gained the wind of the
Portuguese and gradually bored them in towards the shore until they were
forced to tack and make for them. The allies tacked also and stood out
to sea ahead of the enemy; then, when they had sufficient room to fight,
they took in their topsails and waited. The Portuguese came up one by
one, the first being a small bark well armed and very fast, which
exchanged broadsides and then passed on ahead. Next came a caravel,
which did some damage to the French admiral’s ship. After her came the
Portuguese admiral in a large ship, whose fire was ineffective owing to
the guns being carried too high, followed by two caravels more. Towerson
says that the _Tiger_ ‘was so weak in the side, that she laid all her
ordinance in the sea’, which seems to mean that the wind laid her over
so much that sufficient elevation could not be given to the guns. The
Portuguese, being to leeward, were just as badly off, since they could
only fire over their enemies’ heads. Accordingly the _Tiger_ and the
_Espoir_, Denis Blondel’s ship, made an attempt to board the Portuguese
admiral. The _Espoir_ missed her and fell astern, missing also the two
caravels which followed. The other two Frenchmen stood aloof, and the
_Hart_ was far behind. Nevertheless, the Portuguese made no offer to
stop and fight Towerson, but stood on out to sea. He chased them for two
hours, and they then turned shorewards again, hoping to catch the French
admiral, who for some unexplained reason was close to the land. He was
caught under the lee of the whole Portuguese squadron, received all
their broadsides, and would have been boarded but that the _Tiger_ stood
in to his assistance. The _Hart_ and the other two French ships
meanwhile looked on and did nothing. The French admiral was still full
of fight and, with the _Tiger_, regained the wind of the enemy and
chased them till nightfall.
Next day the whole fleet reunited, with the exception of one Frenchman
who had fled. The master of the _Hart_ excused himself, saying that his
ship ‘would neither rear nor steer’. The French admiral had half his
crew sick or dead, and the other Frenchmen said they could do no more
fighting. The English pinnace had to be burnt owing to her bad state of
repair. However, the Portuguese had likewise had enough of it, and
troubled them no more.
Trade was now resumed, and the allies sailed slowly down to the eastern
part of the Gold Coast, where the natives were more amenable and the
greater part of the profits of the voyage were obtained. Business went
on throughout the month of February, entirely undisturbed by the
Portuguese. The English kept to the leeward or eastward of the French,
doubtless skimming the cream off the trade; and when one of the
Frenchmen attempted to push on ahead of them he was fired on and reduced
to obedience. After this incident Towerson makes no further mention of
the French, and it is evident that the allies parted company here or
soon afterwards. At the end of February a native chief called King Abaan
sent friendly messages, inviting them to make a settlement and build a
fort. His town was said to be as large in circuit as London, and with
1,000 ricks of corn outside the walls. After doing business at this
place they began to retrace their course along the coast, passing a fort
where they saw the five Portuguese ships at anchor. Next day they were
surprised at anchor by a new fleet just out from Portugal, consisting of
a ship of 500 tons, another of 200, and a pinnace; but they were able to
escape without fighting. The _Hart_ was badly handled, and her captain
was reproved by Towerson.
The new arrivals brought the enemy up to a strength of seven fighting
ships against the English two, and it was folly to expect that any more
undisturbed trading could be done. Towerson therefore sailed for England
on March 4. On the 18th the _Hart_ parted company, intentionally as was
thought, her master having taken offence at his reproof. The _Tiger’s_
perils were not yet past; on April 23, when nearing English waters, they
were set upon by a Frenchman of 90 tons, who, judging them weak from a
long voyage, laid them aboard and commanded them to strike sail.
‘Whereupon’, to quote Towerson’s words, ‘we sent them some of our stuff,
crossbars and chain shot and arrows, so thick that it made the upper
work of their ship to fly about their ears, and we spoiled him with all
his men, and tore his ship miserably with our great ordinance, and then
he began to fall astern of us, and to pack on his sails and get away:
and we, seeing that, gave him four or five good pieces more for his
farewell; and thus we were rid of this Frenchman who did us no harm at
all.’ On April 29, 1557, having failed to double the Land’s End for
Bristol, they arrived instead at Plymouth after an exceptionally quick
passage. The daily takings of gold on the coast for this voyage amounted
to 76 lb., but the figures for some of the trading are not given, so the
total must have been actually greater.
There is no record of any official notice being taken of Towerson’s
return, nor of further proclamations being issued against African
voyages. The Government was preoccupied with other things; a war was
beginning with France (formal declaration, June 7), and Philip’s
influence and pretensions were becoming more and more unpopular in the
country. It was therefore not a fitting time to punish Englishmen for
distant trading adventures. The difficulty in obtaining large ships,
caused by the war, may have been the reason that Towerson did not begin
his third voyage until January 30, 1558[286], instead of setting out in
the autumn as was usual. In the winter most of the vessels of the fleet
were put out of commission, a piece of economy which resulted in the
loss of Calais; and Towerson sailed for Guinea with the _Minion_, the
_Christopher_, the _Tiger_, and the _Unicorn_, a pinnace. The Count of
Feria, Philip’s representative in England, wrote to his master that two
of the above were queen’s ships and among the best she had, and that
they sailed with the knowledge and approval of William Howard, the Lord
Admiral. He added that the adventurers gave out that they were going to
Barbary, and distributed 3,000 ducats in bribes, being in reality bound
for Guinea.[287]
The day after leaving England they fell in with two Danzig ships coming
from Bordeaux with wines. They examined them strictly on suspicion of
carrying French-owned cargo, and, in spite of denials, convicted them.
But considering the lateness of the season they did not think well to
take them back as prizes to an English port, and, having despoiled them
of such goods as they needed, including eight guns, they let them go. On
February 12 they entered the roadstead of Grand Canary to repair the
pinnace, which had broken her rudder. While they were there a Spanish
fleet of nineteen sail, bound for the Indies, came in. Compliments were
exchanged, but afterwards a misunderstanding arose owing to the English
refusing to strike their flag. The Spaniards fired upon them, but the
Admiral apologized, declaring that it had been done without his orders.
On March 10 they arrived at Rio das Palmas on the Grain Coast. Going on
from thence to the River of Sestos they heard news of six French ships
on the coast, and decided at once to make for the Mina region lest the
French should spoil their trade. Picking up some ivory on the way, they
reached Hanta on the Gold Coast on March 31. Next day five Portuguese
ships were sighted, but no action took place till after dark, each side
cautiously manœuvring to get to windward of the other. In the night
Towerson in the _Minion_, having got the wind of the Portuguese admiral,
fought with him for about two hours, shooting him several times through
the hull, while the Portuguese were only able to fire into the
_Minion’s_ rigging. After this the Portuguese sheered off and attacked
the _Christopher_ without doing much damage. Next morning the enemy were
nowhere to be seen; it was decided to seek for and fight them before
continuing to trade, but after two days’ fruitless search the plan was
given up and the squadron returned to the coast.
Here they heard that some French ships were in the vicinity, and,
England and France being now at war, decided to attack them. On April 5
they saw three Frenchmen and gave chase. They were successful in
capturing one of 120 tons, the _Mulet de Batuille_, and in her 50 lb. 5
oz. of gold. Arriving at Egrand, the easternmost place on the Gold
Coast, they found the French prize to be leaky, and were obliged to
spoil and sink her. Towerson now proposed to go on to Benin, but the
majority of the company refused. The fleet then separated to trade at
various places on the coast, agreeing to rally on the _Minion_ if
attacked. At this time the men began to be sickly, and six died. Having
sold all her cloth at Egrand the _Minion_ sailed westwards on May 10,
picking up the _Christopher_ and the _Tiger_ on the way. Both reported
little trade, and the negroes in general seemed hostile and suspicious.
For another six weeks they continued on the coast, trading at some
places and being repulsed at others, until victuals began to run short.
The crews of the _Tiger_ and the _Christopher_ were willing to attack
the Portuguese ships at Mina and so supply themselves, but the
_Minion’s_ men would not consent for fear of hanging when they should
reach home. At Samma the natives refused to supply either gold or food,
having made an agreement with the Portuguese, and the English therefore
burned the town. Next day, June 25, they set sail for England.
Great difficulty was experienced in getting away from the coast. Six
days after sailing they again sighted land and found themselves 18
leagues to leeward of the place they had started from, owing to the
extraordinary strength of the current. It was now decided to head
southwards as far as the equator before attempting to beat to the
westwards, and on July 7 they arrived at the Island of St. Thomé. A stay
of nearly a month was made at this island before, on August 3, a fresh
start was made and the homeward passage was begun in earnest. The
shortage of victuals became more serious, and on the advice of a Scot,
taken prisoner in the French ship, they called at the Isle of Salt, one
of the Cape Verde group. They obtained a few goats and a quantity of
fish and sea-birds. The Scot went ashore on the island and was not seen
again: it was supposed that the inhabitants found him asleep and carried
him off. On August 24 the master of the _Tiger_ reported his ship leaky
and his men too weak to keep her afloat. There were now only thirty
sound men in the whole fleet. A fortnight later the _Tiger_ had to be
abandoned in mid-ocean, in latitude 25° N. Still the long voyage was
protracted, and the latitude of Cape St. Vincent was not reached until
October 6. The _Christopher_ being now very weak, it was agreed to put
into Vigo and send for more men from England. But a fair wind sprang up,
and Towerson decided to make one more effort to reach home, fearing
that, once in Vigo, the treasure would never be allowed to go out again.
Two guns were fired to warn the _Christopher_, and the _Minion_ sailed
on. The _Christopher_ appeared to be following, but, the next morning
being foggy, they lost sight of her. Towerson mentions that he concluded
at the time that she had either outsailed them or gone back to Vigo, but
he strangely omits to state which supposition turned out to be correct,
and we are left quite in the dark as to the _Christopher’s_ fate. At the
time they parted company there were only twelve men in health in the two
ships. After losing most of her sails in a great south-westerly gale,
the men being too weak to handle them, the _Minion_ arrived at the Isle
of Wight on October 20, 1558.
The total amount of gold and ivory obtained on this voyage cannot be
stated owing to want of clearness in the account, but it would appear
that it was not nearly such a successful venture as the previous ones,
although more capital was involved. The truth was that, between the
French and the English, the Guinea trade had been somewhat overdone, and
the huge profits of the first adventurers could not be expected to
continue. The Portuguese had hitherto restricted their own trade on the
coast for this very reason, but now the negroes were becoming spoiled
and inclined to play off one competitor against the other. One new thing
was certainly revealed by these voyages, and that was that the
Portuguese were impotent to make good their boasted monopoly. A simple
process of reasoning led Englishmen to ask if the Spaniards were in the
same case; and it was not long before an affirmative answer was to be
supplied by Hawkins and Drake.
-----
Footnote 262:
Hakluyt, vi. 136.
Footnote 263:
vi. 138.
Footnote 264:
Reprinted in Hakluyt, vi. 141–52.
Footnote 265:
Strype, _Memorials_, ii. 504. Strype says the two ships were lent to
Wyndham and his associates in 1552, and were intended for the voyage
in search of the North-East Passage.
Footnote 266:
Stanford’s _Compendium_ (1907) says that the ‘grains’ of this coast
were pepper. Eden, although he describes them as ‘a very hot fruit’,
speaks of pepper as a distinct article further on.
Footnote 267:
Probably the Niger.
Footnote 268:
Eden speaks of having seen the _Primrose_ after her return, hence it
must have been the _Lion_ which was abandoned.
Footnote 269:
Reprinted by Hakluyt, vi. 154–77.
Footnote 270:
See Towerson’s first voyage, and marginal note to Eden’s account of
the present voyage.
Footnote 271:
_Acts of the Privy Council_, v. 162.
Footnote 272:
_Venetian Cal._ vi, No. 251.
Footnote 273:
_R. O., S. P. Dom., Mary_, vol. xiv, Nos. 4 and 5 (erroneously
calendared under date 1558).
Footnote 274:
_R. O., S. P. For., Mary_, vol. vii, No. 448.
Footnote 275:
This evidently refers to John Locke’s voyage, and tallies with Eden’s
account, except that the latter does not mention the offer of land for
a settlement.
Footnote 276:
This would seem to relate to Wyndham’s visit to Benin. No other
place-name is mentioned in any of the voyages which bears any
resemblance to ‘Bynne’. If such is the case, it throws a fresh
complexion on Eden’s story of the abandonment of the merchants.
Footnote 277:
_R. O., S. P. For., Mary_, vii, No. 449.
Footnote 278:
_Cal. For. S. P., Mary_, p. 198.
Footnote 279:
_R. O., S. P. Dom., Mary_, vi, No. 83.
Footnote 280:
_A. P. C._, v, p. 214.
Footnote 281:
_R. O., S. P. For., Mary_, vii, No. 450.
Footnote 282:
_Venetian Cal._ vi, No. 327.
Footnote 283:
Hakluyt, vi. 177–211.
Footnote 284:
_A. P. C._, v. 305, 315, 322, 358, 384.
Footnote 285:
Hakluyt, vi. 212–31.
Footnote 286:
The date of this voyage is given, by a misprint, in the 1598–9
editions of Hakluyt as 1577. Modern reprints have perpetuated the
mistake. The date is correctly given in the 1589 Hakluyt as 1557, that
is 1558 by our present style of beginning the year on January 1.
Footnote 287:
Kervyn de Lettenhove, _Les Pays-Bas et l’Angleterre_, i. 152: ‘Los
navios ... eran dos de la Reyna y los mejores que Su Majestad tenian.’