CHAPTER XVI.

THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (_continued_).

Noble Adventurers—The Earl of Cumberland as a Pirate—Rich

Prizes—Action with the _Madre de Dios_—Capture of the Great

Carrack—A Cargo worth £150,000—Burning of the _Cinco Chagas_—But

Fifteen saved out of Eleven Hundred Souls—The _Scourge of

Malice_—Establishment of the Slave Trade—Sir John Hawkins’

Ventures—High-handed Proceedings—The Spaniards forced to

Purchase—A Fleet of Slavers—Hawkins sanctioned by “Good Queen

Bess”—Joins in a Negro War—A Disastrous Voyage—Sir Francis

Drake—His First Loss—The Treasure at Nombre de Dios—Drake’s First

Sight of the Pacific—Tons of Silver Captured—John Oxenham’s

Voyage—The First Englishman on the Pacific—His Disasters and

Death—Drake’s Voyage Round the World—Blood-letting at the

Equator—Arrival at Port Julian—Trouble with the Natives—Execution

of a Mutineer—Passage of the Straits of Magellan—Vessels separated

in a Gale—Loss of the _Marigold_—Tragic Fate of Eight Men—Drake

Driven to Cape Horn—Proceedings at Valparaiso—Prizes taken—Capture

of the great Treasure Ship—Drake’s Resolve to change his Course

Home—Vessel refitted at Nicaragua—Stay in the Bay of San

Francisco—The Natives worship the English—Grand Reception at

Ternate—Drake’s Ship nearly wrecked—Return to England—Honours

accorded Drake—His Character and Influence—Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s

Disasters and Death—Raleigh’s Virginia Settlements.

The spirit of adventure, fostered by the grand discoveries which were

constantly being made, the rich returns derived from trading expeditions,

and from the pillage of our enemies, was at its zenith in the reign of

Queen Elizabeth. Nor was it confined to mere soldiers of fortune, for we

find distinguished noblemen of ample fortunes taking to the seas as though

their daily bread depended thereupon. Among these naval adventurers “there

was no one,” says Southey, “who took to the seas so much in the spirit of

a northern sea king as the Earl of Cumberland.” He had borne his part in

the defeat of the Armada, while still a young man, and the queen was so

well satisfied with him, that she gave him a commission to go the same

year to the Spanish coast as general, lending him the _Golden Lion_, one

of the ships royal, he victualling and furnishing it at his own expense.

After some fighting he took a prize, but soon after had to cut away his

mainmast in a storm, and return to England. “His spirit remaining,

nevertheless, higher than the winds, and more resolutely by storms compact

and united in itself,” we find him shortly afterwards again on the high

seas with the _Victory_, one of the queen’s ships, and three smaller

vessels. The earl was not very scrupulous as regards prize-taking, and

captured two French ships, which belonged to the party of the League. A

little later he fell in with eleven ships from Hamburg and the Baltic, and

fired on them till the captains came on board and showed their passports;

these were respected, but not so the property of a Lisbon Jew, which they

confessed to have on their ships, and which was valued at £4,500. Off the

Azores, he hoisted Spanish colours, and succeeded in robbing some Spanish

vessels. The homeward-bound Portuguese fleet from the East Indies narrowly

escaped him; when near Tercera some English prisoners stole out in a small

boat, having no other yard for their mainsail than two pipe-staves, and

informed him that the Portuguese ships had left the island a week before.

This induced him to return to Fayal, and the terror inspired by the

English name in those days is indicated by the fact that the town of about

500 houses was found to be completely empty; the inhabitants had abandoned

it. He set a guard over the churches and monasteries, and then calmly

waited till a ransom of 2,000 ducats was brought him. He helped himself to

fifty-eight pieces of iron ordnance, and the Governor of Graciosa, to keep

on good terms with the earl, sent him sixty butts of wine. While there a

Weymouth privateer came in with a Spanish prize worth £16,000. Next we

find the earl at St. Mary’s, where he captured a Brazilian sugar ship. In

bringing out their prize they were detained on the harbour bar, exposed to

the enemy. Eighty of Cumberland’s men were killed, and he himself was

wounded; “his head also was broken with stones, so that the blood covered

his face,” and both his face and legs were burnt with fire-balls. The

prize, however, was secured and forwarded to England.

Cumberland himself held on his course to Spain, and soon fell in with a

ship of 400 tons, from Mexico, laden with hides, cochineal, sugar, and

silver, “and the captain had with him a venture to the amount of 25,000

ducats,” which was taken. They now resolved to return home, but “sea

fortunes are variable, having two inconstant parents, air and water,” and

as one of the adventurers(133) concisely put it, “these summer services

and ships of sugar proved not so sweet and pleasant as the winter was

afterwards sharp and painful.” Lister, the earl’s captain, was sent in the

Mexican prize for England, and was wrecked off Cornwall, everything being

lost in her, and all the crew, save five or six men. On the earl’s ship,

contrary winds and gales delayed them so greatly that their water failed;

they were reduced to three spoonfuls of vinegar apiece at each meal; this

state of affairs lasting fourteen days, except what water they could

collect from rain and hail-storms. “Yet was that rain so intermingled with

the spray of the foaming sea, in that extreme storm, that it could not be

healthful: yea, some in their extremity of thirst drank themselves to

death with their cans of salt water in their hands.” Some ten or twelve

perished on each of as many consecutive nights, and the storm was at one

time so violent that the ship was almost torn to pieces; “his lordship’s

cabin, the dining-room, and the half deck became all one,” and he was

obliged to seek a lodging in the hold. The earl, however, constantly

encouraged the men, and the small stock of provisions was distributed with

the greatest equality; so at last they reached a haven on the west coast

of Ireland, where their sufferings ended. On this voyage they had taken

thirteen prizes. The Mexican prize which had been wrecked would have added

£100,000 to the profits of the venture, but even with this great

deduction, the earl had been doubly repaid for his outlay.

[Illustration: THE EARL OF CUMBERLAND AND THE “MADRE DE DIOS.”]

The earl’s third expedition was a failure, but the fourth resulted in the

capture of the _Madre de Dios_, one of the largest carracks belonging to

the Portuguese crown. In this, however, some of Raleigh’s and Hawkins’

ships had a share. Captain Thomson, who came up with her first, “again and

again delivered his peals as fast as he could fire and fall astern to load

again, thus hindering her way, though somewhat to his own cost, till the

others could come up.” Several others worried the carrack, until the

earl’s ships came up about eleven at night. Captain Norton had no

intention of boarding the enemy till daylight, if there had not been a cry

from one of the ships royal, then in danger, “An you be men, save the

queen’s ship!” Upon this the carrack was boarded on both sides. A

desperate struggle ensued, and it took an hour and a half before the

attacking parties succeeded in getting possession of the high forecastle,

“so brave a booty making the men fight like dragons.” The ship won, the

boarders turned to pillage, and while searching about with candles,

managed to set fire to a cabin containing some hundreds of cartridges,

very nearly blowing up the ship. The hotness of the action was evidenced

by the number of dead and dying who strewed the carrack’s decks,

“especially,” says the chronicler, “about the helm; for the greatness of

the steerage requiring the labour of twelve or fourteen men at once, and

some of our ships beating her in at the stern with their ordnance,

oftentimes with one shot slew four or five labouring on either side of the

helm; whose room being still furnished with fresh supplies, and our

artillery still playing upon them with continual volleys, it could not be

but that much blood should be shed in that place.” For the times, the

prisoners were treated with great humanity, and surgeons were sent on

board to dress their wounds. The captain, Don Fernando de Mendoza, was “a

gentleman of noble birth, well stricken in years, well spoken, of comely

personage, of good stature, but of hard fortune. Twice he had been taken

prisoner by the Moors and ransomed by the king; and he had been wrecked on

the coast of Sofala, in a carrack which he commanded, and having escaped

the sea danger, fell into the hands of infidels ashore, who kept him under

long and grievous servitude.” The prisoners were allowed to carry off

their own valuables, put on board one of Cumberland’s ships, and sent to

their own country. Unfortunately for them, they again fell in with other

English cruisers, who robbed them without mercy, taking from them 900

diamonds and other valuable things. About 800 negroes on board were landed

on the island of Corvo. Her cargo consisted of jewels, spices, drugs,

silks, calicoes, carpets, canopies, ivory, porcelain, and innumerable

curiosities; it was estimated to amount to £150,000 in value, and there

was considerable haggling over its division, and no little embezzlement;

the queen had a large share of it, and Cumberland netted £36,000. The

carrack created great astonishment at Dartmouth by her dimensions, which

for those days were enormous. She was of about 1,600 tons burden, and 165

feet long; she was of “seven several stories, one main orlop, three close

decks, one forecastle (of great height) and a spar deck of two floors

apiece.” Her mainmast was 125 feet in height, and her main-yard 105 feet

long. “Being so huge and unwieldly a ship,” says Purchas, “she was never

removed from Dartmouth, but there laid up her bones.”

In 1594 the earl set forth on his eighth voyage, with three ships, a

caravel, and a pinnace, furnished at his own expense, with the help of

some adventurers. Early in the voyage they descried a great Indian ship,

whose burden they estimated at 2,000 tons. Her name was the _Cinco Chagas_

(the Five Wounds), and her fate was as tragical as her name. She had on

board a number of persons who had been shipwrecked in three vessels,

which, like herself, had been returning from the Indies. When she left

Mozambique for Europe, she had on board 1,400 persons, an enormous number

for those days; on the voyage she had encountered terrible gales, and

after putting in at Loanda for water and supplies, and shipping many

slaves, a fatal pestilence known by the name of the “mal de Loanda,”

carried off about half the crew. The captain wished to avoid the Azores,

but a mutiny had arisen among the soldiers on board, and he was forced to

stand by them, and by this means came into contact with the Earl of

Cumberland’s squadron off Fayal. The Portuguese had pledged themselves to

the ship at all hazards, and to perish with her in the sea, or in the

flames, rather than yield so rich a prize to the heretics. Cumberland’s

ships, after harassing the carrack on all sides, ranged up against her;

twice was she boarded, and twice were the assailants driven out. A third

time the privateers boarded her, one of them bearing a white flag; he was

the first of the party killed, and when a second hoisted another flag at

the poop it was immediately thrown overboard. The English suffered

considerably, more especially among the officers. Cumberland’s

vice-admiral, Antony, was killed; Downton, the rear-admiral, crippled for

life; and Cave, who commanded the earl’s ship, mortally wounded. The

privateers seem, in the heat of action, almost to have forgotten the

valuable cargo on board, and to have aimed only at destroying her. “After

many bickerings,” says the chronicler, “fireworks flew about

interchangeably; at last the vice-admiral, with a culverin shot at hand,

fired the carrack in her stern, and the rear-admiral her forecastle,

* * * * then flying and maintaining their fires so well with their small

shot that many which came to quench them were slain.” The fire made rapid

headway, and P. Frey Antonio, a Franciscan, was seen with a crucifix in

his hand, encouraging the poor sailors to commit themselves to the waves

and to God’s mercy, rather than perish in the flames. A large number threw

themselves overboard, clinging to such things as were cast into the sea.

It is said that the English boats, with one honourable exception, made no

efforts to save any of them; it is even stated that they butchered many in

the water. According to the English account there were more than 1,100 on

board the carrack, when she left Loanda, of whom only fifteen were saved!

Two ladies of high rank, mother and daughter—the latter of whom was going

home to Spain to take possession of some entailed property—when they saw

there was no help to be expected from the privateers, fastened themselves

together with a cord, and committed themselves to the waves; their bodies

were afterwards cast ashore on Fayal, still united, though in the bonds of

death.

The earl afterwards built the _Scourge of Malice_, a ship of 800 tons, and

the largest yet constructed by an English subject, and in 1597 obtained

letters patent authorising him to levy sea and land forces. Without royal

assistance, he gathered eighteen sail. This expedition, although it

worried and impoverished the Spaniards, was not particularly profitable to

the earl. He took Puerto Rico, and then abandoned it, and did not, as he

expected, intercept either the outward-bound East Indiamen, who, indeed,

were too frightened to venture out of the Tagus that year, or the

homeward-bound Mexican fleet. This was Cumberland’s last expedition, and

no other subject ever undertook so many at his own cost.

The Elizabethan age was otherwise so glorious that it is painful to have

to record the establishment of the slave-trade—a serious blot on the

reign—one which no Englishman of to-day would defend, but which was then

looked upon as perfectly legitimate. John Hawkins (afterwards Sir John)

was born at Plymouth, and his father had long been a well-esteemed

sea-captain, the first Englishman, it is believed, who ever traded to the

Brazils. The young man had gained much renown by trips to Spain, Portugal,

and the Canaries, and having “grown in love and favour” with the

Canarians, by good and upright dealing, began to think of more extended

enterprises. Learning that “negroes were very good merchandise in

Hispaniola, and that store of them might easily be had upon the coast of

Guinea,” he communicated with several London ship-owners, who liked his

schemes, and provided him in large part with the necessary outfit. Three

small vessels were provided—the _Solomon_, of 120 tons, the _Swallow_, of

100, and the _Jonas_, of forty. Hawkins left England in October, 1562, and

proceeding to Sierra Leone, “got into his possession, partly by the sword

and partly by other means, to the number of 300 negroes at the least,

besides other merchandise which that country yieldeth.” At the port of

Isabella, Puerto de Plata, and Monte Christo, he made sale of the slaves

to the Spaniards, trusting them “no farther than by his own strength he

was able to master them.” He received in exchange, pearls, ginger, sugar,

and hides enough, not merely to freight his own vessels, but two other

hulks, and thus “with prosperous success, and much gain to himself and the

aforesaid adventurers, he came home, and arrived in September, 1563.”

[Illustration: SIR JOHN HAWKINS.]

The second expedition was on a larger scale, and included a queen’s ship

of 700 tons. Hawkins arriving off the Rio Grande, could not enter it for

want of a pilot, but he proceeded to Sambula, one of the islands near its

mouth, where he “went every day on shore to take the inhabitants, with

burning and spoiling their towns,” and got a number of slaves. Flushed

with easy success, Hawkins was persuaded by some Portuguese to attack a

negro town called Bymeba, where he was informed there was much gold. Forty

of his men were landed, and they dispersing, to secure what booty they

could for themselves, became an easy prey to the negroes, who killed

seven, including one of the captains, and wounded twenty-seven. After a

visit to Sierra Leone, which he left quickly on account of the illness and

death of some of his men, he proceeded to the West Indies, where he

carried matters with a high hand at the small Spanish settlements, at

which very generally the poor inhabitants had been forbidden to trade with

him by the viceroy, then stationed at St. Domingo. To this he replied at

Borburata, that he was in need of refreshment and money also, “without

which he could not depart. Their princes were in amity one with another;

the English had free traffic in Spain and Flanders; and he knew no reason

why they should not have the like in the King of Spain’s dominions. Upon

this the Spaniards said they would send to their governor, who was

three-score leagues off; ten days must elapse before his determination

could arrive; meantime he might bring his ships into the harbour, and they

would supply him with any victuals he might require.” The ships sailed in

and were supplied, but Hawkins, “advising himself that to remain there ten

days idle, spending victuals and men’s wages, and perhaps, in the end,

receive no good answer from the governor, it were mere folly,” requested

licence to sell certain lean and sick negroes, for whom he had little or

no food, but who would recover with proper treatment ashore. This request,

he said, he was forced to make, as he had not otherwise wherewith to pay

for necessaries supplied to him. He received a licence to sell thirty

slaves, but now few showed a disposition to buy, and where they did, came

to haggle and cheapen. Hawkins made a feint to go, when the Spaniards

bought some of his poorer negroes, “but when the purchasers paid the duty

and required the customary receipt, the officer refused to give it, and

instead of carrying the money to the king’s account, distributed it to the

poor ‘for the love of God.’” The purchasers feared that they might have to

pay the duty a second time, and the trade was suspended till the governor

arrived, on the fourteenth day. To him Hawkins told a long-winded story,

concluding by saying that, “it would be taken well at the governor’s hand

if he granted a licence in this case, seeing that there was a great amity

between their princes, and that the thing pertained to our queen’s

highness.” The petition was taken under consideration in council, and at

last granted. The licence of thirty ducats demanded for each slave sold

did not, however, meet Hawkins’ views, and he therefore landed 100 men

well armed, and marched toward the town. The poor townspeople sent out

messengers to know his demands, and he requested that the duty should be

7½ per cent., and mildly threatened that if they would not accede to this

“he would displease them.” Everything was conceded, and Hawkins obtained

the prices he wanted. Fancy a modern merchant standing with an armed

guard, pistol in hand, over his customers, insisting that he would sell

what he liked and at his own price!

But all this is nothing to what happened at Rio de la Hacha. There he

spoke of his quiet traffic (!) at Borburata, and requested permission to

trade there in the same manner. He was told that the viceroy had forbidden

it, whereupon he threatened them that he must either have the licence or

they “stand to their own defence.” The licence was granted, but they

offered half the prices which he had obtained at Borburata, whereupon he

told them, insultingly, that “seeing they had sent him this to his supper,

he would in the morning bring them as good a breakfast.”(134) Accordingly,

early next day he fired off a culverin, and prepared to land with 100 men,

“having light ordnance in his great boat, and in the other boats double

bases in their noses.” The townsmen marched out in battle array, but when

the guns were fired fell flat on their faces, and soon dispersed. Still,

about thirty horsemen made a show of resistance, their white leather

targets in one hand and their javelins in the other, but as soon as

Hawkins marched towards them they sent a flag of truce, and the treasurer,

“in a cautious interview with this ugly merchant,” granted all he asked,

and the trade proceeded. They parted with a show of friendship, and

saluted each other with their guns, the townspeople “glad to be sped of

such traders.”

[Illustration: ON THE COAST OF CORNWALL.]

On the return voyage, contrary winds prevailed, “till victuals scanted, so

that they were in despair of ever reaching home, had not God provided for

them better than their deserving.” They arrived at Padstow, in Cornwall,

“with the loss,” says the narrative printed in Hakluyt’s collection, “of

twenty persons in all the voyage, and with great profit to the venturers,

as also to the whole realm, in bringing home both gold, silver, pearls,

and other jewels in great store. His name, therefore, be praised for

evermore. Amen!” They did not consider that they had been engaged in a

most iniquitous traffic, nor was it, indeed, the opinion of the times.

“Hawkins,” says Southey, “then, is not individually to be condemned, if he

looked upon dealing in negroes to be as lawful as any other trade, and

thought that force or artifice might be employed for taking them with as

little compunction as in hunting, fishing, or fowling.” He had a coat of

arms and crest bestowed upon him and his posterity. Among other devices it

bore “a demi-Moor, in his proper colour, bound and captive, with annulets

on his arms,” &c.

On his next expedition for slaving purposes he had six vessels.

Herrera(135) says that two Portuguese had offered to conduct this fleet to

a place where they might load their vessels with gold and other riches,

and that the queen had been so taken with the idea that she had supplied

Hawkins with two ships, he and his brother fitting out four others and a

pinnace. The force on board amounted to 1,500 soldiers and sailors, who

were to receive a third of the profits. When the expedition was ready, the

Portuguese deserted from Plymouth, and went to France, but as the cost of

the outfit had been incurred, it was thought proper to proceed. Hawkins

obtained, after a great deal of trouble, less than 150 slaves between the

Rio Grande and Sierra Leone. At this juncture a negro king, just going to

war with a neighbouring tribe, sent to the commander asking his aid,

promising him all the prisoners who should be taken. This was a tempting

bait, and 120 men were sent to assist the coloured warrior. They assaulted

a town containing 8,000 inhabitants, strongly paled and well defended, and

the English losing six men, and having a fourth of their number wounded,

sent for more help; “whereupon,” says Hawkins, “considering that the good

success of this enterprise might highly further the commodity of our

voyage, I went myself; and with the help of the king of our side,

assaulted the town both by land and sea, and very hardly, with fire (their

houses being covered with dry palm-leaves), obtained the town, and put the

inhabitants to flight, where we took 250 persons, men, women, and

children. And by our friend, the king of our side, there were taken 600

prisoners, whereof we hoped to have had our choice; but the negro (in

which nation is seldom or never found truth) meant nothing less, for that

night he removed his camp and prisoners, so that we were fain to content

us with those few that we had gotten ourselves.” They had obtained between

400 and 500, a part of which were speedily sold as soon as he reached the

West Indies. At Rio de la Hacha, “from whence came all the pearls,” the

treasurer would by no means allow them to trade, or even to water the

ships, and had fortified the town with additional bulwarks, well manned by

harquebusiers. Hawkins again enforced trade, by landing 200 men, who

stormed their fortifications, at which the Spaniards fled. “Thus having

the town,” says Hawkins, “with some circumstance, as partly by the

Spaniards’ desire of negroes, and partly by friendship of the treasurer,

we obtained a secret trade, whereupon the Spaniards resorted to us by

night, and bought of us to the number of 200 negroes.”

This voyage ended most disastrously. Passing by the west end of Cuba, they

encountered a terrific storm, which lasted four days, and they had to cut

down all the “higher buildings” of the _Jesus_, their largest ship; her

rudder, too, was nearly disabled, and she leaked badly. They made for the

coast of Florida, but could find no suitable haven. “Thus, being in great

despair, and taken with a new storm, which continued other three days,”

Hawkins made for St. Juan de Ulloa, a port of the city of Mexico. They

took on their way three ships, having on board 100 passengers, and soon

reached the harbour. The Spaniards mistook them for a fleet from Spain,

which was expected about that time, and the chief officers came aboard to

receive the despatches. “Being deceived of their expectation,” they were

somewhat alarmed, but finding that Hawkins wanted nothing but provisions,

“were recomforted.” “I found in the same port,” says Hawkins, “twelve

ships, which had in them, by report, £200,000 in gold and silver; _all of

which being in my possession_, with the king’s island, as also the

passengers before in my way thitherward stayed, I set at liberty, without

the taking from them the weight of a groat.” This savours rather of

impudent presumption, for he was certainly not in good condition to fight

at that period. Next day the Spanish fleet arrived outside, when Hawkins

again rode the high horse, by giving notice to the general that he would

not suffer them to enter the port until conditions had been made for their

safe-being, and for the maintenance of peace. The fleet had on board a new

viceroy, who answered amicably, and desired him to propose his conditions.

Hawkins required not merely victuals and trade, and hostages to be given

on both sides, but that the island should be in his possession during his

stay, with such ordnance as was planted there, and that no Spaniard might

land on the island with any kind of weapon. These terms the viceroy

“somewhat disliked” at first, nor is it very surprising that he did; but

at length he pretended to consent, and the Spanish ships entered the port.

In a few days it became evident that treachery was intended, as men and

weapons in quantities were being transferred from and to the Spanish

ships, and new ordnance landed on the island. Hawkins sent to inquire what

was meant, and was answered with fair words; still unsatisfied, he sent

the master of the _Jesus_, who spoke Spanish, to the viceroy, and

“required to be satisfied if any such thing were or not.” The viceroy, now

seeing that the treason must be discovered, retained the master, blew his

trumpet, and it became evident that a general attack was intended. A

number of the English crews ashore were immediately massacred. They

attempted to board the _Minion_ and _Jesus_, but were kept out, with great

loss on both sides. “Now,” says Hawkins, “when the _Jesus_ and the

_Minion_ were gotten about two ships’ lengths from the Spanish fleet, the

fight began so hot on all sides, that, within one hour, the admiral of the

Spaniards was supposed to be sunk, their vice-admiral burnt, and one other

of their principal ships supposed to be sunk. The Spaniards used their

shore artillery to such effect that it cut all the masts and yards of the

_Jesus_, and sunk Hawkins’ smaller ships, the _Judith_ only excepted.” It

had been determined, as there was little hope to get the _Jesus_ away,

that she should be placed as a target or defence for the _Minion_ till

night, when they would remove such of the stores and valuables as was

possible, and then abandon her. “As we were thus determining,” says

Hawkins, “and had placed the _Minion_ from the shot of the land, suddenly

the Spaniards fired two great ships which were coming directly with us;

and having no means to avoid the fire, it bred among the men a marvellous

fear, so that some said, ‘Let us depart with the _Minion_;’ others said,

‘Let us see whether the wind will carry the fire from us.’ But, to be

short, the _Minion’s_ men, which had always their sails in readiness,

thought to make sure work, and so, without either consent of the captain

or master, cut their sail.” Hawkins was “very hardly” received on board,

and many of the men of the _Jesus_ were left to their fate and the mercy

of the Spaniards, “which,” he says, “I doubt was very little.” Only the

_Minion_ and the _Judith_ escaped, and the latter deserted that same

night. Beaten about in unknown seas for the next fourteen days, hunger at

last enforced them to seek the land; “for hides were thought very good

meat; rats, cats, mice, and dogs, none escaped that might be gotten;

parrots and monkeys, that were had in great price, were thought then very

profitable if they served the turn of one dinner.” So starved and worn out

were they, that about a hundred of his people desired to be left on the

coast of Tabasco, and Hawkins determined to water there, and then, “with

his little remain of victuals,” to attempt the voyage home. During this

time, while on shore with fifty of his men, a gale arose, which prevented

them regaining the ship; indeed, they expected to see it wrecked before

their eyes. At last the storm abated, and they sailed for England, the men

dying off daily from sheer exhaustion, the pitiful remainder being

scarcely able to work the ship. They at last reached the coast of Galicia,

where they obtained fresh meat, and putting into Vigo, were assisted by

some English ships lying there. Hawkins concludes his narrative as

follows:—“If all the miseries and troublesome affairs of this sorrowful

voyage should be perfectly and thoroughly written, there should need a

painful man with his pen, and as great a time as he had that wrote the

lives and deaths of the martyrs.”

[Illustration: HAWKINS AT ST. JUAN DE ULLOA.]

The _Judith_, which made one of Hawkins’s last fleet, was commanded by

Francis Drake, a name that was destined to become one of the most famous

of the day, and very terrible to the Spaniards. In this last venture he

lost all that he had accumulated by earlier voyages, “but a divine,

belonging to the fleet, comforted him with the assurance, that having been

so treacherously used by the Spaniards, he might lawfully recover in value

of the King of Spain, and repair his losses upon him wherever he could.”

This comfortable doctrine consoled him. “The case,” says Fuller, “was

clear in sea divinity.” Two or three minor voyages he made to gain

knowledge of the field of operation, and in the West Indies made some

little money “by playing the seaman and the pirate.” On May 24th, 1572, he

sailed from Plymouth, in the _Pascha_, of seventy tons, his brother

accompanying him in the _Swan_, of only twenty-five tons; they had three

pinnaces on board, taken to pieces and stowed away. The force with which

he was to revenge himself on the Spanish monarch, numbered seventy-three

men and boys, all told. In the Indies he was joined by Captain Rowse, of

an Isle of Wight bark, with thirty-eight men on board. Let us see how they

sped.

It was known that there was great treasure at Nombre de Dios, and thither

the little squadron shaped its course. The town was unwalled, and they

entered without difficulty, but the Spaniards received them in the

market-place with a volley of shot. Drake returned the greeting with a

flight of arrows, “the best ancient English complement,” but in the attack

received a wound in his leg, which he dissembled, “knowing that if the

general’s heart stoop, the men’s will fall.” He arrived at the

treasury-house, which was full of silver bars, and while in the act of

ordering his men to break it open, fainted from the loss of blood, and his

men, binding up the wound, forcibly took him to his pinnace. It was time,

for the Spaniards had discovered their weakness, and could have overcome

them. Rather disappointed here, Drake made for Carthagena, and took

several vessels on his way. He learned from some escaped negro slaves,

settled on the isthmus of Darien, that the treasure was brought from

Panama to Nombre de Dios upon mules, a party of which he might intercept.

Drake’s leg having healed, he was led to an eminence on that isthmus,

where, from a great tree, both the Pacific and Atlantic might be seen.

Steps had been cut in the trunk of this huge tree, and at the top “a

convenient arbour had been made, wherein twelve men might sit.” Drake saw

from its summit that great Southern Ocean (the Pacific Ocean) of which he

had heard something already, and “being inflamed with ambition of glory

and hopes of wealth, was so vehemently transported with desire to navigate

that sea, that falling down there upon his knees, he implored the divine

assistance, that he might at some time or other sail thither, and make a

perfect discovery of the same.”(136) Drake was the first Englishman to

gaze on its waters.

[Illustration: DRAKE’S FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC]

On the isthmus, Drake encountered an armed party of Spaniards, but put

them to flight, and destroyed merchandise to the value of 200,000 ducats.

Soon after he heard “the sweet music of the mules coming with a great

noise of bells,” and when the trains came up, he found they had no one but

the muleteers to protect them. It was easy work to take as much silver as

they would, but more difficult to transport it to the coast. They, in

consequence, buried several _tons_, but one of his men, who fell into the

hands of the Spaniards, was compelled by torture to reveal the place, and

when Drake’s people returned for a second load it was nearly all gone.

When they returned to the coast where the pinnaces should have met them,

they were not to be seen, but in place, seven Spanish pinnaces which had

been searching the coast. Drake escaped their notice, and constructing a

raft of the trees which the river brought down, mounted a biscuit sack for

sail, and steered it with an oar made from a sapling, out to sea, where

they were constantly up to their waists in water. At last they caught

sight of their own pinnaces, ran the raft ashore, and travelled by land

round to the point off which they were laying. They then embarked their

comrades with the treasure, and rejoined the ship. One of their negro

allies took a great fancy to Drake’s sword, and when it was presented to

him, desired the commander to accept four wedges of gold. “Drake accepted

them as courteously as they were proffered, but threw them into the common

stock, saying, it was just that they who bore part of the charge in

setting him to sea, should enjoy their full proportion of the advantage at

his return.” Drake made the passage home to the Scilly Isles in the

wonderfully short period of twenty-three days. Arriving at Plymouth on a

Sunday, the news was carried into the church during sermon time, and

“there remained few or no people with the preacher,” for Drake was already

a great man and a hero in the eyes of all Devon.

John Oxenham, who had served with Drake in the varied capacities of

soldier, sailor, and cook, was very much in the latter’s confidence. Drake

had particularly spoken of his desire to explore the Pacific, and Oxenham

in reply, had protested that “he would follow him by God’s grace.” The

latter, who “had gotten among the seamen the name of captain for his

valour, and had privily scraped together good store of money,” becoming

impatient, determined to attempt the enterprise his late master had

projected. He reached the isthmus to find that the mule trains conveying

the silver were now protected by a convoy of soldiers, and he determined

on a bold and novel adventure. “He drew his ship aground in a retired and

woody creek, covered it up with boughs, buried his provisions and his

great guns, and taking with him two small pieces of ordnance, went with

all his men and six Maroon guides about twelve leagues into the interior,

to a river which discharges itself into the South Sea. There he cut wood

and built a pinnace, ‘which was five-and-forty feet by the keel;’”

embarked in it, and secured for himself the honour of having been the

first Englishman to sail over the waters of the blue Pacific. In this

pinnace he went to the Pearl Islands, and lay in wait for vessels. He was

successful in capturing a small bark, bringing gold from Quito, and

scarcely a week later, another with silver from Lima. He also obtained a

few pearls on the islands.

[Illustration: OXENHAM EMBARKING ON THE PACIFIC.]

So far, fortune had followed Oxenham, and to his own want of caution is

due the fact that this prosperous state of affairs was soon reversed. He

had dismissed his prizes when near the mouth of the river, and had allowed

them to perceive where he was entering. The alarm was soon given; first,

indeed, by some negroes who hastened to Panama. Juan de Ortega was

immediately dispatched with 100 men, besides negro rowers, in four barks.

After entering the river, a four days’ search rewarded him by the

discovery of the pinnace with six Englishmen on board, who leaped ashore

and ran for dear life; one only was killed at this juncture. Ortega

discovered in the woods the hut in which Oxenham had concealed the

treasure, and removed it to his barks. Meantime, Oxenham, whose men had

been disputing over the division of spoils, had been to a distance for the

purpose of inducing some of the Maroon negroes to act as carriers, and

returning with them, met the men who had escaped from the pinnace, and

those who were fleeing from the hut. “The loss of their booty at once

completed their reconcilement; he promised larger shares if they should

succeed in re-capturing it; and marched resolutely in quest of the

Spaniards, relying upon the Maroons as well as upon his own people.” But

Ortega and his men were experienced in bush-fighting, and they succeeded

in killing eleven Englishmen, and five negroes, and took seven of

Oxenham’s party prisoners. He, with the remnant of his party, went back to

search for his hidden ship; it had been removed by the Spaniards. And now

the latter sent 150 men to hunt the Englishmen out, while those whom they

failed to take were delivered up by the natives. Oxenham and two of his

officers were taken to Lima and executed; the remainder suffered death at

Panama.

The greatest semi-commercial and piratical voyage of this epoch is

undoubtedly that of Drake, who reached the South Seas(137) _viâ_ the

Straits of Magellan—the third recorded attempt, and the first made by an

Englishman—and was the first English subject to circumnavigate the globe.

Elizabeth gave it her secret sanction, and when Drake was introduced to

her court by Sir Christopher Hatton, presented him a sword, with this

remarkable speech: “We do account that he which striketh at thee, Drake,

striketh at us!” The expedition, fitted at his own cost, and that of

various adventurers, comprised five vessels; the largest, his own ship,

the _Pelican_, being only 100 tons. His whole force consisted of “164 men,

gentlemen, and sailors; and was furnished with such plentiful provision of

all things necessary as so long and dangerous a voyage seemed to require.”

The frames of four pinnaces were taken, to be put together as occasion

might require. “Neither did he omit, it is said, to make provision for

ornament and delight; carrying to this purpose with him expert musicians,

rich furniture (all the vessels for his table, yea, many belonging to the

cook-room, being of pure silver) with divers shows of all sorts of curious

workmanship, whereby the civility and magnificence of his native country

might, among all nations whither he should come, be the more

admired.”(138) Few of his companions knew at the outset the destination of

his voyage; it was given out that they were bound merely for Alexandria.

The expedition sailed on November 15th, 1577, from Plymouth, and

immediately encountered a storm so severe that the vessels came near

shipwreck, and were obliged to put back and refit. When they had again

started under fairer auspices, Drake gave his people some little

information as to his proposed voyage, and appointed an island off the

coast of Barbary as a rendezvous in case of separation at sea, and

subsequently Cape Blanco, where he mustered his men ashore and put them

through drills and warlike exercises. Already, early in January, he had

taken some minor Spanish prizes, and a little later, off the island of

Santiago, chased a Portuguese ship, bound for Brazil, “with many

passengers, and among other commodities, good store of wine.” Drake

captured and set the people on one of his smaller pinnaces, giving them

their clothes, some provisions, and one butt of wine, letting them all go

except their pilot. The provisions and wine on board the prize proved

invaluable to the expedition. From the Cape de Verde Islands they were

nine weeks out of sight of land, and before they reached the coast of

Brazil, when near the equator, “Drake, being very careful of his men’s

health, let every one of them blood with his own hands.” On nearing the

Brazilian coast, the inhabitants “made great fires for a sacrifice to the

devils, about which they use conjurations (making heaps of sand and other

ceremonies), that when any ships shall go about to stay upon their coast,

not only sands may be gathered together in shoals in every place, but also

that storms and tempests may arise, to the casting away of ships and men.”

Near the Plata they slaughtered large numbers of seals, thinking them

“good and acceptable meat both as food for the present, and as a supply of

provisions for the future.” Further south, they found stages constructed

on the rocks by the natives for drying the flesh of ostriches; their

thighs were as large as “reasonable legs of mutton.” At a spot which Drake

named Seal Bay, they remained over a fortnight. Here they “made new

provisions of seals, whereof they slew to the number of from 200 to 300 in

the space of an hour.” Some little traffic ensued with the natives, all of

whom were highly painted, some of them having the whole of one side, from

crown to heel, painted black, and the other white. “They fed on seals and

other flesh, which they ate nearly raw, casting pieces of four or six

pounds’ weight into the fire, till it was a little scorched, and then

tearing it in pieces with their teeth like lions.” At the sound of Drake’s

band of trumpeters they showed great delight, dancing on the beach with

the sailors. They were described as of large stature. “One of these

giants,” said the chaplain of the expedition, “standing with our men when

they were taking their morning draughts, showed himself so familiar that

he also would do as they did; and taking a glass in his hand (being strong

canary wine), it came no sooner to his lips, than it took him by the nose,

and so suddenly entered his head, that he was so drunk, or at least so

overcome, that he fell right down, not able to stand; yet he held the

glass fast in his hand, without spilling any of the wine; and when he came

to himself, he tried again, and tasting, by degrees got to the bottom.

From which time he took such a liking to the wine, that having learnt the

name, he would every morning come down from the mountains with a mighty

cry of ‘Wine! wine! wine!’ continuing the same until he arrived at the

tent.”(139)

After some trouble caused by the separation of the vessels, the whole

fleet arrived safely at the “good harborough called by Magellan Port

Julian,” where nearly the first sight they met was a gibbet, on which the

Portuguese navigator had executed several mutinous members of his company,

some of the bones of whom yet remained. Drake himself was to have trouble

here. At the outset the natives appeared friendly, and a trial of skill in

shooting arrows resulted in an English gunner exceeding their efforts, at

which they appeared pleased by the skill shown. A little while after

another Indian came, “but of a sourer sort,” and one Winter, prepared for

another display of archery, unfortunately broke the bow-string when he

drew it to its full length. This disabused the natives, to some extent, of

the superior skill of the English, and an attack was made, apparently

incited by the Indian just mentioned. Poor Winter received two wounds, and

the gunner coming to the rescue with his gun missed fire, and was

immediately shot “through the breast and out at back, so that he fell down

stark dead.” Drake assembled his men, ordering them to cover themselves

with their targets, and march on the assailants, instructing them to break

the arrows shot at them, noting that the savages had but a small store.

“At the same time he took the piece which had so unhappily missed fire,

aimed at the Indian who had killed the gunner, and who was the man who had

begun the fray, and shot him in the belly. An arrow wound, however severe,

the savage would have borne without betraying any indication of pain; but

his cries, upon being thus wounded, were so loud and hideous, that his

companions were terrified and fled, though many were then hastening to

their assistance. Drake did not pursue them, but hastened to convey Winter

to the ship for speedy help; no help, however, availed, and he died on the

second day. The gunner’s body, which had been left on shore, was sent for

the next day; the savages, meantime, had stripped it, as if for the sake

of curiously inspecting it; the clothes they had laid under the head, and

stuck an English arrow in the right eye for mockery. Both bodies were

buried in a little island in the harbour.”(140) No farther attempt was

made to injure the English, who remained two months in the harbour, but

friendly relations were not established. A more serious event was to

follow.

One Master Doughtie was suspected and accused of something worse than

ordinary mutiny or insubordination. It is affirmed in a history of the

voyage published under the name of Drake’s nephew, that Doughtie had

embarked on the expedition for the distinct purpose of overthrowing it for

his own aggrandisement, to accomplish which he intended to raise a mutiny,

and murder the admiral and his most attached followers. Further, it is

stated, that Drake was informed of this before he left Plymouth; but that

he would not credit “that a person whom he so dearly loved would conceive

such evil purposes against him.” Doughtie had been put in possession of

the Portuguese prize, but had been removed on a charge of peculation, and

it is likely that “resentment, whether for the wrongful charge, or the

rightful removal, might be rankling in him;” at all events, his later

conduct, and mutinous words, left no alternative to Drake but to examine

him before a properly constituted court, and he seems to have most

reluctantly gone even to this length.(141) He was “found guilty by twelve

men after the English manner, and suffered accordingly.” “The most

indifferent persons in the fleet,” says Southey, “were of opinion that he

had acted seditiously, and that Drake cut him off because of his emulous

designs. The question is, how far those designs extended? He could not

aspire to the credit of the voyage without devising how to obtain for

himself some more conspicuous station in it than that of a gentleman

volunteer; if he regarded Drake as a rival, he must have hoped to

supplant, or at least to vie with him; and in no other way could he have

vied with him but by making off with one of the ships, and trying his own

fortune” (which was afterwards actually accomplished by others). Doughtie

was condemned to death. “And he,” says a writer, quoted by Hakluyt,

“seeing no remedy but patience for himself, desired before his death to

receive the communion; which he did at the hands of Master Fletcher, our

minister, and our general himself accompanied him in that holy action;

which being done, and the place of execution made ready, he, having

embraced our general, and taken his leave of all the company, with prayer

for the queen’s majesty and our realm, in quiet sort laid his head to the

block, where he ended his life.” One account says that after partaking of

the communion, Drake and Doughtie dined at the same table together, “as

cheerfully, in sobriety, as ever in their lives they had done; and taking

their leave by drinking to each other, as if some short journey only had

been in hand.” A provost marshal had made all things ready, and after

drinking this funereal stirrup-cup, Doughtie went to the block. Drake

subsequently addressed the whole company, exhorting them to unity and

subordination, asking them to prepare reverently for a special celebration

of the holy communion on the following Sunday.

And now, having broken up the Portuguese prize on account of its

unseaworthiness, and rechristened his own ship, the _Pelican_, into the

_Golden Hinde_, Drake entered the Straits now named after Magellan, though

that navigator termed them the Patagonian Straits, because he had found

the natives wearing clumsy shoes or sandals: _patagon_ signifying in

Portuguese a large, ill-shaped foot. The land surrounding the straits is

high and mountainous, and the water generally deep close to the cliffs.

“We found the strait,” says the first narrator, “to have many turnings,

and as it were, shuttings up, as if there were no passage at all.” Drake

passed through the tortuous strait in seventeen days. Clift, one of the

historians of the expedition, whose narrative is preserved in Hakluyt’s

collection of “Voyages,” says of the penguins there, three thousand of

which were killed in less than a day, “We victualled ourselves with a kind

of fowl which is plentiful on that isle (St. George’s in the Straits), and

whose flesh is not unlike a fat goose here in England. They have no wings,

but short pinions, which serve their turn in swimming; their colour is

somewhat black, mixed with white spots under their belly, and about their

necks. They wall so upright that, afar off, a man would take them to be

little children. If a man approach anything near them, they run into holes

in the ground (which be not very deep) whereof the island is full, so that

to take them we had staves with hooks fast to the end, wherewith some of

our men pulled them out, and others being ready with cudgels did knock

them on the head, for they bite so cruelly with their crooked bills, that

none of us were able to handle them alive.”

Drake’s vessels, separated by a gale, were driven hither and thither. One

of them, the _Marigold_, must have foundered, as she was never again heard

of. The two remaining ships sought shelter in a dangerous rocky bay, from

which the _Golden Hinde_ was driven to sea, her cable having parted. The

other vessel, under Captain Winter’s command, regained the straits, and

“anchoring there in an open bay, made great fires on the shore, that if

Drake should put into the strait also, he might discover them.” Winter

proceeded later up the straits, and anchored in a sound, which he named

the Port of Health, because his men, who had been “very sick with long

watching, wet, cold, and evil diet,” soon recovered on the nourishing

shell-fish found there. He, after waiting some time, and despairing of

regaining Drake’s company, gave over the voyage, and set sail for England,

“where he arrived with the reproach of having abandoned his commander.”

Drake was now reduced to his own vessel, the _Golden Hinde_, which was

obliged to seek shelter on the coast of Terra del Fuego. The winds again

forced him from his anchorage, and his shallop, with eight men on board,

and provisions for only one day, was separated from him. The fate of these

poor fellows was tragical. They regained the straits, where they caught

and salted a quantity of penguins, and then coasted up South America to

the Plata. Six of them landed, and while searching for food in the

forests, encountered a party of Indians, who wounded all of them with

their arrows, and secured four, pursuing the others to the boat. These

latter reached the two men in charge, but before they could put off, all

were wounded by the natives. They, however, succeeded in reaching an

island some distance from the mainland, where two of them died from the

injuries received, and the boat was wrecked and beaten to pieces on the

rocks. The remaining two stopped on the island eight weeks, living on

shell-fish and a fruit resembling an orange, but could find no water. They

at length ventured to the mainland on a large plank some ten feet in

length, which they propelled with paddles; the passage occupied three

days. “On coming to land,” says Carter, the only survivor, “we found a

rivulet of sweet water; when William Pitcher, my only comfort and

companion (although I endeavoured to dissuade him) overdrank himself, and

to my unspeakable grief, died within half an hour.” Carter himself fell

into the hands of some Indians, who took pity on him, and conducted him to

a Portuguese settlement. Nine years elapsed before he was able to regain

his own country.

[Illustration: SIR F. DRAKE.]

Meantime Drake was driven so far to the southward, that at length he “fell

in with the uttermost part of the land towards the South Pole,” or in

other words, reached Cape Horn. The storm had lasted with little

intermission for over seven weeks. “Drake went ashore, and, sailor-like,

leaning over a promontory, as far as he safely could, came back and told

his people how that he had been farther south than any man living.” At

last the wind was favourable, and he coasted northward, along the American

shore, till he reached the island of Mocha, where the Indians appeared at

first to be friendly, and brought off potatoes, roots, and two fat sheep,

for which they received recompense. But on landing for the purpose of

watering the ship, the natives shot at them, wounding every one of twelve

men, and Drake himself under the right eye. In this case no attempt was

made at retaliation. The Indians doubtless took them for Spaniards. Drake,

continuing his voyage, fell in with an Indian fishing from a canoe, who

was made to understand their want of provisions, and was sent ashore with

presents. This brought off a number of natives with supplies of poultry,

hogs, and fruits, while Felipe, one of them who spoke Spanish, informed

Drake that they had passed the port of Valparaiso—then an insignificant

settlement of less than a dozen Spanish families—where a large ship was

lying at anchor. Felipe piloted them thither, and they soon discovered the

ship, with a meagre crew of eight Spaniards and four negroes on board. So

little was an enemy expected, that as Drake’s vessel approached, it was

saluted with beat of drum, and a jar of Chili wine made ready for an

hospitable reception. But Drake and his men wanted something more than

bumpers of wine, and soon boarded the vessel, one of the men striking down

the first Spaniard he met, and exclaiming, “_Abaxo perro!_” (Down, dog!)

Another of the crew leaped overboard and swam ashore to give an alarm to

the town; the rest were soon secured under hatches. The inhabitants of the

town fled incontinently, but the spoils secured there were small. The

chapel was rifled of its altar-cloth, silver chalice, and other articles,

which were handed over to Drake’s chaplain; quantities of wine and other

provisions were secured. The crew of the prize, with the exception of the

Greek pilot, were set ashore, and Drake left with his new acquisition,

which when examined at sea was found to contain one thousand seven hundred

and seventy jars of wine, sixty thousand pieces of gold, some pearls, and

other articles of value. The Indian who had guided them to this piece of

good fortune, was liberally rewarded.

At a place called Tarapaca, whither they had gone to water the ship, they

found a Spaniard lying asleep, and keeping very bad guard over thirteen

bars of silver, worth four thousand ducats. Drake determined to take care

of it for him. At a short distance off, they encountered another, who,

with an Indian, was driving eight llamas, each carrying a hundredweight of

silver. It is needless to say that the llamas were conveyed on board,

_plus_ the silver. At Arica two ships were found at anchor, one of which

yielded forty bars of silver, and the other a considerable quantity of

wine. But these were as trifles to that which followed.

Drake had pursued a leisurely course, but in spite of this fact, no

intelligence of the pirate’s approach had reached Lima. The term “pirate”

is used advisedly, for whatever the gain to geographical science afforded

by his voyages, their chief aim was spoil, and it mattered nothing whether

England was at war with the victims of his prowess or not. A few leagues

off Callao harbour (the port of Lima), Drake boarded a Portuguese vessel:

the owner agreed to pilot him into Callao, provided his cargo was left

him. They arrived at nightfall, “sailing in between all the ships that lay

there, seventeen in number,” most of which had their sails ashore, for the

Spaniards had had, as yet, no enemies in those waters. They rifled the

ships of their valuables, and these included a large quantity of silk and

linen, and one chest of silver reales. But they heard that which made

their ears tingle, and inflamed their desires for gain; the _Cacafuego_, a

great treasure ship, had sailed only a few days before for a neighbouring

port. Drake immediately cut the cables of the ships at Lima, and let them

drive, that they might not pursue him. “While he was thus employed, a

vessel from Panama, laden with Spanish goods, entered the harbour, and

anchored close by the _Golden Hinde_. A boat came from the shore to search

it; but because it was night, they deferred the search till the morning,

and only sent a man on board. The boat then came alongside Drake’s vessel,

and asked what ship it was. A Spanish prisoner answered, as he was

ordered, that it was Miguel Angel’s, from Chili. Satisfied with this, the

officer in the boat sent a man to board it; but he, when on the point of

entering, perceived one of the large guns, and retreated in the boat with

all celerity, because no vessels that frequented that port, and navigated

those seas, carried great shot.” The crew of the Panama ship took alarm

when they observed the rapid flight of the man, and put to sea. The

_Hinde_ followed her, and the Spanish crew abandoned their ship, and

escaped ashore in their boat. The alarm had now been given in Lima, and

the viceroy dispatched two vessels in pursuit, each having two hundred men

on board, but no artillery. The Spanish commander, however, showed no

desire to tackle Drake, and he escaped, taking shortly afterwards three

tolerable prizes, one of which yielded forty bars of silver, eighty

pounds’ weight of gold, and a golden crucifix, “set with goodly great

emeralds.” One of the men having secreted two plates of gold from this

prize, and denied the theft, was immediately hanged.

But it was the _Cacafuego_ that Drake wanted, and after crossing the line

he promised to give his own chain of gold to the first man who should

descry her. On St. David’s Day, the coveted prize was discovered from the

top, by a namesake of the commander, one John Drake. All sail was set, but

an easy capture was before them; for the Spanish captain, not dreaming of

enemies in those latitudes, slackened sail, in order to find out what ship

she was. When they had approached near enough, Drake hailed them to

strike, which being refused, “with a great piece he shot her mast

overboard, and having wounded the master with an arrow, the ship yielded.”

Having taken possession, the vessels sailed in company far out to sea,

when they stopped and lay by. She proved a prize indeed: gold and silver

in coin and bars, jewels and precious stones amounting to three hundred

and sixty thousand pieces of gold were taken from her. The silver alone

amounted to a value in our money of £212,000. It is stated that Drake

called for the register of the treasure on board, and wrote a receipt for

the amount! The ship was dismissed, and Drake gave the captain a letter of

safe conduct, in case she should fall in with his consorts. This, as we

know, was impossible.

Drake’s plain course now was to make his way home, and he wisely argued

that it would be unsafe to attempt the voyage by the route he had come, as

the Spaniards would surely attack him in full force, the whole coast of

Chili and Peru being aroused to action. He conceived the bold notion of

rounding North America: in other words, he proposed to make that passage

which has been the great dream of Arctic explorers, and which has only, as

we shall hereafter see, been once made (and that in a very partial sense)

by Franklin and M’Clure. His company agreed to his views: firstly to

refit, water, and provision the ship in some convenient bay;

“thenceforward,” says one of them, “to hasten on our intended journey for

the discovery of the said passage, through which we might with joy return

to our longed homes.” They sailed for Nicaragua, near the mainland of

which they found a small island with a suitable bay, where they obtained

wood, water, and fish. A small prize was taken while there, having on

board a cargo of sarsaparilla, which they disdained, and butter and honey,

which they appropriated. Drake now sailed northward, and most undoubtedly

reached the grand bay of San Francisco. Californian authorities concede

this. The “Drake’s Bay” of the charts is an open roadstead, and does not

answer the descriptions given of the great navigator’s visit. He had

peaceful interviews with the natives, and took possession, in the fashion

of those days, of the country, setting up a monument of the queen’s “right

and title to the same, namely, a plate nailed upon a fair great post,

whereupon was engraven her Majesty’s name, the day and year of our arrival

there, ... together with her highness’s picture and arms in a piece of

_sixpence_ (!) of current English money under the plate, where under also

was written the name of our general.” History does not tell us the fate of

that sixpence, but the title, New Albion, bestowed on the country by

Drake, remained on the maps half way into this century, or just before the

discovery of gold in California. The natives regarded the English with

superstitious awe, and could not be prevented from offering them

sacrifices, “with lamentable weeping, scratching, and tearing the flesh

from their faces with their nails, whereof issued abundance of blood.”

“But we used,” says the narrator quoted by Hakluyt, “signs to them of

disliking this, and stayed their hands from force, and directed them

upwards to the living God, whom only they ought to worship.” After

remaining there five weeks, Drake took his departure, and the natives

watched the ships sadly as they sailed, and kept fires burning on the

hill-tops as long as they continued in sight. “Good store of seals and

birds” were taken from the Farralone Islands. Many an egg has the writer

eaten, laid by the descendants of those very birds: they are supplied in

quantities to the San Francisco markets. Drake’s attempt at the northern

passage was now abandoned.

[Illustration: DRAKE’S ARRIVAL AT TERNATE.]

Sixty-eight days was Drake’s ship—containing one of the most valuable

freights ever held in one bottom—in the open sea, during which time no

land was sighted; at the end of this period the Pelew, Philippine, and

Molucca Islands were successively reached. At Ternate, Drake sent a velvet

cloak as a present to the king, requesting provisions, and that he might

be allowed to trade for spices. The king was amiable and well disposed; he

sent before him “four great and large canoes, in every one whereof were

certain of his greatest states that were about him, attired in white lawn

of cloth of Calicut, having over their heads, from the one end of the

canoe to the other, a covering of thin perfumed mats, borne up with a

frame made of reeds for the same use, under which every one did sit in his

order, according to his dignity, to keep him from the heat of the sun.

* * * The rest were soldiers which stood in comely order, round about on

both sides; without whom sat the rowers in certain galleries, which being

three on a side all along the canoes, did lie off from the side thereof

three or four yards, one being orderly builded lower than another, in

every of which galleries were fourscore rowers. These canoes were

furnished with warlike munitions, every man, for the most part, having his

sword and target, with his dagger, besides other weapons, as lances,

calivers, darts, bows and arrows; also every canoe had a small cast-base

(or cannon) mounted at the least one full yard upon a stock set upright.”

These canoes or galleys were rowed about the ship, those on board doing

homage as they passed. The king soon arrived in state, and was received

“with a salute of great guns, with trumpets sounding, and such politic

display of state and strength as Drake knew it was advisable to exhibit.”

Many presents were made to the king, who in return sent off provisions of

rice, fowls, fruits, sugar-cane, and “imperfect and liquid sugar”

(presumably molasses). Next day there was a grand reception ashore; the

king, covered with gold and jewels, under a rich canopy embossed with

gold, professing great friendship. The fact was that his own father had

been assassinated by the Portuguese, and he himself had besieged and taken

their Fort St. Paul’s, and compelled them to leave it. He was, doubtless,

anxious for some alliance which might strengthen his hands against the

Portuguese. Drake, however, had no commission, nor desire at that time to

engage his country to any such treaty; his principal object now was to get

home safely with his treasure. He, however, successfully traded for a

quantity of cloves and provisions.

Off Celebes, the _Hinde_ became entangled among the shoals, and while

running under full sail, suddenly struck on a rock, where she stuck fast.

Boats were got out to see whether an anchor might not be employed to draw

the ship off, but the water all round was very deep, no bottom being

found. Three tons of cloves, eight guns, and certain stores were thrown

overboard, but to no purpose. Fuller says quaintly, that they “threw

overboard as much wealth as would break the heart of a miser to think

on’t; with much sugar, and packs of spices, making a caudle of the sea

round about. Then they betook themselves to their prayers, the best lever

at such a dead lift indeed, and it pleased God that the wind, formerly

their mortal enemy, became their friend.”(142) To the joy of all, the

_Hinde_ glided off the rocks, and almost uninjured. On the way home they

visited Barateva, Java, the Cape, and Sierra Leone, being singularly

fortunate in avoiding the Portuguese and Spanish ships. The _Hinde_

arrived safely at Plymouth on September 26th, 1580, having been nearly

three years on her eventful voyage. Drake was received with great honour,

and was knighted by the queen. She gave orders that his little ship should

be laid up at Deptford, and there carefully preserved as a monument of the

most remarkable voyage yet made. Elizabeth honoured Drake by banqueting on

board, and his fame spread everywhere through the kingdom. The boys of

Westminster School set up some Latin verses on the mainmast, of which

Southey gives the following free translation—

“On Hercules’ Pillars, Drake, thou may’st _plus ultra_ write full well,

And say, I will in greatness that great Hercules excel.”

And again—

“Sir Drake, whom well the world’s end knows, which thou didst compass

round,

And whom both poles of heaven once saw which north and south do bound,

The stars above will make thee known if men here silent were;

The sun himself cannot forget his fellow-traveller.”

Drake’s series of victories over the Spaniards, and the repulse which

occurred just before his death are details of history which would fill a

volume. He received a sailor’s funeral at Puerto Bello, his body being

committed to the deep in a leaden coffin, with the solemn service of the

English Church, rendered more impressive by volleys of musketry, and the

booming of guns from all the fleet. A poet of the day says—

“The waves became his winding sheet, the waters were his tomb;

But for his fame the ocean sea was not sufficient room.”

No single name in naval history has ever attained the celebrity acquired

by Drake. The Spaniards, who called him a dragon, believed that he had

dealings with the devil; “that notion,” says Southey, “prevented them from

feeling any mortification at his successes, * * * and it enhanced their

exultation over the failure of his last expedition, which they considered

as the triumph of their religion over heresy and magic.” The common people

in England itself, more especially in the western counties, believed any

quantity of fables concerning him, some of them verging on childishness.

He had only to cast a chip in the water when it would become a fine

vessel. “It was not by his skill as an engineer, and the munificent

expenditure of the wealth which he had so daringly obtained, that Drake

supplied Plymouth with fresh water; but by mounting his horse, riding

about Dartmoor till he came to a spring sufficiently copious for his

design, then wheeling round, pronouncing some magical words, and galloping

back into the town, with the stream in full flow, and forming its own

channel at the horse’s heels.” One of the popular stories regarding him is

briefly as follows. When Sir Francis left on one of his long voyages, he

told his wife that should he not return within a certain number of years

she might conclude that he was dead, and might, if she so chose, wed

again. One version places the time at seven, and another at ten years.

During these long years the excellent lady remained true to her lord, but

at the end of the term accepted an offer. “One of Drake’s ministering

spirits, whose charge it was to convey to him any intelligence in which he

was nearly concerned, brought him the tidings. Immediately he loaded one

of his great guns, and fired it right through the globe on one side, and

up on the other, with so true an aim that it made its way into the church,

between the two parties most concerned, just as the marriage service was

beginning. ‘It comes from Drake!’ cried the wife to the now unbrided

bridegroom; ‘he is alive! and there must be neither troth nor ring between

thee and me.’”

Drake is described as of low stature, but well set, and of an admirable

presence. His chest was broad, his hair nut-brown, his beard handsome and

full, his head “remarkably round,” his eyes large and clear, his

countenance fresh, cheerful and engaging. “It has been said of him that he

was a willing hearer of every man’s opinion, but commonly a follower of

his own,” which, as a rule, was really sure to be judicious. He had a

quick temper, and once offended, was “hard to be reconciled,” but his

friendships were firm; he was ambitious to the last degree, and “the

vanity which usually accompanies that sin laid him open to flattery.” He

was affable with his men, who idolised him as the grand commander and

skilful seaman that he most undoubtedly was.

In spite of the rich prizes so often taken, a competent authority says:

“The expeditions undertaken in Elizabeth’s reign against the Spaniards are

said to have produced no advantage to England in any degree commensurate

with the cost of money and expense of life with which they were

performed.” But we must never forget the wonderful development of the navy

which resulted; the splendid training acquired by our sailors, and the

grand gains to geographical science.

The opening of colonisation and trade with America—so far as England is

concerned—is due to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and his step-brother, Sir Walter

Raleigh. From their comparatively insignificant attempts at settling parts

of that vast northern continent what grand results have accrued! The acorn

has become a mighty, wide-spreading oak, sheltering the representatives of

every nationality.

When Sir Humphrey Gilbert proposed to Queen Elizabeth the settlement of a

colony in the New World, she immediately assented, and granted him letters

patent as comprehensive and wide-spreading as ever issued by papal

sanction. She accorded free liberty to him, his heirs and assigns for

ever, to discover and take possession of any heathen and savage lands not

being actually possessed by any Christian prince or people; such

countries, and all towns, castles or villages, to be holden by them of the

crown, payment of a fifth of all the gold and silver ore discovered being

required by the latter. The privileges seemed so great that “very many

gentlemen of good estimation drew unto Sir Humphrey to associate with him

in so commendable an enterprise.” But divisions and feuds arose, and

Gilbert went to sea only to become involved in a “dangerous sea-fight, in

which many of his company were slain, and his ships were battered and

disabled.” He was compelled to put back “with the loss of a tall ship.”

The records of this encounter are meagre, but the disaster retarded for

the time his attempt at colonisation, besides impairing his estate.

Sir Humphrey’s patent was only for six years, unless he succeeded in his

project, and in 1583 he found means to equip a second expedition, to which

Raleigh contributed a bark of 200 tons, named after him, the little fleet

numbering in all five vessels. The queen had always favoured Gilbert, and

before he departed on this voyage, sent him a golden anchor with a large

pearl on it, by the hands of Raleigh. In the letter accompanying it,

Raleigh wrote, “Brother, I have sent you a token from her Majesty—an

anchor guided by a lady, as you see. And, further, her highness willed me

to send you word, that she wished you as great a good hap and safety to

your ship, as if she herself were there in person, desiring you to have

care of yourself as of that which she tendereth; and, therefore, for her

sake you must provide for it accordingly. Further she commandeth that you

leave your picture with me.” Elizabeth’s direct interest in the rapidly

increasing maritime and commercial interests of the day was very apparent

in all her actions.

_Bark Raleigh_ was the largest vessel of the expedition, two of the others

being of forty, and one of twenty tons only. The number of those who

embarked was about 260, and the list included carpenters, shipwrights,

masons, and smiths; also “mineral men and refiners.” It is admitted that

among them there were many “who had been taken as pirates in the narrow

seas, instead of being hanged according to their deserts.” “For solace of

our people,” says one of the captains under Gilbert, “and allurement of

the savages, we were provided of music in good variety, not omitting the

least toys, as morris-dancers, hobby-horse, and May-like conceits to

delight the savage people, whom we intended to win by all fair means

possible.” The period of starting being somewhat late in the season, it

was determined to sail first for Newfoundland instead of Cape Florida, as

at the former Gilbert knew that he could obtain abundant supplies from the

numerous ships employed in the abundant cod-fisheries. The voyage was to

commence in disaster. They sailed on June 11th, and two days later the men

of the _Bark Raleigh_ hailed their companions with the information that

their captain and many on board were grievously sick. She left them that

night and put back to Plymouth, where, it is stated, she arrived with a

number of the crew prostrated by a contagious disease. Some mystery

attaches to this defection; “the others proceeded on their way, not a

little grieved with the loss of the most puissant ship in their fleet.”

Two of the fleet parted company in a fog; one of them was found in the Bay

of Conception, her men in new apparel and particularly well provided, the

secret being that they had boarded an unfortunate Newfoundland ship on the

way, and had pretty well rifled it, not even stopping at torture where the

wretched sailors had objected to be stripped of their possessions. The

other vessel was found lying off the harbour of St. John’s, where at first

the English merchants objected to Gilbert’s entry, till he assured them

that he came with a commission from her Majesty, and had no ill-intent. On

the way in, his vessel struck on a rock, whereupon the other captains sent

to the rescue, saved the ship, and fired a salute in his honour. His first

act was to tax all the ships for his own supply; the Portuguese, in

particular, contributed liberally, so that the crews were “presented,

above their allowances, with wines, marmalades, most fine rusk or biscuit,

sweet oil, and sundry delicacies.” Then the merchants and masters were

assembled to hear his commission read, and possession of the harbour and

country for 200 leagues every way was taken in the name of the queen. A

wooden pillar was erected on the spot, and the arms of England, engraved

on lead, were affixed. The lands lying by the water side were granted to

certain of the adventurers and merchants, they covenanting to pay rent and

service to Gilbert, his heirs and assigns for ever.

Some of the before-mentioned pirates of the expedition gave Sir Humphrey a

considerable amount of trouble while at St. John’s, some deserting, and

others plotting to steal away the shipping by night. A number of them

stole a ship laden with fish, setting the crew on shore. When ready to

sail, he found that there were not sufficient hands for all his vessels,

and the _Swallow_ was left for the purpose of transporting home a number

of the sick. He selected for himself the smallest of his fleet, the

_Squirrel_, described as a “frigate” of ten tons, as most suitable for

exploring the coasts. But that which made him of good heart was a sample

of silver ore which one of his miners had discovered; “he doubted not to

borrow £10,000 of the queen, for his next voyage, upon the credit of this

mine.”

For eight days they followed the coast towards Cape Breton, at the end of

which time the wind rose, bringing thick fog and rain, so that they could

not see a cable’s length before them. They were driven among shoals and

breakers, and their largest ship was wrecked in a moment. “They in the

other vessel,” says Hayes,(143) “saw her strike, and her stern presently

beaten to pieces; whereupon the frigate in which was the general, and the

_Golden Hinde_ cast about, even for our lives, into the wind’s eye,

because that way carried us to the seaward. Making out from this danger,

we sounded one while seven fathoms, then five, then four, and less; again

deeper, immediately four fathom, then but three, the sea going mightily

and high. At last we recovered (God be thanked!) in some despair to sea

room enough. All that day, and part of the night, we beat up and down as

near unto the wreck as was possible, but all in vain. This was a heavy and

grievous event to lose our chief ship, freighted with great provision; but

worse was the loss of our men, to the number of almost a hundred souls;

amongst whom was drowned a learned man, an Hungarian, born in the city of

Buda, called thereof Budæus, who out of piety and zeal to good attempts,

adventured in this action, minding to record in the Latin tongue, the

gests and things worthy of remembrance happening in this discovery to the

honour of our nation. Here, also, perished our Saxon refiner, and

discoverer of inestimable riches. Maurice Brown, the captain, when advised

to shift for his life in the pinnace, refused to quit the ship, lest it

should be thought to have been lost through his default. With this mind he

mounted upon the highest deck, where he attended imminent death and

unavoidable,—how long, I leave it to God, who withdraweth not his comfort

from his servants at such a time.” Of the company only ten were saved in a

small pinnace which was piloted to Newfoundland.

Meantime, on board the remaining vessels, there was much suffering, and

Sir Humphrey was obliged to yield to the general desire, and sail for

England, having “compassion upon his poor men, in whom he saw no lack of

good will, but of means fit to perform the action they came for.” He

promised his subordinate officers to set them forth “royally the next

spring,” if God should spare them. But it was not so to be.

[Illustration: THE DEATH OF SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT.]

Sir Humphrey Gilbert was entreated, when one day he had come on board the

_Hinde_, to remain there, instead of risking himself “in the frigate,

which was overcharged with nettage, and small artillery,” to which he

answered, “I will not forsake my little company going homewards, with whom

I have passed so many storms and perils.” A short time afterwards, while

experiencing “foul weather and terrible seas, breaking short and high,

pyramidwise, men which all their life had occupied the sea never saw it

more outrageous,” the frigate was nearly engulfed, but recovered. Gilbert,

sitting abaft with a book in his hand, cried out to the crew of the

_Hinde_ in the following noble words, so often since recorded in poetry

and prose: “Courage, my lads! We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!”

That same night the lights of the little vessel were suddenly missed, and

Gilbert and his gallant men were engulfed in the depths for ever. Of such

men we may appropriately say with the poet Campbell—

“The deck it was their field of fame,

And Ocean was their grave.”

The _Hinde_ reached Falmouth in safety, though sadly shattered and torn.

But the spirit of enterprise then prevailing was not to be easily quashed,

and only a few months after the failure of poor Gilbert’s enterprise, we

find Sir Walter Raleigh in the field. He obtained letters of patent

similar to those before mentioned, and was aided by several persons of

wealth, particularly Sir Richard Greenville and Mr. William Saunderson.

Two barks, under Captains Amadas and Barlow, were sent to a part of the

American continent north of the Gulf of Florida, and after skirting the

coast for one hundred and twenty miles, a suitable haven was found, the

land round which was immediately taken for the queen with the usual

formalities. After sundry minor explorations they returned to England,

where they gave a glowing account of the country. It was “so full of

grapes that the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them.” The

vegetation was so rich and abundant that one of the captains thought that

“in all the world the like abundance is not to be found,” while the woods

were full of deer and smaller game. The cedars were “the highest and

reddest in the world,” while among smaller trees was that bearing “the

rind of black cinnamon.” The inhabitants were kind and gentle, and void of

treason, “handsome and goodly people in their behaviour, as mannerly and

civil as any of Europe.” It is true that “they had a mortal malice against

a certain neighbouring nation; that their wars were very cruel and bloody,

and that by reason thereof, and of civil dissensions which had happened of

late years amongst them, the people were marvellously wasted, and in some

places the country left desolate.” These little discrepancies were passed

over, and Elizabeth was so well pleased with the accounts brought home,

that she named the country Virginia; not merely because it was discovered

in the reign of a virgin queen, but “because it did still seem to retain

the virgin purity and plenty of the first creation, and the people their

primitive innocence.” These happy natives were described as living after

the manner of the golden age; as free from toil, spending their time in

fishing, fowling, and hunting, and gathering the fruits of the earth,

which ripened without their care. They had no boundaries to their lands,

nor individual property in cattle, but shared and shared alike. All this,

which was rather too good to be absolutely true, seems to have been

implicitly believed. The letters of patent, however, granted to poor Sir

Humphrey Gilbert, and subsequently to Sir Walter Raleigh, mark a most

important epoch in the world’s history, for from those small

starting-points date the English efforts at colonising America—the great

New World of the past, the present, and the future. Where then a few naked

savages lurked and lazed, fished and hunted, forty millions of

English-speaking people now dwell, whose interests on and about the sea,

rising in importance every day, are scarcely excelled by those of any

nation on the globe, except our own. Some points in connection with this

colonisation, bearing as they do on the history of the sea and maritime

affairs, will be treated in the succeeding volume.

The reader, who while living “at home in ease,” has voyaged in spirit with

the writer over so much of the globe’s watery surface, visiting its most

distant shores, will not be one of those who under-rate

“The dangers of the seas.”

Nor will current events allow us to forget them. “The many voices” of

ocean—as Michelet puts it—its murmur and its menace, its thunder and its

roar, its wail, its sigh, rise from the watery graves of six hundred brave

men, who but a few weeks ago formed the bulk of two crews, the one of a

noble English frigate, the other a splendid German ironclad, both lost

within sight of our own shores. Early in this volume wooden walls were

compared with armoured vessels, and we are painfully reminded by the loss

of both the _Eurydice_ and _Grosser Kurfüst_ how unsettled is the question

in its practical bearings. Its discussion must also be resumed as a part

of the history of ships and shipping in the ensuing volume. Till then,

kind reader, adieu!

END OF VOLUME I.

CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO., BELLE SAUVAGE WORKS, LONDON, E.C.

FOOTNOTES

1 Milton.

2 Pindar.

3 “La Mer.” There is much truth in Michelet’s charming work, but

often, as above, presented in an exaggerated form. Animals, in

reality, soon become accustomed to the sea. They show generally,

however, a considerable amount of indisposition to go on board a

vessel.

4 W. S. Lindsay, “History of Merchant Shipping,” &c.

5 Southey, in his “Life of Nelson,” says nine.

6 “Songs for Sailors.”

7 Southey’s “Life of Nelson.”

8 “Annals of the Wars of the Nineteenth Century,” by the Hon. Sir

Edward Cust, D.C.L., &c.

9 Brialmont, “Étude sur la Défense des Etats et sur la Fortification.”

10 The Turks had at Sinope seven frigates, one sloop, two corvettes,

and two transports. The Russians were stronger, but this did not

determine the battle; their success was won because they were well

supplied with large shells and shell-guns, while the Turks had

nothing more effective than 24-pounders. Their wooden vessels were

speedily on fire, and the Russians won an easy success. Shells were

no novelty, yet a great sea-fight had never before been, as it was

then, won by their exclusive agency.

11 The Hon. S. J. G. Calthorpe, “Letters from Head-quarters.”

12 The seven Russian ships sunk at the entrance of the harbour of

Sebastopol were of no small size or value, and they were scuttled in

a hurry so great that they had all their guns, ammunition, and

stores on board, and their rigging standing. They comprised five

line-of-battle ships, two of them eighty, two eighty-four, and one

120 guns, and two frigates of forty guns; a total of 528 guns.

Afterwards it became a common report that vessels had been disabled

and sunk in the harbour. On the night of the 5th of September, just

before the evacuation of the town, two large Russian men-of-war

caught fire and burned fiercely, illumining the harbour and town,

and causing great excitement, as an omen of coming doom. The night

of the memorable 8th, when the Russians gave up all further idea of

resistance, and left the town to take care of itself, witnessed the

sinking of the remainder of the Black Sea fleet. So far, therefore,

the presence of our fleet had a pronounced moral effect, without

involving further loss of life.

13 Cust, “Annals of the Wars of the Eighteenth Century.”

14 Drinkwater, “Siege of Gibraltar.”

15 Some have even gone so far as to consider Louis Napoleon the

inventor of iron-plated and armoured vessels. This is absurd. The

ancients knew the use of plates of iron or brass for covering ships

of war and battering-rams. One of Hiero’s greatest galleys was

covered that way. That it must come to this sooner or later was the

published idea of many, both in this country and in France. The

Emperor’s sagacity, however, was always fully alive to questions of

the kind.

16 The report of the Chief Engineer and Naval Constructor of the

Confederate Service, in regard to the conversion of the _Merrimac_

into an armoured vessel, distinctly stated that from the effects of

fire she was “useless for any other purpose, without incurring a

very heavy expense for rebuilding.”

17 The official reports state that she was plated, many popular

accounts averring that she was only covered with “railroad iron.”

The information presented here is drawn from the following

sources:—“The Rebellion Record,” a voluminous work, edited by Frank

Moore, of New York, and which contains all the leading official

war-documents, both of the Federals and Confederates; the statement

of Mr. A. B. Smith, pilot of the _Cumberland_, one of the survivors

of the fight; the Baltimore _American_, and the Norfolk _Day Book_,

both newspapers published near the scene of action. There is great

unanimity in the accounts published on both sides.

18 The pilot of the _Cumberland_.

19 “Finally, after about three-fourths of an hour of the most severe

fighting, our vessel sank, the Stars and Stripes still waving. That

flag was finally submerged; but after the hull grounded on the

sands, fifty-four feet below the surface of the water, our pennant

was still flying from the top mast above the waves.” (The Pilot of

the _Cumberland’s_ Narrative.)

20 The original _Monitor_, from which that class of vessel took its

name.

21 Account of eyewitnesses furnished to the Baltimore _American_.

_ 22 Vide_ the _Times_, 17th July, 1877.

23 Berlin correspondence of the _Times_, 31st July, 1877.

24 The full official account has not yet been issued. The brief

narrative presented here is derived principally from the lively and

interesting series of letters from the pen of Lord George Campbell;

from “The Cruise of H.M.S. _Challenger_,” by W. J. J. Spry, R.N.,

one of the engineers of the vessel; and the Nautical and other

scientific and technical magazines.

25 The Austrian frigate _Novara_ made, in 1857-8-9, a voyage round “and

about” the world of 51,686 miles. As it was a sailing vessel, no

reliable results could be expected from their deep-sea soundings,

and, in fact, on the only two occasions when they attempted anything

very deep, their lines broke.

26 The “sinkers” were usually allowed at the rate of 112 lb. for each

1,000 fathoms.

27 Most of the recorded examples of earlier deep-sea soundings have

little scientific value. Unless the sounding-line sinks

perpendicularly, and the vessel remains stationary—to do which she

may have to steam against wind and tide or current—it must be

evident that the data obtained are not reliable. From a sailing

vessel it is impossible to obtain absolutely reliable soundings

except in, say, a tideless lake, unruffled by wind. It is very

evident that if the sounding line drags after or in any direction

from the vessel, the depth indicated may be greatly in excess of the

true depth; indeed, it may be double or treble in some cases. There

is one recorded example of a depth of 7,706 fathoms having been

obtained, which too evidently comes under this category. After

several years’ soundings on the part of the _Challenger_ and the

United States vessel _Tuscarora_, it has become probable that no

part of the ocean has a depth much greater than 4,500 fathoms. But

even this is upwards of five miles!

28 In their popular works on the sea, “The Ocean World,” and “The World

of the Sea.”

29 “Log Letters from the _Challenger_.”

30 All readers will remember Peter Simple, and how he tells us that “It

has been from time immemorial the heathenish custom to sacrifice the

greatest fool of the family to the prosperity and naval superiority

of the country,” and that he personally “was selected by general

acclamation!” Marryat knew very well, however, that it was “younger

sons,” and not by any means necessarily the greatest fools of the

family who went to sea.

31 William Pitt, long Master-Attendant at Jamaica Dockyard, who died at

Malta, in 1840. The song is often wrongly attributed to Dibdin, or

Tom Hood the elder.

32 Alphonse Esquiros, “English Seamen and Divers.”

33 “Westward Ho!”

34 Robert Mindry, “Chips from the Log of an Old Salt.”

35 The conditions for entering a Government training-ship for the

service involve, 1st, the consent of parents or proper guardians;

2nd, the candidate must sign to serve ten years commencing from the

age of eighteen. A bounty of £6 is paid to provide outfit, and he

receives sixpence a day. At the age of eighteen he receives one

shilling and a penny per day—the same as an ordinary seaman. Each

candidate passes a medical examination, and must be from fifteen to

sixteen and a half years of age. The standard height is five feet

for sixteen years old—rather a low average.

36 In “Singleton Fontenoy, R.N.”

_ 37 Vide_ “The Queen’s Regulations and the Admiralty Instructions for

the Government of Her Majesty’s Naval Service;” also Glascock’s

“Naval Officer’s Manual.”

38 “A Sailor-Boy’s Log-Book from Portsmouth to the Peiho,” edited by

Walter White.

39 A naval friend kindly informs me that the Malta holystones are

excellent, natural lava being abundant.

_ 40 Vide_ Dana’s “Seaman’s Manual.”

41 A form of heavy pile silk.

42 “Medical Life in the Navy,” by W. Stables, M.D., &c.

43 Portsmouth, Devonport, Plymouth, and some Cornish seaport towns and

villages were the chief sufferers. Plymouth had furnished more than

one-third of the crew.

44 None of the survivors appeared to know whether the _Captain’s_ screw

was revolving at the time. Her steam was partially up. Had she

steamed, there is every probability that the catastrophe would not

have occurred.

45 One man testified that he had heard Captain Burgoyne’s inquiries as

to how much the ship was heeling over, the answers given being

respectively, “18,” “23,” “25 degrees.” The movement was never

checked, and almost the moment after she had reached 25 degrees, she

was keel-uppermost, and about to make that terrific plunge to the

bottom.

46 Mr. May’s statement at the court-martial was in part as

follows:—“Shortly after 0.15 a.m. on the 7th inst., being in my

cabin, which was on the starboard or lee side of the ship, I was

disturbed in my sleep by the noise of some marines. Feeling the ship

uneasy, I dressed myself, and took the lantern to look at the guns

in the turrets.... It was but a very short time—from fifteen to

twenty minutes—past midnight. I then went to the after-turret. The

guns were all right. Immediately I got inside the turret I felt the

ship heel steadily over, deeper and deeper, and a heavy sea struck

her on the weather-side. _The water flowed into the turret_ as I got

through the pointing-hole on the top, and I found myself overboard;

I struck out, and succeeded in reaching the steam-pinnace, which was

bottom up, on which were Captain Burgoyne and five or six others. I

saw the ship turn bottom-up, and sink stern first, the last I saw of

her being her bows. The whole time of her turning over to sinking

was but from five to ten minutes, if so much. Shortly after, I saw

the launch drifting close to us who were on the pinnace; she was but

a few yards from us; I called out, ‘Jump, men—it is your last

chance!’ I jumped, and succeeded, with three others, in reaching

her. I do not know for certain whether Captain Burgoyne jumped or

not. I was under the impression he did; but the others in the launch

do not think so. At any rate, he never reached her. When on the

pinnace, a large ship, which I believe to have been the

_Inconstant_, passed us fifty yards to leeward. We all hailed her;

but, I suppose, the howling of the wind and sea prevented their

hearing us.”

47 The late Admiral Sherard Osborn, in a letter to the _Times_, said,

“The desire of our Admiralty to make all their fighting-ships cruise

under canvas, as well as steam, induced poor Captain Coles to go a

step further, and to make a ship with a low free board a

sailing-ship.” This was against his judgment, however.

48 Admiral Milne, in his despatch dated from H.M.S. _Lord Warden_, off

Finisterre, September 7th, 1870, stated that, at a little before 1

a.m., the _Captain_ was astern of his ship, “apparently closing

under steam. The signal ‘open order’ was made, and at once answered;

and at 1.15 a.m. she was on the _Lord Warden’s_ (the flag-ship’s)

lee quarter, about six points abaft the beam. From that time until

about 1.30 a.m. I constantly watched the ship.... She was heeling

over a good deal to starboard,” &c. We have seen that she went down

shortly after the midnight watch had been called.

49 A “Narrative of the Loss of the _Royal George_,” published at

Portsea, and written by a gentleman who was on the island at the

time.

50 The exact number was never known. There were 250 women on board, a

large proportion of whom were the wives and relatives of the

sailors; and there were also a number of children, most of whom

belonged to Portsmouth. Besides these, there were a number of Jew

and other traders on board.

51 Mr. Ingram, whose narrative, printed in the little work before

quoted, bears all the impress of truth.

52 The sentence of the court-martial blamed Captain Dawkins, his

navigating-lieutenant, and the ship’s carpenter, for not

endeavouring to stop “the breach from the outside with the means at

their command, such as hammocks and sails;” for not having “ordered

Captain Hickley, of H.M.S. _Iron Duke_, to tow H.M.S. _Vanguard_

into shallow water,” such being available at a short distance; the

chief-engineer for not “applying the means at his command to relieve

the ship of water;” the navigating-lieutenant “for neglect of duty

in not pointing out to his captain that there was shoaler water

within a short distance;” and the carpenter in “not taking immediate

steps for sounding the compartments, and reporting from time to time

the progress of the water.” A lamentable showing, truly, if all

these points were neglected! So far as the commander is concerned,

his successful efforts to save the lives of all on board (not

knowing when his ship might go down, and with the remembrance of the

sudden loss of the _Captain_ full in view) speak much in his favour,

and in extenuation of much that would otherwise appear culpable

neglect.

53 Nineteen fathoms, or 114 feet. Her main-topmast-head was afterwards

twenty-four feet out of water.

54 The total estimated loss was £550,000.

55 Mr. Ward Hunt said publicly that, “If the _Iron Duke_ had sent an

enemy’s ship to the bottom, we should have called her one of the

most formidable ships of war in the world, and all that she has done

is actually what she was intended to do, _except, of course, that

the ship she struck was unfortunately our own property, and not that

of the enemy_.”

56 Mr. Reed wrote to the _Times_ to the effect that there would,

undoubtedly, be a “greater measure of safety during a naval

engagement than on ordinary occasions,” and explained that “the

ruling consideration which has been aimed at in these ships has been

so to divide them into compartments, that, when all the water-tight

doors and valves are arranged as they would be on going into action,

the breach by a ram of one compartment only should not suffice to

sink the ship.”

57 Sir Henry James, Attorney-General to the previous Government, spoke

publicly on the subject in the plainest terms. He said:—“One would

have thought that if there were a court-martial on the vessel which

is lost, the officers of the vessel which caused that loss would not

go scot free.” The Admiralty was blamed for not having sent the

decision of the Court back to it for reconsideration, instead of

which they broke a rule of naval etiquette, and seemed anxious to

quash inquiry.

58 “The loss of the _Kent_, East Indiaman,” by Lieut.-General Sir

Duncan MacGregor, K.C.B.

59 The raft is described in the original work on the shipwreck of the

_Medusa_ substantially as follows:—It was composed of topmasts,

yards, planks, the boom, &c., lashed strongly together; two topmasts

formed the sides, and four other masts, of the same length as the

former, were placed in the centre, planks being nailed on them. Long

timbers were placed across the raft, adding considerably to its

strength; these projected about ten feet on each side. There was a

rail along the sides, to keep those on board from falling into the

sea. Its height being only about a foot and a half, it was

constantly under water, though this could easily have been remedied,

by raising a second floor a foot or two above it. Two of the ship’s

yards, joined to the extremities of the sides, at one end met in

front and formed a bow. Its length was sixty feet, and breadth about

twenty.

60 Later it took with many of them still stranger forms. One M. Savigny

had the most agreeable visions; he fancied himself in a rich and

highly-cultivated country, surrounded by happy companions. Some

desired their companions not to fear, that they were going to look

for succour, and would soon return; they then plunged into the sea.

Others became furious, and rushed on their companions with drawn

swords, asking for the wing of a chicken, or some bread. Some,

thinking themselves still aboard the frigate, asked for their

hammock, that they might go below to sleep. Others imagined that

they saw ships, or a harbour, behind which was a noble city. M.

Correard believed he was in Italy, enjoying all the delights of that

beautiful country. One of the officers said to him, “I recollect

that we have been deserted by the boats, but don’t be afraid; I have

just written to the governor, and in a few hours we shall be in

safety.” These illusions did not last for any length of time, but

were constantly broken by the war of the elements, and the fitful

revolts which constantly disgraced the company.

61 The writer, during a long voyage (England to Vancouver Island, _viâ_

Cape Horn), made in 1862, saw flying-fish constantly falling on the

deck, where they remained quivering and glittering in the sunlight.

To accomplish this, they had to fly over a height of about fifteen

or sixteen feet, the top of the bulwarks, or walls of the steamship,

being at least that distance above the water.

62 Large merchant-vessels have been constructed of steel, which is

stronger than iron, weight for weight; and consequently, in building

vessels of equal strength, a less weight and thickness is required.

It is said, that if the large Atlantic steamers of 3,500 tons and

upwards were built of steel, instead of iron, their displacement in

the water would be one-sixth less, and their carrying capacity

double. A steel troop-ship, accommodating about 1,000 persons and

drawing only two feet and a quarter of water, was constructed, in

1861, for use on the Lower Indus. She was taken out in pieces and

put together in India, the total weight of the steel employed being

only 270 tons, although she was 375 feet long, with a beam of 46

feet.

63 “The Fleet of the Future: Iron or Wood,” by J. Scott Russell,

F.R.S., &c.

64 Letter to the _Times_, Sept. 6th, 1875 (after the loss of the

_Vanguard_).

65 Parliamentary Paper, 1872. Reports of the Committee on Designs for

Ships of War &c.

_ 66 Ibid._

67 “Our Ironclad Ships.”

_ 68 Vide_ “The Mediterranean,” by Rear-Admiral Smyth. This is a

standard work on all scientific points connected with the

Mediterranean.

69 One of the earliest of the Moorish conquerors of Spain, who first

fortified the Rock.

_ 70 Vide_ page 16.

71 “History of Gibraltar and its Sieges,” by F. G. Stephens, with

photographic illustrations by J. H. Mann. The writer is much

indebted to this valuable work for information embodied in these

pages.

72 On more than one occasion such wrecks have happened, as, for

example, when a Danish vessel, laden with lemons, fell into the

hands of General Elliott’s garrison, then suffering fearfully with

scurvy, October 11th, 1780. A year before a storm cast a quantity of

drift-wood under the walls. “As fuel had long been a scarce article,

this supply was therefore considered as a miraculous interference of

Providence in our favour.” (_Vide_ Drinkwater’s “Gibraltar.”)

73 The Romans, however, sometimes employed red-hot bolts, which were

ejected from catapults.

74 Lopez de Ayala, “Historia de Gibraltar.”

75 “Memoirs of Sully,” bk. xx.

76 In a memorial presented to Philip V. after the capture, it was

stated that the garrison comprised “fewer than 300 men; a few poor

and raw peasants.” Other accounts range from 150 to 500.

77 “Journal of an Officer during the Siege.”

78 See _ante_, page 16.

79 Sayer’s “History of Gibraltar.”

80 Barrow’s “Life of Lord Howe.”

_ 81 Vide_ “Malta Sixty Years Ago,” by Admiral Shaw.

82 “The Crescent and the Cross.”

83 “Malta under the Phœnicians, Knights, and English,” by W. Tallack.

84 In contradistinction to the Red Cross Knights, or Templars, who,

though Crusaders, formed a purely military order.

85 The Order of the Knights of St. John exists now as a religious and

benevolent body—a shadow of its former self. There was a period when

the revenues of the Order were over £3,000,000 sterling. It still

exists, however, the head-quarters being at Ferrara in Italy. Recent

organisations, countenanced and supported by distinguished noblemen

and gentlemen for the relief of sufferers by war, and convalescents

in hospital in many parts of England, are in some sense under its

banner; H.R.H. the Prince of Wales is President of one of them—the

National Society for the Sick and Wounded in War. It had been

recommended by one writer, that gentlemen of the present day should

become members, and wear at evening entertainments a special dress

and decoration, and that there should also be _dames chevalières_,

with decorations also. He believes, of course, that this would

greatly aid the funds for those benevolent purposes.

86 For an elaborate, exhaustive disquisition on this subject, _vide_

“The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul,” by James Smith.

87 The Suez Canal, and all appertaining thereto, is well described in

the following works:—“The Suez Canal,” by F. M. de Lesseps; “The

History of the Suez Canal,” by F. M. de Lesseps, translated by Sir

H. D. Wolff; “My Trip to the Suez Canal,” &c.

88 M. de Lesseps acknowledges frankly that the English people were

always with him, and cites example after example—as in the case of

the then Mayor of Liverpool, who would not allow him to pay the

ordinary expenses of a meeting. He says: “While finding sympathy in

the commercial and lettered classes, I found heads of wood among the

politicians.” There were, however, many who supported him in all his

ideas, prominently among whom the present writer must place Richard

Cobden.

89 O. Ritt, “Histoire de l’Isthme de Suez.”

90 Exodus xiv. 21, _et seq._

91 “Life in China,” by William C. Milne, M.A.

92 The reader may have heard of mummies manufactured in Cairo for the

English market. The idol trade of Birmingham has often been stated

as a fact.

93 Readers who have seen Mr. Edouin’s impersonations of a Chinaman may

be assured that they are true to nature, and not burlesques. That

gentleman carefully studied the Chinese while engaged professionally

in San Francisco.

94 The Tycoon is nominated out of the members of three families having

hereditary rights. The princes or Daimios number three or four

hundred, many having enormous incomes and armies of retainers. The

Prince of Kangâ, for example, has £760,000 a year; the Prince of

Satsuma £487,000; and the Prince of Owari £402,900.

95 For further details concerning this most interesting people, _vide_

Dr. Robert Brown’s “Races of Mankind.”

_ 96 Vide_ “Nautical Magazine,” October, 1855.

97 Captain Scammon, detailed from the United States Revenue Service, to

take the post of Chief of Marine in the telegraph expedition on

which the writer served, made a series of soundings. For nearly two

_degrees_ (between latitudes 64° and 66° N.) the average depth is

under 19½ fathoms.

_ 98 Vide_ Washington Irving’s “Astoria;” also, Sir Edward Belcher’s

“Voyage of the _Sulphur_.”

99 “Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India,” by John Cameron, Esq.

100 J. Thomson, “The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China.”

101 It is stated that an old man, named Macgregor, had long before been

in the habit of bringing once a year to Sydney small pieces of gold,

which he always sold to a jeweller there, and also that a convict

had been whipped for having lumps of gold in his possession prior to

the above. Hargreaves’ claim rests both on the actual amount

discovered, and on his publishing the fact at once.

102 “The Australian Colonies: their Origin and Present Condition.”

103 In his work “Westward by Rail,” which contains a most reliable

account of California, its history and progress.

104 At the Cariboo mines, British Columbia, in 1863, there were 7,000

men on the various creeks. There were not over a dozen women there!

105 Excepting at San Francisco, the only docks worthy of the name on the

_whole_ Pacific coasts of America are those of England’s naval

station at Esquimalt.

106 Douglas pines have been measured in British Columbia which were

_forty-eight_ feet in circumference at their base, and therefore

about sixteen feet through. These magnificent trees are only second

in size to the “Big Trees” of California.

107 On many parts of the North-west Pacific coasts of America, from

Oregon northwards to Bering Straits, the salmon, in their season,

swarm so that a boat can hardly make a way through their “schools.”

_ 108 Harper’s Magazine_ (New York), April, 1869.

109 “Extracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and

Mexico, &c.”

110 “The West Indies and the Spanish Main.”

111 “At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies.”

112 “Naval Chronicles,” vol. xii.

113 Other islands of the West Indies, as St. Thomas’s, which is a kind

of leading “junction” for mail steamers, and St. Domingo—so

intimately connected with the voyages of Columbus—will be mentioned

hereafter.

114 “Lands of the Slave and the Free,” by the Hon. Henry A. Murray.

115 “Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia,” by Judge

Haliburton.

116 “To the Cape for Diamonds.” By Frederick Boyle.

117 “The Cruise of H.M. Ship _Galatea_.” By the Rev. John Milner, B.A.,

Chaplain, and Oswald W. Brierly.

118 Alluding to the previous visit of Prince Alfred when a midshipman.

119 “The Settler’s Guide to the Cape of Good Hope,” &c., by Mr. Irons.

120 “The Autobiography of a Seaman.” By Thomas, tenth Earl of Dundonald,

G.C.B., Admiral of the Red, &c. &c.

121 “Medical Life in the Navy.”

_ 122 The Naval Chronicle_, vol. xiii. (1806).

123 Her tonnage being no doubt calculated by what is known as O. M. (old

measurement), and which was used up to a late date in England, her

actual capacity must have been considerably greater.

124 “The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S.

_Bounty_: Its Causes and Consequences.”

125 “Voyage Round the World,” by G. Hamilton.

126 “A Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific”

_ 127 The Annual Register_, 1789. The account above presented is derived

from that source, and from the standard works of Yonge and James.

128 The curious in such matters will find this poem translated by Heeren

in his work entitled “Asiatic Nations.”

129 (The late) W. S. Lindsay, M.P., &c., “The History of Merchant

Shipping.”

130 “The British Admirals: with an Introductory View of the Naval

History of England.”

131 Charnock: “History of Marine Architecture.”

132 It has been clearly shown that a large vessel which had been built

by Henry VII. bore the same name. The above was a successor,

probably built after the first had become unfit for service.

133 Sir William Monson: Churchill’s “Collection of Voyages.”

134 Hakluyt.

135 “Historia General.”

136 Camden. Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific, had expressed the

same feelings in almost the same locality.

137 Whenever the South Seas are mentioned in these early records, they

must he understood to mean the South Pacific, and, indeed, sometimes

portions of the North Pacific. The title still clings to the

Polynesian Islands.

138 Burney’s “Voyages.”

139 Narrative of Chaplain Fletcher, quoted by Burney.

140 Various authorities cited by Southey.

141 The various slanders thrown on Drake’s name in connection with this

occurrence seem to have had no foundation in fact. Some of his

enemies averred that he sailed from England with instructions from

the Earl of Leicester to get rid of Doughtie at the first

opportunity, because the latter had reported that Essex had been

poisoned by the former’s means. But Drake appears to have been

really attached to him.

142 Fuller’s “Holy State.”

143 Narrative of Captain Hayes (owner of the _Golden Hinde_) printed in

Hakluyt’s “Collection.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs

and are near the text they illustrate.

Several illustrations which were missing from the List of Illustrations

have been added to it. They can be identified by the missing page numbers

in the list.

The following changes have been made to the text:

page 10, period and quote mark added after “came”

page 13, “be” added before “interesting”

page 42, “Shakspeare” changed to “Shakespeare”

page 44, quote mark added before “manned”

page 50, quote mark added after “immediately.”

page 59, quote mark removed after “steam.”

page 60, period changed to comma after “survivors”

page 63, quote mark added after “water;”

page 101, “It” changed to “Its”

page 117, comma changed to colon after “Drawbacks”

page 119, period added after “O”

page 123, “It” changed to “Its”

page 129, “Portugese” changed to “Portuguese”

page 136, “via” changed to “viâ”

page 146, quote mark removed after “elsewhere.”

page 147, “interspered” changed to “interspersed”

page 155, comma changed to closing parenthesis after “Australia”

page 159, comma changed to period after “creeks”

page 175, colon added after “Bermuda”

page 181, “sweatmeats” changed to “sweetmeats”

page 189, comma added after “too”

page 219, period added after “tons”

page 236, “broad” changed to “board”

page 277, quote mark added after “benevolence,”

page 282, quote mark added after “England,”

page 293, period added after “up”

page 302, quote mark added after “complement,”

page 313, quote mark added after “blood.”

page 317, quote mark removed before “Two”

Differences between the table of contents and the chapter summaries have

not been corrected. Neither have variations in hyphenation been

normalized.