SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, THE QUEEN'S GREATEST SEAMAN
When people saw the Queen pacing up and down the paths with Sir
Francis Drake in Greenwich Gardens, and heard her laugh heartily as
she stopped with her hand to her side, they knew he was entertaining
her with stories of his mad adventures in the Pacific, bracing her to
resist Mendoza and King Philip, and putting tough spokes in many of
the wheels of his Holiness the Pope.
Twice had Mendoza asked for an audience, but no, Elizabeth had no
wish to talk about returning all those pretty jewels and the muckle
treasure, now safely stored in the strong-rooms at the Tower.
The little stout seaman, with the crisp brown hair and high, broad
forehead, the small ears, and grey-blue eyes lit with merriment, and
sometimes with fiery wrath, seemed to have won for a time his Queen's
full confidence.
The palace servants stared with awe at the bronzed and bearded face,
and the loose seaman's shirt belted at the waist and the scarlet cap
braided with gold. For they recognised in the wearer a king of
men--one who could make a nation of traders into great conquerors,
and who might, if only he were allowed, convert a small island into a
worldwide empire.
Drake was teaching the Queen and her ministers the uses of a strong
navy. Elizabeth had always been proud of her royal ships, but she
was apt to treat them like her best china, and liked to see them
securely placed on some high shelf, where they would not be broken.
She had often written to her captains and admirals to be prudent and
take no risks--"Don't go too near any batteries--don't let my ships
catch fire--do be careful."
Now Drake was instructing her in the art and policy of taking risks.
And the Queen, as she looked down upon her jewelled dress, found
merry Sir Francis a very incarnate fiend to tempt her out of her
devious ways of caution and political jugglery--for a time, at least.
Now Terceira, one of the Azores, refused to recognise the Spanish
conquest, and Don Antonio, who had been hunted from the throne of
Portugal, was now in Paris and imploring help against Philip.
"Here, madam," we may fancy Drake saying, "is a splendid opening for
your honest seamen. Terceira lies on the direct road of the fleets
coming home both from the East and West Indies. Permit your humble
servant to seize this island as a base, and we will destroy the trade
of Spain, and thereby secure this island-realm from Spanish invasion."
Walsingham was on Drake's side. Hawkins and Drake were preparing the
fleet, courtiers and merchants were subscribing, and brave young
noblemen were offering to serve on board. Fenton and Yorke,
Frobisher's trusty lieutenants, had command of ships; Bingham,
Carleill, and many others were getting ready; Don Antonio had come
over secretly; and all had been arranged.
But the admirals waited in vain for the order to sail. Was the Queen
losing heart, fearing the perilous risk? trying to make terms with
King Philip instead of fighting him?
Drake began to swear very loud, especially when he received a
scolding letter from the Queen, because he had spent two thousand
pounds more than the estimate. Officers, having nothing to do, began
to be quarrelsome; many resigned their commissions; and at last the
expedition was broken up.
The Queen was waiting until she could get France on her side. She
thought Drake's idea too risky, so she let him be chosen Mayor of
Plymouth, just to keep him busy with plans for defence.
Drake had a great sorrow this year, as well as a bitter
disappointment, for his wife fell ill and died. To add to his
anxieties, King Philip had offered forty thousand pounds reward to
any who would kidnap and stab the British corsair. John Doughtie,
the brother of that Thomas whom Drake had tried by court-martial for
treason, was approached; and out of revenge, though Drake had once
forgiven him his share in the treason, John embraced the opportunity
to get rich and rid himself of an enemy.
Unfortunately for him John Doughtie could not help boasting of what
he was going to do. His arrest was obtained from the Council, and he
spent the remainder of his life in some discomfort and squalor in one
of her Majesty's prisons.
So the months went by, and Drake became member for Bossiney or
Tintagel, and made some fiery speeches at Westminster, where they
began to believe that an invasion was really possible--nay, if Drake
thought so, even probable.
In February 1585 he married Elizabeth Sydenham, a Somersetshire
heiress; but news came at the end of May that Philip had invited a
fleet of English corn-ships to relieve a famine in Spain, and then
had seized the ships.
This was too bad. This was to imitate Drake a little too closely.
Everybody, from the Queen to the newest cabin-boy, felt that such an
outrage must be severely dealt with.
By the end of July Sir Francis received letters of marque to release
the corn-ships, and hoisted his flag in the _Elizabeth Bonaventure_,
with Frobisher for his vice-admiral and Carleill as
lieutenant-general with ten companies of soldiers under his command.
The squadron consisted of two battleships and eighteen cruisers, with
pinnaces and store-ships. There were two thousand three hundred
soldiers and sailors, and it was no easy matter to get stores for so
many. Before Drake could get away Sir Philip Sidney came down to
Plymouth with the intention of joining the expedition.
Drake remembered too well how unpleasant the presence of courtiers
had been on a former voyage, and he secretly sent off a messenger to
Court, asking if Sir Philip had the Queen's permission to join.
The Queen replied by ordering her naughty courtier back to Greenwich,
and Drake sailed for Finisterre, though still short of supplies.
Resolved to get water and provisions before he started on his long
voyage, he ran into Vigo Bay and anchored under the lee of the Bayona
Islands.
His officers were dismayed at their leader's effrontery. Does he
wish to let all Spain know what he is about to do?
But Drake knew that this very insolence would paralyse the hearts of
the foe. He ordered out the pinnaces and so frightened the governor
that he offered the English water and victuals; wine, fruit, and
sweetmeats were also sent, as if the Spaniards had been entertaining
their best friends.
A three days' storm compelled the ships to go up above Vigo, and
there many caravels laden with goods were taken by Carleill.
On 8th October Drake sailed for the Canaries, while the Spanish Court
was buzzing with rumours, and the Marquis of Santa Cruz advised his
master that a fleet should sail out in pursuit of the English, before
they sacked Madeira, the Canaries, and the Cape de Verde Islands, or
crossed the Atlantic and did worse.
However, the Spaniards, as is their custom, took a long time to get
ready, and Drake passed by the Canaries and pounced upon Santiago,
the chief town of the Cape de Verde Islands, where William Hawkins
had been treacherously attacked some years before. They seized the
town easily and stayed there a fortnight, the inhabitants having fled
inland, and much they enjoyed the pleasant gardens and orchards. All
might have gone well, and no great damage done, had not some
Spaniards seized and killed an English boy and shamefully treated his
body; for they found him lying dead, with his head severed and his
heart and bowels scattered about in savage manner.
This so enraged the men that they set fire to all the houses except
the hospital, and left in various places a paper declaring the reason
why they had so acted.
The English had not been many days at sea when a disease broke out,
and in a few days over two hundred men had died. A hot burning, and
continual agues seized the sick, followed by decay of their wits and
strength for a long time.
In some there appeared small spots as of the plague; but in eighteen
days they came to the island of Dominica, inhabited by savage people
whose naked skins were painted tawny red; strong, well-made fellows,
who very kindly helped to carry fresh water from the river to the
boats. They brought also, and exchanged for glass and beads, a great
store of tobacco and cassava bread, very white and savoury.
Thence the English went on to St. Christopher's, a desert island,
where they spent Christmas, refreshed the sick, and cleansed their
ships.
Then they sailed for Hispaniola and the city of St. Domingo, the
largest Spanish city in the New World, founded by Columbus in 1496.
Drake learned from a frigate that it was a barred harbour commanded
by a strong castle, but that there was a landing-place two miles to
the westward of it.
About 150 horsemen opposed them, but the English ran in so fast that
the Spaniards had only time to fire one volley and flee. There was
no gold or silver, only copper money, but good store of fine clothes,
wine and oil. The native Indians had all been killed by the cruelty
of the Spaniards, and the work in the mines was stopped.
Drake ordered the troops to entrench themselves in the Plaza, or
Square, and to occupy the chief batteries; so he held the city for a
month.
Two hundred and forty guns were taken and put on board the English
ships, and a ransom equal to fifty thousand pounds of our money was
exacted. A great fleet of Spanish ships was burnt, and hundreds of
galley-slaves were set free, to their surprise and delight.
Thence Drake sailed for Cartagena on the mainland, the harbour of
which he knew as well as any local pilot. The fleet entered about
three in the afternoon without meeting any resistance. In the
evening Carleill landed about three miles west of the town; the idea
being that the land forces should advance at midnight along the
shore, while the fleet drew the attention of the Spaniards by a false
attack upon a fort in the inner haven.
Some hundred horsemen met the troops, but hastened back to give the
alarm. Then the soldiers under Carleill came to the neck of the
peninsula on which the town was built. On one side was the sea, on
the other a lake communicating with the harbour. The narrow roadway
was fortified across with a stone wall and ditch, and the usual
passage was filled up with barrels full of earth, behind which were
placed six great guns, while two great galleys had been moored with
their prows to the shore, carrying eleven guns, to flank the
approach, and containing three hundred harquebusiers. The barricade
of barrels was defended by some three hundred musketeers and pikemen.
The Spaniards fired in the dark down the causeway, but the English
were marching close to the water's edge on lower ground and got no
hurt. Then they clambered up the sides of the neck and assaulted the
barricade. "Down went the butts of earth, and pell-mell come our
swords and pikes together, after our shot had given their first
volley, even at the enemy's nose."
The English pikes were longer than those of the Spaniards, so the
latter soon gave way, and were followed with a rush into the town,
where other barricades erected at every street's end had to be
carried with yell and blow.
The Spaniards had stationed Indian archers in corners of advantage,
"with arrows most villainously empoisoned." Some also were wounded
in the fort by small stakes having the point poisoned. But when the
city was taken divers courtesies passed between the two nations, and
they met at feasts, so that the Governor and Bishop came to visit Sir
Francis on his ship, finding him very merry and polite.
Cartagena yielded rich loot for the men, and for the merchants and
courtiers who had taken shares a ransom of 110,000 ducats came in as
a comfortable bonus.
By the end of April they were off Cuba and in want of water. After
search they found some rain-water newly fallen. Here, we are told,
Sir Francis set a good example to the men by working himself in his
shirt sleeves. We can see how conduct like this endeared him to his
men; for they said, "If the general can work with us in his shirt, we
may well do our best."
"Throughout the expedition," says Gates, "he had everywhere shown so
vigilant care and foresight in the good ordering of his fleet,
together with such wonderful travail of body, that doubtless had he
been the meanest person, as he was the chiefest, he had deserved the
first place of honour."
On reaching Florida they took Fort St. Augustine and a
treasure-chest; then they sailed north and sought Raleigh's colony in
Virginia, whom they brought home. "And thus, God be thanked, both
they and wee in good safetie arrived at Portsmouth the 2nd of July
1586, to the great glory of God, and to no small honour to our
Prince, our Countrey, and our selves."
Some seven hundred and fifty men were lost on the voyage, most of
them from the calenture or hot ague. Two hundred and forty guns of
brass and iron were taken and brought home.
Sir Francis wrote at once to Burghley reporting his return. He
apologised for having missed the Plate fleet by only twelve hours'
sail--"The reason best known to God;" but affirmed he and his fleet
were ready to sail again whithersoever the Queen might direct.
But the Faerie Queen was much harassed just now and affrighted; for
the Babington plot to assassinate her had just been revealed, and it
was known that Philip was making ready to spring upon England from
Portugal and the Netherlands. Mary Stuart was in prison, and France
for her sake was threatening war. So the Queen pretended to disavow
the doings of Sir Francis and his men. No peerage or pension for him
now, lest Philip should sail and invade her territory.
Drake understood the moods of his intriguing mistress, shrugged his
strong shoulders and played a match at bowls on the Hoe.
But, if England was backward in applauding the hero, his name and
exploits were being celebrated wherever the tyranny of Rome was
feared or hated.
The Reformation had been losing ground latterly, the Netherlands
still held out, but their strength of endurance was nearly spent.
Then came the startling news that the English Drake had again flouted
and crushed the maritime power of Spain. Not only had he weakened
her for actual warfare, but her prestige was shaken by his exploits,
and the banks of Seville and Venice were on the verge of ruin.
Philip found himself unable to raise a loan of half a million ducats.
The sinews of war were cracked by this sea-rover, who was raising the
hopes of Protestant Europe once more, and winning the clamorous
applause of the west country openly, and of Burghley in private.
"This Drake is a fearful man to the King of Spain!" he could not help
confessing, though he wondered if England would not be obliged to
give him up to the wrath of Philip. War was so expensive, to be
sure! Then, to the delight of Elizabeth and the consternation of all
true Catholics, Philip wrote and accepted the Queen's timorous
excuses.
The King of Spain was not quite ready for war. Drake's condign
punishment must be deferred for a season; there was a time for all
things. Meanwhile Drake with Sir William Winter had been employed in
getting ships ready and watching the narrow seas.
As autumn waned and no Armada came, the Queen summoned the bold
sea-rover to Court, and once more she listened to his brave words,
feeling almost convinced that boldness in action was safer than a
crooked diplomacy.
Anyhow she sent Sir Francis over on a secret mission to the Low
Countries, where he was everywhere received almost with royal
honours, and had conferences with leaders in all the great Dutch
cities.
But in November Leicester returned to England, a confession of
failure, and in January the fort of Zutphen was betrayed to the
Spaniards.
Again the scene shifted and the characters changed; for when Drake
returned to England, Walsingham gave him the cheering news that the
Queen's eyes were at last opened. He had shown her a paper taken
from the Pope's closet which proved that all Philip's preparations in
port and harbour and storehouse were intended solely for her
destruction and the religious education of her heretic realm. Then
she flashed out in patriotic spirit and threw economy to the winds.
Sir Francis Drake was made her Majesty's Admiral-at-the-Seas, and
William Burrows, Comptroller of the Navy, esteemed to be the most
scientific sea officer in England, was selected as his Vice-Admiral.
The people cheered and sang and made ready to fight for hearth and
home. One favourite stanza was that which had been nailed to the
sign of the Queen's Head Tavern at Deptford--
"O Nature! to old England still
Continue these mistakes;
Still give us for our King such Queens,
And for our Dux such Drakes."
Drake's commission was to prevent the joining together of the King of
Spain's ships out of their several ports, to keep victuals from them
and to follow any ships that should sail towards England or Ireland.
On the 2nd of April Sir Francis Drake wrote to Walsingham to say all
was ready for starting. "I thank God I find no man but as all
members of one body, to stand for our gracious Queen and Country
against Anti-Christ and his members."
We always see that with Drake the motive for war was a religious
motive; it was to secure religious freedom of thought and put down
the Inquisition.
He ends thus: "The wind commands me away; our ship is under sail.
God grant we may so live in His fear, as the enemy may have cause to
say that God doth fight for her Majesty as well abroad as at home ...
let me beseech your Honour to pray unto God for us, that He will
direct us the right way."
Besides the _Elizabeth Bonaventure_, which Drake commanded, Captain
William Burrows as Vice-Admiral was in the _Golden Lion_, Fenner in
the _Dreadnought_, Bellingham in the _Rainbow_--these all Queen's
ships.
The _Merchant Royal_ was sent by the London citizens; the rest were
given by voluntary subscribers and private persons. There were
twenty-three sail in all, and the soldiers and sailors numbered 2648.
But while Drake was busy at Plymouth making ready for the voyage,
paid emissaries of Philip and those who hated Walsingham and the
Reformation were busy with the Queen, frightening her with threats of
foreign interference; so that she absolutely turned round again and
issued an order that all warlike operations were to be confined to
the high seas. Philip's ships being all snug in port, Drake's fleet
would have nothing to do, and no captures to win, if he merely sailed
up and down the coast.
Swiftly rode the Queen's messenger, spurring from Surrey to
Hampshire, from Dorset to Devon, with many a change and relay of
smoking steeds.
The messenger knew well the purport of the fateful order: "You shall
forbear to enter forcibly into any of the said King's ports or
havens, or to offer violence to any of his towns or shipping within
harbour, or to do any act of hostility upon the land." The messenger
and his armed escort had been ordered to gallop in all haste, and
they entered Plymouth and dismounted before the Admiral of the Port.
"In the Queen's name! a despatch for Sir Francis Drake."
"For Drake? When, sir, did you leave London?"
"On April the 9th, last Sunday, your honour."
"Why! see! the roadstead is empty! The fleet sailed last Sunday
week!"
We can with difficulty realise how slowly news was carried in what we
call "the good old days," though horse-flesh was good, and little
time was spent on meals and beds. The Queen was too late by a week,
and Drake was gone!
He had started on Sunday, 2nd April, and on Monday afternoon had
attached to his fleet two private vessels from the Isle of Wight and
a few other stray ships.
Three days of quick sailing brought him off Cape Finisterre, for he
lost no time, not wishing those traitors at home to stop him on the
way.
But a great storm arose and scattered his ships for a whole week or
more. When they met again on the 16th he heard that the
_Dreadnought_ had been nearly wrecked and that a pinnace had been
lost.
But Drake had learnt from prisoners taken at sea that Cadiz harbour
was full of transports and store-ships, and he smiled a grim smile.
Signal was made--"Officers assemble for council of war."
Drake sat at the head of the table and Burrows sat opposite him.
It was usual for Sir Francis to ask very courteously for the advice
of his officers, and then--to take his own way!
On this occasion he made a slight change in his method. He forgot to
ask Burrows or the others for their advice, and bluntly spake out:
"Gentlemen, I am going to attack the shipping in Cadiz harbour."
The vice-admiral was shocked, and for a moment paralysed, by the
outrage upon his reputation as a scientific tactician.
"Good God! did Sir Francis know what it meant to run into that
harbour close to the guns of the town batteries, with rocks and
shoals everywhere, and no entrance possible except by the help of the
port pilots! Then there were the galleys to reckon with, the most
formidable war-ships in confined waters! Surely the matter required
a fuller consideration."
Drake laughed aloud, and waving his hand to dismiss them to their
ships, said--
"I think my officers believe in me--and we enter Cadiz harbour this
very Wednesday at set of sun."
One of Drake's comrades, perhaps Fenner, describing the English
attack, wrote thus: "So soon as we were descried, two of their
galleys made towards us, and judging what we were, made haste into
shore again, not offering to shoot one shot at us. Yet before they
could return, our admiral, with others of our fleet, shot them
through and slew ten of their men. Presently there came forth from
the town ten other galleys and fought with us; but we applied them so
well with our great ordnance that two of them were fain to be hauled
up that night."
The sudden appearance of El Draque struck such consternation in the
harbour and city that ships cut their cables and sought shelter
through the Puntal passage leading to the inner harbour. To meet the
galleys, which could only fire straight ahead, Drake steered with the
Queen's four battleships athwart their course and poured in heavy
broadsides before the galleys had got within effective range. Two
new lessons the Spaniards were learning: first, how to make galleys
harmless, for they could not turn quick enough to bring their front
fire into action; secondly, how to fire effectively, for never before
had such gunnery been seen, and it was the result of Drake's long and
careful practice. The galleys were raked from side to side and broke
away to the cover of the batteries, many in a sinking condition.
The city expected to be assaulted; the women and children were
hurried for safety into the fortress, twenty-seven poor creatures
being crushed to death in the confusion. But the English did not
land; their business was to damage King Philip's navy as much as
possible; so they sailed on beyond the batteries and began
plundering, burning, and scuttling amongst the many ships that
remained. Drake's letter to Walsingham calmly describes how "we
found sundry great ships, some laden, some half laden, and some ready
to be laden with the King's provisions for England. I assure your
Honour the like preparation was never heard of, nor known, as the
King of Spain hath made, and daily maketh, to invade England. His
provisions of bread and wines are so great as will suffice forty
thousand men a whole year, which if they be not impeached before they
join, will be very perilous."
As the darkness came down the crowds of soldiers and sailors that
thronged the quay and seaside streets saw the red fire spring up from
many a proud galleon, and in special the splendid warship of the
Marquis de Santa Cruz, valued the day before at 18,000 ducats. A big
Genoese argosy of 1000 tons, freighted with rich stuffs and
thirty-six pieces of brass cannon, was sunk and the treasure wasted.
Then, tired out, the crews sank down and slept on the decks till
morning. With the dawn poured in thousands of reinforcements, making
an attack on the town impracticable; but the spoiling, sinking, and
burning went on merrily, the galleys made feints and the big guns
boomed, "but they did us little hurt, saving that the master-gunner
of the _Golden Lion_ had his leg broke with a shot from the town."
Yet there were two hundred culverin shooting at the English fleet for
twenty-four hours!
The total amount of damage done by Drake seems to come to forty or
fifty ships destroyed, while the value of stores consumed was not
short of £150,000. Amongst these were 4000 pipes of wine and 30,000
cwt. of wheat. In addition to this Drake had revictualled his ships
with wine, oil, biscuit, and dried fruits, a very acceptable present
for hungry men.
So the great Armada would not sail for England yet awhile! The Queen
and her ministers and people, great and small, might sleep securely;
for the only man in all England who could inspire his men to fight as
heroes, the greatest sea captain, perhaps, that England has ever
possessed, had disobeyed orders and angered his vice-admiral in order
to save his country. One cannot but think that Nelson must have
studied with some care the life of Francis Drake: rules are made for
mediocrities by mediocrities: the genius must be allowed to have his
own way.
By noon on Thursday all was finished, and Drake kept looking aloft;
for the wind was contrary and he could not budge from the harbour.
He could see the interminable line of troops marching along the
isthmus into Cadiz; he could hear the buzz of voices and the song of
the soldiers. Now was the time for the galleys, and they rowed out
fiercely; but the thunder of Drake's broadsides swept them back time
after time. At midnight a land wind sprang up and Drake forced his
way out of the harbour and into the roadstead outside. By two
o'clock every ship had cleared the batteries and was safe outside,
without losing a single man!
"When we were a little out we fell becalmed, and ten galleys followed
us and fought with us all Friday forenoon. But, whether for lack of
powder and shot, or by reason of the heat of the day, I know not, or
some of them shot through, they lay aloof for three hours and never
after durst come within our shot."
Drake employed some of his leisure time in sending to the captain of
the galleys to ask if there were any English in the galleys as
slaves, and he would exchange some Spaniards for them. A box of
sweetmeats came in reply, and a request that he would stay until the
next day for inquiries to be made.
"Damnably civil--and treacherous," thought Drake, "I will not assent
to their devilish practice. We to wait for a big fleet to come, I
suppose, and they to eat us up! No! no!"
So, finding a wind for his purpose, he put out to sea before night.
For ten days he hung about near Cape St. Vincent. In the budget of
letters sent home at this period occur the words of an officer: "We
all remain in great love with our general, and in unity throughout
the fleet."
But this unfortunately was not quite correct; for hardly a week after
the Cadiz affair William Burrows, Vice-Admiral of the Fleet, wrote to
Drake thus: "I have found you always so wedded to your own opinion
and will that you rather disliked, and showed as though it were
offensive to you that any should give you advice in anything--at
least, I speak it of myself." He went on to say that he had often
refrained from giving advice, which would have accorded more with the
instructions issued by the Queen; for he would have merely watched
the Spanish coast, and not have entered any harbour, as had been done
at Cadiz.
Drake replied by placing the vice-admiral under arrest for two days.
The culprit was astounded, but wrote a letter of apology, promising
obedience in the future. It is probable that Drake may have fancied
that he had a second Doughtie to deal with, a paid traitor sent to
oppose him. In Cadiz harbour he had noticed that Burrows seemed all
too careful of his ship, and this letter made his suspicions seem too
well founded.
But Burrows was really only a timid, conservative sea officer, honest
and dull, a talker and arguer, who could not see when his superior
had performed an extraordinary feat of daring.
An attack upon the town of Lagos failed at the end of April, and the
vice-admiral no doubt shook his head sagely and muttered, "I told you
so!"
The next day Drake attacked Sagres, half-way between Lagos and Cape
St. Vincent. The English military officers declared that a hundred
determined men could hold it against all Drake's force; the
vice-admiral pronounced the scheme impracticable. That settled it.
Drake at once said, "The castle commands the watering-place: I mean
to have it."
After the musketeers had exhausted their ammunition, Drake summoned
the garrison to surrender. The Spanish captain laughed scornfully,
"Come up and take it."
Drake set his teeth and sent for faggots. The men believed in him
and were doing their best.
"Pile them up against the outer gate, my men."
Again and again the attempt to fire the gate failed, for the
defenders issued out and knocked down the pile. This went on for two
hours.
What was the vice-admiral doing? Was he smiling in his superior
manner? We know what the admiral was doing, and all his men knew.
There he was in his shirt sleeves--regardless of his dignity--his
arms laden with faggots, his face black with soot and streaming with
sweat, laughing, encouraging his mates. "Now it burns!" "A
cheer--what is it, lads?"
"The white flag of truce is hoisted, Sir Francis, instead of the
Spanish."
The commandant had sunk under his wounds, the garrison had
surrendered. On hearing this--miraculous they thought it--the castle
and fort of St. Vincent also capitulated, and the English fleet could
water at ease.
Drake had laughingly promised he would "singe King Philip's beard,"
and now he wrote to Walsingham: "We have taken forty ships, barks and
caravels and divers other vessels more than a hundred ... the hoops
and pipe-staves were above 16,000 tons in weight, all which I
commanded to be consumed by fire--no small waste unto the King's
provisions."
In order to goad the Marquis of Santa Cruz into coming out to fight,
Drake lay off Cascaes in sight of Lisbon for three days, sending
messages to taunt him: "Sir Francis Drake will be happy to convey the
Spanish admiral to England, if at any time the Marquis should think
of sailing in that direction."
But Philip had given strict orders, "While Drake is on the coast, not
a man is to be moved." A fine compliment for a king to pay a
hard-working seaman! And how the English crews must have laughed and
rubbed their hands in glee as the merry taunt went round to the
forecastle; for it was intended to hearten them quite as much as to
irritate Santa Cruz.
And Drake had heard that a rich East India caravel was on its way
home to Spain, and he told his men he should go to the Azores and
pick it up. That would fill their pockets and delight the
speculators in England.
They were all delighted to go with their gallant admiral, but they
had not been two days at sea when a great storm scattered his fleet.
In three days only three battleships and half-a-dozen pinnaces could
be seen; and the _Golden Lion_, Burrows' flag-ship, was missing.
Drake wrote home to Burghley on the 21st of May: "Burrows hath not
carried himself in this action so well as I wish he had done, for his
own sake; and his persisting hath committed a double offence, not
only against me, but it toucheth further." Captain Marchant had been
put in charge of the _Lion_, but when they reached St. Michael's on
the 8th of June, Drake heard that the crew of Burrows' ship had
mutinied and gone home.
Then Drake in his anger, believing that Burrows was a traitor, called
a court-martial, the first we are told that was ever held in our
navy, and Burrows was found guilty of desertion and condemned, in his
absence, to death.
As Drake was spending his generous wrath on all traitors the next
morning, a sudden hail from aloft, and a cry of "Sail ahoy!" made him
forget his troubles; for it looked like the caravel he was waiting
for.
All sails were hoisted, and a pretty strong breeze carried the
_Elizabeth Bonaventure_ towards the stranger, who had out a Portugal
flag and red cross.
Drake showed no flag until he was within shot of her, when he hung
out flags, streamers, and pendants. Then he hailed her with
cannon-shot most brusquely, shot her through divers times, and
received some answer in like sort.
Drake's fly-boat and a pinnace lay athwart her hawse and peppered her
with musket shot. At them she threw shot and fireworks, doing little
hurt, for they flew over them into the sea. Then, seeing the English
were making ready to board, six of her men being slain and many sore
wounded, they yielded.
It was the King of Spain's own ship from the East Indies, the _San
Felipe_, richly laden and carrying four hundred negroes whom they had
taken to make slaves in Spain and Portugal. Drake put these into his
fly-boat and said they were free to sail whither they listed. He
himself and his little fleet, guarding their prize very jealously,
made all sail for England, reaching Plymouth on the 26th of June.
Drake knew something of the ways of women. He knew, when he brought
the _San Felipe_ into Plymouth harbour, that his Queen would forgive
his little delinquencies in the matter of the singeing of Philip's
beard.
It was the largest and richest prize ever seen in England. The
spices, silks and taffetas, calicoes and carpets in the hold were
valued at £108,000, a sum sufficient to defray all the costs of the
expedition, with surplus profit for all adventurers.
Drake's return was welcomed with a national rejoicing; for the injury
to the prestige of Spain was more valuable even than the prize.
Further, it gave all Protestant Europe a braver spirit and a stronger
heart to resist the tyranny of Rome and Spain. It was also a
revelation to English merchants, and was one of the causes which set
on foot the great East India Company and the empire that was to
follow. Last, but not least, it implanted in the superstitious minds
of the South a great dread of El Draque, as the magician of the deep,
who had sold his soul to Satan, and could see all the fleets of his
foe in a magic mirror in his cabin, or raise a storm at his evil
pleasure.
As soon as he could, Drake hurried up to London to have an audience
with the Queen, but he found all in woe and trouble owing to the
execution of Queen Mary Stuart and the remorse of Elizabeth.
Drake, instead of being welcomed with smiles, was severely
reprimanded for grossly exceeding his instructions, and Burghley was
ordered to write despatches to assure Parma and Philip that Drake
would be held in deep disgrace.
How the frank, brave seaman must have shrugged his shoulders and
whistled, in disdain of all the diplomacy of courtiers!
However, he made a new friend in the young Earl of Essex, who was
beginning to be in great favour with the Queen, and who aided Drake
in his fresh projects to crush Spain, namely, by helping Don Antonio
to his throne. But England was itself threatened from three quarters
and could hardly venture to send troops away, for the Armada was
collecting in Spain, Parma with thirty thousand trained soldiers was
waiting in Flanders, and the Scots were restless across the border.
However, in 1588 Philip found himself rich enough with the arrival of
new convoys to attempt the invasion of England.
Lord Howard of Effingham was made Lord High Admiral, with Hawkins and
Frobisher as flag officers. Drake, as Lieutenant to the Lord High
Admiral, became President of the Naval Council of War, and hoisted
his flag in the _Revenge_, having several vessels belonging to his
own and his wife's relations attached to the thirty sail that formed
his division. But the impatient hero had to wait for months doing
nothing, while his ships grew foul, and his crews diminished. It was
not until May that the Court was convinced that the Armada was really
coming.
We need not follow the fortunes of Drake through the Armada fight,
for that has been done in previous chapters. It is enough to say
that Lord Howard in many ways sought his advice, and that the
crowning victory of Gravelines was due to Drake. After the Armada
had gone, he and Hawkins founded the "Chatham Chest" for disabled
seamen, and Drake had the honour of furnishing Plymouth with water.
But it was war that Drake ever yearned for, and in 1589 he and Sir
John Norris led an expedition to Portugal, and the troops were landed
in a bay near Corunna. They took the town, but the troops drank too
freely of the wine, and were disorderly and cruel. The palm of
courage should be given to a lady, Maria Pita, the wife of an
official, who took sword and buckler and defended a convent so
successfully that she was rewarded by her country with the full pay
of an ensign for life. Many citizens were put to death and much
damage was done by fire, but the English lost many men through
sickness, and storms scattered the fleet.
Out of 12,500 men only 6000 returned, and the expedition was a
failure, for Antonio's party did not co-operate as they had promised.
Drake and Norris had taken and burnt two Spanish ports, had defeated
the King's army, had insulted the gates of Lisbon, and had captured
nearly a hundred sail; but for all that they were both brought before
a court-martial at home, and suffered loss of prestige.
As the months wore on rumours came of a second Armada assembling at
Ferrol, and Plymouth grew so panic-stricken that the inhabitants
began to desert their homes. Drake, his wife and household, calmly
took up their residence in the town by the Dowgate, and the plague of
fear was stayed. So his prestige was not quite destroyed. But for
many long months Drake remained in disgrace at Court; those who knew
him in the west country upheld him as England's greatest admiral; but
Drake was ambitious, and when Hawkins and Frobisher were sent out and
he was overlooked, he could not but feel aggrieved in the stately
house, Buckland Abbey, which Sir Richard Grenville had sold him when
he took the _Revenge_ out on her last voyage. At last, in the summer
of 1594, the Queen consented to provide two-thirds of the capital for
an expedition under Drake and Hawkins.
When the news arrived at Lisbon, Philip's recruits deserted by
hundreds, and Lisbon was well-nigh left desolate. Sir Thomas
Baskerville, hero of many a hard fight in the Netherlands, commanded
the troops.
When they were ready to start, the Queen sent down orders to stay
them, and two months were wasted and food consumed in idleness. In
August, Penzance was burnt by a rapid raid from Spain. Then an order
came: "Cruise off the Spanish coast, then capture the Plate fleet,
and be home in six months."
The admirals protested, and the Queen was furious at their obstinacy
and "disloyalty." They did not leave Plymouth until the 28th of
August 1595, and found the Grand Canary too strong to capture. They
went on to the West Indies, and at Guadaloupe cleaned the ships, set
up the pinnaces, and landed the men for health's sake.
Poor old Sir John Hawkins, in his weariness and disappointment, had
had more than one quarrel with his old friend Sir Francis, and now
sickness grew upon him, and as Drake led the fleet off Puerto Rico,
Hawkins breathed his last. That evening, as Drake sat at supper on
board the _Defiance_, a round shot came crashing into the cabin,
striking the stool from under the admiral as he sat, and killing Sir
Nicholas Clifford and Drake's bosom friend Master Brown.
Next day Drake tried to force his way into the harbour, but the
Spaniards had sunk a great galleon in the fairway, and Drake gave up
the attempt.
He sailed for La Hacha, burnt it, but spared the church and the house
of a lady who had begged his mercy. On Christmas Day he sailed for
Nombre de Dios. The town had been abandoned at his approach, and
nothing of value was left. Drake remained in the harbour with his
fleet while Baskerville with 750 men started for Panama; but he found
the road protected by forts, and after losing many men, returned
hungry and dispirited.
On the 5th of January 1596 the fleet sailed for Escudo, west of
Nombre de Dios, and ten leagues from the mainland, where there was
good anchorage on sand, and the island was well supplied with wood
and water.
But the island, for all its loveliness and wealth of flower and
foliage, proved very sickly and the climate rainy. Three of the
captains died here and the chief surgeon, and Drake began to keep his
cabin, being very ill with dysentery.
Disappointment and sorrow for the loss of friends had made him
sombre, and the cheery smile had faded, though he still tried to
cheer up his officers. "God hath many things in store for us; and I
know many means to do her Majesty good service and to make us rich:
for we must have gold before we see England." That haunting sense of
the ill welcome they would receive if they brought no gold or jewels
must have embittered his last moments.
He gave the order to weigh anchor, and the ships sped before a storm
to Puerto Bello; but the gallant admiral was lying in his cabin sick
unto death. On the 25th of January, in the early dawn, he rose from
his bed in delirium, called aloud for his arms, raved about Spain and
the Inquisition and traitors who had poisoned him. Kind hands led
him back to bed, and there he died within an hour. On the morrow his
body, enclosed in a leaden coffin, was taken out to sea, and there in
sight of his first great victory he sank amid the thunder of cannon
from all the ships around, while the prayers of the English Church
burial service were solemnly recited.
In his will Drake left all his lands to the son of his brother,
Thomas. His widow, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir George
Sydenham of Devon, afterwards married William Courtenay of Powderham
Castle. He had no children, and nine of his eleven brothers also
died childless. He had been twice returned to Parliament for
Bossiney or Tintagel, and for Plymouth.
"So Francis Drake be dead!" we may fancy a Devon friend bewailing,
when the fleet returned without their admiral; "ah, we may never see
his like again! He had his faults, 'tis true; his temper was passing
quick, but he was a true friend, a pure bull-dog; tenacious both
ways, in hate and in love. Eloquent and fond of proving it to his
crew; ambitious and somedeal vain, and so open to flattery; as he
grew older, he believed more stoutly in his own opinions, and would
hurt a fool's feelings by telling him home truths. But for genius in
ocean warfare, I doubt if England has known half his worth--those
ninnies at Court did not; but we men of Devon loved him only just
this side of idolatry. God keep his soul!"