SIR RICHARD HAWKINS, SEAMAN AND GEOGRAPHER
Richard Hawkins was born in 1562, the son of Sir John, who bred his
son from an early age to the service of the sea, while his education
in geography, history, and mathematics was carefully and thoroughly
carried out. He went to the West Indies with his uncle William in
1582, and was with Drake in 1585. He served against the Armada as
captain of the _Swallow_, and afterwards was bitten by the prevailing
ambition to search the far-off shores of a new world.
So, with his father's counsel and help, he planned a voyage to Japan,
the Philippines and Moluccas, China and the East Indies by the way of
the Straits of Magellan and the Pacific. At their own expense father
and son had a ship built on the Thames of about 400 tons. "She was
pleasing to the eye," Richard says in his "Observations"; "profitable
for storage, good of sail and well-conditioned."
But Lady Hawkins craved the naming of the ship, and called it the
_Repentance_, for she said, "Repentance was the safest ship we could
sail in to purchase the haven of Heaven." Richard much misliked the
name, as though it were of ill omen, and he says, "Well I know she
was no prophetess, though a religious and most virtuous lady: yet too
prophetical it fell out by God's secret judgments." So he sold his
share to his father and was going to give up the enterprise.
But it so fell out that when the _Repentance_ was finished, and was
riding at anchor near Deptford, the Queen in her barge was passing by
on her way to Greenwich Palace, and having ever an eye for a good
ship, asked, "What ship is yon, and to whom does she belong?"
On hearing it was Sir John and Richard Hawkins' new vessel, she bade
her bargeman row round about her, viewed her critically from port to
stem, and disliked nothing in her but the name. Then with a laugh
the Queen cried, "Sir John shall have me for her godmother; I will
christen the ship anew, and henceforth she shall be called the
_Dainty_." So as the _Dainty_ she sailed forth and made many
prosperous voyages in the Queen's service, though with oft-repeated
mishaps to herself.
At last, Sir John resolved to sell her, because she brought so much
cost, trouble, and care to him. Then Richard, whose forebodings
concerning her had been removed when the Queen named her anew, and
who had ever admired her and desired she should continue in the
family, repurchased the vessel from his father. By-and-by, having
bought stores for his journey and collected a crew, he was preparing
to sail in her from Blackwall to Plymouth, there to join two other
ships of his own, one of 100 tons, the other a pinnace of 60. As he
expected a visit of honour from the Lord High Admiral, Sir Robert
Cecil and Sir Walter Raleigh, she was detained some days in the
Thames. But bad weather prevented this visit, and so Sir Richard
bade the captain and pilot take her down to Gravesend, while he took
a last farewell of his father.
He then followed down the river in his barge, and coming to Barking
he saw the _Dainty_ at anchor in the middle of the channel, and was
told that they had been in no small peril of losing both ship and
goods. For as they sailed down with an E.N.E. wind, it suddenly
veered to the south, and forced them in doubling a point to tack and
luff up. Just then the south wind freshened, and the ship heeled
over. Being very deeply laden, and her ports being left open, the
water began to rush in. But the crew gave little thought to this,
thinking themselves safe in the river, till the weight of the water
began to press down one side. Then, when the danger was perceived,
and the sheets were flown, she could hardly be brought upright. So,
when Sir Richard came aboard, he found a pretty mess below, and
preached a fine warning sermon to his officers on taking things too
easily even in a river!
When he turned to the men he found them collecting in knots and
whispering together.
"Well, lads, what is it now?"
"An' it please yer honour, we of the forecastle may not go no furder
in this ship, save she be lightened of her cargo," said the spokesman.
"Lightened! why, she be all right; there would ha' been no danger but
for your negligence! Why weren't the lower ports shut and calked?"
"Howbeit, master, we be all afraid to go in her as she be!"
"Very well; an' ye be afeard, I will heave out some tons into a hoy,
lads." Then to his officers he said, "Look ye! mariners be like a
stiff-necked horse who taketh the bridle between his teeth."
Thus, to content them, he engaged a hoy, into which he loaded eight
tons; but untoward weather pursued them all the way to Plymouth.
It took him a month to prepare for his voyage and gather his company
together; and when the crews were all hired, his friends were
employed two days, with the help of the justices of the town, in
searching all lodgings, taverns, and ale-houses before his people
could be got aboard; for some would ever be taking their leave and
never depart; some drank themselves so drunk, that, except they were
carried aboard, they could not walk one step; others feigned
themselves to be grievously sick; others to be indebted to their
host, and could not leave until they were ransomed; and others, to
benefit themselves by the earnest-money paid them in advance,
absented themselves from a wicked desire to make an unfair living by
deceiving one master after another. There were some, too, who had
pawned a chest, or a sword, or two shirts, or a card and instruments
for sea. Thus Sir Richard in his "Observations" rehearses the
grievances of a sea captain, and he adds: "In what sort they dealt
with me is notorious, and was such that if I had not been provident
to have had a third part more of men than I had need of, I had been
forced to go to sea unmanned, or to give over my voyage. And many of
my company at sea vaunted how they had cosened and cheated the Earl
of Cumberland, Master Cavendish, and others, some of five pounds,
some of ten or more; and truly I think my voyage prospered the worse
for their lewd company."
Hawkins was against the custom of making imprests to the sailors, as
the money paid in advance was called. "All who go to sea nowadays
are provided of food and house-room and all things necessary, and in
long voyages of apparel also; that nothing is to be spent during the
voyage."
Imprests to married men, made in the form of a monthly allowance to
their wives, he thought useful.
When he had drawn his three ships out into the Sound a storm broke
from the west, in which the _Dainty_ was hardly saved by cutting away
her mainmast, and the pinnace was sunk. A kind friend pushed off
from the shore to warn him against proceeding further after such a
mischance.
"Be warned, my good Richard, for 'tis a presage of ill success this
bad beginning; and remember, though the Queen named your ship the
_Dainty_, yet she was first baptized _Repentance_; therefore, I would
forewarn you heartily."
"I thank you, sir; yet the hazard of my credit and the danger of
disreputation, if I took in hand that which I should not prosecute by
all means possible, are more powerful with me than your grave and
sage counsel. The pinnace has been raised; I see the wind is now
fair, sir; can I prevail upon you to make one of our company? If
not, my barge----"
"Oh! not on any account, friend Richard, not on any account, I
protest!"
The troublesome adviser was off quicker than he had come; and if it
had been Sir Francis Drake instead of Richard Hawkins, he would have
winced under the hearty laugh of that boisterous rover.
But Richard had a quieter way of gentle sarcasm, though both could be
very freezingly polite if the occasion called for it. Sir Francis,
indeed, was thought by Spanish Dons to be the most courteous of
English seamen.
In ten days' time, with the help of his wife's father, Hawkins was
able to put all in as good state as before the storm. "Once again,"
he says, "in God's name, I brought my ships out into the Sound and
began to take leave of my friends, and of my dearest friend, my
second self, my wife, whose unfeigned tears had wrought me into
irresolution, and sent some other in my room, had I not considered
that he that is in the dance must needs dance on, though he do but
hop, except he will be a laughing-stock to all."
On the afternoon of the 12th of June 1593, he says: "I looft near the
shore to give my farewell to all the inhabitants of the town, whereof
the most part were gathered together upon the Howe, to show their
grateful correspondency to the love and zeal which I, my father and
predecessors have ever borne to that place, as to our natural and
mother-town. And first with my noise of trumpets, after with my
waytes, and then with my other music, I made the best signification I
could of a kind farewell. This they answered with the waytes of the
town, and the ordnance on the shore, and with shouting of voices,
which with the fair evening and silence of the night, were heard a
great distance off."
We can see that Richard Hawkins had a greater gift of imagination and
of love of nature than his father John; in fact his "Observations" on
his voyage to the South Seas are well worth reading even in these
days of common travel. When the three ships were near the equator,
his men began to fall sick of the scurvy, as was usual; for they had
no means in those days of counteracting the flesh food by stores of
canned fruit and vegetables. "I wish," he writes, "some learned man
would write of this disease, for it is the plague of the sea and the
spoil of mariners; ... in twenty years, since I have used the sea, I
dare take upon me to give account of 10,000 men consumed by the
scurvy."
He had found by practical experience that sour oranges and lemons
were most profitable; the "oil of vitry," too, was beneficial, if one
took two drops of it mingled in a draught of water with a little
sugar. Then he spoils his scientific accuracy by a general statement
which is on a par with the theory that nature abhors a vacuum. "But
the principal of all is the air of the land, for the sea is natural
for fishes, and the land for men."
As the winds were contrary and the voyage was prolonged, the scurvy
grew so "fervent" that every day there died more or less; then the
men lost heart and begged he would carry them homeward. But Hawkins
assured them that the speediest refreshing they could look for was
the coast of Brazil.
"If I were to put all my sick into one ship and send them home, it
would be only to make that vessel their grave. Resolve, my lads, to
continue on our course till God shall please to look upon us with His
fatherly eyes of mercy."
A few days after this the _Dainty_ took fire, and it cost the crew
some hours of hard work to put it out. When all was over, Hawkins
called the crew together, and said: "We have had a sharp trial, and
God hath given us the victory: I am sure ye shall all desire to
return thanks to the Almighty for this deliverance; for some of you
may hitherto have disregarded religious feelings, but ye have not
despised them in your very hearts. Let us kneel and thank the good
God!"
After this solemn act of thanksgiving, Hawkins said: "Now, boys, in
order to show that we are verily thankful, let me with your general
consent take order to banish swearing out of the three ships." And
they all agreed to do so.
But to make this matter more easy to accomplish he invented a plan
which is still, I believe, used in some young ladies' schools; though
not perhaps for the purpose of expelling rude swearing and seamen's
oaths.
In every ship he ordained there should be kept a ferula, or small
stick, which was to be given to the first who was taken with an oath.
This man could be rid of it only by taking another in the same
offence, when he was to give him a _palmada_, or stroke on the palm,
transferring to him the instrument of punishment. Whoever had it in
his possession at the time of evening or morning prayer was to
receive three _palmadas_ from the captain or master, and still bear
it, till he could find another victim of the oath. In a few days
both swearing and ferulas were out of use in all three ships. "For
in vices custom is the principal sustenance; and for their
reformation it is little available to give good counsel, or make good
laws, except they be executed."
When at last there were left not more than four-and-twenty sound men
in the three ships, Hawkins steered for the nearest shore. Anchoring
two leagues off the port of Santos, in Brazil, he sent his captain
and sixteen armed men with a flag of truce, "a piece of crimson
velvet and a bolt of fine holland," with divers other things, as a
present to the Governor, and a letter written in Latin saying that,
being bound to the East Indies for traffic, contrary winds had forced
him upon that coast, and begging to be allowed to exchange some
goods. The officer commanding the garrison at the harbour-mouth
received them courteously, and detained them while the letter was
sent to the Governor some twelve miles up country. As the boat did
not return to the _Dainty_ next day, Hawkins manned a pinnace and
made a show of strength "where was weakness and infirmity."
He anchored right opposite the village and waited for a reply.
Soon he saw a flag of truce and sent a boat for the Governor's letter.
The Portuguese Governor was courteous, but firm. He said that in
consequence of the war between England and Spain he had received
orders not to suffer any English to trade within his jurisdiction,
nor even to land. He craved pardon, therefore, and desired Hawkins
to quit the port within three days, or he must treat them as enemies.
Meanwhile, to the great joy of the sick sailors, the boat first sent
from the _Dainty_ had returned, bringing about three hundred oranges
and lemons which they had bought from the women of the country. The
very sight of the fruit seemed to have given them more heart, though
when all was divided, it came to only three or four to each sick man.
Hawkins, however, could not get out of the harbour with the pinnace,
because the wind sufficed him not for thirty-six hours.
"In which time," he says, "I lived in a great perplexity, for that I
knew our own weakness and what they might do unto us if they knew the
facts. Any man that putteth himself into an enemy's port hath need
of the eyes of Argus, and the wind in a bag, especially when the
enemy is strong and the tides of force; for with either ebb or flow
those who are on the shore may thrust upon him inconveniences,
inventions of fire, or with swimming and other devices may cut his
cables--a common practice in all hot countries. The like may be
effected with rafts, canoes, boats or pinnaces, to annoy and assault
him; and if this had been practised against us, our ships must of
force have yielded, for they had none in them but sick men; but many
times opinion and fear preserveth the ships, and not the people in
them."
At length a breeze sprang up and Hawkins was able to sail out of port
and join his ships, sounding as he went, and was received with great
joy.
So they all set sail, and shortly after were nearly cast ashore; for
after a night's watch on deck in a fresh gale of wind, when the next
night drew on, Hawkins and the master of the _Dainty_, feeling need
of a good night's rest, set the watch and went to their hammocks, the
care of the steerage being entrusted to the mate. But he, too, was
drowsy, and dozed off, letting the ship fall away towards the shore.
In an hour or little more the master, being sound asleep, suddenly
awoke in a hot fright and sat up trembling--he knew not why. So he
awoke the boy who slept in the cabin with him.
"Boy, how goeth the watch?"
"Why, master, 'tis but an hour or so since you laid yourself down to
rest."
"Humph! my heart be so unquiet, I cannot by any means get to sleep."
Anon the master rose with a grunt, put on his night-gown (as a
dressing-gown was then called), and went up upon the deck.
He had not been there many minutes when, shading his eyes with his
hands, for the starlight puzzled him, he shouted, "Land on the port
bow!"
"I see no land, master," said the look-out, yawning sleepily.
"Then, what is yon--sandy and low! And hark! thou canst hear the
surf abreaking! Helm! hard a-starboard!" the master shouted, "and
quick! the sounding-line!"
The ship tacked and edged off just in time, for the seaman found
scant three fathoms water; and Hawkins ends his relation by these
words: "Hereby we saw evidently the miraculous mercy of our God, that
if He had not watched over us, as He doth continually over His,
doubtless we had perished without remedy: to whom be all glory and
praise everlastingly, world without end."
No doubt this deliverance heartened the ailing crew, for they knew
their commander to be a God-fearing man, and now they had tasted,
they believed, of the good results of sailing with one of God's
favoured children.
The next evil which met them was the want of water; for the sick of
the scurvy were attacked by an unquenchable thirst. Then Sir
Richard's scientific knowledge served him in good stead. For he
tells us: "With an invention I had in my ship I easily drew out of
the water of the sea sufficient quantity of fresh water to sustain my
people with little expense of fuel; for with four billets I stilled a
hogshead of water, and therewith dressed the meat for the sick and
whole; the water so distilled is found to be wholesome and
nourishing."
Thus a so-called modern discovery turns out to be more than three
hundred years old, and in those days the means of distilling were
hard to come by. On arrival at St. Anne's Islets they set up tents
for the sick, and here found many young gannets in their nests and
plenty of stuff for salads, so that many quickly recovered. But by
this time Hawkins had lost half his people by sickness, and therefore
he burnt one of his ships.
A month later he sailed away with a good bill of health, saving for
six who were not yet well. A few days later they gave chase to a
Portuguese ship and overhauled her. An old gentleman was on board
who was going out to be Governor of Angola, with his wife and
daughter and fifty soldiers.
The poor old Don moved Hawkins' compassion by his sad story, for all
his fortune lay in that vessel; so, after taking out of their prize
some meal and chests of sugar, they disarmed them and let them go.
Hawkins' men were delighted with the unlooked-for supply, the
Portuguese Governor and his people were astonished at the generosity
of the English captain, and they were all happy and praising God for
His bounty and grace.
But when the _Dainty_ and her consort were off La Plata, a storm came
on from the south which lasted forty-eight hours. By sundown Hawkins
saw with amazement that Tharlton, the master of the pinnace, was
bearing off before the wind, without making any sign of distress.
The _Dainty_ followed, and as darkness fell carried a light, but no
answering light was put up by the pinnace.
Thus Tharlton kept his course for England, and shamelessly deserted
his commander.
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[Illustration: ANGLING FOR ALBATROSS]
When Hawkins' ship, the _Dainty_, was in the South Seas making her
way to the Straits of Magellan, the crew saw certain big fowl as
large as swans, and secured several by baiting fishing-lines with
pilchard. They were not, however, captured without great difficulty,
for they buffeted the men with their powerful wings until they were
black and blue.
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"I was worthy to be deceived," wrote Hawkins, "in that I trusted my
ship in the hands of a hypocrite, and a man which had left his
general before on the like occasion, and in the self-same place."
For Tharlton had deserted Cavendish in the night-time and sailed
home; and Hawkins laments that such offenders were seldom brought to
trial, because their superiors were often not able to wade through
with the burden of the suit, which in Spain is prosecuted by the
King's attorney. They had noticed during the gale certain great
fowls as big as swans, and throwing out a fishing-line baited with
pilchard caught enough to feed the crew for that day. These must
have been the albatross, for Hawkins relates how when they had hooked
one of these creatures and pulled him to the stern of the ship, two
mariners went down by the ladders of the poop and seized on his neck
and wings; but such were the blows he gave them with his pinions,
that both left their hold of him, being beaten black and blue.
The _Dainty_ was now all alone, and on the 19th of February 1594
entered the Straits of Magellan. At the Penguin Islands they stored
the ship with these birds, salted like beef in casks. The hunting of
them proved a great source of amusement to the crew; as each, armed
with a cudgel, advanced and drove the silly things into a ring.
Whenever one chanced to break out, divers of the men would run and
try to head it round; but the ground was so undermined with their
burrows that ofttimes it failed unawares, and as they ran you could
see first one man and then another fall and sink up to his armpits in
the earth; while another, leaping to avoid one hole, would disappear
into another amidst the uproarious laughter of the rest. Indeed, so
funny an appearance did they make, that many could run no more, but
stopped to hold their sides for laughter. And Sir Richard concludes
thus: "After the first slaughter, on seeing us on the shore, the
penguins shunned us and tried to recover the sea; yea, many times,
seeing themselves persecuted, they would tumble down from such high
rocks as it seemed impossible to escape with life. Yet as soon as
they came to the beach, presently we should see them run into the
sea, as though they had no hurt; but in getting them once within the
ring close together few escaped--and ordinarily there was no drove
which yielded us not a thousand or more."
In another part of the island was a colony of ducks, which had made
their nests of earth and water fetched in their beaks. These were so
closely set that "the greatest mathematician could not devise to
place one more than there was, leaving only one pathway for a fowl to
pass betwixt ... and all the nests and passages were so smooth and
clean, as if they had been newly swept and washed."
Before Hawkins left the western end of the Straits, finding the
boards beginning to open from the great heat of the line, he calked
the ship within board and without above the decks, from post to
stern: the manner of sheathing the hull which his father, Sir John,
had invented, preserved the keel from the attack of worms. One
accident caused some anxiety, when the _Dainty_ struck on a rock
amidships and hung there, having deep water both ahead and astern.
Not till the flood came could they warp her off, somewhat strained
and damaged.
Of five anchors brought from England, Hawkins had now lost two, and
two others were disabled, and as bitter weather came on, with sleet
and snow, the men craved to return to Brazil and winter there; but
Hawkins, having Fenton's fortune in mind and that of Cavendish,
resolved to go on and rather lose his life than listen to their
counsel.
But he amused his men ashore with sports and games, one day with the
west country sport of hurling, in which the bachelors played against
the married; another day with wrestling or shooting, or stalking
ursine seals as they lay sleeping on the shore in the sun; for their
skins were useful as clothes, their moustaches as toothpicks, and
their fat as oil. But these seals, like the baboons of South Africa,
had the habit of posting sentinels, who wakened the herd with cries
of alarm; and when the sailors ran to get between the seals and the
sea, thinking to head them off, the plucky creatures made straight
for them, and not a man that withstood them escaped being overthrown.
Then, after the seals had gained the water, "they did, as it were,
scorn us, defy us, and dance before us."
On the 28th of March the _Dainty_ entered the South Pacific, though
the men murmured and grumbled and prophesied dire consequences.
On Easter Eve they anchored under the island of Mocha, where Drake
had suffered from the treachery of the Indians; so, great precautions
were taken while exchanging goods with them. The Indians, however,
had to be chastised for stealing, and would not sell any hens or
llamas of their own breeding.
Hawkins wished not to discover himself upon the coast till he should
have passed Lima; but his men, greedy of spoil, urged him to enter
the port of Valparaiso, where they took four vessels in which were
only stores of no value, which the owners were allowed to ransom for
a small price. Afterwards a fifth ship came in and was taken. In
this they found some gold, which put the crew in a good humour. New
anchors also were procured, and "a shift of cotton sails, far better
in that sea where they have little rain and few storms, than any of
our double sails; yet with the wet they grow so stiff that they
cannot be handled."
Hawkins generously restored all apparel and goods belonging to the
captain who had negotiated the ransom, and his generosity was
rewarded later on.
He remained eight days in port, during which time he and the master
of the _Dainty_, Hugh Cornish, took little rest, for they had only
seventy-five men to guard five ships, and the Governor of Chili was
lying in ambush near the shore with three hundred horse and foot.
But, worse than the enemy, Hawkins feared the wine for his sailors,
which overthrew many of his men--"a foul fault too common among
seamen, and deserving rigorous punishment"; and he declares that if
he had thousands of men, he would not carry with him a man known to
put his felicity in that vice.
As they neared the coast of Peru his men demanded their third of the
gold that had been taken. To this Hawkins replied--
"It will not be easy, men, to divide the bars fairly, and if divided
they may easily be stolen. Many of you, besides, will play away your
portions and return home as beggarly as ye came out."
The men consented to have the gold and silver deposited in chests
with three keys to each, of which the general was to have one, the
master another, and the third was to be given to a man nominated by
themselves.
The suspicions of the men were founded on their experience with bad
commanders who often defrauded the men, kept back their pay upon
pretended cavils, or forced them to sell their shares at low
prices--"usage which is accursed by the just God who forbiddeth wages
to be withheld."
The commander's humanity in sparing enemy's ships, instead of burning
them, as Drake had done, led to his overthrow; for the news of his
coming was sent by sea and land to the Viceroy of Peru, who at once
rose from his sick-bed and gave orders to man three ships in order to
chase "the English pirate." In eight days three galleons were ready
for sea, mounted with twenty brass guns; but as Hawkins was reported
off Arica with three ships, two of them being prizes, the guards on
shore were strengthened and the squadron of pursuit was reinforced by
three more vessels.
When, in the middle of May, they found Hawkins, he had only a pinnace
with the _Dainty_, having burnt the other prize. As the sun rose,
the wind freshened from the west and caused a chopping sea, by which
the admiral of the Spaniards snapt his mainmast asunder, while the
vice-admiral split his mainsail, and the rear-admiral cracked his
mainyard asunder, being ahead of the _Dainty_. These accidents were
lucky for Hawkins, as the Spanish ships had been gaining before and
getting to windward. Thus he managed to sail right between the
admiral and the vice-admiral, and in a few hours was clear of all his
enemies, who shortly put back to Callao.
They arrived in port after the storm in a sorry state, but the people
of Callao and Lima, whose expectation of seeing the English brought
back prisoners was high, burst out into a frenzy of scornful anger at
their unfortunate countrymen; the women especially reviled them for
cowards when they landed, and some of the lower class stuck daggers
and pistols in their bosoms and strutted about, taunting the
"poltroons," and demanding to be allowed to embark themselves against
the English pirate.
This treatment so hurt the sailors and soldiers that they vowed they
would follow Hawkins even to England rather than return again
dishonoured.
So hasty preparations were made, and many boats were staved in on the
stony beach in their hurry to pass to and fro and refit the galleons;
for the Viceroy himself went into the water to set an example to his
men.
Meanwhile Hawkins had held on his course and captured a ship fifty
leagues north of Lima; this he burnt, after taking out what
provisions he needed, put the crew ashore, except a pilot and a
Greek, who begged to be taken on board because they had broken the
law.
After this they gave chase to a tall ship which outsailed them. Two
other vessels got away in the same fashion, which made the English
sailors swear at the _Dainty_ for being a slow sailer, "a very bad
quality for such a ship."
On the 10th of June Hawkins put into the bay of Atacames, about 260
leagues from Lima, and supposing the ship free from any more pursuit,
he stopped to take in wood and water and to repair the pinnace.
Eight days elapsed and they were about to sail, when a ship was seen
in the offing. Instantly the love of plunder broke out, and Hawkins
had to allow the pinnace to give chase, appointing Cape San Francisco
as the place of rendezvous. However, two days went by and no pinnace
came, so Hawkins returned to the bay and met her turning in without a
mainmast. Two days more were lost in repairing the damage, and when
the _Dainty_ and her pinnace at last began to weigh anchor, a man
from the masthead said he could descry two large ships and a small
barque steering in towards them.
"The fleet bound for Panama, laden with treasure! Cut sail and meet
them." So shouted the sailors, and ran about in an excited manner.
"No, no," replied Hawkins; "no shipping will stir on this coast as
long as we are known to be here. Besides, my men, if they be
merchantmen, let us wait here for them--they are standing in directly
towards us; here we have the weather-gage of them. But if they are
sent to fight us, we can prepare our ship for the attack better by
remaining where we are."
It was done as John Davis would have done it, by gentle appeal to the
reason of the men: very different would have been the treatment of
Drake, whose men feared him too much to argue with him.
On the _Dainty_ the crew were almost insolent in their waywardness;
breaking out into reproaches at their commander's want of spirit,
some vaunting and bragging what they would do, or wishing they had
never left their own country, if they were to refuse such a fight as
this.
"To mend the matter," says Hawkins, "the gunner assured me that with
the first tire of shot he would lay one of them in the suds, and the
pinnace should take the other to task. One promised that he would
cut down their mainyard, another that he would take their flag. To
some I turned the deaf ear; with others I dissembled, soothing and
animating them to do that which they promised.... In all these
divisions and opinions, our master, Hugh Cornish (who was a most
sufficient man for government and valour, and well saw the errors of
the multitude), used his office as became him, and so did all those
of the best understanding."
Yet, in spite of this, Hawkins let the captain go with the pinnace to
discover what they were, but on no account to engage with the ships.
So the pinnace went, and the mad sailors leaned over the bulwarks,
and gaped foolishly when they saw her suddenly go about; but the
Spaniards began to chase her, "gunning at her all the way."
The _Dainty_ then stood out of the bay to meet them that there might
be sea-room to fight, but the wind fell, and the _Dainty_ was forced
to leeward; then the Spanish admiral came down upon her, as she
hailed the foe, first with noise of trumpets, then with waytes, and
after with artillery.
The Spaniards were much stronger both in guns and men, but this might
have been of no avail against English seamanship, had not the chief
gunner shamefully neglected his duty.
For "they came shoving aboard of us upon our lee-quarter, contrary to
our expectation and the custom of men-of-war; and doubtless, had our
gunner been the man he was reputed to be, she had received great hurt
by that manner of boarding; but, contrary to all expectation, our
stern pieces were unprimed, and so were all those which were to
leeward. Hereby all men are to take warning by me, not to trust any
man in such extremities when he himself may see it done: this was my
oversight, this my overthrow."
Poor Richard! very dearly did he suffer for this want of attention to
details. We are reminded of the great Nelson, who, when he was being
carried to the cock-pit, mortally wounded, noticed that one of the
tiller ropes was frayed, and ordered a new one to be put in at once.
Hawkins trusted too much to his gunner; while he with the rest of his
officers was busy clearing the decks, lacing the nettings, fastening
the bulwarks, arming the tops, tallowing the pikes, slinging the
yards, placing and ordering the men,--half his guns were useless from
sheer neglect!
"Plenty of cartridges ready, master-gunner?"
"Aye, aye, sir; there be over 500 in readiness."
Yet within an hour the cartridges fell short, and three men had to be
employed in making and filling more.
"Master-gunner, I gave you out 500 ells of canvas and cloth to make
cartridges, but we can't find a single yard of it."
"Got stowed away somewhere, I suspect, sir; we must make shift to
charge and discharge with the ladle--rayther a dangerous job in a hot
fight."
"There were brass balls of artificial fire--not one of them will go
off."
"Why, no, sir; I guess the salt-water has spoiled them all."
The commander's heart misgave him: was the man false, or incapable?
At length he and the master of the ship were forced to play the
gunner. They found that few of the pieces were clear when they came
to use them, and others had the shot first put in, and after the
powder! No wonder that many believed the master-gunner to be a vile
traitor.
When the action began Hawkins had only seventy-five men in all, and
the Spaniards had 1300, many of them "the choice of Peru."
Twice in the course of the day the enemy were beaten off, and in the
evening two Spanish ships were laid upon the _Dainty_ at once; but
the English, what with their muskets, what with their fireworks,
cleared their decks very soon. If Hawkins had had more sound men, he
says, he could have boarded their vice-admiral and taken it.
However, the Spaniards had had enough of close quarters, and now set
to and, placing themselves within a musket-shot of the _Dainty_,
played upon her with their artillery without intermission. "In all
these boardings and skirmishings," says Hawkins, "divers of our men
were slaine, and many hurt, and myself amongst them received six
wounds--one of them in the neck, very perilous; another through the
arm, perishing the bone, the rest not so dangerous. The master of
our ship had one of his eyes, his nose, and half his face shott away.
Master Henry Courton was slaine. On these two I principally relied
for the prosecution of our voyage, if God, by sickness or otherwise,
should take me away."
At times the Spaniards parleyed and invited Hawkins to surrender,
promising the usages of good war. Once the captain of the _Dainty_
came to stir his leader to accept the terms offered, saying that
scarcely any men were left to traverse the guns or oppose any
defence, if the enemy should board again. Poor Hawkins was suffering
agony, and believed himself to be at the point to die, but he roused
himself and begged them not to trust to promises from a Spaniard, for
they would assuredly be put to death as pirates or delivered to the
cruel mercies of the Inquisition.
The captain and his company agreed to fight on and sell their lives
dearly, so with tears and embracings--for they loved their
General--they took their leave; so the action was continued through
the night, and an hour before daybreak the enemy edged off in order
to remedy some defects, for the English shot made larger holes than
the Spanish, and a few more men would have turned the scale and given
the victory to the _Dainty_.
This breathing time the English employed in repairing sails and
tackling, stopping leaks, mending pumps, and splicing yards; for they
had many shot under water, and the pumps were battered to pieces.
When the action was renewed the vice-admiral came upon their quarter,
and a shot from one of the _Dainty's_ stern-pieces carried away his
mainmast close to the deck. Hawkins lay below, and knew nothing of
what had occurred; then was the time to press the Spaniard home, but
the _Dainty_ was steered away, and the Spaniards had time to repair
their damage.
They soon overtook the _Dainty_, and the fight went on through the
second night, and they ceased firing again before the dawn; but there
had been no interval for rest or refreshment, except to snatch a
little bread and wine as they could. Indeed, some of the English
crew had drunk heavily before the fight began; some ignorant seamen
even mixed powder with their wine, thinking it would give them
strength and courage. The result of their drinking was, of course,
order, and foolish hardihood without reason, or vainglorious exposure
to danger. And though Hawkins had prepared light armour for all, not
a man would use it; yet it would have saved many from such wounds as
splintered wood creates if they would have imitated their foe and
worn armour.
By the afternoon of the third day the enemy had the weather-gage of
them, and their guns were telling with terrible effect.
The _Dainty_ had now fourteen gaping wounds under water, eight foot
of water in her hold, her sails torn to tatters, her masts bowing and
bent, and her pumps useless--hardly a man was now unwounded.
Again the master with others approached their commander:
"Sir, the Spaniards still offer good war, life and liberty and an
embarkation to England. If we wait any longer, sir, the ship will
sink; unless a miracle be wrought in our behalf by God's almighty
power, we may expect no deliverance or life."
Hawkins was too ill to resist further; he murmured sadly:
"Haul down the ensign, then, and hoist a flag of truce."
So they bade the rest cease firing, and a Spanish prisoner was sent
from the hold to tell Beltran de Castro that if he would give his
word of honour the ship should be surrendered.
Seeing the flag of truce, the Spaniard shouted:
"Hoist out your boat, Englishman."
"We cannot do so; it be all shot to pieces."
"So is ours. Amain your sails, then; strike sail, can't you?"
"No, we can't; there be not enough men left to handle them."
Meanwhile the vice-admiral, not seeing the flag of truce, had come
upon the _Dainty's_ quarter, and firing two of his chase-pieces,
wounded the captain sorely in the thigh and maimed one of the
master's mates.
Then the Spanish admiral came alongside, and the prisoner jumped into
the warship, and was received with all courtesy.
Don Beltran affirmed that he received the commander and his people _à
buena guerra_, to the laws of fair war and quarter. He swore by his
habit of Alcantara, and the green cross of the order which he wore
upon his breast, that he would give them their lives with good
treatment, and send them as speedily as he could to their own country.
"The Spanish admiral wants a pledge? Here is my glove; take it to
him."
Don Beltran also sent one of his captains to help to bring the
English commander aboard the "admiral," which he did with great
humanity and courtesy.
"The General received me," says Hawkins, "with courtesy and
compassion, even with tears in his eyes and words of kind
consolation, and commanded me to be accommodated in his own cabin,
where he sought to cure and comfort me the best he could: the like he
did with all our hurt men."
There were only forty Englishmen left, all wounded; but all
recovered, in spite of the fact that no instruments, doctors, or
salves were to be had. We remember that in the other case where an
English ship had to surrender to the Spaniards, the _Revenge_
disdained to swim in dishonour, and sank sullenly in a terrible storm.
The _Dainty_ lived to fight for Spain under the name of _La
Visitation_, being so named because she was captured on the day of
that festival.
As soon as Hawkins was removed the Spaniards began to ransack their
prize; but the water increased so fast in the hold that she nearly
sank, and it needed a strong body of workers to save her.
She was finally navigated to the port of Panama, and anchored there
some two leagues from the town, about three weeks after the fight.
When the good folk on shore saw the prize and heard the glad news,
they lit bonfires on the hills and candles in every window; the
churches and halls were illuminated, as on a holy day. As the city
faced the sea, it appeared to those in the ships as though the whole
place was in flames.
Don Beltran reassured Hawkins that his officers and men should be
well treated, and gave him his word that if the King left him to his
disposal, his ransom should be only a couple of greyhounds for
himself and a couple for his brother. It sounded almost too good to
be true.
Then the Englishman had the mortification of seeing his dear _Dainty_
being rebaptized with all solemnity in the harbour, where she was
shored up. Perhaps a sardonic smile curled his lip when, in the very
midst of the ceremony, the props on one side gave way with a loud
crash, and the reluctant ship heeled over, "entreating many of them
that were in her very badly."
Here ends Sir Richard's account of his unfortunate voyage in his
"Observations"; he had intended to write a second part, but deferred
it too long.
Don Beltran was not allowed by his King to observe the terms he had
offered; the crew were sent to serve in the galleys at Cartagena,
Hawkins and twenty others Don Beltran took with him to Lima.
Our hero had shown courage and generosity and kindness to natives and
prisoners, but as a complete seaman his own words show him to have
been deficient. He trusted his subordinates too much, and he kept
rather loose discipline; but he was a man of the highest honour, and
won the respect of the best Spaniards.
At Lima the Inquisition claimed the prisoners, but the Viceroy
refused to give them up until he had heard from King Philip.
In 1597 Hawkins was sent to Spain and imprisoned at Seville; in
September 1598 he escaped, but was retaken and thrust into a dungeon.
In 1599 he was taken to Madrid, although Don Beltran had indignantly
protested against the violation of his solemn promise.
In 1602 he was released and sent home, as by this time Count Miranda,
President of the Council, had come to the conclusion that formal
pledges given by the King's officers must be kept, or else no other
English would surrender.
In July 1603 Hawkins was knighted, became M.P. for Plymouth and
Vice-Admiral of Devon, and had to scour the sea for pirates.
In 1620 he sailed under Sir Robert Mansell to put down Algerine
corsairs in the Mediterranean, and returned home, after a failure,
sick and weak in body. In 1622 he was carried off by a fit while
attending the Privy Council on business bearing on his late command.
By his wife Judith he left two sons and four daughters.
His book, "Observations in his Voyage into the South Sea, A.D. 1593,"
was not written until nearly thirty years after the events, and
consequently bears traces of inaccuracy in details and dates; but it
surpasses all other books of travel of those times in describing the
details of nautical life, in scientific interest concerning the fauna
and flora of the countries he visited, and in transparent candour and
freedom from prejudice. He was no boastful discoverer, but a
God-fearing, conscientious servant of the Queen, who, like so many
others, tried to do his duty, and sometimes failed to reach the
highest success.
But for all that, he was not the least among England's heroes; he was
a worthy son of Sir John, and a man whom Devon may claim as one of
her noblest and most generous sons.
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co.
Edinburgh & London