0352
0352f
Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake
By E. F. BENSON
LONDON
JOm LANE THE BODLET BE /ID LTD
Durga Gah Mimitical Library,
TJi'il'a).
" -rrfmrr
--TV'7y;5if
('/),« \o, 'f'r.T'T . ...f) ‘i}...,
.. J)..MJ
}j', ,1 ' o, ‘C't lij
‘i»', d ’ ‘ii. ...
First published in igsf
Reprinted . . 1^2^
Printed to Great Biitam by T. and A. CONSTAnt E Lfi)
at the Uuiveisity Pre>'5, Kfhnbtirgli
THIS BOOK
CONCERNING THE DAYS AND DEEDS
OF
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, THE KING OF SAILORS
IS
BY HIS majesty’s MOST GRACIOUS PERMISSION
DEDICATED TO
GEORGE V, OUR SAILOR KING
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
WO of the greatest gifts with which
nature has endowed man are faith and
curiosity — not the faith of mere credu-
lity, nor the curiosity which expresses
itself by a turn of the neck, but each in
the degree which requires the highest
courage, even unto death, if necessary,
for its complete satisfaction. That is why the ordinary
mortal, I fancy, is more fascinated by and yet less able to
comprehend the mentality of the martyr or the explorer
than that of other fellow human beings. When both
qualities are combined in the person of one man, his
feelings are likely to reach an intensity which is rare con-
cerning folk long dead and gone. Perhaps herein lies the
reason for the glamour which will always surround such
names as Drake, Gilbert, Hudson, Grenville, and Scott.
It is not claimed that all the heroes of the biographies
in this series were martyrs ; it is admitted that none of
them were saints. But all of them possessed in super-
lative degree that passion of curiosity, fortified by bound-
less courage, without which men would not set them-
selves moving into the unknown and dangerous places
of the world. None of them was actuated primarily
by greed ; most of them, in fact, came from a class
familiar with hereditary possessions. Few found wealth
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
viii
and nearly all found death in their wanderings. And
if their faith in God was not always strong, their belief
in their country’s great destiny was unshakable, and on
her behalf they were content to die.
The first seven figures in the series have been selected
from the Elizabethan era. There has been no more
wonderful period in the history of the world, and no
men more responsible for its greatness than these. If
the character of each was far from perfect, if each in his
degree possessed the vices of his age as well as those of
his particular temperament, nevertheless, as a group,
they invested themselves and their age with an aura of
grandeur which made them unique in the annals of the
sea, of exploration, and of the extension of Empire.
Each biographer has been completely free to present
his subject as seemed to him best. The one endeavour
has been to effect a complete and truthful, and, so
far as possible, definitive picture of the man under
consideration. The series makes no pretence to fresh
bibliographical discoveries, although, in fact, a number
will appear to the expert. It has simply been the object
of each author to examine with fresh eyes all the avail-
able material, especially the documents left by the
explorer concerned and his contemporaries, and from
it to construct a work which shall at once be authentic
and readable. If these objects be served the series will
have fulfilled its aim.
For the purposes of readability certain sacrifices have
been made which perhaps strict scholarship would not
allow. Footnotes and extracts from contemporary sources
have either been omitted or reduced to a minlrnnm: for
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION ix
these, whatever their value otherwise, hinder the reader
in his progress by distracting his mind and spoiling his
page. Every volume will, however, contain a working
bibliography at the end, as well as an index. The
illustrations, all taken from contemporary sources, will
in every instance include one or more maps.
It would be too much to hope for a uniform value in
these successive volumes. Several of the subjects have
already had a vast amount of erudition lavished upon
them, whilst others remain practically without a full-
length bibliography. We can only hope that the former
will be found worthy to stand beside their predecessors,
while perhaps approaching more nearly to the taste of
the reader of this day, and that the latter will be found
to have filled adequately certain obvious gaps in the
shelves of historical biography.
MILTON WALDMAN.
CONTENTS
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION .... . . vu
CHAI*.
I DRAKE'S BIRTH AND BOYHOOD , . . . i
II. DRAKE'S FIRST SIGHT OF THE INDIES. ll
III. THE SORROWFUL VOYAGE TO SAN JUAN D'ULUA 27
IV. DRAKE'S DRUM IS HEARD ON THE SPANISH MAIN 43
V. THE CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS. . 68
VI. THE START OF THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION . , 94
Vn, THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY , . 108
VIII. THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC . 140
IX. THE COMPLETION OF THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION 159
X, DRAKE ON SHORE (1580-1585) 171
Xr. A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES (1585) . . . .188
XII. THE CADIZ EXPEDITION 204
XIII. THE COMING OF THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA . 221
XIV. THE PASSING OF THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA , 2^1
XV. THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION 265
XVI. DRAKE’S FALL AND RECOVERY . . . .282
XVII. DRAKE GOES WEST .... . 293
BIBLIOGRAPHY 306
INDEX . ... 309
xi
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Voyage around the World . Front
Sir Francis Drake — ^the FIondius Portrait
Sir Francis Drake — the Hilliard Miniature .
Cartagena ......
The Golden Hind .....
Saint Iago .......
Saint Domingo ......
Saint Augustine .....
The Armada off Gravelines
and back endpapers
. Frontispiece
Facing page r 6
r> ft 5 ®
» „ I 12
» 31 14^
.» « 194
33 37 218
„ „ 260
Note. — The Hilliard Miniatiiie Is reproduced by the kind per-
mission of the Earl of Derby. The Map of the Voyage around the
World forms part of a broadsheet entitled Carte Besetirynge, issued
in Holland in 1595; it describes the circumnavigations of both
Drake and Cavendish, and has a portrait of each. The four charts
of the Spanish Main towns raided by Drake in 15S5 are taken from
the ExpeUiiio Francisci Draki, Leyden, 15S8. The Armada picture
is contained in a German version of Franciscus Dracus Redivi-vus,
entitled Kurxe Besebreibung, Amsterdam, 1596.
xiii
SIR FRANCIS
DRAKE
CHAPTER I
DRAKE’S BIRTH AND BOYHOOD
T is a melancholy thing for any
biographer to be obliged to confess
at the outset that he has no abso-
lutely certain announcement to make
as to when his hero was boim. But
such is here the case : for while there
is no record whatever of the day of
the month or even the month itself
when Francis Drake came into the world, there are,
most embarrassingly, several records, none of which
can be set aside without examination, which assign
different dates for the year in which one of the most
auspicious events in English history took place.
The first of these records is a miniature of Francis
Drake by Hilliard : it was at one time at Strawberry Hill,
and is now in the possession of the Earl of Derby, who
has very kindly allowed me to describe and reproduce
this most interesting picture. It is painted on cardboard
cut out of a playing-card, and on the back of it appears
the ace of hearts and the inscription, “ Franciscus Drake
Miles.” In front round the head of the portrait is the
painter’s inscription, stating that it was executed in
1581, and that Drake was then forty-two years of age.
According to this, therefore, he was born, if the date of
the painting was previous to his birthday, in 1538, if
later, in 1539. Were there no evidence to conflict with
this, we should take it as being perfectly satisfactory,
since the authenticity of the miniature is quite beyond
A
2
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
question. But there is such evidence, both direct and
inferential, which makes it difficult not to suppose that
Hilliard made a mistake about Drake’s age.
The second of these records is a statement by the
chronicler Stow, that Drake was twenty-two years old
when he was in command of the “ Judith ” at San Juan
d’Ulua.^ This, we know, was in 1568, and therefore
Drake was born in 1546. Sir Julian Corbett, in his
book, Drake and the Tudor Navy,^ accepts this date as
the correct one, on the ground of Stow’s “ general accur-
acy.” But it has escaped his notice (it escaped Stow’s
notice also) that this chronicler also tells us that Drake
was fifty-five years old when he died. The day, month,
and year of his death are known and undisputed : he
died on January aSth, 1596. This is inconsistent with
Stow’s first statement, and, if correct, makes the year
of Drake’s birth 1541.
The third of these records is a portrait. Francis
Drake, when fame and fortune had come to him, pur-
chased from Sir Richard Grenville a place called Buck-
land Abbey, near Plymouth. While living there, this
full-length portrait of him was painted, and it still hangs
there. It bears the inscription aetatis suae 53, with the
date of the year in which it was painted, 1594. Accord-
ing to the portrait, therefore, Drake was born in 1541.
Now this date is at variance with that on the miniature,
but since we have to choose between their validities, we
must surely adhere to that of the portrait. Drake sat
for it, and ate his dinner under it when it was finished,
and it seems only reasonable to suppose that he would
have noticed the error with regard to his age, had there
been one. A copy of it also was made for Plymouth
in the year 1616, which bears the same inscription, and
we may in fact regard it as being the “ official ” portrait.
Stow, Annals, ed. 1615, p. 807.
Corbett, Drake a 7 td the Tudor Navy, vol. i. p. 412.
BIRTH AND BOYHOOD
3
The miniature, on the other hand, though no doubt
painted from life, cannot have the authority of the full-
length portrait painted for the sitter. He was, at the
time the miniature was painted, just back from his cir-
cumnavigation of the world ; there was no more famous
figure in Europe than he, and, as Stow tells us, “ many
princes of Italy, Germany, and others, as well as enemies
and friends in his lifetime, desired his picture.” ^
Pictures of him, in fact, must have been as ubiquitous as
those of the Duke of Wellington after Waterloo, or (with
due allowance made for the facilities of modern repro-
duction) of Carpentier or Mile. Lenglen.
There remains, then, the discrepancy between Stow’s
first statement and the Buckland Abbey portrait. If,
with Sir Julian Corbett, we accept 1 546 as Drake’s correct
birth-year, he died at the age of fifty, and we are thus
faced with the astonishing conclusion that he sat for the
Buckland Abbey portrait three years after he was dead.
But Stow also says that he was fifty-five when he died ;
this gives us 1541 as his birth-year, and thus confirms,
instead of contradicting, the evidence of the portrait.
The correctness of his age as inscribed on the portrait
is further strengthened by several small corroborations.
Nufio da Silva, for instance, the Portuguese pilot who
accompanied Drake for part of his voyage of circum-
navigation, tells us that Thomas Drake, the youngest of
the twelve brothers, of whom Francis was the eldest,
was twenty-one years old in 1577,^ and must therefore
have been born in 1556. As there is no mention of any
of the intervening ten brothers being twins, it is difficult
to imagine that the eldest was not born before 1546.
He also says that in 1579 Drake himself was thirty-
eight. On the whole, then, the date on the Buckland
Abbey portrait, in itself the most authoritative, and
^ Stow, Annals, p. 808.
® Hakluyt Society, New Light on Dfake, p. 301.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
4
thus supported, may be taken to be almost certainly
correct, and we may accept Drake’s birth-year as being
1541. Not even the name of his mother is known, but,
in any case, both her identity and the actual year in which
she brought forth her first-born are of infinitely small
importance compared with what happened after Francis
Drake was born. The event seems to have taken place
in 1541, and on one night in that year I think there must
have been portents in the heavens clearly visible from
Madrid.
Very little unfortunately (and here we feel a loss far
greater than any want of certainty about his birthday) is
known concerning his early years, and we must still
figure ourselves as jumping from tussock to tussock in
a quagmire of conjecture, before we reach regions of
stability where we can step out without fear of being
bogged. His family was settled, as we know from his
nephew, Sir Francis Drake, Bart., at South Tavistock, near
Plymouth, and it is to this nephew (the son of Drake’s
youngest brother Thomas) and to the historian Camden,
that we owe practically all the meagre materials with
which to build up the structure of his childhood, and
they require reinforcing with a little critical cement, for
fear our building should totter. Drake was the eldest
of the twelve sons of his father Edmund, and at the time
of his birth, when his father occupied a labourer’s cottage
on the farm of Crowndale, the farm itself was leased from
Lord Russell by his grandfather, John Drake. Crown-
dale had originally been part of the monastic lands of
the Abbey of Tavistock, and at the dissolution of the
monasteries had been presented by Henry via to the
then Sir John Russell. We learn from Camden (who
had such facts as he relates about Drake’s early life from
Drake himself) that Francis Russell, eldest son of Lord
Russell, the owner of Crowndale, stood godfather at his
christening. Though Francis Russell was then only a
BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 5
boy of fourteen, there is ample precedent for so youthful
a sponsor.
So much seems certain. The cottage on the Crown-
dale estate where Drake was born was still standing a
hundred years ago, though no trace of it now remains,
and its traditional identification is established by a map
of the Bedford estate, on which is an asterisked note,
“ Here was born the great and celebrated Admiral
Francis Drake,” and here, while his grandfather held the
Crowndale farm, Drake’s early years were passed. He
told Camden that his family were ‘‘ in a small way,”
and his nephew, Sir Francis Drake, in his address to
the reader in Sir Francis Drake Revived, calls atten-
tion to the power of God in exalting “ so mean a
person in low condition.” The attempt, therefore, that
has been made to elevate the family, as it then was,
into ‘‘county gentry” is quite inconsistent with these
first-hand data, and the appreciator of real romance will
delight in the fact that so amazing a career was self-
made. It is true that in some undetermined degree he
was kinsman to the family of Hawkins at Plymouth,
merchants and shipowners, and that he held one of his
earliest commands at sea under John Hawkins, who
was destined to be one of the great sailors of the day.
But this was a most disastrous adventure, while the last
on which the two sailed together was more disastrous
yet. Throughout Drake’s life it was his own genius
that built his fortunes : his association with John
Hawkins was always more a handicap than a help. For
the present, as far as Drake’s very early years are con-
cerned, his father was the younger son of a tenant farmer,
and lived in a laboirrer’s cottage on his farm.
But terra jirma, in these annals of Drake’s boyhood,
is still some distance off ; we are still playing blind-
man’s-buff in boggy places, and catching what we can.
Camden, again on information received from Drake,
6
SIR FRANCIS DRAKF
tells us that Edmund Drake was a staunch Protestant,
and had to leave Tavistock, flying for his life, for fear
of the Six Articles Act of Henry vm. That is reasonable
enough, for the Six Articles Act was in favour of Catholics,
but we find to our dismay that it was passed in the year
1539. If, then, Drake’s father had to fly from Tavi-
stock in the year 1539, taking with him, as Camden also
tells us, his first-born son, Francis Drake, who was then
“ of tender years,” Francis must have been born before
1539, and every other record regarding the year of his
birth, including that sheet-anchor of the Buckland
Abbey portrait, must be rejected. But that tragic sacri-
fice is not, we find, demanded, for Edmund Drake’s
name remains on the subsidy rolls of Tavistock for ten
years yet, and disappears only in the year 1 549-^ It is
clear, therefore, that Edmund Drake did not leave
Tavistock for ten years after the date we infer from
Camden’s statement.
Now the fact of Edmund Drake having to leave Tavi-
stock owing to some religious persecution is testified to,
not by Camden alone, but by Sir Francis Drake, nephew
and eventually heir of the Admiral. He, however, says
nothing about the Six Articles Act, but only that Edmund
Drake “ suffered from persecution,” and was forced to
fly from Tavistock into Kent. On the flight from
Tavistock, then, owing to religious persecution the two
are agreed : they agree also that he fled into Kent.
Camden furthermore tells us that after his flight he
read prayers to the seamen of the King’s Navy, and
Nephew Francis adds that he lived in the “ hull of a
ship wherein many of his younger sons were born. He
had twelve in all.” But it is clear that he did not leave
Tavistock in 1539, since he remains on the roll till
1549, and, very conveniently, we find that in 1549 there
^ Lady Eliott Drake, Family and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake,
vol. i. p. 20.
BIRTH AND BOYHOOD
7
occurred an event which would perfectly account for his
flying from Tavistock in that year under stress (as both
Camden and Nephew Francis testify) of religious per-
secution. For on Whitsunday 1549 the first Prayer
Book of Edward vi, which was a counterblast against
the “ idolatrous rite ” of the Mass, was ordered to be
read in all churches.^ The effect of this was that wher-
ever in England the old religion was still clung to, there
was strong protest, amounting in some localities to an
insurrectionary outburst against the innovation. The
“ idolatrous rite ” of the Mass, abhorred by the New
Protestants, was still deeply enshrined in the faith of the
country, and in the prohibition to adore the Body of the
Lord as exhibited in the consecrated wafer, the central
tenet of the old faith was denounced. At Tavistock,
where the country folk had grown up in the shadow and
protection of the Abbey, feeling ran so high that Lord
Russell, the new owner of the lands of the monastery,
though sent down by the King to restore order, could
get no further, owing to the flaming hostility of the
countryside, than Honiton, fifty miles away. A sort of
crusade in favour of the old religion was proclaimed, and
from all the country round Protestant refugees flocked
into Plymouth, pursued by the crusading rebels.
In view, then, of the fact that Edmund Drake certainly
did not leave Tavistock in 1539, but remained there till
1549, when he did leave, it appears highly probable
that he left in this year (as we otherwise know) under
stress of religious persecution, which is exactly what we
want. This supposition also allows us to accept the
information that he took with him his eldest son Francis,
then a child of eight, instead of rejecting it for the
weighty reason that his eldest son was not yet born.
There was, too, in this year a widespread clamour for
the restoration of the Six Articles Act, and thus Camden’s
^ Corbett, 'Drake and the Tndor Nav’^, vol. i. p. 6^.
8
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
assertion that Edmund Drake had to fly from Tavistock
in consequence of a religious persecution concerning
the Six Articles would be a very mild misunderstanding
on his part, and the fact would be substantially correct,
for the flight from Tavistock was certainly connected
with the Six Articles.
But into Plymouth itself the trouble followed. Already
there was a large population there of farmers and factors
dispossessed from monastic lands, and as the tide of
pursuers and refugees surged up, the Mayor opened the
gates of the town. The Protestants seem to have been
in a minority, for the rioting got serious, and a squadron
of ships was sent to establish order. Plymouth was
certainly no tranquil home for a hot Protestant with a
growing family of small children, ranging from eight
years old downwards, and Edmund Drake migrated into
Kent, where we find him next living in the hull of a ship,
and saying prayers to the sailors of His Majesty’s ships
on the Medway.
The mists begin to lift and disclose firm and pictur-
esque substantialities instead of the shadows among
which we have been groping. No fitter setting can be
imagined for the child to whom English sea-power was
to owe more than to any other of its immortal admirals,
than these early years in some dismantled ship in the
roadstead of the fleet on the Medway. We may picture
it drawn up high and dry on the beach, or, perhaps more
probably, anchored by some quay-side, afloat at high
water, and stranded by the ebb. All Drake’s life through,
ships were to be his home, and already a ship’s deck was
the roof of the house of his young boyhood. Playing
there he could wonder at the spiked tiller, where now the
family washing hung to dry, but which once had majestic-
ally steered a way round stormy headlands and through
the breakers of the menacing seas. Perhaps the bow-
BIRTH AND BOYHOOD
9
sprit would be left, and he climbed precariously out
along it, and in the theatre of childish imagination saw
himself busy with the sheets of the foresail while it dipped
into the crest of a wave and rose again with a spent whiff
of spray. According to one tradition, his father, in
earlier life, had been a sailor, and for the purposes of our
picture we may accept this highly improbable legend,
and imagine him showing the boy how the rigging was
woven from ship’s side to mast, and how the grim
mouths of guns once yawned through the ports. Sea
and ships, with his father reading prayers to the sailors,
was the immediate environment of his early boyhood, and
for dimmer background, the story of the flight from the
remembered farm at Tavistock. He would not be old
enough to attach any definite meaning to religious perse-
cution, but there would be a vague impression that it
had something to do with going to church, and a more
substantial one that those monstrous Catholics had been
his father’s enemies. But the stronger colouring would
be tides and waters and ships, and those that go down
to the sea in ships.
There remains only one more difficulty to tackle, one
more knot to unravel, before we get the very thin thread
of the family history of Drake’s early life to run smooth.
Camden states that his father was subsequently ordained
deacon and appointed vicar of Upnor. The difficulty is
that there never was a church at Upnor, and it seems
quite certain that Camden’s “ Upnor ” is a clerical error
for Upchurch, which is on the Medway, and “ the
road,” as he himself says, “ where the fleet usually
anchored.” To support this, we have the narrative in
which John Cooke described the first part of Drake’s
circumnavigation of the world, which was dictated to
the chronicler Stow, and is in his handwriting. At the
end of it is a note, also in Stow’s handwriting, ” For
Francis Drake knig-ht sone to Sir . . . Drake, vickar of
10
SIR FRANCES DRAKE
Upchurch in Kent.” This is confirmed by an entry in
the Lambeth Registers, which recoids the induction of
Edmund Drake as vicar of Upchurch in 1560, and by
Edmund Drake’s will made in December 1 566, in which
he describes himself as Vicar of Upchurch.^ With such
evidence before us, the emendation of Upchurch for
Upnor seems certain. One of Edmund Drake’s sons,
Edward, was buried there, and he himself died early in
It is improbable, however, that Francis Drake ever
lived in the vicarage at Upchurch, for, as he told Camden,
his father by leason of his poverty apprenticed him to
the master of a bark which coasted along English shrres,
and occasionally carried merchandise to Zeeland and
France. Since Francis would have been nineteen when
his father became vicar of Upchurch, his apprenticeship
must almost certainly have taken place before that, and
he passed from the house of his eaily boyhood on the
family ship to the sea, which henceforth was far more
truly his home than the land. There, no doubt in a
rough and severe school, full of hardship and privation,
he learned the business of his life, and, so Camden tells
us, “ the youth being painful and diligent, so pleased
the old man by his industry, that being a bachelor, at his
death he bequeathed his bark unto him by will and
testament.”
Such was Francis Drake’s first command.
^ Corbett, Drake and the Ttidor Navy, vol. i p. ■( 13.
CHAPTER II
DRAKE’S FIRST SIGHT OF THE INDIES
T has always been the laudable fashion
of the biographer to be not biographer
only, but a sort of cursory national
historian concerning the years of his
hero’s childhood and youth. He dilates
on the social, the political, the religious
ideas that were then determining the
evolution of the country, and traces to
their influence certain characteristics in the mental and
moral equipment of his hero. More particiilarly, he
insists on the force of early environment : if his hero
has been brought up in the darkened day of coal-mining
districts, and eventually becomes a philanthropist, we
are asked to believe that his childish heart was wrung
with pity for white faces and sooty hands, and that he
formed a subconscious resolve to ameliorate these atro-
cious conditions. Or if his aunt recorded that at the
age of six he killed a sparrow with a catapult, this bloody
incident is apt to be held responsible for his subsequent
career as a shooter of big game. . . . Childish complexes
and phobias (or something to that effect in Freudian
language), carefully unearthed, are held to be the sole
determining factors of a life’s work, and the child to be
gripped, as in a vice, by the mandibles of his early
impressions.
Now there is a great deal to be said for the moulding
force of a child’s early impressions. In many cases they
can be shown or reasonably conjectured to have had a
11
12
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
profound influence on the tastes, if not the character, of
a grown man, but they are influences the force of which
may easily be exaggerated. More particularly is this
the case when character, not tastes, is involved, for char-
acter is a very adamantine thing, and is developed by
repeated shocks of internal compulsion, rather than by
the persuasive breeze of suggestion and environment.
And the hardest and least malleable of all characters is
that possessed by the strange force called genius.
Genius has nothing to do with cleveimess (as we account
cleverness) ; it has nothing to do with stupidity (as we
account stupidity). We have not the slightest idea
what it is, for it is part of its nature to transcend explana-
tion. All we know of it is that no agglomeration of
talents will evolve it, and that it is almost impervious to
the influence of its surroundings. Hundreds of trite
instances of this will occur to anybody. There was a
carpenter’s shop in the first century, and a chemist’s shop
ill the last. Out of one came Christ, and out of the
other Keats.
Now Francis Drake was that mysterious being which
we call a genius ; childish surroundings and movements
in national life no doubt whispered in his ear and caused
him to make notes of what they suggested, but it would
be a great mistake to suppose, as his biographers have
been rather apt to do, that the events and environments
of his childhood determined his career. He mistily
knew, as we have seen, with the comprehension of his
eight years, that unpleasant people called Catholics were
the cause of his father’s leaving Tavistock, but he did
not for that reason determine to be the life-long foe of
Catholicism, nor can we, without a blush for our cheap
psychology, suppose that, as he trudged into Plymouth
holding his father’s hand, his grey eyes (which the wanton
enthusiast insists were blue) flashed into a resolve that
he never subsequently forgot. Indeed, if he ever in
FIRST SIGHT OF THE INDIES
13
those years gave a thought to the reason of the family
migration, he must have blessed the cause, whatever it
was, which led to his living in a ship instead of among
the monotonous meadows of a farm. Had the cause of
Protestantism burned in his blood, making it boil with
hatred against the Catholics, he would surely have gone
winging home when his father was made vicar of Up-
church, and been a preacher too, and have taken Anglican
orders, and perhaps have become a bishop. But again,
this marine environment, so far more attractive than the
farm at Crowndale, with its novelty of lodging and its
hourly surprises of ebb and flow, was not that which
determined him to be a sailor. He was pitchforked into
a bleak apprenticeship on the little coasting bark, be-
cause his father was too poor to support a boy who at
the age of fourteen or so might be earning his own
living. That he met his destiny there is undeniable ;
his genius found on the sea the theatre of stupendous
adventure for which it thirsted; but it was his father’s
poverty, not his own imperious demand, that was the
determining factor.
Similarly, it would be a mistake to believe that the
father’s preachings and pieties, or the zeal of that “ hot
Gospeller ” forged in the son that faith in God which,
without the slightest doubt, was the mainspring which
gave drive to those desperate and successful hazardings
against immense odds which he was always ready to
undertake. Not once, not a dozen times, but always
with the utmost consistence and sincerity, he knew and
declared himself to be the instrument of the Divine Will,
and in that assurance brought to a triumphant close
adventures which no other kind of man would have
attempted. But it was not the pious father nor readings
of the Bible in the hull at Upchurch which gave him
that untarnishable conviction : indeed, such influences
are usually found to produce a very dissimilar effect.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
H
If ever a man believed in God, not from precept or Bible
reading, but from some internal necessity, that man was
Francis Drake.
Let us not then imagine him as a boy of fourteen
seizing the opportunity of becoming a prentice lad on
a small trading bark, as the first step towards being an
English admiral and sweeping the sea clean of the
oceanic castles of the Spaniards, through whose cursed
Catholicism his father had been driven from his sweet
home at Tavistock. Nothing could be more false to
actual fact, or, which is worse, to the psychology of
Drake. He went to sea because his father could not
afford to keep him at home, and he no more hated
Catholicism than he hated cannibalism. But then, with-
out doubt, the life of the sea began to beat in his blood,
and because he was a strong handy lad and stuck to his
work, and because also his master was a seafaring
bachelor who took a great fancy to the boy, he became,
at the old man’s death, the owner of this little vessel.
He had, so both Stow and Fuller tell us, an amazing
memory, and, without calling on the misleading guidance
of imagination, we may picture him as having acquired
and retained from these adolescent years a considerable
knowledge of the shifting winds, the treacherous shoals
and the snake-like currents and tides of the English
Channel. But, in the name of psychological sobriety,
let us not imagine him as indulging in blue-eyed day-
dreams of driving a Spanish Armada to its doom with
the fire-ships that caused the great galleons to cut their
cables and drift like impotent whales on to the shoals
where they stranded. His hatred of Spain was of later
birth, and it so happens that we know precisely what
the origin of it was.
But we may allow ourselves to conjure up some idea
of what his physical appearance was when first as master
of his small craft he slipped about the English coast
FIRST SIGHT OF THE INDIES
15
or took a cargo across to Calais. Stow gives a sketch
of him when come to man’s estate, from which we gather
the general set of him : “ lowe of stature, of strong
limbe, broad-breasted, round-headed, brown hayre, full-
bearded, his eyes round, large and clear, well-favoured
fayce, and of a cheerful countenance.” ^ This accords
very well with the impression we get from the much
later Buckland Abbey portrait, and from Lord Derby’s
miniature, and in particular from the miniature by Isaak
Oliver,, in possession of the Drake family. There he is,
beardless as yet, and with only a thin line of moustache.
Very noticeable points in this and other portraits are the
humorous and whimsical mouth, and a dancing vitality
in the eyes which might break out at any moment into
merriment, or equally into a tantrum of hot temper.
In them all, too, we have a high-arched eyebrow ; a look
of alertness and surprise, as if he had just learned some-
thing of high and rather gleeful interest, and was eager
without delay to act on it, and prepare, perhaps, a surprise
for somebody else. In the portrait where his hands
appear, they are large and long-fingered, good to grasp
and to hold, and in all these representations of him, there
is, as Stow remarked, a great breadth of chest, and the
build is that of a heavy man, but of one active and well
set up. No doubt his bulk increased with years, but
even on his first boyish command of a vessel of his own,
he must have been sturdy and stout-limbed, and of that
hardiness and strength and untiring endurance which
he so constantly showed in his adventures by land and
sea. The brown hair, as we see from the early miniature,
grew low on his forehead, and we can figure him tossing
it back as some idea bubbled beneath it and his mouth
rapped out an order which must instantly be obeyed, and
in the performance of which he was always ready to give
a hand. Drake had always to be doing something : he
1 Stow, Annals, p. 807.
i 6 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
hated idleness, as one of his contemporary biographers
tells us, like the devil, and we may be sure that the
apprentice boy he took on his boat had to spring to his
bidding with considerable liveliness. His temper was
quick, and his tongue extraordinarily sharp, with a jest
at the end when his impatience had vented itself. Every-
thing round him, himself included, must be smart, for
rust of any sort, mental or material, was to him intoler-
able. And when on shore there must be no dangling
about pot-house or brothel : never had he any use for
loose women, or for bawdy talk, though when it came
to oaths, as friends and enemies have alike testified, there
was no tongue so accomplished. No sea captain was
more strict than he, and none so quick to punish, but he
was just, and as quick to recognize merit and industry,
and there was a pat on the back for a willing boy as
often as he did not deserve a clout on the head.
And assuredly he “ had a way with him ” : that inde-
finable quality called charm was certainly his, and those
who served under him adored him ^ in spite of the iron
discipline. None could help trusting a man who had
so complete a confidence in himself, and who by that
quality so often emerged triumphant out of the most
desperate situations. But the root of his self-confidence
was the conviction that he was in God’s hands, and was
doing God’s work. Sincere all through, that was the
very flower and felicity of his nature. He was not one
to rest on his oars ; no sooner was one task achieved
than he found another awaiting accomplishment. In
this unceasing pursuit, though he never spared others,
he never spared himself, but worked harder than any
one at the meanest drudgery, and that is the kind of
man whom men love to serve. Faults he had in plenty :
he was overbearing and imperious with his equals, he
was hopelessly impatient of restraint, and incapable of
^ Hakluyt Society, New Ltght on Diake, pp. 200-r.
The HiIIIARH MiNIAIURI Jk th, po\s,^\to>i oj t?u £,n l nj JJ,il ]
or Sir Francis Drake
FIRST SIGHT OF THE INDIES
co-operation, and if he never forgot a loyal friend, he
never forgave an injury, nor ceased to pray God to help
him to avenge it. He had the most violent temper, his
thirst for honour -was insatiable, he bragged and bavrled,
and he delighted in flattery. But behind it all was that
spirit of indomitable pluck and gaiety, which seems to
have frankly intoxicated those who came in contact
with it.
Such in brief were the most outstanding of his quali-
ties, and all these must have been there when first he
commanded his little coasting bark, for they were the
essential and abiding ingredients of his character,
qualities that were not acquired by experience, but were
the tingling sap of his nature. They grew and matured,
no doubt, as he developed, but like his power of instan-
taneous decision, which often pulled him out of the
tightest places, they were not the fruit of adventure, but
the origin and cause of it. Already his ambition was
chafing for a larger sphere of expansion than this potter-
ing about the coasts of the Channel ; he knew those
narrows now, and in that prodigious memory of his
there was stored, for a future use that he surely never
suspected, the riddles of its currents and its shoals and
shifting winds.
The first opportunity for arriving on a larger stage
came in 1564 or 1565. A certain Captain John Lovell,
possibly a captain in the Hawkins firm of merchant
vessels, was sailing for the West Indies, that new and
fabulous El Dorado, and Drake either laid up his boat
or sold it, and went with him as second in command.
Next to nothing is known about the voyage ; Drake
himself appears never to have given any account of it
to historian or biographer, except that at Rio de la Hacha,
a port on the Spanish Main, he suffered some wrong at
the hands of the Spanish. What that precisely was is a
matter of conjecture, but since ship and sailors returned
B
18
SIR FRANCIS DkAKE
safely, it seems fairly certain that the wrong in question
was that the Spanish authorities, acting on the prohibi-
tion then in force that the West Indian colonies should
trade only with Spain, confiscated the cargo. The sole
significance of the voyage, as far as we are concerned,
is that it gave Drake his first sight of the West Indies,
and that this incident first kindled in him that fire of
hostility against the Spanish which till the end of his
life was never quenched. But while he disappears for
the time on this unchronicled voyage, it will be con-
venient to give some short general suivey of the situation
just then beginning to develop, which led, so largely
through him, to the defeat of the Spanish Armada and
the foundation of English sea-power, by a logic as ruth-
less and inevitable as that which, out of Germany’s
delirious military dreams of a World Empire, deduced
the war of 1914 and the downfall of the Central
European states.
Spain was then at the height of her power, which over-
shadowed Europe to an extent unknown since the Roman
Empire towered over it. She did not maintain her grip
on the world by the mere material strength of her army,
never yet seriously tested, or of her hitherto unchallenged
Navy, for at her back was the whole power of the Papacy.
Spain was easily the most valuable of the Pope’s spiritual
kingdoms, and though the church of the Vicar of Christ
was in Rome, the vicarage, so to speak, was in Madrid.
Voyages and annexations had lately brought under the
Spanish sceptre new territories of wealth actually fabu-
lous and multiplied by fable into the treasure-houses of
fairyland, and Papal bulls and Briefs had partitioned
between Spain and Portugal the whole of the New World
already discovered, with inalienable rights over its gold
and its spices, its coasts and continents, and by way of
bonus had assigned jointly to these two nations the seas
of the entire world. The Mediterranean, the Atlantic,
FIRST SIGHT OF TFIE INDIES
19
the Pacific, the Indian Oceans were all private lakes on
the estates of these fortunate countries. On land they
had their separate spheres ; a fine big map was spread
before Holy Father, and to Portugal he devised the East
Indies, Brazil, and the whole of Africa south of the
Canaries : the rest of the new world and the sovereignty
of any future extension of it was declared to be the
property of good King Philip and his heirs for ever.
So also was the crown and kingdom of England when
he had conquered it by the great invincible Armada,
whose object, as the Lord General of the King’s fleet,
the Duke of Medina Sidonia declared, was “ to serve
God, and to return into his church a great many of con-
trite souls that are oppressed by the heretics.” ^ God’s
glory was to be served by the death under the lash and
the torture of all those heretics over the age of seven.
Those younger were to be branded with an L (Lutheran)
on their foreheads and kept as skves,^ and King Philip
should sit on his English throne. Truly the Vicar of
Christ had fine presents to bestow upon the faithful,
and he bestowed them “ on the authority of God and the
fullness of Apostolic power.” To us now such assump-
tion of terrestrial omnipotence on the part of “ the first
clergyman in Europe ” appears only a sad lack of
humour, but to the sixteenth century there was nothing
humorous about it : such bulls were solemnly read to
the Consistory Court, and henceforth had the validity of
law in the great parish. With equal solemnity of fulmina-
tion did Pius v confirm these dealings with the naughty
little island in the North Sea, which had declared that it
belonged no more to the parish. In 1570 he promul-
gated the stupendous “ Regnans in Excelsis,” in which
he excommunicated Elizabeth, declared her to be a
usurper without right of sovereignty, and very kindly
^ Harleian Miscellany, vol. i. p. 1 1 5.
® Samuel Clark, The Spainsh Invasion, p. 60.
20
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
absolved her subjects from obedience. Sixtus v, who
was Pope at the time of the Armada, endorsed his pre-
decessor’s decrees with remarkable gusto.^
Now in England just then room and opportunity for
the expansion of her trade had become an essential of
national growth, and there was bubbling in her veins
that spirit of adventure of which Drake was destined to
be the chief and most typical incarnation. As if with
the intention of corking and wiring down that effer-
vescent force, Spain and Portugal had forbidden all
other nations to trade with the ports of their western
dominions, and thus the new outlet for the spirit of
adventurous commerce was closed. The very sea, too,
had been declared by the Pope to be the private road of
his favourite children, and something had to be done.
Something indeed was being done already : the founda-
tions of commercial expansion and of the larger expan-
sion of English sea-power were already laid, and engineers
and builders were at work. Chief among them was the
firm of Hawkins, a family related in some way to Drake,
for the chroniclers allude to them as kinsmen, though
the degree of the kinship is only a matter of conjecture.
They were merchants and shipowners of Plymouth,
whose business was to send out ships on commercial and
trading ventures, financing them by forming syndicates
of shareholders, who partook in the profits of the voyage
in proportion to their investments. William Hawkins
the elder, who died in 1555, was, though not the founder,
the first member of the firm of whose operations we know
anything. He had sat on a naval commission in the
time of Henry viii, and before this embargo was put on
foreign trading in the Spanish and Portuguese ports
had made successful voyages to the coasts of Guinea and
Brazil. After his death the firm was carried on by his
two sons, William and John, the latter and most famous
^ Harleian Miscellany, vol. i. p. 144.
FIRST SIGHT OF THE INDIES
21
of whom made immense profits for his shareholders in
two voyages. Then came the embargo, which, coupled
with the Pope’s pronouncement, was not only a violation
of the trading treaties between Spain and England, but
of the doctrine, hitherto invariably accepted, of the free-
dom of the high seas.
Philip took up an utterly illogical position over this,
when, in one breath, he laid the embargo on English
trading with the West Indies and Spanish Main, and
also denied that he had broken the existing commercial
treaties. For these gave free right of trade to the Spanish
on English territories, and to the English on Spanish,
and thus if he had not violated (as he maintained) these
commercial treaties, it was clear that the shores and ports
of his new Western Empire were not Spanish territory.
But to suppose that for this reason Elizabeth sanctioned
the series of raids which Drake was to deliver on Spanish
soil in America, on the grounds that they were not Spanish
soil, is to misunderstand her methods altogether. Legal
subtleties were quite alien to her : her only principle
was to pilfer and pillage as much as she could without
provoking Philip into making war. She was perfectly
ready, when strong enough at sea, to sanction raids on
ports in Spain, which were a definite act of war. But
then she hoped that such success would attend Drake’s
raids on the Spanish coasts as to prevent Philip retaliating.
On this side of the Atlantic English ships had for
some time been carrying on a trade in gold dust on the
Gold Coast and the shores of Guinea. The Hawkins firm
had already made several successful voyages there, and
the natives in adjoining districts cared as little for the
embargo as the English, whom they found to be reliable
and honest in their dealings. To this trade in gold dust
John Hawkins now added a further branch of enterprise,
namely, the extremely lucrative business of trading in
slaves. Labour was badly wanted in the new Spanish
22
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
dominions in America, where native labour was insuffi-
cient, and slaves fetched a very high price there. So
lucrative indeed was the industry that, in addition to the
embargo on foreign trade of all kinds, Spain did not
even allow her own subjects free trading in this valuable
merchandise, but a royal licence had to be purchased,
and a high import duty was charged per head on the
importations. Far from the slave trade being regarded
as an accursed and inhuman traffic, it was universally
considered as respectable as any other form of com-
merce, and when John Hawkins was granted a coat-of-
arms by Elizabeth on his appointment as Paymaster of
the Navy, his crest was “ a demi-moor properly coloured,
bound by a cord,” in order fitly to symbolize his credit-
able achievements in this line. Odder yet is the fact
that Elizabeth herself was a shareholder in some of these
monstrous expeditions, for, in 1564, she had provided
the ” Minion,” a ship of the Royal Navy, to take part
in one of them. According to the invariable custom in
these syndicates, a valuation was put on the “ Minion,”
and the Queen’s share thereby computed. Her habitual
parsimony, however, in this instance was largely respons-
ible for her subsequent chagrin, for the “ Minion,”
cheaply refitted at the Queen’s charges, proved to be
very unseaworthy, and her captain, encountering bad
weather, thought it more prudent to return without her
dividends. All this seems very strange to our modern
notions ; the imagination boggles at the picture of
Queen Victoria lending a man-of-war to take part in
contraband trading, especially if we consider that the
merchandise it was to carry was that of natives bought
or kidnapped from the coasts of Africa (which belonged
to a nation with whom she was at peace), and carried off
to work in the mines of Mexico. Oddest perhaps of
all was the view taken of the whole business by the
Church, for we find the saintly missionary, Las Casas,
FIRST SIGHT OF THE INDIES
23
strongly in favour of operations which took the poor
benighted heathens of Africa from, the darkness of their
paganism, to find light and salvation under the lash and
the loving care of the Holy Inquisition.
Such, in any case, was the current view taken by
honest merchants, by sovereigns, and by spiritual pastors
with regard to the slave trade, and John Hawkins, with
his Queen as a shareholder, was engaged in expeditions
of this sort in the early sixties, when Drake was just
come to man’s estate. One of these, in 1562, had
promised huge success : his fleet sailed with English
merchandise on board, he kidnapped three hundred
negroes on the coast of Sierra Leone, and with a Portu-
guese pilot took them to the Spanish dominions across
the Atlantic, and (having paid nothing for them) dis-
posed of them at a colossal profit. He invested the
proceeds in a cargo of precious spices, but most injudi-
ciously sent it to be sold in Spain. The authorities,
aware of the true origin of this cargo, instantly confis-
cated it, and the blaze of triumph with which Hawkins
and his accounts had been hailed by his shareholders
was abruptly extinguished. Diplomatic relations be-
tween Spain and England grew strained over such inci-
dents, and a further expedition of Hawkins’s had to
be abandoned, for de Silva, Spanish Ambassador to the
Court of St. James’s, made a personal complaint to the
Queen. She, of course, vowed that she had had no
idea that Hawkins was engaged in contraband trade,
and would certainly speak very severely to him about it.
The pearls she was wearing, which had been the pleasant
fruit of one of his ventures, could not contradict her,
neither could His Excellency, for, short of telling her
that she lied, he had to accept her word, and this he
appears to have done, though he subsequently wrote a
more candid despatch to his royal master about the
incident. And when that Cretan interview was over,
24
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
she sent for Hawkins, as she had promised, and gave him
a good talking to. After she had explained how shocked
she was, I think she fingered the pearls, and a royal wink
was vouchsafed him.
But wisdom — that timid, tortuous hole-and-corner
wisdom of the Queen — dictated the abandonment of the
expedition that would have started in 1566, for she had
no mind as yet to risk any definite rupture with her
Brother of Spain. She wanted more ships first, and she
was building them ; she wanted more money, and
though the thought of King Philip’s fabulous treasures
pouring into Spain from the golden West made her
mouth water, it was more prudent just for the present,
when the King seemed soberly to be entertaining those
monstrous suspicions that she could possibly have any-
thing to do with these contraband tradings, not to irritate
him further. That was what she called diplomacy,
namely, to tell lies that were not believed, and, while
pilfering all that could safely be laid hands on, not to
provoke King Philip too much. She had a great belief
in this policy, and steadily pursued it.
Drake, during these years when the sort of broth we
have indicated was beginning to bubble and to send
forth those rich odours of the illimitable wealth of the
new western kingdoms of Spain, had, as we have seen,
gone on his first voyage to the Indies. It was an un-
fortunate venture ; to the end of his life he nourished
the sense of having been swindled, and scarcely a year-
passed without his amply repaying himself. He pro-
fessionally consulted a chaplain on this point (those who
identify this gentleman with Drake’s father must prove
their attractive hypothesis), who told him that on strictly
theological grounds he was justified in reimbursing
himself at the expense of the nation which had cheated
him, and thus Drake had any possible scruple laid to
rest, and robbing Spaniards became not only a pleasure
FIRST SIGHT OF TFIE INDIES 25
but a duty. He went on another small voyage,, pro-
bably for gold dust, to the coast of Guinea, about which
nothing is known, and in 1566 he was back in England
again, and, coming up to London, went to see his kins-
man, John Hawkins. Hawkins, of course, knew about
the failure and fiasco of Captain Lovell’s expedition, and
to his cost, for in all probability he had financed it. Fie
found in his young cousin just what the bachelor owner
of the little coasting bark had found, a sturdy seaman,
with knowledge of his trade, industrious and steady and
strong, and to those good qualities there was now added
the fixed resolve to get upsides with the folk who had
cheated him at Rio de la Hacha. They had a talk;
they had many talks.
Now, since the Spanish Ambassador had made that
remonstrance to the Queen which resulted in the abandon-
ment of Hawkins’s expedition, there had been no sign
of any questionable activity in English ports, but in May
1567 His Excellency’s suspicions were seemingly
aroused again. There were merchant ships in Her
Majesty’s harbour at Chatham making ready in a quiet
unostentatious manner to go to sea, and there were ships
of Her Majesty’s Navy doing the same. A little more
investigation on his part revealed the presence of certain
Portuguese pilots who had signed on for a voyage of
unknown destination. His Excellency again sought
audience of the Queen, who, in her most engaging manner,
told him some wonderful cock-and-bull stories about the
destination of this innocent little water-party. It was
intended to explore African coasts, south — oh, ever so
far south- — of the Portuguese sphere, and when, a
month or two later, the Ambassador received information
that two of the ships of the Royal Navy, the “ Jesus of
Lubeck ” and the “ Minion,” had sailed round to the
wharf by the Tower of London and were taking in
arms, Elizabeth entertained him with more pleasant
■ 2.6
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
little histories. Simultaneously Hawkins, who was
leaving London for Plymouth, paid a polite call on him,
and desired his humble duty to be conveyed to His
Majesty of Spain. But these little fibs and courtesies
failed to establish any strong feeling of confidence in
His Excellency’s mind, for quite suddenly the Portu-
guese pilots who had been engaged for this trip vanished
altogether, which was a curious thing. Just as odd, on
the counter-side of this game, was the disappearance from
Chatham of the Navy ships which had been taking in
arms at the Tower. During September they sailed up
the Sound at Plymouth, where four other merchant ships
happened to be getting ready to go to sea, and off they
all went on October 2nd, 1567. Among these was a
vessel of fifty tons called the “ Judith,” and the captain
of the “ Judith ” was Francis Drake.
CHAPTER III
THE SORROWFUL VOYAGE TO
SAN JUAN D’ULUA
HE Queen, of course, knew what the
real objective of the modest little
squadron was, so, too, did her Council,
and the Spanish Ambassador strongly
suspected it in spite of the specious
Gloriana. It was just such a voyage
as those on which Hawkins had set
sail before, and the programme was
to purchase (or, preferably kidnap) negroes on the
Portuguese coast of West Africa, which was the
cheapest market, and sell them in the ports of New
Spain, which was the dearest. Elizabeth was clearly
a shareholder in the venture, since she supplied two
ships from the Royal Navy, but never a pennyworth
of dividend reached her pocket, for once again, as in
Drake’s voyage with Captain Lovell, the enterprise
reaped a harvest of disaster, and Hawkins, who had
put a pile of money into it, concludes his narrative
concerning it In the most lugubrious vein. He wrote
of it with a pessimism which was as characteristic of
him as was optimism of his young kinsman :
“ 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.” ^
1 Hakluyt Society (extra series), -vol. x. p.
27
28
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
This is language from the very marrow of melancholy,
and indeed the voyage was disastrous for the English.
But in its ultimate effects it was far more disastrous for
the Spanish, for from that time forth, owing to their
barbarous treachery, Drake consecrated his life to the
destruction of Spanish sea power. Already the inci-
dent at Rio de la Hacha had lit the fire of his hatred, and
from now till the end it blazed unquenchably. This
troublesome voyage proved to be the prologue to the
drama that culminated twenty-one years later in the
shattering of the Spanish Armada.
The flagship of the fleet that now set out from Plymouth
was the “ Jesus of Lubeck,” a vessel of 700 tons. She
had been purchased from Lubeck by Henry viii, and
was classed among his “ great ships ” : high-prowed,
high-sterned, four-masted, with a broadside of guns on
each side, and further batteries at her stern. As she had
been condemned as not worth repairing in 15^58, and the
syndicate had to pay for her being refitted, the valuation
of the “ Jesus ” at ;f^40oo seems to have been a cheap
investment for the Queen, and one quite after her own
heart. The rest of her stake was the “ Minion,” also a
“ great ship ” of 250 tons, which had already proved
herself unseaworthy, and was also repaired at the cost of
the syndicate. Thus the business-like Elizabeth stood
to win a handsome profit if the adventure was successful,
for she had got two ships repaired for nothing, while, if
it was not, her loss would not be severe, for she had not
put down a penny in cash, but only provided two obsolete
and unseaworthy vessels. That ships of the Royal Navy
should be used in commerce during times of peace was
perfectly regular and usual : the only irregularity, which
Elizabeth had certainly committed before, was that
they should be used for contraband slave traffic. So she
had assured de Silva that nothing of the sort was con-
templated. . . . With these two Navy ships were four
THE VOYAGE TO SAN JUAN D’ULUA 29
other vessels, all classed as barks, namely, the “ William
and John” 150 tons, the “Swallow” 100 tons, the
“ Judith ” 50 tons, and the “ Angel ” 32 tons.
To our great regret there did not accompany Hawkins
any naturalist of such keen powers of observation as the
unnamed gentleman who went with him on his expedi-
tion of 15*545 but as the fleet visited the same places
they probably saw much the same curiosities.^ There
was a tree that they heard of in the Canary Islands, and saw
in abundance on the coast of Guinea. This singular
vegetable “ raineth continually, by the dripping whereof
the inhabitants and cattle are satisfied with water, for
other water they have none in all the island. And it
raineth in such abundance that it were incredible unto
a man to believe such a venture to be in a tree, but it is
known to be a divine matter and a thing ordained by
God.” Similar trees on the Guinea coast did not rain
so hard, because their leaves were narrower, but this
was made up for by the unusual phenomenon of “ flitting
islands ” that appeared and disappeared in a pleasing
and mysterious manner. Then, at Cape Verde there
were fish “ with heads like conies, and of a jolly thick-
ness,” and men “ who jagg their flesh as workmanlike
as a Jerkin-maker with us pinketh a Jerkin,” and in the
rivers “ crocodiles that sob and weep like a Christian
body.” This was very cunning of them, for when a
Christian body came to see what ailed them, they gobbled
him up. In Florida there were unicorns which dipped
their horn in the water before they drank, and serpents
with three heads and four feet. These interesting
objects, we may hope, were all observed again, and there
was added to them the curious oyster-tree, which had
no leaves on it, but multitudes of oysters.
The voyage that was to end so disastrously started
badly. They ran into storms olF Finisterre, and the
^ Hakluyt Society (extra scries), vol. x. p. 13.
30
SIR FRANCIS drake
“ Jesus,” valued at ^^4000, suffered so much that
Hawkins actually turned homewards, meaning to
abandon the voyage. But the weather became
“ reasonable ” again, and the fleet, scattered by the
storm, regathered at Teneriffe (where under Nelson a
more momentous gathering of English ships took place),
to make its course for the African coast. On the way
they fell in with a Portuguese caravel, and, soon after,
with another which had already been captured by a
French privateer, under the command of Captain Bland.
Hawkins annexed both of these, and temporarily trans-
ferred Drake from the “ Judith ” ^ to one of them, a ship
of 150 tons, which was piously rechristened “ The Grace
of God.” So poor Captain Bland had to go and look
for another. . . .
Now the capture of these ships (unrelated by Hawkins,
who consistently omits questionable incidents) was an
act of pure piracy, and it is as well at once to recognize
it as such if we do not want to be shocked at Drake’s
subsequent career. Piracy for the next twenty years
was not the peccadillo of the English sea captains, but
their policy, sanctioned and abetted by the Queen, who
shared in the profits, and it was this policy that, when
Spain could stand it no longer, precipitated the Spanish
Armada. Attack on ships at sea sailing under another
flag was not then a casus belli : every nation with a fleet
indulged in it, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English
alike, and such attacks came under the general head of
“reprisals” for similar acts in this chronic maritime
vendetta. England had no fleet at this time (nor indeed
for fifteen years more) which could possibly compete
with Spanish sea-power, and, as we shall presently see,
Hawkins had been privily instructed by the Queen
not to commit any outrageous provocation, which might
lead to war, against her Brother of Spain. But this
^ Hakluyt Society (extra series), vol. ix. p. 4^6.
THE VOYAGE TO SAN JUAN D’ULUA 31
little act of appropriation against Portugal could not do
any harm, especially since one of their appropriations
had already been made by a French privateer. He was,
of course, powerless against this considerable English
squadron, and with the “ Grace of God ” conveniently
augmenting the fleet, it went on its way, resuming the
innocent though contraband role of slave-dealer.
Ill-luck pursued them : they arrived at the hunting-
ground of the Guinea coast, and Plawkins landed a
hundred and fifty men to capture negroes. But they
obtained a mere handful of black merchandise, and that
expensively, for the negroes shot many of the marauding
party with poisoned arrows. Almost all who were
wounded so as to draw blood died “ in strange sort,
with their mouths shut some ten days before they died,
and after their wounds were whole,” which suggests
some alkaloid poisoning. Hawkins himself was badly
wounded, but recovered after the application of a clove
of garlic. But a second and more promising oppor-
tunity of collecting cargo presented itself, for the king
of a native tribe asked Hawkins’s help against a neigh-
bouring rival, and agreed to give him all prisoners who
were taken. A combined assault of English and negroes
was made on the principal town of the hostile tribe, and
it was captured and burned. Plawkins’s men took two
hundred and fifty prisoners, and their black ally six
hundred, which the English claimed as the reward of
their co-operation. But this perfidious monarch trekked
off that night with all his booty, and Hawkins sadly
remarks that this race is ” habitually void of truth.”
This regret for their low moral standard comes oddly
from a man who was stealing human beings to sell
them beyond the sea, and it is no wonder that Dr. Johnson,
who in his Life of Drake seldom fails to find some moral
lesson in any action in which his hero takes part, omits
this unedifying episode altogether.
32
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
With a final cargo (not quite coming up to ex-
pectations) of five hundred pieces, the squadron set
sail for the West Indies in order to dispose of
their goods to Spanish employers. They visited Dom-
enica, Margarita, and other ports and islands, where,
in spite of the official refusal on the part of the Spaniards
to trade, they quietly disposed of some half of their
cargo, and were approaching Rio de la Hacha, where
Drake, now again in command of the “ Judith,” had two
years before suffered some wrong at the hands of the
Spaniards. He had, as we have seen, obtained profes-
sional advice about it, and had been told that he was
perfectly justified, by divine as well as human law, in com-
pensating himself at the expense of his injurers. That
came in the Bible, quite early. • And now Francis Drake
was back at Rio de la Hacha in his first command on the
high seas.
Now of what happened, and how it happened, at Rio
de la Hacha, there are two accounts, totally unreconcil-
able. One is Hawkins's, the other that of Job Hartop,
a gunner in the “ Jesus of Lubeck,” who, before the end
of this voyage, fell into the hands of the Spanish, and
returned to England, where he wrote his narrative,
twenty-three years later. Though he had a fine imagina-
tive eye in matters of natural history, we must, without
question, accept his account of what happened at Rio
de la Hacha sooner than that of his General. The
incident, though of no great importance in itself,
definitely brings Drake on to the foreground of the
stage which he was to occupy with ever greater prom-
inence till his coffin slid into the sea irot far from this
very spot.
Let us take Hawkins’s account first. He writes ^
that on the arrival of his squadron at Rio de la Hacha,
“ the Treasurer who had the charge there would by no
^ Hakluyt Society (extra series), vol. x. p. 66.
THE VOYAGE TO SAN JUAN D’ULUA 33
means agree to any trade or suffer us to take water •, he
had fortified his town with divers bulwarks^ and furnished
himself with an hundred Harqu-buziers, so that he
thought by famine to have forced us to put a-land our
Negroes, of which purpose he had not greatly failed
unless we had by force entered the town, which (after
we could by no means obtain his favour) we were en-
forced to do.”
Now Hawkins knew from Drake’s experience with
Lovell that he would probably have an unfriendly recep-
tion at Rio de la Hacha, and nothing is more unlikely
than that so competent a commander should have
arrived here with imperative need of watering. He
had been coasting (and had been received without
hostility) for some weeks, and he could scarcely have
been in such sore want of water as he represents. More
remarkable yet would be the superhuman ingenuity of
the Treasurer. According to Hawkins’s account, he
must have been gifted with a sort of second sight, for he
seems to have said to himself, “ I have a feeling that the
pirate Hawkins is approaching with a cargo of negroes,
and that he will be in cruel want of water. I will there-
fore fortify my town, and get a hundred arquebus
shooters, so that he will not be able to land. Lacking
water, he must surrender, and I shall get his negroes
for nothing. ...” In fact, we cannot believe in the
Treasurer, any more than we can believe that immediate
and imperative want of water drove Hawkins to the
painful step of taking the town. Hawkins, moreover,
had been enjoined by the Queen (as he subsequently says
himself) not to commit any act of open hostility to Spain,
and since the bombardment and capture of a Spanish
port might possibly be considered liable to misinterpre-
tation as a sign of friendship, he puts all the blame on
the Treasurer, saying that he refused to allow a friendly
fleet, famished for want of water, to obtain it. Bitter
c
34
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
compulsion was the cause of his disobeying the Queen’s
orders.
Now let us hear what Job Hartop has to say^ :
“ Oui General sent from thence (Curafoa) the ‘ Angel ’ and the
‘ Judith ’ to Rio de la Hacha, where we anchored before the town.
The Spaniards shot three pieces at us, which we requited with
two of ouis, and shot through the Governor’s (Treasurers?)
house ; we weighed anchor, and anchored again without shot
of the town, where we rode four days in spite of the Spaniards
and their shot. In the mean space there came a caravel of advice
(despatch-boat) from S. Domingo, with whom the ‘ Angel ’ and
the ‘Judith ’ we chased and drove to the shore : we fetched him
from thence in spite of 200 Spaniards harqubush shot, and
anchored again before the town, and rode there with them, till
our General’s coming, who anchored, landed his men, and
valiantly took the town. We landed and planted on the shore
for our safeties, our field-ordinance : we drove the Spaniards
up into the country above two leagues, whereby they were
inforced to tiade with our General, to whom he sold most part
of his negroes,”
Now this is a very different and much more credible
story. We hear nothing about the sudden imperative
need for water, nor do we have to accept the gifted and
barbarous Treasurer. Instead, we have an exploit with
the true Drakian touch. He already had a grudge
against the Treasurer of Rio de la Hacha, and who can
doubt that he got Hawkins to allow him to go ahead with
the “ Judith ” and the “ Angel,” and pay an advance
unofficial visit to the place ? With his two little cockle-
shells he swaggered into the harbour, provoked the
Spaniards to fire, and planted a shot through the residence
of that blackguard who had swindled him. Then, with
the luck that invariably attended him when he was on
his own, there came along a Spanish despatch boat which
he drove ashore and captured. Then up came Hawkins,
^ Hakluyt Society (extra series), vol. ix. p. 449.
THE VOYAGE TO SAN JUAN D’ULUA 35
who was not directly responsible for what Drake had
done, and who, after this reconnaissance, took the town
and disposed of the greater part of the remainder of his
cargo. It was all strictly against the Queen’s orders,
and hence the story in his account of the need of water.
Not till Job Hartop’s return to England, twenty-three
years later, did the true version come out, and by that
time there was no longer any reason for concealing it.
In fact, “ Rio de la Hacha Revisited ” was Drake’s first
independent exploit, many times to be repeated, of his
operations, piratical and otherwise, against Spain,
With the cargo now nearly disposed of in this satis-
factory manner, Hawkins called at Cartagena, but the
Governor refused to trade with him; and since the season
of storms was at hand, and this the zone of their fiercest
raging, he turned homewards. But making a course
to get into the Gulf Stream, they encountered such violent
weather that the rickety “Jesus ’’ sprang a bad leak, and
had her rudder so damaged that the only chance of
saving her was to put into some port on the coast of
Florida. On their way they came across three ships
carrying a hundred passengers, who, as hostages, would
give them a better chance of obtaining supplies for the
Atlantic voyage and a quiet harbour in which to effect
repairs. With them on board, they entered San Juan
d’Ulua by Vera Cruz, the port of the city of Mexico,
and one of the starting points from which treasure ships
sailed to Spain. The anchorage was on the lee of a
small island, not much more than a shoal, which was the
only protection against northerly gales.
There were lying there when the English ships
entered twelve unarmed treasure ships, heavy with bullion
from the mines of Mexico, and a Spanish squadron to
escort them on the homeward voyage was expected. The
oificials of the port, mistaking Hawkins’s ships for this
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
36
fleet, came alongside,^ and, greatly astonished, perceived
their error. Hawkins, obedient to the instructions he
had received from the Queen, behaved with exemplary
correctness. He pointed out that the port was in his
hands, as also were the treasure ships which he learned
contained gold to the value of two hundred thousand
pounds. He had, moreover, on his ship a hundred
hostages. But all he wanted was to put in for repairs
and procure provisions for which he was ready_ to pay,
and, that everything should be in order, he instantly
despatched two of his crew to ride up to Mexico and
inform the Governor that he had only put in from stress
of weather, reminding him that the Queen of England
was King Philip’s loving sister and friend.
Whether the sight of those unarmed treasure ships
would have relaxed Hawkins’s correctness, it is impos-
sible to say. But it was not put to test, for next morning
there appeared off the harbour the expected Spanish
escort, numbering “ thirteen great ships.” Hawkins
at once sent a boat out to the flagship, repeating what he
had said to the offlcials of the port, laut adding that he
could not permit the fleet to enter the harbour unless a
guarantee was given that no attack should be made on
the English, How Hawkins, with his small and damaged
squadron, could thus dictate to “ thirteen great ships ”
is clear enough, for a northerly gale was blowing, and
he could easily hold the mouth of the harbour and just
wait for the gale to drive the Spaniards on to a lee shore.
He refrained from doing this, he states, for the same
reason for which he had already refrained from rifling the
treasure ships, namely, that to inflict so immense a damage
on Spain would be contrary to the Queen’s orders. On
board the Spanish fleet was the new Viceroy of Mexico,
^ Hawkins uses the word “ a-board,” but this is commonly employed
to mean “alongside ” : it is also incredible that the Spanish officials should
actually liave come on deck before they saw their mistake.
THE VOYAGE TO SAN JUAN U’ULUA 37
Don Martino Enriquez, who, in the name of King
Philip, gave the required assurance.
After ten hostages had been given on both sides, the
Spanish fleet entered, saluting as it came in. Owing to
the smallness of the harbour, it had to take up its moor-
ings close to the English ships. During the next three
days, while the English were busy with their repairs, it
was observed that there was some strange activity going
on in the Spanish ships : guns were being taken out
and planted on land, and new port-holes were being cut
on the Spanish broadsides which faced the English.
Hawkins suspected treachery, and sent across to the
Spanish flagship one of his crew who could speak the
language, to ask what this meant. His arrival was the
signal for an attack of amazing perfidiousness. Armed
Spanish troops were landed, who killed all the defence-
less English who were on shore, except those who escaped
to the “Jesus ” by swimming. Other troops swarmed from
the Spanish ship lying next the English on to the “ Jesus ”
and the “ Minion,” and the Spanish guns opened fire at
point-blank. The “ Minion,” while the fight was still
going on, slipped her cable ; the “ Jesus,” on which
were all the proceeds of their trading, was so damaged
that it was impossible to move her ; the “ Angel ” was
sunk, and the “ Swallow ” was in no better plight than the
“ Jesus.” Hawkins then abandoned the “ Jesus,” and
with all the men he could tranship, embarked on the
“ Minion,” signalling to Drake to come alongside with
the “ Judith ” and take off the “ Minion,” already over-
crowded with the sailors from the “ Jesus,” as many as
he could, and get out of the harbour. The Spaniards
meantime had suffered by their treacherous attack even
more heavily than the English : they lost five hundred
men killed, and four of their thirteen ships were sunk.
Hawkins left the ten Spanish hostages unharmed on the
“ Jesus ” : the English hostages in the hands of the
SIR Francis drake
38
Spaniards were handed over with other piisoners to the
Inquisition and brutally tortured.
Drake, in obedience to his orders, got clear of the
harbour : outside the storm still raged, and next day
he could see nothing of the “ Minion,” which was, in
fact, at anchor under the lee of a small island. He had
two courses open to him : the one to search for the
“ Minion,” or lie-to, waiting for her reappearance, within
easy reach of the Spanish fleet in the harbour from which
Hawkins had ordered him to put out. The other was
to attempt to save his ship and get back to England, and
it was this he chose. As always, he made his decision,
since a decision had to be made, without delay, and
instantly acted on it.
Now Hawkins, in his melancholy account of this
troublesome voyage, says that the ” Judith ” ” forsook
us in our great misery,” ^ and this sentence has been
made the text for an attack on Drake’s conduct as being
unworthy of any gallant sailor. But no rendezvous had
been given him in the rough-and-tumble of the fight, and
to look for the “ Minion ” somewhere in the Atlantic,
or to remain within reach of the Spanish fleet, would
assuredly have been conduct worthy only of a demented
sailor. Elis search, as Elawkins’s subsequent move-
ments proved, would have been like a hunt for a needle
in a haystack, and, as Captain of the “ Judith,” he was
bound to do his best for the safety of his ship : while to
cruise about here, waiting for Hawkins to emerge from
his anchorage, would have meant certain capture by the
Spaniards. In view of Drake’s character, which every
year till his death was more incontestably established, it
seems as reasonable to accuse him of want of courage as
to accuse a fox (or Drake either for that matter) of want
of cunning. Nothing could have been more cowardly
on his part, if he had had the slightest chance of finding
^ Hakluyt Society (extra series), vol. x. p. 72.
39
THE VOYAGE TO SAN JUAN D’ULUA
or helping the “ Minion/’ than to have “ forsaken ”
her, but he had no idea where she was. Nothing, on
the other hand, could have been less cunning than to
appear in England, with the “ Judith ” as the sole and
half-starving remnant of the gallant armament that last
year had set sail from Plymouth, if he had not an abso-
lutely impregnable case to present. But he never even
had to defend himself ; his story was that of a captain
performing his obvious duty, and Hawkins, who after
more hardships and troubles retmmed home with the
“ Minion,” had nothing to say against him. Indeed,
the phrase ” the ‘ Judith ’ forsook us,” which has been
saddled with an ugly motive, really bears no such inter-
pretation, for another account of the voyage merely
records that the “ ‘ Judith ’ lost us.” ^ No wonder : for
the “ Minion ” was ensconced behind the little island
where it had taken shelter from the storm which Drake
rode out. Finally, it was Hawkins’s business to look for
the ” Judith,” rather than the other way about. Such
at least was Drake’s invariable practice when a vessel
of his had parted company from the flagship.
Drake had sold the little coasting bark, on which
he had learned the moods and temper of the Channel,
before he went out on this disastrous voyage with
his kinsman, John Hawkins, He had invested in it
such exiguous capital as was his, and penniless he went
out, and penniless he returned, for his share in the pro-
ceeds, like that of his illustrious co-shareholder. Queen
Elizabeth, had been in the ” Jesus,” which, riddled with
shot, was abandoned at San Juan, in consequence of the
infamous treachery of Don Martino Enriquez, The
name, therefore, of Don Martino Enriquez was written
in that perfect memory of his with a very black mark
against it. He had visited Rio de la Hacha, and had
done something to square that account, but without
^ Hakluyt Society (extra series), vol. ix. p. 408.
40
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
personal compensation. But now this was a far more
serious item on the debit side, and whatever he could
secure of that debt, even though he repaid himself sixty-
fold and a hundred-fold, would not liquidate it. The
ships of his kinsman’s squadron had been attacked and
fired on while the ink of the contract in which Don
Martino Enriquez had guaranteed their immunity in
his own name and that of his King, was not yet dry ; his
comrades ashore had been foully murdered, and, had
he known it, those who were left in the “ Jesus,” and
those whom Hawkins subsequently landed at their own
desire, were already in the hands of the most Christian
Inquisition. The few survivors came back to Eng-
land many years later, with such stoiies of tortures
and mutilations as make us wonder whether Sadism,
the lust for inflicting pam, or Catholicism in the name of
the Love of God was responsible for such bestialities. To
one there was assigned two hirndred stripes on hoise-
back, so he was stripped to the waist and tied on a horse
which was led through the streets of Mexico, while this
just chastisement for being English and of the Pro-
testant faith was administered to him for the salvation of
his soul. If he survived his soul’s salvation, eight years
in the galleys would confirm it. For a more obstinate
case there were three hundred lashes, and ten years’
meditation in the galleys : another was hung up by his
hands to a tree till the blood spirted from his finger nails,
and others were buined. Of the fate of these Drake as
yet knew nothing, though similar stories of the most
Christian Inquisition were familiar to him, but what he
had himself seen and suffered from at the hands of the
gentlemen of Spain was sufficient to make the furnace
of hate and vengeance reverberate. He had seived his
apprenticeship, henceforth he led his adventures himself.
Such was his return from this troublesome voyage.
He knew nothing of the fate of the “ Minion ” : the
THE VOYAGE TO SAN JUAN D’ULUA 41
“ William and John ” had been lost in the storm which
drove them into San Juan of evil and imperishable
memory, and in San Juan there had been left, some sunk,
some riddled with shot and helpless, the whole of the
rest of the squadron which had left the Sound at Ply-
mouth more than a year ago. The “ Judith ” of fifty
tons returned alone, battered and short of victuals. But
Drake was in her.
Drake took with him on his voyage round the world,
in 1577, a smart new drum. When he returned from
that voyage three years later, and was knighted by Eliza-
beth, he had his new coat-of-arms painted on that drum
which had been round the world with him : perhaps it
was to him what we should now call his “ mascot.” But
before the drum took material shape it was beating in
his brain. It sounded there as he navigated homewards
the solitary little “ Judith,” and the drum-taps were the
music to which he marched henceforth in his life-long
war against the chiefest and most damnable of all
Christian countries. It beat death to Spain, but to
Drake an invincible gaiety of resourcefulness.
CHAPTER IV
DRAKE’S DRUM IS HEARD ON TFIE
SPANISH MAIN
OTHING had been heard in England
of this expedition of John Hawkins’s
which started in October 1567, until,
on the 20th January 1569, the
“ Judith,” overcrowded and under-
victualled, limped into Plymouth
alone. Drake went straight to William
Hawkins, now head of the firm, and
elder brother of the leader of this unfortunate venture,
and told him the story, as far as he knew it. William
Hawkins packed him off to London with a letter to the
Queen’s Council, demanding reprisals. It was likely to
receive Her Majesty’s attention, for she had certainly
lost the “ Jesus ” (,^4000) ; God knew what had
happened to the “ Minion,” and where were her
dividends, not to mention her capital ? Five days after
Drake’s departure for London, John Hawkins crawled
into Mount’s Bay in Cornwall with the ” Minion.”
Sickness had decimated his crew, the Spaniards had
got the money he had received for his slaves, and so
sea-weary was the ” Minion ” that Brother William
must send assistance to tow her into Plymouth.^
Then he bustled Brother John up to town to add his
sorry sequel to the letter already despatched. It would
require, in Hawkins's opinion, the industry of the man
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. pp. 124, 125.
DRAKE’S DRUM
43
who wrote the lives of the martyrs to do adequate justice
to his sufferings, but he set to work himself, and produced
the narrative which we have, with reservations, been
following.
Now during the few months previous to Drake’s
return, an interesting political situation had arisen.
Politics would seem to be highly alien to any life of
Drake, for though in later life he represented Plymouth
and also Tintagel in Parliament, they had no more interest
for him than philosophy. But this, like many other
subsequent political situations, had a direct bearing on
his next adventure, and must be briefly indicated.
Two months before (i.e. at the end of November
1568) certain ships from Spain, with bullion on board,
had put into Plymouth as a poi t of refuge from French
privateers. The gold they carried was destined for
Antwerp : some of it was the discharge of trading debts
due to certain merchants there, but the greater part of
it was pay for the troops of the Duke of Alva, who was
the Spanish governor of the Netherlands, and in all it
amounted to ;i^ioo,ooo.i But when the new Spanish
Ambassador in London, Don Guerau de Spes, asked that
this money should be given safe conduct through
England and re-embarked again at Dover, it had already
become known to Elizabeth that the greater part of it
was a loan raised to pay Alva’s army, and Alva’s army
was a menace to England. She could never, moreover,
bear to let go of a single sixpence which had come in
touch with her retentive fingers, and in one way and
another made delays about granting this permission.
She did not object to the Antwerp merchants receiving
the payments drxe to them, but, so the London corre-
spondent of the Fugger Bank at Augsburg wrote to his
headquarters, “ what belongs to the King of Spain, her
1 Fugger News-Letters (second series), p. 3 .
4.4- SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
brother, she thinks it right to withhold from the Duke
of Alva.” ^ On receiving this reply Don Guerau flew
into a violent passion, and induced the Duke of Alva to
lay an embargo on the property of all the English in the
Netherlands. Elizabeth very properly retorted by seiz-
ing all Spanish property that was in England, inchrding,
of course, the whole (instead of part only) of that very
desirable £ioa,ooo, which had led to all this imbroglio.
Already diplomatic relations were at high tension, for
the English ambassador at Madrid had been asked to
withdraw from the Court,^ and now Elizabeth put Don
Guerau de Spes under arrest in his own house,® which,
by a curious romance of destiny, was to become Drake’s.
Precisely then, Drake and Hawkins arrived and recounted
to the Queen’s Council the Spanish treachery and the
attack made on their ships at San Juan.
That was just what the Queen wanted. She already
had the pleasant windfall of £ 100,000 safe in the
Tower, and now she refused to discuss that question at
all, until Spain had explained this outrageous act of
hostility to a power with which she was at peace, and to
ships which had been given a guarantee of safety. She
was building ships as hard as she could, and nothing
could be more convenient than this excellent reason for
protracted diplomatic correspondence while her ship-
building went on, and all discussion of the little windfall
was postponed. Her tortuous diplomacies are always
hard to follow, but in general they were dictated by her
desire to get money and to gain time. Meanwhile, as
regards Drake himself, though there is no evidence that
she saw him, he was a man likely to be useful, and he at
once entered the Royal Navy. For one brief moment
during that summer, he rose like a flying fish out of the
sea which was becoming his native element, and took an
^ Fugger Ne-xs-Lctten (second series), p. 3. ® Ibid., p. i.
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. p. itz.
DRAKE’S DRUM
45
excursion into domestic life. On 4th July 1569, he
married a girl called Mary Newman, who is nothing
more than a name, and vanishes again, leaving not a trace
behind, nor any offspring. Drake’s drum beat a couple
of bars of the Wedding March, and then went back
again to its more appropriate tune.
In the autumn of 1569 (nothing more having been
heard of the ,^100,000) it was noticed that John Hawkins
was very busy with journeys to Plymouth and recalls to
London, and the rumour got about that he was to sail
again before long with seven ships of the Queen’s Navy.
Some expedition, in any case, was clearly in preparation,
and both the French and the Spanish ambassadors in
London came to the conclusion that the perfidious
“ Jezebel of the North,” as she was already impolitely
termed, was engaged in some nefarious design against
their respective countries. They reported their unease
to their governments, but could not say what the design
was. They were certainly getting in a highly nervous
state about the activities of the rapidly growing Navy
of “ that Queen,” but their Excellencies were allowed
to remain in doubt as to whether the expedition was to
support Huguenots at Rochelle, to whom the Queen
had already sent out provisions and munitions, ^ or to
attempt the rescue of the English prisoners and hostages
whom Plawkins had been forced to leave at San Juan.
The latter was probably the intention, but whatever it
was, it was never carried out, for the Catholic insurrection
broke out in the north, which was the signal for the Duke
of Alva to invade England from the Netherlands. In
consequence the Queen wanted all her ships at home.
The Navy was mobilized, and there were no ships for
Hawkins. The Catholic insurrection, however, was
easily quelled, while the Duke of Alva showed the same
engaging i*eluctance to support it as did his successor
^ Fugger Nem-Leitets (second aeries), p. 7.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
46
Parma, when urgently required to support the Spanish
Armada.
But though Hawkins was forced to remain in England,
as it was inadvisable, in the menace that brooded over so
large a horizon, to weaken the home forces of the fleet,
there is no doubt now that the rumour that he was sail-
ing, and even had sailed, was strongly encouraged, for
we find the Fugger Bank correspondent at Seville inform-
ing Augsburg, in December 1569, that Hawkins “ had
sailed for the West Indies with twenty-five well-found
ships,” and that “ the most annoying part of the affair
is that this Hawkins could not have fitted out so numer-
ous and so well-equipped a fleet without the aid and
secret consent of the Queen.” ^ Its object was to waylay
and capture Spanish treasure ships from the Indies. The
effect of this belief was that Spanish ships were posted
to watch for the strong English fleet which threatened
their gold-bearing transports. They watched in vain
because this English fleet never sailed at all, but it kept
them on the alert, and occupied their attention. Pos-
sibly one of these sentry ships had seen two small vessels
not worth the attention of the great galleons, scudding
southwards. One of them carried the man who, in the
years now dawning, became to the sea-captains of Spain
the terror by night and the arrow by day.
While Spanish attention was thus fixed on the expected
appearance of Hawkins with a strong fleet, Drake had
slipped out of Plymouth with two insignificant little
ships, the “ Dragon ” and the “ Swan.” They would
certainly have merited no notice if Drake had not been
on board, but by the ordinance of destiny, Drake was
on board. This was only a quiet little reconnoitring
voyage (its modest charges probably paid by the Haw-
kins firm) to see if a certain idea of Drake’s, a gorgeous,
a magnificently impertinent idea, was practicable, and he
^ Fuwr News-Le/Uts (second series), p. 7.
DKAjvE’S drum
47
wanted to pry and prowl about in the West Indian coasts,
without either attracting attention or doing anything
that could possibly annoy the King of Spain. For he
had already seen, on the troublesome voyage with
Hawkins, those twelve great treasure ships lying at San
Juan, and the sight of them had stuck in his mind. There
they lay, the great fat golden geese, in indolent security,
waiting for their escort, and Drake’s imagination had
been positively obsessed by them. We may indeed
allow ourselves to believe that if he, and not his kins-
man, had been in command of that ill-starred expedi-
tion, there would never have been any violation of good
faith on the part of Don Martino Enriquez, nor any
treacherous attack on the English, for by the time the
thirteen great ships of escort arrived there would surely
have been no English ship in the harbour at all, nor,
indeed, much worth having on their own treasure ships.
There had been lost, thought Drake, a great opportunity,
and if he had had the handling of it Elizabeth would
have received very satisfactory dividends on her stake in
the adventure. But there were as many opportunities
in the future as there had been in the past, and the immedi-
ate object of this modest little scouting voyage was to
find convenient and vulnerable spots in the long route
of conveyance which lay between the gold mines of Peru
at one end, and King Philip’s pockets at the other.
Drake returned from his inquisitive expedition some
time during 1570, but he made no known report what-
ever of what he had ascertained. As far as it went, it
was probably satisfactory, for early next year he set forth
again in even a more inconspicuous manner than before,
the “ Swan,” a ship of twenty-five tons, compi-ising his
entire Armada. But a deadlier little bird never paddled
round the coasts of the Spanish Main ; it had the eyes
of a hawk, the claws of an eagle, and in its master’s hands,
as in those of a conjurer, it had the most remarkable gift
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
+8
of suddenly disappearing. Very quietly it swam about,
and discovered on the coast of Darien the withdrawn
and sheltered nook of which precisely it was in search,
against the time when it should return to nest there with
a consort. This nook was a small natural harbour,
hidden excellently well in jungle and forest that came
down to the water’s edge, and it had a narrow entrance
between two high wooded capes, which protected it
from every wind. There the “ Swan ” made its nest
in this little hollow hole of a harbour in the waters of
which was an abundance of fish. There were good
water-springs on shore, and fruit was plentiful and also
game, and in particular there were many pheasants in
the forest, which made good fare, and Drake called the
place “ Port Pheasant.” He also buried stores there
which would be useful to the “ Swan ” in its nesting
season, and cut paths for it in the jungle in case it wanted
to amble inland. All this was admirable, and what was
more admirable yet was that the nest of our shy little
bird was close to the trade route of the Spanish treasure
ships, the great golden geese that wallowed heavily home
to Cadiz. To Nombre de Dios, along the coast west-
wards, came the mule trains from Panama, laden with
gold from the unfathomable mines of Peru, and at
Nombre de Dios the heavy panniers were emptied, and
the ships were ballasted with gold for King Philip ii,
that most Christian monarch, with a beard. With those
gleaming cargoes King Philip built more ships against
the growing fleet of the heretic Jezebel, his sister, and
paid his armies in the Netherlands which, when all was
ready, would overrun her realm, and make of it a province
of Spain.
Drake wanted quietly to study the meteor track of the
treasure, and so the “ Swan ” scouted about and learned
many useful things. Sometimes the gold from Panama
came straight overland to Nombre de Dios, or, if there
DRAKE’S DRUM
49
was plenty of water in the River Chagres, it was em-
barked inland at Venta Cruz, and thence taken on rafts
and boats to the harbour at Nombre de Dios,^ from which
it set forth to Spain. And all the time that the “ Swan ”
was making her quiet observations, Drake was also study-
ing Spanish ships and Spanish seamanship, and his
growing familiarity with them bred contempt of their
clumsiness. But the “ Swan ” kept well out of the way
for the present, for quiet observation, not argument, was
her mission, and if any Spanish ship in its proud course
was likely to come near her, she would scuttle back into
her nest, the opening of which was only half a cable’s
length across, and vanish. Later she would have
business with those slow-manceuvring hulks, but just
now she wanted none of them to take the slightest interest
in her. Where exactly her nest was it is impossible to
say, so small and inconspicuous was it, but it can hardly
have been, as Sir Julian Corbett suggests, ^ at Puerto
Escondido, close to Caledonia Bay, for Puerto Escon-
dido was a harbour known to the Spaniards, and thus
the last place Drake would have chosen, since there would
have always been the risk of a Spanish ship popping in
on the “ Swan.” It must have been some small natural
inlet on that long wooded coast, unfrequented by the
enemy. There, before leaving the Spanish Main, he
made a cache of things likely to be useful to him on his
return, and now it was time to be off homewards again,
and prepare for the campaign which was already out-
lined. The work of these two years was but the pre-
liminary manoeuvres, executed out of sight of the enemy.
Before finally leaving the coast, Drake took several
prizes, which must have been valuable, for the cruise
^ Mr. Froude, English Seamen, p. 84, says that Nombre de Dios is
at the mouth of the River Chagres. The actual distance is about seventy
miles.
^ Corbett, Drake and the Ticdor Navy, vol. i. p. 1 54.
D
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
SO
proved profitable : he also took some Spanish prisoners,
whom, before sailing for England, he set free. The
Spanish custom was to kill all prisoners, but it was not
Drake’s. During his whole career he killed only two
prisoners, and that under extreme provocation.^
Drake went home, but not for many months, and I
suspect that poor Mary (nee Newman) saw very little of
him. He instantly set about making preparations for
the immortal voyage to the Spanish Main, which perhaps
was the most superbly Drakian of all his exploits, and
which began that strange transformation of him, while
still living, into a legendary figure. Spain, symbolized
in the person of King Philip, was a colossus invincibly
bestriding the Atlantic and overshadowing the world,
and now Captain Francis Drake, who had never com-
manded any ship of more than fifty tons, having taken a
good look at the majestic giant, proceeded to swarm up
the colossal limbs, and in his own rude language, to
singe his beard. In fact, from that time forth he scarcely
ever climbed down again, nor desisted from that most
congenial occupation.
We are lucky to have an account of this voyage to the
Spanish Main given in great detail, and edited by Drake’s
nephew, Sir Francis Drake, Baronet, the son of his
youngest brother Thomas, and the only descendant of
that big family of twelve brothers. It was published in
162,6, under the stimulating title,
“SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
REVIVED.
“ Calling upon this dull and effeminate age to
follow his noble steps for gold and silver.”
It was compiled by Philip Nichols, preacher, from
^ See p. 19^.
DRAKE’S DRUM
51
the reports of Christopher Ceely, Ellis Hixom, and other
sailors who took part in the voyage. Drake himself
revised it, adding many notes, and clearly meant to pub-
lish it himself, for he also wrote the dedication to Queen
Elizabeth, in which he declared the book to be the ofRcial
and authentic account of his voyage, and to be designed
to refute the false versions and misrepresentations that
were current. Indeed, he calls it the “ first fruits of
your servant’s pen,” and thus personally vouches for it.
Mr. Froude seems to have been unaware of this, for his
only account of the book is that the “ Drake family
published it in the middle of the next century, which
is not only false but also misleading. A short preface of
preliminary matter definitely states that he undertook
this voyage to right the wrongs he had undergone at the
hands of the Spanish at Rio de la Hacha and San Juan
d’Ulua. He had applied to the Queen for recompense,
but could not obtain it, and so took the matter into his
own hands : in fact, he went to war with King Philip,
and never, till the day of his death, made peace. The
Queen was not a shareholder in this venture (a fact which
she must subsequently have much regretted), and Drake
got together the money for it privately.
The ensuing account of the voyage is almost entirely
compiled from this source. No book of sky-larking
schoolboy adventure comes anywhere near, in the matter
of romance, of escapes and escapades, of buccaneering
failures and achievements, to this authentic history.
Drake framed the amazing expedition on his own lines,
and carried it out according to his own unhampered
ideas, and from first to last it is a locus classicus for the
appreciation of his genius. All was elastic, dependent
on circumstances, but the main object was nothing less
than to take Nombre de Dios itself, empty the gold and
silver of its treasure houses, as they awaited transport
Froude, English Seamen, pp. S.)., 85.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
52
to the ports of Spain, into the holds of his own ships,
and alter their destination to the port of Plymouth.
Further items in the programme were the capture of
treasure trains crossing the Isthmus from Panama, and
the destruction of Spanish shipping.
Drake thought that two smart little ships would be
sufficient for the opening of his private war with Spain,
and one of these, of course, was the “ Swan,” eager to get
back to her nest, the other a comparative giant, the
“ Pasha,” of no less than seventy tons, or nearly three
times the tonnage of the ” Swan.” He was Admiral,
commanding the ” Pasha,” his younger brother John
was Captain of the ” Swan,” and a second brother Joseph
was of the crew. Thei-e was not a man on board or a
boy who had not volunteered for the voyage, and in
all his crews numbered seventy-three youngsters ; with
the exception of one veteran who was over fifty, not
one of that exuberant company had attained the age
of thirty, for it was ever the young with whom Drake
loved to work and to take the monstrous risks that were
dear to youth. The two ships were provisioned for a
year, and were ” heedfully provided with all Munitions
and Artillery,” and, as well, they had on board the parts
of ” three dainty pinnaces ” to be set up when required.
They set out from Plymouth on Whitsun Eve, May a^th,
1572, and went straight for the ‘‘ Swan’s ” nest at Port
Pheasant. And instantly we step into the exhilarating
air of high, breathless, and superb romance, and in that
suspension we remain till Drake gets home again.
The enchanting history opens on a most felicitous
level. The ships arrived at the secret harbour on July
1 2th, but the alleys that Drake had cut in the jungle were
so overgrown with tropical vegetation that at first he
doubted whether this was indeed the ” Swan’s ” nest.
Bvxt there was no mistake, for just here he had made his
cache of stores and arms, and now he saw that it had been
DRAKE’S DRUM
53
discovered, dug up, and rifled : the nest had been wholly
despoiled. But a friend had been here since, for there
was a leaden plate affixed to a conspicuous tree thus
inscribed :
“ Captain Drake. If you fortune to come into this port make
haste away ; for the Spaniards which you had with you here last
year have bewrayed this place, and taken away all that you left
here. I departed from hence this present yth July, 1572.
“ Y our very loving friend,
“John Garret.”
Now John Garret, a native of Plymouth, had been here
with Drake the year before, and had joined some English
trading company instead of returning to England with
him. Certainly he was a level-headed fellow, for know-
ing that Drake meant to come back here, and knowing
also, having just visited the “ Swan’s ” nest, that the
secret was secret no longer, he had seen the danger of
the Spaniards laying an ambush for him here. How to
give him warning must have set John Garret to belabour
his wits, and the notion of affixing that imperishable
lead tablet to a conspicuous tree could hardly have been
bettered. For all that, it would seem that John Garret
had not read the riddle wholly right, for though some-
body had found and rifled Drake’s cache, that was far
more probably the work of some chance wayfarer, for
we cannot believe that Drake had landed his prisoners
at the very spot which, above all others, he wished to
keep secret.
The matter was clearly serious. Only five days ago
Garret had been here, and Drake must make up his
mind whether to abandon the place and find another
secret harbour, or erect some sort of tenable fort here
against a similar chance. But he seems to have con-
cluded that the rifling of the cache was the work of men
who had no reason to connect it with him, and that since
54
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
they had taken away all that was of value, there was no
reason to suppose that they would come back. Other-
wise he must have abandoned so dangerous a base, if
it was known to the Spaniards as being his. Instead he
settled to retain it, and at once all his seventy-three boys
were busy felling great trees, and building with them a
pentagonal enclosure, thirty feet high. It had no gate
landwards, but one on the water which every night was
shut up and made secure with a great tree drawn athwart
it. The enclosure was three-quarters of an acre in
extent, and the pinnaces, now set up from the sections
he had bi’ought out, were, when not in use, beached inside
it. These pinnaces were light boats, half-decked, which
sailed if there was a wind, and were rowed if it failed.
They were all hard at work, when there came an inter-
ruption. The very next morning there appeared directly
outside the “ Swan’s ” nest an English ship belonging
to Sir Edward Horsey, which, under the captaincy of
James Ranse,^ had just captured a Spanish despatch boat
and a shallop. Sir Edward Horsey had been quite a
pretty pirate in his time, and it was only natural that the
captains should have a talk, and that Drake should dis-
close his designs on Nombre de Dios. Captain Ranse
wished to join, and a contract of partnership was made,
the command of the raid (it is needless to add) being in
the sole hands of Drake.
Now this can hardly have been welcome to him : we
can see him fuming at this modification of what he had
planned so carefully at Plymouth. All his own men
were boys, like himself, and they were all volunteers, and
he could have got twice the number to come to singe the
King of Spain’s beard had he wanted more. And here
was this Ranse butting in : it would have been dis-
This cannot have been the same as James Ranse, Master of the
“ William and Mary,” for that ship, with all apparently on board, was lost
in Hawkins’s expedition while approaching San Juan d’Ulua.
DRAKE’S DRUM
55
courteous to have "withheld the scheme from another
English captain, and even if he had, Ranse might have
gone messing about up towards Nombre de Dios, and
put the Spaniards on the alert. Anyhow, Ranse — an old
fellow, probably nearly forty — could be left in charge of
the ships, for the taking of Nombre de Dios, as Drake
had planned it, was no diversion for ancient and prudent
persons.
The ships then were to remain in discreet retirement,
while the “ dainty pinnaces ” which had been brought out
in sections from England and were now set up, attempted
this impertinent and hazardous feat. But this shallop
of Ranse’s was handy enough : it, like the pinnaces, was
a light boat and could be rowed if the wind failed, and
twenty of Ranse’s sailors should man it. As for the
three dainty pinnaces — the more Drake saw of them, the
more he liked them — they were to be manned with fifty-
three of his Devon boys, each of whom he knew well,
for he had chosen them himself, and during the voyage
out he licked them into shape, and had cursed and blessed
them, and blooded them and physicked them when
necessary.^ Some were handy with the pike, and those
should carry pikes, and some were handy with their
bows and arrows, and those should be his archers. On
the arrows were to be lumps of burning tow, for a flight
of flaming arrows in a night attack would surely be
unsettling to Spanish nerves, and it would be quite
as unsettling to be hit by them. Others would carry
muskets and cullivers, and two would be armed merely
with loud braying trumpets, and two with drums — most
important. . . . All this Drake had already planned,
and indeed it was an original equipment for a handful of
boys who were out to take the golden city of Nombre de
Dios. As for the disposal of his boys to man the three
pinnaces, that was simple : they should arrange that
^ Sto"w, Annals.^ p. 808,
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
56
themselves, so that every boy should have his particular
friend next him, and so it was done. All was ready now,
and they came softly out of the “ Swan’s ” nest, three
pinnaces and a shallop, seventy-three young men in all.
Here, then, was Drake in his element at last, with a
mad adventure, most sanely thought out, in front of him.
Perhaps he had already been at Nombre de Dios, for
there is a Spanish tradition that he had gone there the
year before, disguised as a Spaniard, to have a look round.
Nothing could have been more like Drake than to do that,
and, if it is true, it would account for the uncanny know-
ledge he seemed to possess of the town when he got
there. On the other hand, nothing cotild be more like
Drake than to know by a sort of instinct where every-
thing was. But most of all was it like Drake to set forth
in high confidence to capture the fortified and garrisoned
city of Nombre de Dios, with a shallop manned by twenty
men, which was altogether extra to the force he had
deemed necessaiy, and three pinnaces manned by his
Devon boys, who were strangely armed with pikes and
burning arrows and drums and trumpets. Surely he
had in his mind the dare-devil story of Gideon, which
came in the only book to which Drake ever paid much
attention. This must have been a Gideon-notion, and
the Lord prospered Gideon.
Their course was westwards along the coast : they
sailed when the wind favoured them, and when it failed
they rowed to the rhythm of the songs of Devon. On
their way they put in at the Isle of Pines,^ where they
found two frigates from Nombre de Dios loading up
with timber. Natives, not Spaniards, were employed
in this job, and Drake made out that these black fellows
^ This Isle of Piaes can hardly have been, the island so marked on the
Admiralty charts, for this must have lain east of the “ Swan’s ” nest, and
Drake was going westward. Piobably he christened it as it was covered
witji pines, just as h? christened Port Pheasant,
DRAKE'S DRUM
?7
belonged to a tribe called the Cimaroons, who lived in
the forests around the Isthmus of Panama. They were
a strong fierce lot, who detested the Spaniards, and not
long ago had themselves made a raid on Nombre de Dios,
which was just the business now. Drake habitually
saw opportunities where others would have seen nothing
at all, and learning that some of them wanted to be put
back on the Main, he took them off the island in his
pinnaces and landed them there. Let them rejoin their
tribe, said Drake to himself, and tell their relations what
nice fellows the English were, and how they had put them
ashore, and how they abhorred those devilish Spanish
masters of theirs. That was a touch of true Drakian
resourcefulness : very likely it would be useful before
long to be friendly with the fierce tribe through whose
territory passed the treasure-laden mules from Panama.
Off went the grinning Cimaroons, and as they had
been kidnapped to an island from which they desired to
escape, the English language was enriched by the word
“ Maroon.”
The three ships, Ranse’s and the “ Pasha ” and the
“ Swan,” had accompanied them as far as this Isle of
Pines, and here they were left behind in hiding, while
up the coast towards Nombre de Dios crept the dainty
pinnaces and the shallop, till, at nightfall, on about the
last of July, they found themselves still undetected,
behind the eastern promontory of the bay where the
town lay. The friendly Cimaroons had given a very
formidable account of the place, and though Drake had
been full of encouragement, telling his boys that with
such a crew, “ like-minded with himself,” they could
not fail of success, he observed that, as the night went on,
they were getting rather nervous and jumpy, and that
would never do. His plan had been to attack at dawn,
as soon as there was sufficient light to see by, but he dis-
liked this nervous strain which was telling on them,
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
58
So when, at three in the morning, the east began to
brighten with the coming moonrise, he put an end to
this tense waiting, and declared it was the dawn.
Round the point into the harbour swept the pinnaces,
and there, by a stroke of cruel ill-luck was a Spanish
ship (laden, as they subsequently ascertained, with good
Canary wine and other delicacies) which had just cast
anchor, and whose boat was even then rowing to the
shore. Without the slightest hesitation, but with mighty
oaths, Drake whacked up the pinnaces to top-speed,
intercepted the Spanish boat, so that it had to put across
to the far side of the harbour, and shot his men out on
the platform of the fort at the water’s edge. There was
but one gunner in charge at this hour of peaceful moon-
rise, for not an enemy’s ship was known to be within
leagues of the bay, and he fled helter-skelter into the
town to give the alarm. Drake paused only to tumble the
battery of guns off their carriages, and his Devon boys
were in full cry after the gunner. But already the big
alarm bell in the church was ringing and the town aroused.
Drake sent on a couple of men to stop that clanging,
but the tower where the bell hung was strong, and they
could not force an entrance. His injunction to them not
to fire on the church, which has been piously ascribed to
his unwillingness to damage a sacred building, was, of
course, simply due to the fact that he wanted all ammuni-
tion for other purposes, and it was no use wasting the
fire of two mriskets on a stout tower. Though Fuller
tells us (no doubt founding his statement on this incident)
that Drake always spared churches “if he could,” we
must reluctantly conclude that he hardly ever could.
He had no more veneration for a Roman Catholic church
than he had for a pigsty, and not once or twice, but con-
stantly and consistently,^ we find him smashing up images
Hakluyt Society, New Light on Dtake, p. 304 : Southey, British
ddmirals, p. 175, etc.
Caktagina, “the capital of the Spanish Main’
DRAKE’S DRUM
59
and annexing vestments, missals and chalices with the
utmost gusto.
Drake’s plan had been rehearsed, and now, leaving
sixteen men to guard the pinnaces, he sent half his minute
force under his brother and John Oxenham to scuttle
round outside the town, and enter the market-place, where
was the Governor’s house, from the east, while he, with
the rest, advanced with pikes and flaming arrows and one
trumpet and one drum, making the hell of a noise up the
main street. A small body of Spaniards had by now
formed up in the market-place, and a volley of musket-
shot greeted Drake’s detachment, which killed his
trumpeter, and severely wounded him in the leg. But
he was the only person who knew about that, and he did
not tell anybody. By now they had debouched into the
market-place, and the deadly little fire-bearing arrows
were flickering, while the drum continued to make an
awful din, and just as they got to a hand-to-hand scrap
with pikes, John Drake, with the other detachment, came
up the street from the east taking the Spaniards on the
flank, with another flight of fiery arrows and another
nerve-racking drum and blaring trumpet. Not knowing
what might be coming next or from where, the bewildered
Spaniards fled in confusion and panic, leaving the
Governor’s house unguarded. A couple of prisoners,
whom they had taken, conducted the English to it, and
there, for the first time, they set eyes on the gleam of
the fabulous wealth from the New World. They threw
open the cellar store-house, and the light of their torches
was reflected from a great pile of metal that faced them,
a wall of silver bars, twelve feet in height and seventy in
length and ten in thickness. Not less than a million
sterling lay there winking at them.
But Drake had no use for silver, cheap common silver,
for he guessed there was a lordlier booty yet of gold and
of pearls in the King’s Treasury near the harbour, and
6o
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
sending his brother and John Oxenham ahead to break
it open, he left some of the Devon boys to hold the market-
place in case the Spanish re-formed again. There was
half an hour’s delay owing to a prodigious thunderstorm
that broke out, and then he called on the rest to follow
him, telling them that he had now brought them to the
mouth of the treasury of the world, which if they did
not gain, none but themselves was to be blamed. Even
as he spoke, he fainted and fell, and his boys saw that his
footsteps were footsteps of blood, which came from the
wound he had received at the first onslaught, of which
he had said nothing. They bound it up for him with
his scarf, and gave him a nip of spirits, and tried to per-
suade him to go back to the pinnaces. Then, as he
would not listen to them, they broke out into flagrant
and loving mutiny, and they picked him up and carried
him down to the boats, and thought no more about the
King’s Treasury, for he was worthier to them than the
treasures of the world.
Now this gleeful, though quite unproductive exploit
of the taking of Nombre de Dios, is one which Mr.
Froude rejects as incredible, because Drake’s numbers
were so small, and because if there had been anything
like a battle, an alarm would have been raised in the
neighbourhood, and it is evident that no alarm was
given. But with regard to the first objection, we must
note that the number of Spanish troops was very small
too : it is clear that only a handful of men gathered in
the market-place. As yet Spanish towns on the Main
had no experience of serious raids, and they were only
garrisoned sufficiently to protect shipping and defend
themselves against attacks by Cimaroons, who had no
guns. With regard to his second objection, Nombre
de Dios was an isolated post, and there were no Spanish
settlements in the immediate neighbourhood ; also the
whole raid only lasted a few hours, and was over, and
DRAKE’S DRUM
6i
Drake was gone, by morning. But most conclusive as
to the general truth of the account given in Sir Francis
Drake Revived^ is the discourse of a Portuguese, Lopez
Vaz,i which the Earl of Cumberland took in his expedi-
tion to the River Plate in 1586. Lopez Vaz exaggerates
the number of the English, and declares that there were
no Spanish troops at all, and only unarmed inhabitants.
But Drake’s advance into the market-place, “ sounding a
trumpet very loud,” the death of his trumpeter, Drake
being wounded in the leg, the advance of the second
English column, also with a trumpet, the retreat to
the pinnaces and the departure of the raiders without
getting any booty, tally precisely with the English ver-
sion, and constitute a perfectly satisfactory proof of the
narrative’s general correctness in this particular instance,
and furnish a valuable test as to the truth of the rest.
So off went the mutinous pinnace with Drake safely
on board. They stopped to relieve the ship which was
just casting anchor in the harbour at moonrise that morn-
ing, of its excellent Canary wine, and then paddled over
about dawn to a small island which lay beyond gunshot
from the town, where they found plenty of fruit and
poultry. There they remained very comfortably for a
couple of days nursing their wounded and drinking
Canary wine, and Drake held no court-martial for the
rank mutiny of his young devils. While they took their
ease there, a polite officer came from Nombre de Dios,
under the flag of truce, desiring to learn what was the
actual strength of those two noisy columns that had poured
into the market-place. But what he said that he desired
to learn (and indeed that was very interesting too) was
whether this was Captain Drake, who had been prowling
about the coast for the last two years, and whether those
disconcerting arrows which had wounded many of the
Spanish were poisoned. Drake willingly acknowledged
^ Hakluyt Society (extra aeries), vol. x. p. 7?.
62
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
his identity, for he was as vain as a peacock, and that
pleased him, and said that he never used poisoned arrows.
Then he appears to have lost his temper, for he added
that he wanted, for himself and his company, some of
that “ special commodity,” gold and silver, which this
country yielded. He advised the Governor therefore
“ to hold open his eye,” for by the help of God he meant
to reap some of that harvest which was sent into Spain
to trouble the earth.
So that was that, and after a few more compliments,
it seemed to Drake that conversation with a spy, though
pleasing, was not profitable, so he said that dinner was
ready. He fed his hidalgo with “ great favour and court-
eous entertainment, besides such gifts as most contented
him,” and after dinner “ he was in such sort dismissed
to make report of what he had seen, that he protested
he was never so much honoured of any in his life.”
From which we gather that he liked the Canary wine.
Drake must have enjoyed that dinner too. He loved
pompous and courtly behaviour, and high airs and
hospitable swagger. But no doubt this honoured guest
had estimated how modest was the number of those who
had taken Nombre de Dios, and it was best to get back
from this idyllic picnic on the Victualling Island, and
rejoin the concealed ships he had left in charge of Captain
Ranse at the Isle of Pines. There the two commanders
had a conference, and Captain Ranse, learning what had
happened at Nombre de Dios, sagaciously opined that
the Spanish would now be on the look-out, and that any
further raids would possibly be attended with risks. Drake
cordially agreed with this powerful reasoning, proposed
the dissolution of the partnership which had lasted about
a fortnight, and off went Captain Ranse with his ship
and his shallop in search of less perilous adventures.
So Drake, to his great content, was alone again with
his Devon boys, and made some plans after his own
DRAKE’S DRUM
63
heart. Yet we can scarcely say that he made plans :
his only plan really was to do something very surprising,
and then wait to see how the Spaniards would reply.
And then, whatever they replied, he did something more
surprising. The general idea of his campaign, which
was the capture of treasure from Peru, was determined,
but his tactics were a series of incalculable adventures,
designed to bewilder : the King of Spain never knew
what piece of his beard was to be singed next. There
was just a little more information Drake wanted about
the River Chagres, for the treasure was sometimes em-
barked on its upper reaches at Venta Cruz, and thence
conveyed by water to Nombre de Dios. He therefore
sent off his brother, John Drake, and one of the crew,
Ellis Hixom, in charge of a pinnace, to make exploration,
and nursed his wounded leg till their return.
Now Drake’s notion was to capture the treasure from
Peru, not on the sea, but on land, as it came from
Panama ; and, as we have already seen, he had treated
certain Cimaroons with kindness, putting them ashore on
the Main, in the hope that they would tell their tribe
that there were some nice young men knocking about
who were as deadly foes to the Spaniards as they them-
selves. Thus, when Drake came to conduct operations
on land, he would find allies in the wild tribesmen.
Already his wisdom was justifying itself, for one of them,
Diego, had joined him at Nombre de Dios, and had
supplied useful information. But he must give time for
that leaven to work, and in the interval, since he was
meditating operations by land, it was characteristically
Drakian to fix the attention of the Spanish on the sea.
So when his brother John returned from his reconnais-
sance, off the whole squadron went, ships and pinnaces
and all, to busy themselves on the most unlikely project,
which was an attack on Cartagena itself, the capital of
the Spanish Main. It never entered Drake’s head, of
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
64
course, to attempt to take it, for he could not possibly
have held the port where the great armed Spanish escorts,
like those he had met with at San Juan, were constantly
arriving. The attack was, for immediate purposes,
nothing but a feint to keep Spanish eyes glued to the sea,
but a knowledge of the harbour of Cartagena proved in
later years to be of use. Drake put it into that unleaking
memory of his.
Apart from its purpose as a feint, this little water
party to Cartagena was just a lark, an impertinent school-
boy lark, a gesture of contempt for all things Spanish.
Drake entered the harbour with his three pinnaces at
nightfall, and there, at the entrance, was a Spanish frigate,
on which there was a solitary and loquacious old man,
the rest of the crew having gone ashore “ to fight about
a mistress.” This ancient mariner told them that there
was a big ship from Seville in the bay adjoining, which
had discharged its cargo and was sailing next morning
for San Domingo. That was irresistible : so off the
three pinnaces went (taking the old man along with them,
just in case he was fooling them), and sure enough he
had spoken the truth. So, with two pinnaces coming
alongside on her starboard, and the other amidships on
her port, the boys climbed very quietly up her high
sides, battened down her hatches, to keep her slumbering
crew safe below, and towed her away. When it was day,
Drake, keeping out of range of the guns on shore,
solemnly took her right across the mouth of the harbour,
in full view of the town, and there was a nice surprise for
Cartagena 1 Cartagena rang its alarm bells and blazed
away with its cannon, but all to no purpose, and the
boys came on to the ship from their pinnaces, and they
sailed off. The same day they took two frigates, ^ which
^ The frigate, as Sir Julian Corbett points out {Drake ajid the Tudor
Navy, vol. i. p. 162), was not then the powerful ship it became, but a
small one-masted vessel with eight to twelve oars on each side.
DRAKE’S DRUM
65
were bringing despatches to Cartagena from Nombre
de Dios, with news of Drake’s raid on the town : these
must have been amusing reading, for they warned the
Governor that Captain Drake was still on the coast, and
careful watch should be kept. After that he set the crew
of their prize ashore on an island, and with the pinnaces
in tow sailed it away to the secret anchorage at the Isle
of Pines. Quite an amusing little excursion, very
refreshing and cheeky.
Then there arose a problem which Drake had to deal
with, and which he dealt with in quite his own manner.
He adored his dainty pinnaces ; they were exactly
suited (as he had known they would be) for these swift
raids and unexpected appearances. They sailed nimbly
and were easily handled, and they were also independent
of wind, for the crew got a good speed out of them,
by rowing, in calms or contrary airs. But his crews,
which originally had numbered only seventy-three, all
told, were insufficient to man the two ships and the
pinnaces as well. To leave one of his ships here without
a crew would only mean that sooner or later the Spaniards
would capture her, and it would be far better to scuttle
or burn her. The ship for sacrifice must be the “ Swan,”
for she could not alone carry all his crew, and he must
keep the “ Pasha.” The “ Pasha ” would thus become
his store ship and naval base, and the pinnaces be
fleet and fully manned. But the difficulty that faced
him was that Brother John was captain of the ” Swan,”
and he and his crew were devoted to their handy little
ship : they would not take kindly to the idea of her
destruction. Drake cudgelled his brain over this : it
would be a most unpopular order, if he decreed that
the ” Swan ” must die, and yet he must have more
men for his pinnaces.^ And then he thought of a
^ The Narrative is perfect!/ explicit about the reason why Drake
scuttled the “ Swan,” and Mr. H. R. Wagner’s statement {Sir Fraticis
E
66
SIR FRANCIS DRAKF
beautiful plan, which must be told in the words of the
Narrative ;
“To accomplish this, therefore, he sent for one Thomas Moone
(who was carpenter of the ‘ Swan ’), and taking him into his cabin,
chai'ged him to conceal for a time a piece of service which he must
in any case consent to do aboard his own ship — that was in the
middle of the second watch, to go down secretly into the well of
the ship, and with a great spike-gimlet to bore three holes as near
to the keel as he coidd, and lay something against it, that the force
of the water entering might make no great noise nor be dis-
covered by a boiling up.
“Thomas Moone, at the hearing thereof, being utterly dismayed,
desired to know ‘ What cause there might be to move him to
sink so goodly a bark of his own, new and strong, and that, by his
means, who had been in two so rich and gainful voyages in her
with himself heretofore. If his brother the Master and the rest
of the company should know of such his fact, he thought verily
they would kill him.’
“ But when our Captain had imparted to him his cause, and
had persuaded him witli promise that it should not be known till
all of them should be glad of it, he understood it and did it
accordingly.”
Early next morning, a fine morning of mid-August,
out came Drake in his pinnace, all blandness and inno-
cence, to go fishing. Ele paddled across to the “ Swan,”
and, with his eyebrows very much raised and his humor-
ous mouth a-twitch, saw that Thomas Moone had done
his job. He hailed Brother John, who was not itp yet,
to come fishing with him : no hurry, he would wait for
him. As they rowed away, said Drake suddenly, “ Why,
how low your ship is in the water ! ” Low indeed it
was, for water had been coming into it since the middle
of the second watch (that carefully calculated hour), and
Brother John called to the steward to see if there was any
Hrahe's Foyage around the Woi'ld, p. 12) tliat he wanted to prevent
his men returning to England has no foundation.
DRAKE’S DRUM
67
water in the hold, and the steward, stepping briskly down
into the hold, found himself waist-deep. He sang out
that the ship was full of water, and so Brother John put
back to see about it, and Brother Francis offered to come
too. But John said that he need not do that : let him go
fishing, for there were plenty of men to man the pumps,
though it was all very mysterious. So Francis went
fishing, and all hands on the “ Swan ” were set to pump,
and they got some fellows from the “ Pasha ” to help.
But such fine big holes had Thomas Moone bored with
his spike-gimlet, that though they sweated and pumped
all day till three of the afternoon, they could gain but
little on the water, and were quite unable to find the
leak, for it was close to the keel where the water was
deepest, and there was a board wedged down over it.
It seemed hopeless, and Francis shook his head sadly
at the mishap. The best he could advise was that the
crew should take their belongings out of the drowning
“ Swan ” and set her a-fire, so that she should not fall
into the enemy’s hands. It was dreadful for Brother
John, who loved his ship, said Drake, but he should be
captain of the “ Pasha,” and he himself would sail in a
pinnace till they took some fresh prize. It was so done,
and the crew of the “ Swan ” came aboard the “ Pasha,”
Thomas Moone among them, with his useful spike-gimlet.
And thus Drake got enough men for the dainty pinnaces
without hurting anybody’s feelings, and he mourned
over the loss of the “ Swan,” and could not understand
it at all. She must have had a bad leak. . . .
CHAPTER V
THE CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE
TRAINS
O that was done, and Drake could
get to work. The great immediate
object now was to establish and
cement fiiendly relations with the
Cimaroons, who, he hoped, would
be both guides and allies in his
design (so simple when somebody-
had thought of it) of intercepting
the treasure-laden convoys on their way across the
Isthmus from Panama. Unlike the great Lord
Kitchener, he was a leader of the most elastic notions,
and never laid out a campaign in which each step
followed by flawless mechanism on the last, as hour
follows hour, when the clock is wound. Drake took a
step, and then, so to speak, standing on one leg, waited till
he saw where he could most surpiisingly plant the next.
Swift and brilliant improvisation, rather than a reasoned
progress, was his method. So now, with pinnaces fully
manned, in case of any unexpected plums by the way, he
went quietly up the Gulf of Darien, concealed the “ Pasha ’*
in a well-secluded inlet, and, under the tutelage of Diego,
who, since the affair at Nombre de Dios, had attached
himself to Drake with dog-like devotion, built quarters
ashore for his crews on the model of a Cimaroon
village. It was hard work in the damp sweltering
heat, so while that was getting done he gave his boys a
fortnight’s holiday. He cleared a bit of jungle, and
6S
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 69
made this a playground where they could amuse them-
selves with quoits and bowls ; half the crews only
worked each day, while the others diverted themselves.
The workers had also to get provisions, but that was not
difficult, since fish and fowl and flesh were abundant,
and a smith’s forge was set up for repair of broken
iron fittings. Drake, it is needless to state, had foreseen
that this would be wanted, and he had brought out a few
sackfuls of coal from England for his smithy.
Having established the base, Drake set off with two
pinnaces, on a series of small raids. They cruised about,
eastwards and westwards; they chased victualling frigates,
and relieved them of hams and hogs and maize; they
landed at the island of Tolou for vegetables, for it was
important to lay in plentiful stores, as he had learned
from the Cimaroons that now, at the approach of the
rainy season, when mountain streams became swollen
and mule tracks impassable, the treasure convoys ceased
to cross the Isthmus, and laid up till the rains were over.
So by way of filling up time, Drake did his marketing by
sea, thus keeping the Spaniards alert in that quarter,
since he projected raids by land. Copious traps they set
for him, but he never fell into them ; once they sent an
apparently empty frigate out to sea, hoping that he would
try to board it, but when he came close he saw rows of
heads just above the bulwarks, so that was no use. On
another occasion, chiefly it would seem out of sheer reck-
less high spirits, Drake sprang ashore from the pinnace
in a wooded place where he knew Spaniards to be am-
bushed. He wanted to create also an atmosphere of
contempt for them among his boys, and with a view to
that visited Cartagena again, and had a long game of
hide-and-seek in the harbour.
Endless were these small adventures : they had no
definite object except to keep his men busy, to obtain
provisions, to keep the Spanish looking seawards, and,
70
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
above all, to give time for the establishment of friendly
relations with the Cimaroons. But the weather con-
tinued to be disgusting, and the crews of the two roving
pinnaces began to suffer from their continued exposure
to heat and cold. So, though Drake himself never ailed,
he took the boys back, about the end of November, to
their comfortable quarters ashore to be fed and dried
after these weeks of almost amphibious life, until the
treasure trains were on the move again. Sickness had
appeared among them, and he was their nurse as well
as their General.
Heavy news greeted his arrival. The pinnace which
he had left with the ship had been peacefully employed
one day in bringing planks for the building of the settle-
ment ashore, and it was returning laden when the crew
spied a frigate at sea which might be taken- They
urged their captain, John Drake, to give chase, but this
at first he refused to do, for there were no arms on the
pinnace except a rapier, of which the point was broken,
and a couple of old guns. But they continued to urge
and taunt him, till against his better judgment he yielded,
“ For it shall never be said,” he told them, ” that I will
be the hindmost, neither shall you report to my brother
that you lost your voyage by any cowardice you found
in me.” So they pitched the planks overboard, and in
the bow of the pinnace stood John Drake, with the rapier
and his pillow for a gauntlet, and by him was young
Richard Allen with one of the popguns. They boarded
the frigate, but found her full of men armed with pikes
and firearms, and the two who led them fell mortally
wounded. But they saw to it that the pinnace got clear,
and then they lay down and died.
Such was the news that awaited Drake when he came
back with the other two pinnaces, and in the first week
of the New Year (1573) came a yet heavier trouble. A
deadly sickness broke out in the camp : within two or
CAPTURE OF TRIE TREASURE TRAINS 71
three days of its appearance six men died of it, and soon
thirty, or nearly half the entire company, were stricken.
Probably it was yellow fever, for malaria could not have
claimed its victims so speedily. The skill of the ship’s
doctor was of no avail, but it was possible, thought
Drake, that a post-mortem might show what organs were
affected, and so point to a remedy. But none must be
able to say that he spared himself, and when, one night,
his young brother Joseph died in his arms, he ordered
the doctor to take him as the subject for dissection. But
nothing was found that could suggest a cure, and then
in turn the doctor, who had already suffered and recovered
from the disease, made his own sacrifice for the sake of
the rest. He concocted a dose of dangerous potency
which he thought might prove efficacious, but he tried
it first, not on any of his patients, but on himself, and
died of it. The two incidents make us realize what
sort of spirit animated the leaders of the fever-stricken
camp.
These were calamities which might well have snapped
even a finely-tempered courage : twenty-eight of the
crew had now perished of the plague, there had been
four casualties otherwise, and both Drake’s brothers were
dead. But his flame never flickered for a moment, nor
did the idea of giving up the quest so much as enter his
head. He was here, though now with only half his
company (and of those many sick), to take the treasure of
the King of Spain, with which he troubled the world,
and that was still his business. The leaven had by now
worked among the Cimaroons, and thirty of the tribes-
men had joined him to be his guides and allies against
the detestable common enemy, with news that, the rains
being now over, the convoys of treasure-bearing mules
would be on the move again. The Cimaroons had
already been out scouting for Drake, and learned that
the Spanish fleet which came at this season to transport
72
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
the treasure to Spain had arrived at Nombre de Dios,
and Drake despatched one of the pinnaces to confirm
that. It was time therefore to start, but there were
many still sick, and he had to leave hale men to look after
them and guard the ship. Forty-eight, all told, there-
fore, were the sum of his party, eighteen English and
thirty Cimaroons. The ship and the pinnaces and the
sick he left under charge of Ellis Hixom, and told him
not to trust any messenger who, in his absence, purported
to come from him, unless such messenger brought some-
thing in his handwriting. For disaster might overtake
him, and an order, apparently coming from him, to move
the ship or to join him, might only prove to be a Spanish
or Cimaroon trap to capture the rest. But a scrap of
his handwriting would be a safe token, for neither
Spaniard nor Cimaroon could easily counterfeit that.
Never surely in all history was there so gorgeously
impertinent a guerilla, but Drake was at war with the
King of Spain, and was going to singe his beard. In
his rear, on the Atlantic, were the cities and ships and
soldiers of that pestered monarch, the long coast and
settlements of the Main, and the islands of the gulf ; in
front, at the end of the track over the Isthmus, were
the town and garrison and ships of Panama, and between
the two a party of eighteen English with native guides,
wholly contemptuous of the ships and the troops and the
fevers that surrounded them. A couple of Cimaroons
scouted ahead, and at any moment, on the hint of alarm,
Drake’s army could vanish like smoke into the forest
that bordered the track. The treasure-laden mules were
the objective, and until they came in touch with them,
even a solitary wayfarer encountered on the road might
give word that he had met a strange little party of English
marching towards Panama, and the Spanish, who were
still looking seawards for Drake’s marauding pinnaces,
would turn their eyes elsewhere. We must conclude,
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 73
therefore, when the Narrative says that in two days’
march they “ reached ” Venta Cruz (which was the half-
way house between Nombre de Dios and Panama, where,
if the river Chagres was navigable, the treasure was
sometimes put on boats), that they did not enter the
place or show themselves at all, but only arrived in its
neighbourhood.
So they followed the track till they came near Venta
Cruz, on the chance of intercepting a convoy coming
from there by land to Nombre de Dios, and then turning
aside made their way through forest till they had passed
it, and could regain the track again on the further side of
it. Upwards they went, marching early and late, and
resting in the noon-day heats ; and the air became keener
and finer as they left the slack and sultry atmosphere
which had bred fever in their veins. Hot it was, but
now the swoony perfume of jungle gave place to the clear
aroma of pines, and nights were cool. Daily the bonds
of affection and comradeship between them and their
strong cheerful guides grew firmer : the Indians insisted
on carrying all the kit and the provisions, so that the
English carried only their arms ; they offered also to
collect more of their tribe to join them, but this Drake
refused, saying that they had no need of a larger force.
At night they all camped together, and Drake tried to
teach them the Lord’s Prayer, but whether in Cimaroon
translation, or phonetically in English, we are not told.
Still upwards they went, chattering and cheerful, but
ready at a sign from the scouts to scatter from the track
and erase themselves in the forest till the wayfarer had
passed. The mule trains moved at night ; there were
sentries to listen for the sound of their bells. But neither
unarmed men nor women, such were Drake’s orders,
were to be touched. This was needftil to be understood,
for the Cimaroons would kill any Spaniard, male or
female, on sight.
74 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
Then one day, the i ith of February, Pedro, the head-
man of their escort, pointed forward, and through the
trees it could be seen that there was no longer fold after
fold of wooded hills in front, but just one brow a little
ahead, and the sky showed through the pines that clothed
it. They had come to the watershed of the Cordilleras,
and beyond that final rise the rains that fell and the
streams that flowed found their way not into the Atlantic,
but into the ocean which no English eye had yet beheld.
As they topped the ridge, Pedro took Drake by the hand
and led him to a big tree that rose high among its
fellows. There were little ladder-like steps cut in the
trunk, and up among the branches was built a platform for
look-out, where ten or a dozen men might stand. Drake
followed his guide up the trunk, and there he experienced
perhaps the greatest inspirational moment of his life.
The day was clear : behind stretched the huge plain
of the Atlantic, in front lay the Pacific Ocean, and
then and there he knelt and besought Almighty God of
His goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in an
English ship on that sea. This sight must not be his
alone ; it belonged equally to all the English boys who
had fought and sailed with him, and he called them all
up to see it, and told them of his prayer. Among them
was young John Oxenham, who vowed that “ unless our
Captain did beat him from his company, he would follow
him by God’s grace.” John Oxenham, in the decrees
of destiny, was the first of the two to drive a furrow
through those dim waters from which he never returned.
But to both this was a Pisgah-sight, not indeed of a
promised land, but of a sea, and the sea was ever their
route and goal of pilgrimage. From that day, as
Camden tells us, that new scene of adventure was never
absent from Drake’s thoughts.
It was probably from this very spot in 1513 that Vasco
Nufiez de Balboa, the first European to set eyes on the
capture of the treasure trains 75
Pacific, beheld the Southern Ocean. He was Spanish
commander at Darien, and having heard rumours from
the natives that there was a great ocean to the south
which could be seen from the hills in a few days’ march,
he set off with guides to explore and verify, and was
taken like Drake to the nearest point at which it was
visible. Curiously alike too, on them both, was the effect
of the sight of this Illimitable extension of the known
world. It was one of those magical dawns which illu-
mine the path of the explorer, to behold which is the
prime motive power which spurs him on through tropical
risks and arctic hardships, and to both Drake and Balboa
there came simultaneously with that the craving for
possession, so that just as now the one prayed for divine
permission to sail an English ship across those waters,
so had Balboa desired Almighty God and the Blessed
Virgin “ to give him good success to subdue these lands
to the glory of His name and the increase of the true
religion.” ^ Balboa subsequently returned to the pos-
ture of possession, for on coming down to the Pacific
coast he dramatically waded up to his middle in the
water, shield and sword in hand, and called upon his
men to bear witness that he took possession of the South
Sea and (with comprehensive vagueness) “ all that apper-
tained to it,” for the King of Castile and Leon. It was
just to challenge that assertion (which was in the best
style of the late German Emperor) that Drake, sixty
years later, came to the same place. . . . Keats, it may
be noticed, must have had this historical episode about
Balboa in mind when he wrote the immortal sonnet,
though with poetic licence he attributes the incident
to Cortez,
Five years, however, were to elapse before Drake
drove a furrow through those waters, and now his immedi-
ate business was to intercept the mule trains which were
^ Southey, British Admirals^ vol. iii. p. io6, note.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
'/6
due to be on the move. From the watershed and the
tree of apocalypse they began to descend towards
Panama. They had taken six days to mount to the ridge
from the Atlantic, and now the rate of their going was
quicker, for not only was the way downhill, but the men,
of whom some had been stricken by that devastating
disease, had regained their strength in the finer air, and,
above all, the anticipation of imminent adventure, which
might develop any hour, speeded their travel. They
were now astride the only track from Panama ; the spring
was advancing, and the Spanish transports at Nombre
de Dios were expecting the arrival of the first treasure
convoys coming along the track where, unknown to any,
Drake was waiting. There he was with eighteen boys
from Devon perched in the middle of the enemy’s
country, with joy in his heart.
Two days’ march brought them to the end of the
forest and into the open. In front of them now lay undu-
lations of low hills, covered with tall pampas grass,
flattening out into the plain. Perhaps the wiser course
would have been to have waited inside the edge of the
forest, where cover for an ambush was better, and where
the steeper ground would have favoured the activity of
Drake’s young company, and impeded the clumsy move-
ments of laden mules. But his unbridled and adventur-
ous impatience could not put up with inaction : besides,
like a magnet of gold, the city of Panama, with its harbour
and its shipping, was visible five and six times a day, as
they topped the crests of the low hills, and for two days
more the little force crept on towards the coast. Far
greater caution was needed now, for the view was wider
and they could be seen at a greater distance than in cover
of the forest, and at any moment they must be ready to
vanish into the sea of waving pampas. But on they
went, till they came within a league of the town, and there
halted while one of the guides went forward into Panama
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 77
to get news of the movement of the treasure trains, while
Drake, from some little eminence, ambushed in the tufts
of tall grass, studied the lie of the streets, meditating
perhaps some such mad exploit as that which he had
conducted at Nombre de Dios, some swift audacious
attack on the town itself. In eager haste the Cimaroon
came back with the happy tidings that this very night
two trains were setting forth from Panama. Most of
the mules were carrying victuals, but there was silver
as well, and with the trains there would travel the august
Treasurer of Lima, with his daughter, and eight mules
carrying gold, and one laden with jewels. Drake in-
stantly retraced his steps, and back they went twelve
miles in the direction of Venta Cruz, and halted six miles
from it ; this move no doubt was made with the idea of
having a shorter and a downhill retreat afterwards with
their booty to the secret harbour, where the “Pasha”
and the pinnaces were waiting his return.
The mule trains travelled by night for coolness, and
thus, since the attack would take place in the dark, Drake
made all his men take off their shirts and put them on
over their coats, so that the glimmer and the fluttering
of shirt tails should distinguish them to the eyes of their
fellows in the scrimmage. He laid his ambush at a
point which the mule trains would pass before morning,
stringing out his men on both sides of the road, so that
they could pop out both to front and rear of the mules,
and gave orders that none should stir till he blew his
whistle. He ordered also that if any one came along
the track not from the direction of Panama only, but from
Venta Cruz, before the arrival of the mule trains, the
deadliest quiet must be observed, so that any wayfarer-
might pass on without suspecting the ambush and so
giving the alarm. The moment was of breathless excite-
ment, for such adventure was the crown of the entire
expedition, and the fact that the Treasurer of Lima was
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
78
approaching gave it a special importance. So the boys
had their supper, and a dram of brandy was served out,
and they crept into silent concealment to wait for Drake’s
whistle. And then ensued the most tragic fiasco.
The mules carried deep-sounding bells, and now these
were audible, though still afar off. But suddenly there
came another noise from the opposite direction : the sound
of a horse’s step near at hand and approaching from
Venta Cruz, as Drake had foreseen might happen. Then
one of his boys, wicked Robert Pike, who “ had drunk
too much aqrra vitae without water,” started up from his
hiding-place, thinking the mules were coming, without
waiting for Drake’s whistle. A sensible Cimaroon
instantly pulled him down and sat on him, but the harm
was done. The Spaniard, riding from Venta Cruz, had
seen the flutter of his shirt, and with his suspicions aroused
(for why should a young man in a shirt be hiding in the
long grass .?), put his horse to a livelier pace and cantered
off towards Panama. Drake had no idea, of course,
what had caused this gentleman to mend his pace, and
though he didn’t like it, he waited, for soon the music
of the mule-bells pealed louder, and presently they
entered the ambushed section of the path. Shrill
sounded his whistle, out rushed his men, and there was
the mule train in their hands. Its drivers showed no
fight, and instantly they set to work to rifle the laden
panniers which proved to contain nothing but provisions,
and of the Treasurer of Lima and his daughter and his
gold there was no trace at all. What had happened ?
There was a sensible fellow among the muleteers, and
he politely explained. There had met them a Spanish
gentleman riding down from Venta Cruz, who had seen
the suspicious circumstances of a young man starting
up from behind a tussock, and he had communicated the
fact to the convoy. On which the Treasurer of Lima,
with his armed guard and his valuable luggage, had
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 79
clattered back to Panama. But the mules, with provi-
sions, might as well go on, and see what the Spanish
gentleman’s suspicions were worth. He thoughtfully
added that Drake and his company would be wise to
clear out before the whole country was roused. So
there they all were. . . .
Now Drake was a master of powerful expressions,
and before he had finished it is probable that Master
Pike wished that he was back at Plymouth. When that
was over he began to think what was to be done next.
Pedro, whom he consulted, put two alternatives before
him, the one to get back into the forest, and make a long
circuit again round Venta Cruz, the other to make a direct
dash thi'ough Venta Cruz. They were all weary of
marching ; they were sick with disappointment, for
indeed they had not come all the way to Panama to
capture a few sandwiches, and Drake decided to get back
by the shortest way possible.
They set off instantly. For the present they could
ride, for they had the mules if nothing more. But when
they were within a mile of the place, they rode into a
Spanish picket, which was always on guard for fear of
raids by the Cimaroons. They were challenged, and
Drake bawled out that they were English and demanded
passage in the name of the Queen of England. That
could not be called tacthil, and a volley answered him,
slightly wounding him, and fatally wounding one of the
company. But then the matter was taken out of his
hands altogether, for the Cimaroons, finding themselves
fired on by the detested Spanish, rushed forward with
war-cry and war-dance. They pushed by the English,
drove the picket into the woods, harried them, and put
them to flight. English and Cimaroons entered the
town together, and at the sudden attack of this wild tribe,
panic seized the inhabitants, civilians and soldiers alike,
and they fled helter-skelter for refuge in the monastery.
8o
SIR FRANCIS DRAR.E
Drake barricaded them there, and set a guard, and for
an hour or two his men pillaged the town. It was a
place where the ladies of Nombre de Dios were wont to
come for their accouchementSy by reason of its more salu-
brious air, and Drake, with the swaggering gallantry
that distinguished him, assured them personally that
there was nothing to be frightened of, and wished them
well. By daybreak they were out of the town again,
and on the way to rejoin the ship. The whole affair,
all compassed in the space of a night, was one of his most
surprising (though quite unsuccessful) feats, and it must
have had the effect of utterly bewildering the Spanish.
He had captured a mule train, he had taken Venta Cruz,
and now he had completely vanished again. He was
weaving round himself that cloak of mystery, surprise,
and terror, in which for years, in Spanish eyes, he was
to walk enveloped.
To Venta Cruz from the harbour, where he had left
his ship a fortnight ago, had been two days’ march, but
now Drake had with him a tired, broken-shoed, and
exasperated company. The whole expedition had mis-
carried ; they came back empty-handed and disappointed.
But there was no time to lose before getting to the ship,
for now the hunt would be up, and he hurried his boys
along, sometimes by his invincible gaiety and cheerful-
ness, and sometimes by the pleasing device of grumbling
more than anybody, and exciting their sympathy with
him. But every mile that they traversed cemented the
trust and friendship between the English and the Cima-
roons, and devoted and eager, under the personal magnet-
ism of Drake, was their service. They were scouts, they
foraged for food, they built huts for the night, and often,
if one of the English was fainting and spent with weari-
ness, two of them would easily carry him for a couple
of miles. Under their guidance they made steady
progress towards the bay where the ship was in hiding.
CAPTURE OP THE TREASURE TRAINS
They were near now, and Drake, remembering the orders
he had given to Eliis Hixom, to trust no messenger
purporting to come from him, nor any token he might
bring unless accompanied by something in his hand-
writing, could not resist playing a silly prank on him,
which at the same time should test his obedience and
loyalty. He sent forward a Cimaroon with orders to
Hixom to meet him at the mouth of the river Tortugas,
and in token of the authenticity of the message, gave
him his gold toothpick to show. Ellis Hixom looked
at it, and shook his head ; there was no handwriting here,
and he began to be afraid that some disaster had befallen,
and that this was a cunning trap of the Spanish to bag
the rest of them. And then tlie Cimaroon told him to
look more closely at the toothpick, and he saw that
Drake had scratched on it with the point of his knife,
“ By me, Francis Drake.” So there was the autograph,
and perhaps just as convincing was the feeling that
nobody but Drake could possibly have thought of
that.
At the anchorage all had gone well ; his invalids had
recovered, and were eager to start on some fresh foray.
What that should be was the question, and Drake sum-
moned all his boys together to hear what they voted for.
Some said one thing and some another, and Drake listened
very attentively, for, as one of his biographers tells us,
he was always willing to hear the opinion of others,
though he subsequently followed his own, and they
settled to be busy at sea again. This would give rest
to his footsore men, would provide them with victuals,
and it was to be hoped, prizes : above all, it would cause
the Spaniards to think that he had abandoned these raids
on land, and would restore their shaken sense of security
with regard to their treasure trains. To capture them
was still Drake’s sole real objective, and these marine
raids, though he hoped they would be useful in them-
F
^2 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
selves, were chiefly designed to make his next appear-
ance on the Isthmus quite unlooked for.
Surprise and unexpectedness were necessarily the
keynote of his tactics, for what could a handful of boys
do against any prepared defence So now, in a moment,
like some quick-change artist of the halls, Drake doffed
the highwayman’s costume, and while the last stanza,
so to speak, of his Dick Turpin’s song was still ringing
in Spanish ears, he was blacking his face, and changing
into his pirate make-up. He pushed off in one pinnace,
cruising westwards, and, leaving a guard on the “ Pasha,”
bundled the rest of the crew, under John Oxenham, into
another, and sent them along the coast eastwards, with
the special mission of capturing some provision-laden
ship, for the stores at the base were running low, and
his men had the appetites of convalescents. “ Get
along with you, Johnnie,” he cried, “ and bring back
turkeys and fat hogs to fill the larder. . . .” Off they
went, and just as if they were a crew of hungry castaways
in some boy’s book of preposterous adventure, they at
once sighted a new Spanish frigate, spick and span and
seaworthy, with the precise cargo of which they were in
search. They snapped it up, as a hungry pike snaps up
a duckling, and setting the crew ashore in one of their
own boats, sailed the prize back to the secret anchorage,
with pinnace towed behind, within a few days of their
departure. Luck also attended Drake, for on his west-
ward cruise he captured a frigate on which there was
gold, and had news of a second at Veragua, where there lay
yet another with so large a cargo of gold on board, that
his mouth must have watered for it. But so strongly
was it guarded, that even the genius of his daring was
reined in by prudence, and he returned to the base with
what he had already won. Down the coast, wherever
there were Spanish ships and Spanish troops, ran the
warning that the monster Drake was at sea again, playing
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 83
“ Tom Tiddler’s ground and picking up gold and silver.”
Indeed, as the Fugger Bank correspondent at Seville
lamentably moralized, “ There is always much labour
and sorrow in traffic with New Spain.”
So Drake returned from Tom Tiddler’s ground to the
secret anchorage, and found the new frigate which
Johnnie had brought in, and all those turkeys and pigs.
That was maddening for the Spaniards, for they had to
keep alert all the time, even when Drake was at ease, for
fear of his popping out anywhere and anywhen. The
new frigate pleased him immensely, and he “ tallowed
her to make her a man-of-war,” and as it was now Easter-
tide, he kept the festival with good cheer and holiday
for all hands. But next day he took the new frigate out
for a trial trip, and fell in with something quite unex-
pected, namely, a big French ship from Havre in great
distress for want of water, having only cider and wine
on board. Captain Tetu and his crew seemed harmless,
feckless folk, and Diake took them into the secret harbour
of the ” Pasha,” and relieved their necessities. Captain
Tetu reported the infamous massacre of the Huguenots
in August last, and those who wish may believe that
Drake’s Protestant blood boiled within him, as he remem-
bered his father’s flight from Tavistock, owing to these
nasty Catholics. But there is no hint of such blood-
boiling in the Narrative, and the lines of it are surely
sufficiently full of interest to content us without reading
between them. Captain Tetu was anxious to be taken
into partnership on Drake’s next venture, and this Drake
agreed to do. It was understood, of course, that he
remained in command, just as he had done when he
allowed Captain Ranse to join up with him before the
taking of Nombre de Dios. Since that first partneiship
he had lost by sickness or in fighting more than half
his original crew, and he was short of hands to guard
the base ship, and to talce part in the new and most
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
8 +
preposterous raid by land, which was simmering in his
mind. That siirely, more than a championship of the
victims of Catholicism and of Antichrist throned in
Rome, accounts for the new alliance.
The French crew had suffered considerable privation
from lack of food and water, and Drake gave them five or
six days of content and idleness, while his drum beat to
him louder and louder as his plan ripened to its music.
No doubt he was willing to hear the ideas of his new
comrades, but the scheme bears unmistakably in eveiy
feature the stamp of his mind, and still more, when it
was executed and the utterly unforeseen came near to
wreck him and his in huge disaster, was it his genius and
refusal to be beaten that pulled so gigantic a success out
of the most desperate plight. When French stomachs
were in order again, the “ Pasha ” and the French ship
with one pinnace remained in hiding, and the two
Captains set sail in the captured frigate that pleased
Drake with two attendant pinnaces. The expeditionary
force, for its amphibious work, consisted of twenty Cima-
roons, twenty French, and fifteen English. Drake had
a true sense of that artistic economy about which we
hear so much nowadays.
His first scheme (liable to astounding modifications)
was to land at the mouth of the Rio Francisco, a small
river debouching some twenty miles east of Nombre de
Dios, at which point sailors became soldiers, and were
to proceed by land. But the frigate drew too much
water to approach the coast, and he disembarked the
land party into the pinnaces, leaving the frigate to efface
herself under shelter of a headland which protected a
bay full of small islands, among which a ship could lie
hidden and wait for the return of the pinnaces. With
them he rowed up the Rio Francisco as far as it was
navigable, and leaving a few men on board, told
them to go and hide also, but to be back at the same
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 85
spot on the fourth day without fail. The pinnaces
dropped down the river again, and ensconced themselves
in the bay where the frigate lay hid. Drake’s diversions
by sea had been completely successful, Spanish confidence
had been restored on land, and he learned from the
Cimaroons that the mule trains were plying daily from
Panama to Nombre de Dios.
Now whether Captain Tetu, who was with the land
party, had been completely informed as to what Drake’s
scheme was, is doubtful, for he seems, when the pinnaces
vanished, to have been seized (as well he might be) with
misgivings as to whether he would ever see them again,
and as to what might happen if the Cimaroons, who were
Drake’s loving dogs for service, but “ little regarded ”
the French, proved treacherous or deserted them. Of
course Drake did not know what would happen either,
but he reassured Captain T6tu, and began the march.
As in all his plans, the supreme merit of this one was
its sheer incredibility, for no mule train could possibly
imagine that an attack would be made on it at the place
he proposed. He was going to lay the ambrrsh within
a mile of the west gate of Nombre de Dios itself. So
close to the journey’s end, the guard would certainly
consider that all dangers of the passage were over.
The party that had landed from the pinnaces was now
to the east of Nombre de Dios, and their quarry would
approach it from the west. It was necessary, therefore,
to take to the woods and make a wide detour round the
town, well out of sight ; this increased the distance to
be traversed to some seven leagues. But by nightfall on
the second day they had circumvented the town and crept
down close to the road where the ambush would be
sprung. The heat was intense, and in Nombre de Dios
now work in the harbour went on by night, and every
one slept during the day. Through the hours of darkness
the ambushed raiders heard the hammer of carpenters,
86
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
■which would cease at dawn, and presently they might
expect to hear the sound of mule-bells coming from
Panama, for the treasure trains also moved by night.
Very early in the morning the Cimaroon scouts, who had
been out, returned with the news of pealing mule-bells,
a veritable carillon of them, for no less than three mule
trains were approaching, a hundred and ninety beasts
in all, not carrying sandwiches, but laden with silver and
gold, and soon, they said, every one would be staggering
under the weight of it. Louder and louder grew the
rich bells, and right into the ambush came the trains.
Drake’s signal sounded, the bushes were alive with
French and English and with those deadly war-dancing
Cimaroons.
The first mule of the three trains and the last of the
hindermost were caught, and the hundred and eighty-eight
obedient beasts in between, as when a halt was called, lay
down. The five and forty soldiers who guarded them
put up but a brief fight, and then fled in panic from war-
dance and muskets to get help from the town which had
just turned in to sleep. C3ne Cimaroon was killed.
Captain Tetu was badly wounded in the stomach, but
the rest fell on the panniers and tore them open. Silver,
as in the days of Solomon, was nothing accounted of that
morning : fifteen tons of it they buried in the sand and
gravel of a small stream, and under trees, and in the
holes of the land crabs. The men loaded themselves
with the more precious metal, taking little silver, but
meaning to come back, if possible, and fetch the
commoner stuff. But by now there was a stir, and
the sound of foot and horse approaching, and they
all staggered back into the forest again to begin their
laden march to where the pinnaces would be wait-
ing. Captain T6tu, once safe in cover, desired to be
left behind with a couple of his men, hoping that rest
would fortify him ; and before they had gone far on their
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 87
way, it was found that another Frenchman was missing.
It turned out that he had got drunk, and, not waiting for
the Cimaroon guides, had gone on ahead laden with
booty, and had lost his way. He was afterwards taken
by the Spaniards, and, under torture, revealed where the
treasure that they had been unable to carry away was
buried.
Then on the heels of this stupendous success came
apparently crushing disaster. For two days and a night,
staggering under the weight of plunder, the Cimaroons
led them back through the forest. All through that
night a terrific storm of rain and wind from the west
buffeted them, and on the next afternoon, the fourth
day after their departure, they arrived at the point of the
river where the pinnaces were trysted to meet them.
There was no sign of them, but out to sea were seven
Spanish pinnaces beating up against the wind from the
direction where Drake’s frigate and smaller boats had
taken cover among the islands. Only one conclusion
seemed probable : the English pinnaces had been cap-
tured on their way back to the rendezvous, and the land
party, with their loads of gold, was cut off. Even if the
frigate had not been taken, she could not, by reason of
her draught, approach the coast. The crews of the
pinnaces, under torture, would reveal the trysting place,
and the position of the base where the “ Pasha ” lay at
anchor, and the Spaniards could capture the entire
expedition at their leisure.
Drake’s indomitable spirit did not quail for a single
moment, and his resourcefulness, never so triumphant
as in adversity, was in exceisis. This was not the time
for fear : there was no proof yet that the frigate was
taken, nor yet the pinnaces. The proper thing to do
was to go and see what had happened to them. He
was without a boat of any kind, but last night’s storm
was bringing down the river the trees which the wind
88
SIR FRANCIS drake
had uprooted, and they were “ offering themselves,”
so he jubilantly exclaimed, for the manufacture of a raft.
His boys waded out into the swollen stream and hooked
out these offerings, and they lashed them together, with-
out troubling much about their sodden foliage, and by
morning there was $uch a raft. One tree they stripped and
hacked into lengths, and one length was fashioned into
a mast, and four more into the rudest of oars, and another
young tree into an even ruder rudder. For a sail there
was a sack that had held biscuits, and so there was made
ready the craziest craft that ever swam the sea.
This amazing ark would not hold many, but Diake
himself claimed the first place in it, and an English boy
volunteered, and two Frenchmen who could swim well
and were like to stand in need of that accomplishment.
It was launched, while Pedro, whom Drake would not
take because he could not row, was left on the bank,
beating his breast because he might not go with his
beloved Captain. As it was, the raft was overweighted,
and not just awash only, for the rowers who stood on
it were waist-deep in water, and Drake, as he floundered
aboard in the best of spirits, ” comforted the company,
promising that if it pleased God he should put his foot
in safety aboard his frigate, he would, God willing,
by one means or other, get them all aboard in spite
of all the Spaniards in the Indies ! ” Off they went,
spinning and lurching in the swollen river down to the
open sea.
We may just pause to ask what made Drake capable
of ‘‘ comforting the company ” he left behind, and of
not showing the faintest sign of despondency. It
was simply his own supreme confidence which was built
on the rock of his faith in God. Two strong sup-
ports buttressed it, the one his devotion to his Devon
boys whom he had brought into this pass, and whom,
by God, he was going to get out of it, and the second, his
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 89
complete contempt for anything of which Spaniards
were capable.
The craziest of all crafts reached the sea, and now,
instead of being only waist-deep in water, his crew of
four were up to their necks whenever they met a wave.
So great was the midsummer heat that, as we have seen,
the Spaniards only worked at night, and yet for six hours,
with the burning sun smiting on their heads and the salt
spray and water beating on them and cracking their
skins, Drake kept his crew going, as they rowed and
drifted towards the bay in which, possibly, was still his
frigate, and looked out for his mis-trysted pinnaces.
The gale from the west had ceased, and the Spanish
pinnaces gone on their way ; presently a breeze from
the east arose. Six hours had they been at sea, and they
had rowed twelve miles, but now the sun was near setting.
The scorching heat was over, but darkness was at hand,
and what then Drake had no idea, but he was doing
his best, and that sufficed him. The east wind freshened,
and the clumsy oars could make but sorry progress.
Away to the dusky east he saw two specks on the
water that drew rapidly nearer. As they approached,
he thought he recognized them, and at last, when he was
certain, he declared to the three men with him that ‘ ‘ they
were our pinnaces, and that all was safe, so that there was
no cause for fear.” He signalled to the boats, waving the
biscuit sack, but night was falling, and, failing to see his
signal, they were presently out of sight again behind a
headland. Drake waited for their reappearance, but
waited in vain, and surmised that they had gone ashore
for the night. Instantly he beached his crazy craft
and proceeded to run across the hilly promontory that
separated them, and “ so willed the other three with
him, as if they had been chased by the enemy.” He
had captured a mule train, and for two days and a night
had trudged through the tropical forest laden with
go
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
spoil ; he had made a raft, and for six hours had rowed up
to his middle in water beneath a blazing sun, and now,
when night had fallen again, so far from spent was he,
that he ran himself and made the others to run from the
sheer force of his stupendous will and vitality.
Drake found his pinnaces behind the headland, and
then came the explanation of that mis-tryst. That gale
from the west had sprung up, and row as they would,
they could make no headway against it. And then he
must have his joke, for when in turn the captains of the
pinnaces asked him how he had fared, he answered
coldly, “Well.” That was his stoic way, as they knew,
of taking misfortune, and they feared that things had
been far from well. And then Drake’s grey eyes
twinkled as he saw their discomfiture, and he took out
of his breast pocket “ a quoit of gold, thanking God that
our voyage was made.”
But he bethought himself of the men he had left
behind on the bank of the river where the pinnaces
should have met him, and he could not prolong their
suspense for an hour more than was necessary, nor indeed
risk their pursuit by the Spanish. Off he set again at
once, and while night was still black, he was rowing r;p
the river down which, breast-high in water, he had come
that day, with an oar in one hand and a misshapen tiller
in the other. His boys were waiting for him, and he
could not delay their comforting. Before dawn he had
them all aboard the pinnaces, and the Cimaroons as well,
and the great treasure of gold. They dropped down the
river again, sailed to where the frigate was still in safe
hiding, and rejoined the two ships at the base. They
unloaded the treasure, and in the big weighing machine
they parted it, silver and gold, into two equal halves, one
for the French and one for the English crew.
But there was still Captain Tetu and the two French-
men who had been left behind with him to he rescued
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 91
and Drake, having got his men safe back to their base,
set about this ; there was also, it must be remembered,
fifteen tons of silver which they had buried, and which
was possibly recoverable, for they did not yet know that
the cache had been rifled by the Spanish. He organ-
ized a party under the guidance of the Cimaroons, and
rowed back, for the third time, to the mouth of the Rio
Francisco. Then, as once before at Nombre de Dios,
when his men carried him back wounded to the pinnace,
so now, with the same mutinous affection, they would
not allow him to come further, and, under John Oxenham,
landed without him. Of the missing men they picked
up one, but Captain Tetu and the other had been cap-
tured. They learned also that the silver which they had
been unable to carry away with them had been found.
But it was worth while going to have a look, and though
the ground had been dug up for the distance of a square
mile, they found some fifteen bars of silver, with which
they returned.
“ The voyage was made,” and Drake prepared for the
return homeward. He broke up the “ Pasha ” and put
his crew on to the frigate they had captured, the spick-
and-span frigate which had pleased him so much. But
he still wanted a small ship to carry provisions, for
the frigate was laden with more precious stuff, and
there was a good chance of picking one up at Magda-
lena, where Spanish victualling ships often put in. He
had to pass by Cartagena, and instead of making a dis-
creet circuit out to sea, he chose to sail close in ashore.
In the harbour was a great Spanish fleet, and as a final
gesture of contempt for the whole lot of them, Drake
sailed across the very mouth of the harbour in full sight
of them all, with the flag of St. George flying from his
maintop and silk streamers and ancients down to the
water, in full fig of triumph. Next morning he cap-
tured a small frigate laden with hens and hogs and honey,
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
92
and putting its crew ashore (very content to be treated
thus), he sailed off with it to his hiding-place among the
islands, and there for a week they remained, storing
provisions and careening. The dainty pinnaces, which
had so often proved their high-bred qualities in pursuit
and fight, could not traverse the high seas, and so, in
order that they should not serve the Spanish, Drake
broke them up, for the Cimaroons coveted the iron-
work.
Finally, there were those same trusty guides and
allies to be left behind. Drake told Pedro and three
others to inspect everything he possessed and choose
for themselves whatever they liked, and he put out silk
and linen for their wives. What, above all, took Pedro’s
fancy was a scimitar which Captain T6tu had given
Drake, and which he had seen as Drake was opening his
trunks for their inspection : nothing else, in Pedro’s
eyes, was comparable to that scimitar. But he had an
idea that Drake highly valued it, and though he did not
like to ask for it, he got one of the men to let Drake
know how wildly he desired it. So Pedro got his scimitar
“ with very good words,” and protested that it was dearer
to him than his wife and children. In return he begged
Drake to accept four pieces of gold : Drake added them
to the common treasure.
While still in Spanish waters they took a few more
useful trifles, like a pump for the frigate, and caught
two hundred and fifty turtles, which were salted and
made pleasant eating : but we must apply drastic division
to the statement in the Narrative that besides all the
immense booty of bullion, they had taken, from first to
last, the greater part of the two hundred Spanish vessels
which plied between the ports of the Main. . . . Then
the sails were set for the homeward voyage, and swiftly
the shores of their El Dorado grew dim.
So favourable were the winds, and so handy and
CAPTURE OF THE TREASURE TRAINS 93
speedy these two Spanish ships which had taken the
place of the “ Pasha ” and the scuttled “ Swan,” that in
twenty days from leaving the Cape of Florida they passed
the Isles of Scilly, and so arrived at Plymouth on Sunday,
about sermon time, August 4th, 1573. The preacher’s
sermon was spoiled, for news came into the church of
Drake’s return ; the thrilling whisper spread from pew
to pew, and presently the preacher was addressing empty
benches, for the entire congregation stole out, and flocked
down to the quay-side. They could hear a sermon
every Sunday, but it was not every Sunday that Francis
Drake came home from the Spanish Main. ... I think
the preacher must have pronoxinced a hurried doxology,
and followed his flock.
CHAPTER VI
THE START OF THE VOYAGE
OF CIRCUMNAVIGATION
HE excitement over Drake’s return
which had emptied the church that
Sunday morning grew ever higher
as the tale of his adventures spread
from mouth to mouth. Out of the
Plymouth taverns it streamed like
torrents in spring over the West
Country ; none could drink of that
heady liquor without laughter and exhilaration, and
Drake became the idol of his countrymen, just as he
was fast becoming the terror of Spain. His adventures
showed him to have all the qualities which the public
adores : infinite gaiety and resourcefulness in tight
places, titanic energy that never spared itself, bland
ignorance of what fear meant, and a prodigious appetite
for dashing deeds. The hold of his frigate gleamed
with the gold that was the harvest of piracy and highway
robbery, and since most men, even the properest, have
some trace of boyhood still lighting up their adult and
respectable moments, all felt the glamour of one who was
the incarnation of such tip-top lawlessness. And indeed,
was there not also a just claim behind his magnificent
thieving ? For he had been engaged, so he absolutely
insisted, in retrieving what the Spanish had robbed him
of at Rio de la Hacha and San Juan ; if there was a
balance in his favour so much the better. Drake was at
war with the King of Spain : he had been singeing his
THE VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD
95
beard, and a rollicking account he and his boys gave of it.
Nor was the King of Spain only the butt of his defiance :
he had been making rude faces at the great clergyman
of Rome, who, by virtue of his apostolic authority, had
declared that the sea and all that in it is, and America
and all that in it is, belonged to his dear child at Madrid.
A monstrous Papa ! He had laid down, too, that no
faith or solemn oath need be observed in dealing with
heretics, who, if taken by guile or in fair fight, might be
tortured to death by Holy Inquisition for the good of
their souls. But the gay home-coming pirate had never
debased himself to that sanctified level : never had he
touched a woman or an unarmed man, never had he killed
his prisoners or treated them otherwise than kindly, and
at the end had always set them free. The glamour of
the pirate was wedded to admiration of a great-hearted
man, who compelled devotion by his breezy humanity
and by his magnetic personal charm. Faults he had
in plenty; he was short-tempered, violent, autocratic,
vain — and how he could swear 1 But these are not the
faults that estrange : they rather endear, for who wants
a mild and milky hero ? What he had done and what
he was made men’s hearts to dance, and caused them
to be boys again. From Elizabeth on her throne down
to the guttersnipe in the slums, all England hailed him
as just the man for them.
But Elizabeth had to do her dancing in the strictest
privacy : there must be no Spanish Ambassador behind
a screen when she danced, for Drake’s return just now,
with his Spanish gold and his Spanish frigates, was not
a matter for official mirth. During his absence great
changes had taken place in the political situation, and the
year 1573 was marked by a serious intention on the part
of the Queen and her Government towards an amicable
adjustment of the points at issue between England and
Spain : there was even the hope of an alliance. That
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
96
could never have solidly materialized, for the seeds of
English supremacy at sea had already been sown and
were already vigorously sprouting, and that growth was
incompatible with the growth of any friendship with
Spain. Spain would never have looked smilingly on
when her naval supremacy was being challenged, and,
though English official policy just now favoured the
friendship, the whole undercurrent of national feeling
was against it. Drake’s adventure, moreover, was a
hint (and a broad hint) as to the vulnerability of Spanish
sea-power, and was nationally recognized as such.
Politically, then, his return was an embarrassment ;
just when a friendly feeling on the part of Spain was so
desirable, if any treaty was to be arrived at, he came
swaggering up the Sound laden with Spanish gold, and
the Spanish Ambassador knew it. Though it would
perhaps be going beyond the mark to say that if Drake’s
punishment for piracy had been insisted on, it would
have been impossible for Elizabeth to refuse, without
endangering the four-parlers^ it was certainly impos-
sible for her to dance in public. She had before now
professed an entire ignorance of contraband operations
against Spain, when she was a shareholder in such ven-
tures, and though, as later events show, she must have
privately rejoiced over Drake’s demonstrated contempt
of Spanish sea-power in the Indies, she and her ministers
must be unaware that his return had interrupted a sermon,
and set the countryside ringing with glee. It was wiser,
then, that Drake should vanish (he was an adept, as weary
watchers on the Spanish Main knew, at vanishing), for he
was at war with King Philip, while his Queen was for the
moment anxious to make a solid peace with her detested
Brother. It is at least likely, then, that it was with
Elizabeth’s approval and connivance, that he was told
he had better disappear, for his presence might cause
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. p. 197.
THE VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD
97
awkward questions to be asked by the Spanish Am-
bassador. So Drake vanished for a year and a half.
Now Stow ^ makes a definite statement as to what
happened to him ■, he tells us that “ immediately on his
return he furnished at his own expense, three frigates
with men and munitions, and served voluntary in Ire-
land under Walter Earl of Essex where he did excellent
service.” The dates fit nicely, for it was within a week
of Drake’s landing that Essex sailed for Ireland on a
commission from the Queen to restore that perpetually
turbulent province to order. Such a commission was
not uncommon ; the leader of it had the right to pay his
expenses and make something for himself out of any
sort of plunder, and he was doing a patriotic service.
The system was an odious one; it led to the cruellest
pillages and massacres, but it saved Elizabeth the pains
of sending a regular force to Ireland, which it would have
been inconvenient to do. At the same time, if it was
privately undertaken under Royal sanction, it might easily
be made lucrative. In spite, however, of Stow’s definite
statement. Sir Julian Corbett insists that Drake did not
join Essex’s expedition till towards the close of it in
1 5 75) suggests that he lived perdu in Ireland until
the peace negotiations with Spain had broken down. It
is necessary, therefore, to examine with all respect the
views of so careful a historian before preferring Stow’s
statement (which he rejects) to his argument.
This argument is based on two grounds. The first
is, that “ in the recesses of Queenstown Harbour, a
notable haunt of pirates in Tudor times, is a land-locked
creek which still bears the name of ‘ Drake’s Pool,’ and
here persistent tradition says he used to lie hid and pounce
out upon Spanish ships.” ^ That it was thoroughly
Drakian to do that sort of thing, is shown by the voyage
r Stow, Annals, p. 807.
2 Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. p. 192.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
98
to the Spanish Main, but the argument will not stand
examination. To begin with, there is nothing to show
that this creek was not called Drake’s Pool before he
went to Ireland at all, nor is there anything to show that
it was not called Drake’s Pool (if, indeed, its name has
anything to do with Francis Drake) before 1575, when he
admittedly joined Essex’s expedition. Unless, in fact,
there is reason to believe that the creek was not called
Drake’s Pool till after 1573, but before 1575, there is no
ground here for rejecting Stow’s statement, and affirming
that during this time he was in Ireland, but not with
Essex.
The second reason why Sir Julian rejects Stow’s
statement is that Drake’s name spears in Irish State
Papers in 1575, but not before. There he is mentioned
in a pay-sheet as Captain of the “ Falcon,” with certain
sums due to him, and the argument is that since this is the
first mention of him, he was not with Essex before that
date. But there was the strongest reason why Drake’s
name should not have appeared previously, for the whole
point of his disappearance was that Elizabeth should
be able to say that she had no idea where he was, and
could not possibly lay hands on him : whereas, if he was
patently commanding a ship in Essex’s expedition, as
proved by Essex’s disbursements, the diplomacy of his
disappearance would have been incredibly futile. Such
reasoning, moreover, does not get rid of, but rather
confirms Stow’s further statement that he was serving
at his own expense, and, no doubt, recouping himself
with plunder.
The political situation, however, made it desirable
that for the present Drake should not have an official
status as Captain of one of Essex’s ships. While the
negotiations with Spain were going on, it was far wiser
that officially he should vanish. But duiing the course
of the next year (i?;74) these negotiations broke down,
THE VOYAGE ROGND THE WORLD
99
for Philip put on foot certain naval preparations, which
were clearly directed against England, and which made
any pretence of four-parlen as hollow as Drake’s
drum. Admiral Menandez persuaded the King to equip
a large squadron which should cruise about the mouth
of the English Channel, and keep an eye on marine
movements there. This step was partly defensive, and
as such completely justifiable, for it was calculated to
prevent the starting of piratically-disposed ships for the
Indies. As Drake had demonstrated, when once they
got there, it was a very different matter : they could,
when handled by a conjurer like him, play hide-and-seek
in the inlets of that wooded coast, and get fat on treasure
before they could be hunted out. But if the King kept
a squadron of light, swift vessels in northern waters, he
would make it far more difficult, if not impossible, for
these wasp-like craft to buzz forth from their nest at
Plymouth and settle on the honey of gold, and thus the
treasure ships, with their slow escorts, could get home
without being stung.
But these measures of King Philip were not solely
defensive ; they had an obvious offensive policy in-
volved in them, for a further item in the scheme was the
seizure of the Scilly Isles, and the establishment of a
Spanish base there, which would be highly convenient
for making trouble in Ireland. This part of the pro-
gramme was never carried out, for some species of
virulent plague broke out in Menandez’s fleet. He
himself died of it, and the fleet, more than decimated by
disease, was broken up. But the assemblage and pur-
pose of it, namely, to patrol the mouth of the Channel,
and turf up the wasps’ nest, was a definite act of hostility
which rendered ludicrous and phantasmal any further
pleasant conversations, and the effect, as far as we are
concerned, was that Drake’s diplomatic disappearance
need be continued no longer. It had served its purpose.
100
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
for the treasure he had brought had been unloaded with
all possible speed and divided up, the two Spanish frigates
(the one in which he sailed home, which had so “ mightily
pleased him,” and the victualling ship) had sauntered out
of the Sound again, and the Spanish Ambassador might
make what enquiries he pleased in Plymouth, as to where
everybody was, and would not be one pennyworth the
wiser. Meantime Drake, unofficially attached to Essex,
was harrying Spanish raiders on the Irish coasts, and
keeping the seas safe for Essex’s movements. Now,
with clear hostility frowning through the smiling mask
of Philip’s agreeable conversation, any reason for not
interrupting his friendly professions had vanished, and
Drake could cease to do so, and appear on Essex’s pay-
sheets.
We may take it, then, that since there is no reason to
doubt Stow’s statement, Drake went straight off to the
Irish coasts. Of Essex’s campaign there — if a series of
brutal plunderings and massacres can be called a cam-
paign — it is not necessary to say much ; the massacre at
Bruce’s Castle, an infamous operation conducted by
John Norreys, seems to have been typical of the rest.
Ireland was certainly in a very disturbed and seditious
state, which was aggravated by treasonable commerce
with Scotland, and small Spanish craft were plying about
the coast intent on making trouble for England at home,
and encouraging the Irish in rebellious disaffection.
Something had to be done, for the state of the country
was a standing menace, but Essex’s expedition more
resembled an Israelitish raid on Hittites and Amalekites
than civilized warfare. In these land operations, in
which Scots and Irish were hunted and slaughtered
with a callous ruthlessness which was utterly alien to
Drake’s methods of war against the national enemy
Spain, and to his known humanity towards captured or
surrendered prisoners, he can have had no part, for his
THE VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD
loi
business was on the sea, where he was attacking and
capturing Scotch frigates and the Spanish craft which
infested the coasts and were opening communications
with the Irish rebels. At other times he acted as trans-
port for Essex’s troops, but of his actual engagement
and exploits there are but the most meagre and trivial
records, and if we pass lightly over his part in this Irish
expedition, it is not for fear of incriminating him in
Essex’s undoubted brutalities, but because nothing is
known about it.
The Irish expedition, closely followed by Essex’s
death, came to its bloody close in 1 57 5, and, when Drake
returned to Plymouth, he found that John Oxenham,
who had been his right-hand man in the voyage to the
Spanish Main, had already started on a venture of his
own. Oxenham, as we know, was a devoted follower of
Drake’s ; together they had seen that first view of the
Pacific from the Pisgah-tree on the watershed of the
Isthmus, and when Drake had prayed that one day he
might sail an English ship on that sea, Oxenham had
sworn that “ unless he beat him from his company he
would follow him by God’s grace.” But Oxenham,
who was not of sufficient importance to be recommended
to disappear, had got weary with waiting for his Cap-
tain’s return, and had gone off on a brilliant piracy of
his own. His expedition, therefore, from which he never
returned, is irrelevant to Drake, and it need only be said
that with the help of the friendly Cimaroons, he had
built a pinnace on the upper waters of a river that de-
bouched into the Bay of Panama, and was thus the first
to realize Drake’s ambition of sailing on the Southern
Sea. Of his adventure and of its future disastrous end in
the hands of the Inquisition, Drake knew nothing as yet,
though he had talked over with Oxenham the general lines
of the plan that had been seething in his head ever since
he had the first sight of the Pacific. It was on a far
102
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
bigger scale than anything he had attempted yet, and for
its accomplishment the sanction and support of the Queen
were necessary.
Now, though the Irish expedition is almost a blank
with regard to Drake, something had happened there
which led to events of profound significance in his career :
he had met there a man who was more truly his enemy
than all the hosts of Spain, and by the strangest aberra-
tion of judgment, had formed an intimate friendship with
him. This was Captain Thomas Doughty, a man of
high elegance and education, a scholar in Greek and
Hebrew, a lawyer of the Temple, and of, apparently,
high religiorrs convictions, but one to whom intrigue
was as the breath of his nostrils. Already he had made
trouble between Essex and Lord Leicester, the upshot
of which was that Essex, who had at one time implicitly
trusted him, found himself so grossly and malignantly
deceived, that he refused to have anything more to do
with him. The man, no doubt a rogue, was polished
and plausible, but even so it is psychologically puzzling
to understand how one of Drake’s extreme directness,
and of his sound judgment in his estimations, can have
so warmly attached himself to so crooked a fellow. Pro-
bably Doughty was a man of great personal charm, and
we must remember also that Drake was very fond of
flattery, and very fond of a fine gentleman. Moreover,
Doughty certainly persuaded Drake to believe (and that
not without foundation) that he had influence at the
Court and with Elizabeth’s ministers. In any case,
Drake completely trusted him, and (no doubt also think-
ing that Doughty would be useful) confided to him the
scheme on which his heart and head were set, namely,
to sail through the Strait of Magellan, furrow the waters
of the Pacific with an English keel, and play havoc with
the Spanish treasure ships, which, built at Panama,
brought to the Isthmus the golden harvests of Peru.
THE VOYAGE ROUND TtlE WORLD loj
His dream had developed even further than that, for
John Oxenham, when examined by the Inquisition, said
that Drake had often told him that if the Queen would
give him leave he would sail the Strait of Magellan, and
found settlements over there in some good country^
The idea of colonization, therefore, it is extremely inter-
esting to note, had entered into Drake’s mind, though
probably that of circumnavigating the world was not
part of his original scheme. Piracy, pure and simple,
though of high adventure, was the main objective, and
so sumptuous a piracy might easily interest the Queen.
She would, it was hoped, be a shareholder, and, accord-
ing to her invariable custom, would, if her Brother of
Spain was seriously annoyed, disclaim all connection
with it. That for twenty years before the Armada was
her policy with regard to Brother Philip ; she wanted to
inflict all possible injury on his West Indian trade short
of provoking him to go to war. It was just a question
of how much Brother Philip would stand. Greed of
gold and fear of the Spanish Nav)"- were the two ruling
motives in her amazing statecraft. Drake cordially
shared the first, but widely differed with regard to the
second.
Such was the position when, shortly after the end of
the Irish expedition, Drake joined Doughty in London,
in order to get the Queen’s sanction and secret com-
plicity for the voyage. Elizabeth’s ministers were
sharply divided as to the right policy to pursue with
Spain. Lord Burleigh, the Lord Treasurer, was con-
sistently opposed to such marauding expeditions : he
still worked for all he was worth towards securing some
amicable understanding, while Walsingham, Secretary
of State, less prudent, but with more clear-sighted vision,
saw that any lasting friendship with Spain was impos-
sible, and of his mode of thinking was Christopher
Hakluyt Society, New Lwht cr. Drake, p. i j.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
1 04,
Hatton, now Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, and
high in favour with the impressible Queen. Elizabeth
meantime hopelessly and endlessly vacillated between
these irreconcilable policies. She had great respect for
the solidity of Burleigh’s judgment, but her spirit itched
for adventure, and her fingers for Spanish gold.
Into this atmosphere of intrigue came Doughty,
completely in Drake’s confidence, and drawing long
breaths of the refreshing air of intrigue in which he
flourished. He had obtained the post of secretary to
Hatton, and subsequently claimed to have interested him
and Walsingham in the scheme, while Drake asserted
that Essex had recommended him to Walsingham after
the Irish campaign, and that he obtained Walsingham’s
support himself. The two accounts, though conflicting,
are not necessarily contradictory, for it is possible that
Doughty may have interested Hatton, and Hatton, on
his sketch of the project, have talked it over with Walsing-
ham, while Drake, recommended by Essex, went inde-
pendently to him. Walsingham, in any case, highly
approved, and wanted Drake, map in hand, to explain
where and how he proposed to operate, and to give him
a signed statement of the whole project. Drake, most
sensibly, refused to do this, for he acutely pointed out
that the Queen was but mortal, that she might (God
forbid) be dead when he returned, and her unknown
successor be friendly to Spain, in which case his signed
statement would surely be his death-warrant.^ The
fate of Sir Walter Raleigh affords ample justification for
Drake’s prudence, for though ever willing to take risks,
he had no fancy for so loaded a hazard. Even as it
was, the death of the Queen during his voyage might
have been highly embarrassing, and the first question he
asked, when he got home from the circumnavigation and
anchored in Plymouth Sound, was whether the Queen
^ Hakluyt Society, The World Encompassed, p. 216.
THE VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD 105
was alive and well. Walsingham did not insist on the
signed statement, but went straight to the Queen with
his oral report on this conversation, and the Queen sent
for Drake.
The Queen’s conduct of that interview was intensely
Elizabethan. She hailed Drake’s scheme with enthu-
siasm ; she promised him to take shares in cash, which
demonstrated the genuineness of her goodwill ; but
with that passion for double-dealing which she preferred
to any straightforward policy, she insisted that not only
must she be in official ignorance of the whole matter,
but that Burleigh must be in real ignorance of it. Bur-
leigh, she knew, would oppose the voyage with a force
that she might not be able to resist : he would frighten
her with gloomy prognostications of serious annoyance
(and no wonder) on the part of Brother Philip, and she
did not like being frightened. But if Burleigh did not
know, he could not frighten her. Let Drake, therefore,
push on his preparations as fast as he could, with her
express and solid sanction, though at the same time she
knew nothing whatever about it. But Burleigh’s ignor-
ance must be of stouter quality than hers.^ And she
slapped Drake on the back, and told him he was the
only man who could do it.
Now it was impossible long to conceal the fact that a
large sea-going expedition was on foot. Drake easily
got his syndicate together to finance it : he had a thousand
secret crowns in his pocket from Her Majesty, and the
promise of ships of the Royal Navy, and he enrolled eager
^ Mr. H. R. Wagner {Str Francis Dtakc's Voyage around the World,
p. 26) propounds the theory “that the expedition was entirely one
for trading purposes, directed for the Moluccas and perhaps China.”
Among the many fatal objections to this view are, (i) there would have
been no reason for concealing it from Burleigh, if diis was the case;
and (ii) the expedition, instead of taking the fabulously difficult route
which included the passage of Magellan Strait, would have sailed
p'xitwards.
to6 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
volunteers from Plymouth and London, both for his
crews and for the troop of gentlemen adventurers for
operations on land. The Spanish agent, de Guaras,
was perfectly aware that something was going on, and
so also was Burleigh, but it was given out that the expedi-
tion was to sail to Alexandria for peaceful purposes of
trade ; the crews signed on for this easterly voyage, and
Alexandria continued to be the public pseudonym for
Panama till sails were set. So well was the secret
kept, that de Guaras appears never to have guessed the
true destination of it.
But Burleigh sat down to think. . . . There was
that swashbuckler Drake privately conferring with all
those who favoured a rupture with Spain : he was
having interviews with Walsingham, with Hatton, with
Hawkins, and was being received in private audience
by the Queen. But he could not believe in this
Alexandrian destination ; there was a secret of which
he was kept in ignorance. And it seemed to him that
Drake had a bosom friend who might know something,
and who, though pledged to secrecy, took a Cretan view
about pledges. He sent for Doughty and had an
interview or two with him. Drake heard that Doughty
had been seeing the Lord Treasurer, from whom all
information must be withheld, and roundly asked
Doughty what his business with Burleigh was. He can
have had no serious suspicions about his friend’s honour,
for Doughty’s assurance that Burleigh had offered him
a post as his private secretary quieted them completely.
But Doughty, on his own subsequent confession, had
told Burleigh that Alexandria was a blind, and that the
expedition was to sail for Panama. He had, in fact,
committed the first of those treacherous deeds for which
in the end he paid with his life.
Burleigh had not time to take any steps to stop the
project which flouted his own policy, and which, he can
THE VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD 107
have had no doubt, the Queen had deliberately concealed
from him. Alternatively, he may have realized his
helplessness in opposition to such strong support, and
have thought it more dignified not to make a protest
which he knew would be futile. Then suddenly the
whole affair became beyond the power of any party,
however influential, to hinder or delay. De Guaras
was found to be treasonably corresponding with Mary
Queen of Scots, and was clapped into the Tower. War
fever raged like pestilence through the country, Drake
posted down to Plymouth, and on November 1 5th, 1 577,
the most dramatic of all his expeditions put to sea-
CHAPTER VII
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY
HE authorities for this voyage are
various, and often differ to the point
of mutual contradiction. Chief among
them (though not always to be ac-
cepted without reserve) is (i) the
narrative entitled
THE WORLD ENCOMPASSED BY
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.
This was compiled by Drake’s nephew from notes made
by Francis Fletcher, Chaplain to the expedition, and was
published in the year 1628. It will be alluded to as the
Authorized Narrative.
(2) Next, we have a manuscript, once belonging to John
Conyers, Pharmacopolist, which is a copy of Fletcher’s
actual narrative. The compiler of the Authorized Narra-
tive is here proved to have based his story on Fletcher’s
narrative, for many sentences are verbally identical, but
there are, notably in the account of the Doughty trial,
important discrepancies between the two. The Fletcher
manuscript embraces the first part of the voyage.
(3) The third is the narrative of John Cooke, who
sailed on the “ Elizabeth.” His account only takes us
up to the completion of the passage of the Strait of
Magellan, for the Captain of the “ Elizabeth,” John
Winter, losing his flagship in a storm on the Pacific,
made no attempt to keep the rendezvous on the coast of
10a
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY log
Peru, which Drake had appointed, but deserted and
sailed back to England.
(4) The fourth narrative is anonymous, and though Sir
Julian Corbett assumes Francis Pretty to be the author,
there is no reason for attributing it to him, or indeed
for supposing that he sailed on this voyage at all. He
wrote the account of Cavendish’s Voyage round the
Worlds and this may have led to the confusion. The
anonymous narrative contains little that we do not find
elsewhere.
(5) Various smaller documents, of which the most
important are the depositions of Nuho da Silva, a Portu-
guese pilot, who accompanied Drake (involuntarily) from
the African coast to Guatulco on the Pacific coast : the
narrative of Edward Cliffe, mariner, which covers the
same ground more or less as Cooke’s ; the subsequent
depositions of John Drake, who on this voyage was still
a young boy and page to his cousin the Admiral, and
was afterwards captured by the Spanish. We have also
certain depositions made by various witnesses at the
trial of Doughty, and some scattered memoranda which
relate to the voyage. Nearly the whole of these are
most conveniently brought together in a volume of the
Hakluyt Society published in 1854 under the title of
The PVorld Encompassed.
This voyage opened far wider horizons than any of
the adventures on which Drake had hitherto been
engaged. He had sailed, in a subordinate position, with
Lovell and with John Hawkins, on small businesses of
slave trade, and these voyages had ended in disaster.
Then, himself in command, he had, as we have seen,
gone playing “ Tom Tiddler’s ground” and “ Plide-and-
seek” on the Spanish Main : these sports had been highly
lucrative, and confirmed his contempt of Spanish sea-
power. This voyage to the Main had both popularly
no
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
and professionally made liis reputation as a leader of
unexampled daring and resource, and we find him now
in command of far the biggest naval enterprise that had
yet been sent out to raid the private seas of King Philip’s
private continent, and he had for it the approval and
partnership of the Queen and the war party of her Council.
Its object was no mere adventurous and piratical raiding
on the Atlantic coast, but an attempt to cut the main
artery that pumped the gold blood of Peru into Spain,
severing it by the destruction of the Spanish fleet on the
Pacific side of the New Continent. He had spoken to
John Oxenham about planting settlements in “ some
good country,” and possibly there was in his head some
idea of doing this in Peru itself. Peru would have been
cut off from Spain : why not link it up to England ?
Drake never, as far as we are aware, definitely mentioned
Peru as the site of his settlement, and now, as always,
his plans were elastic, but it seems likely that he conceived
that they might stretch to this.
To arrive at the scene of action at all he had first to
navigate the Strait of Magellan, a feat which, since
Magellan had accomplished it fifty-seven years before,
had never been successfully repeated. Either the
attempt to pass the Strait had failed, or, on the one
occasion when it had been successful, disaster had
followed : no commander had ever made his home-
harbour again after negotiating the Strait. But now
Drake’s object was not only to get through the Strait,
but, after making the passage, still to be an efficient
fighting force against the Spanish ships in the Pacific,
which were built at Panama. Having smashed them
up, there would still lie before him the return through
the Strait laden with gold. What their fighting strength
was no one knew, and so Drake was proposing to find
that out. It is no wonder that Spanish wits never guessed
the whole scope of the prodigious adventure. In a sense
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY m
Drake failed, in that he did not cany out his programme,
but his failure set the world ringing with the news of
a feat of seamanship such as the world had never known
yet.
He was in command of an equipment which, like the
object he had in view, was larger than that of any previous
English voyage of trading or exploration. The flagship,
in which he himself sailed as Admiral (or, in current
phrase, as General), was the “ Pelican ” of a hundred
tons and an armament of eighteen guns. Next came
the “ Elizabeth ” of eighty tons and sixteen guns, under
the captaincy of John Winter (of doubtful memory), and
the “ Marygold ” of thirty tons, with the same armament.
The victualling ship was the “ Swan,” a new vessel of
fifty tons, called after the efficient little fowl which he had
himself caused to be sunk in her nest on the Spanish
Main ; Thomas Moone, the conspirator carpenter
who had bored those three secret holes by her keel with
his spike-gimlet, was in charge of the “ Benedict,” a
fifteen-ton pinnace. As before, there were several
other pinnaces stowed away in sections to be put to-
gether when needed, for Drake had well-justified faith
in the value of these handy boats. An ample store of
firearms, of ammunition, of bows and arrows was carried :
nothing had been spared in the matter of equipment.
He had a great taste, too, for pomp and finery (encour-
aged, no doubt, by that accomplished and elegant gentle-
man, Captain Thomas Doughty), and on his flagship
he carried fiddlers to make him music, and the vessels
of his table, and even of his kitchen, were of pure silver,
which, no doubt, had already travelled in bars from the
Spanish Main ; and there was fine oak furniture ^ in his
cabin, so that wherever he went all might admire “ the
civility and magnificence of his native country.” His
page, who stood behind his chair, was young John
^ Now in Berkeley Castle.
II2
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
Drake, 1 a boy of fourteen and the Admiral’s orphaned
cousin, son of his uncle Robert ; the boy had come to
live with Diake four years before, and had gone on the
Irish campaign with him. His crews and company
numbered in all one hundred and sixty-four men and
boys, but he would have done better with two less, for
among them was Captain Thomas Dotighty,- and John
Doughty, his younger brother : these two, with Francis
Fletcher the Chaplain, and Drake’s youngest brother
Thomas, all sailed (foi the present) m the “ Pelican ”
with the General. And, finally, he carried a drum ; not
that psychic drum in his soul which never ceased beating,
but one which could join in making music with his
violins, and on which, at his return, he would emblazon
the arms which the Queen gave him. All round the
world it went with him, and is in existence to this day
at the house he bought from Sir Richard Grenville.
The opening of the voyage was strangely unlucky.
Even before a start was made, there had been, so the
Authorized Narrative tells us, disquieting rumours
about, of which Drake had been informed. They were
to the effect that Doughty, his intimate friend, to whom
he had confided the secret of the voyage, had indulged
in seditious and treasonable talk, and had hinted at his
intention to cause mutiny and to murder Drake. The
passage concerning this in the Authorized Narrative is
one that must be treated with caution, but according to it
Drake refused to listen to such wild tales, and pooh-
poohed the whole matter. Not knowing that Doughty
had already been guilty of the grossest treachery in
^ Mr. Froude {English Stamen, p. 87) confuses this hoj with John
Drake, the Admiral’s brother, who, he tells us, sailed on this voyage.
John Drake, brother of the Admiral, had been killed m the eipedition
to the Spanish Main.
® Mr. Froude {English Seamen, p. 87) tells us that there sailed on one
of the sloops “ a mysterious Mr. Doughty.” Doughty (not mysterious)
was in the “Fehc''n.”
The PiriCAN, ri uhisI'^tened '1 hl Goi uin Hinh
THE trial and DEATH OF DOUGHTY rij
revealing his real destination to Burleigh, he treated him
with undiminished confidence and intimacy : indeed,
at first he seems to have lavished on him almost unneces-
sary marks of his esteem, and to have somewhat roused
the jealousy of his other officers. Without a shadow of
suspicion in his mind the fleet dropped down the Sound,
br:t before the ships were clear of the Cornish coast, they
ran into a violent gale which badly damaged the “ Peli-
can ” and other ships, and forced them to put back into
Plymouth for repairs, and it was not till December 13 th
that they finally left the English coasts. Not till they
were out of sight of land did Drake let it be known that
the Pacific, not Alexandria, was the real destination of
the voyage.
The fleet made a straight course for the west coast of
Morocco, piratically picking up a few insignificant prizes
and furnishing the store-ship with fresh fish and fowl,
before striking out on the ocean voyage to South America.
Among these prizes was a smack which took Drake’s eye,
and he put the captured crew, with his blessing, on to
the “ Benedict,” and took on this new craft of forty tons
in her place. She was more than twice the size ot the
discarded pinnace and far better adapted for the ocean
voyage, and she was christened the “ Christopher ” in
compliment to Hatton. They then sailed for the Cape
Verde Islands, to finish their victualling, and presently
fell in with two fine Portuguese passenger ships, one of
which not only had a well-furnished wine-cellar aboard,
but a pilot, Nuno da Silva, who knew the Brazilian coast.
Pilot and wine-cellar and ship all pleased Drake, and he
took them along with him on his course to the island of La
Brava, which was his last point of call on this side of the
Atlantic. The ship was rechristened the “ Mary,” and
to show how utterly he disregarded the tittle-tattle (or so
he regarded it) about Doughty, Drake put him in com-
mand of the prize. He transferred to it also his youngest
H
SIR fraMcis DRAKR
‘ 14 -
brother, Thomas Drake, who was then in his twenty-
second year/ among the prize crew. A stronger
mark of confidence could scarcely be imagined : he
gave Doughty a ship and put his brother in his charge.
At the island of La Brava, Drake proposed to release
the Portuguese passengers who were now on the
“ Mary,” and to reananging her as a victualling ship.
Doughty had orders to keep the cargo sealed till the
arrival there.
The fleet cast anchor off La Brava, and Drake’s trum-
peter, Brewer, who had also been transferred to the
“ Mary,” came on board the “ Pelican,” and told him
that Captain Doughty had stolen articles of value from
the cargo of the prize, and he could produce witnesses
in support of the charge. Drake instantly went across
to the ” Mary ” to investigate this, and was met by
Doughty, who denied it, but brought an identical accusa-
tion against Thomas Drake. That an ordinary sea-
man, as Thomas Drake was, should be able to pilfer a
cargo which, by the Admiral’s orders, was still sealed,
was highly unlikely, but among Doughty’s effects there
were found “ some Portugal gloves, some few pieces of
money of a foreign stamp, and a small ring.” Doughty
asserted that these were tokens of esteem given him by
the captured passengers. But however paltry the acquisi-
tion, the principle that everything on board a prize was
the property of the whole company must be kept inviolate,
for its infraction opened the door to anybody appropriat-
ing what he chose, and we have already seen how in
the voyage to the Spanish Main Drake threw into the
common stock the pieces of gold that the Cimaroon
Pedro had given him, though these were a return gift
for Drake’s scimitar. The accusation, moreover, made
by Doughty against Thomas appeared utterly unfounded,
and Drake’s extremely short temper completely boiled
^ Hakluyt Society, New Lirht ott Drake, p. ^oi.
THE trial and DEATH OF DOUGHTY ui;
over, and he told Doughty, “ with great oaths,” that he
had conspired not against young Thomas, but against
his General. Perhaps the stories which he had heard
before, but had dismissed as tittle-tattle, flashed across
his mind, for he deposed Doughty from his captaincy
of the prize, and sent him back to the “Pelican,” and
in order to mark, in his characteristic and impulsive
way, his scorn of Doughty’s accusation against his
brother, made young Thomas captain of the “ Mary ”
in his stead. Before long, however, at the intercession
of Vicary, a lawyer friend of Doughty’s, who was one
of the gentlemen adventurers in the “ Pelican,” the
quarrel was made up.
At present no serious suspicion of Doughty’s real
character seems to have been aroused in Drake. The
man certainly had committed a breach of discipline,
whether those trumperies had been pilfered from the
cargo, or presented to him by passengers, and he had
tried to fasten the accusation made against him on
Thomas. Drake had given him a bit of his mind, oaths and
expletives had pelted like hailstones, but his essential faith-
fulness to a man he had trusted was not yet disturbed, or
if it was, he acted as if it was not. The quarrel had now
been made up, he wiped it off his mind, and to show that
his confidence in his friend was unshaken (perhaps also
slightly repenting of his violence), Drake remained for
the present in the “ Mary,” and put Doughty in com-
mand of the gentlemen adventurers on the flagship.
Another view of this reconciliation, however, suggests
itself, and it is perhaps open to question as to whether
Drake’s confidence in his friend was really restored, or
whether, in reinstating him in a position of trust, he was
not giving him rope to hang himself. This view has
something to support it, for certainly, when Drake sent
back his toothpick as a token to Ellis Hixom on the
Spanish Main, he did lay a sort of trap to test his loyalty,
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
li6
and this re-appointment of Doughty, after his ignomini-
ous dismissal from the “ Mary,” may bear a similar
interpretation. But whichever way we take it. Doughty
remained in a position of trust.
There were a few days of preparation at La Brava
before the ocean voyage began. Drake took the Portu-
guese passengers off the “ Mary,” and putting them on
one of the pinnaces which he had brought out in sections
and now set up, gave them a good stock of provisions
and wished them a pleasant voyage back to Santiago.
Such a clemency, though habitual with Drake, was far
in advance of the general custom of the time, which would
have been to have saved trouble by tipping them over-
board, while had Drake belonged to the Spanish school
of seamen, he would have tortured them first for the
good of their souls and for the sake of any information
they might give him. But he kept Nufio da Silva, the
pilot of the captured ship, to sail with him, for he knew
the Brazilian coasts and harbourages. It would be
pleasant to believe, with Sir Julian Corbett,^ that Nufio
da Silva, when he heard of Drake’s objective, eagerly
volunteered to take service under him, but we must
reluctantly reject that, for Nufio da Silva very explicitly
states that Drake took him by force out of his ship,
and kept him as likely to be of use.® His testi-
mony, therefore (when we come to the trial of Doughty),
was not likely to be biassed in favour of Drake. . . .
These arrangements made, the fleet set oft' for the South
American coast, Drake remaining in the “ Mary.”
Doughty’s position in the “ Pelican ” requires defini-
tion. She carried, in addition to the crew, a body of
gentlemen adventurers and other soldiers, and of these
Doughty was captain. In command of the crew was
its Master or Captain, and in his hands were all matters
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudot Navy, vol. i. p. 233.
“ Hakluyt Society, Neto Light on Dtake, p. 257.
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 117
connected with the navigation of the ship. As the fleet
was now starting on its ocean voyage, the soldiers for
the present (with Doughty in command) were little more
than passengers. Drake may therefore have considered
that Doughty would not be able to do any harm, and at
the same time he would be giving him a chance of con-
ducting himself properly, and proving his loyalty. But
Doughty certainly mistook this generous treatment for
weakness, thereby proving that he knew Drake as little
as Drake knew him (for though Drake had many weak-
nesses, weakness was not one of them), and he proceeded
at once to make a noose in the rope that had been so liber-
ally paid out to him. He called the whole ship’s com-
pany together as soon as sails were set and blue water
severed the “ Pelican ” from the “ Mary,” and made
them a speech which he represented himself as charged
to deliver from Drake. Navigation, he told them, was
in the hands of the captain, Thomas Cuttill, but Drake
had received from the Queen a unique commission, which
gave him power “ to punish at his discretion 'with death
or other itoays offenders” and he committed this authority
in his absence from the “ Pelican ” to himselH This
speech is of the greatest importance in view of what
subsequently happened at Doughty’s trial, for it shows
that Doughty believed that Drake had authority to inflict
the death sentence. What is frankly incredible is that
Drake ever delegated this power to Doughty, for the
simple reason that, apart from the improbability of
Drake’s ever parting with a shred of his authority, it
was impossible. A judge of the Criminal Courts might
as well be supposed to order a juryman to pass sentence
of death on his behalf.
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. p. 236 (quoted from
Harleian MSS.). Tliis is corroborated by Fletcher, who, without giving
the speech, says that Doughty w'as thought to be talcing upon him “ too
great a command.” The World Encompassed, p. 62, note.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
Ii8
In order to prove his own high qualities, and set a fine
example of loyalty, Doughty then proceeded to tamper
with the crew and with the master, Thomas Cuttill :
he told Cuttill that “ he had a good liking for him,” and
if he found him “ the same man afterwards that then he
did,” he promised to give him ;^ioo, ‘‘ to stand between
him and the danger,” and to keep him in the Temple
from my Lord Admiral and all officers.” With Cuttill
he may have had some hope of success, for Cuttill did not,
in pursuance of his plain duty, send over to the “ Mary ”
and report the matter to Drake.^ Chaplain Fletcher
also was aware that there was mutinous talk about, but
Doughty persuaded him not to report it, for fear that
Drake would suspect him of having something to do
with it, which indeed was a very just apprehension on
Doughty’s part. So Chaplain Fletcher was induced to
hold his tongue: the American coast was still a long way
off, and Doughty hoped to brew a satisfactory atmosphere
of mutiny and discontent before it was sighted.
The weather favoured his plans. They ran into belts
of contrary gales and violent storms, and between the
storms into zones of windless calm, where all day the ships
lay rolling and sweltering, and that was fit weather for
Doughty’s work, for it made good soil of idleness and
discomfort for the seeds of discontent, of which he was
a deft sower. Never in Drake’s experience had there
been such continuance of evil winds and windlessness ;
all day long in the “ Mary ” he was cursing at these
^ Hakluyt Society, The World Encompassed, p. 155. There was
a curious sequel to this, mentioned only by Cooke. Shortly before
Doughty’s trial, Drake had knowledge of tliis, and asked Cuttill about it.
Cuttill “in great fury ” thereupon waded off to the mainland, saying that
he would rather be eaten by cannibals than bear false witness. It is at
least as likely that Drake threatened him for not having reported the
incident. In the end, Cuttill was taken back on to the ship again.
The whole story is too ambiguous to be evidential. {The World En-
compassed, pp. ig8, igg.)
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 119
damnable delays, and wondering how matters fared on
the “ Pelican,” and how his generosity had been appreci-
ated. Never had he encountered such hindrances in his
crusades against the Spaniards, the enemies of himself
and his God ; it really seemed as if the devil had taken
charge of the weather, as if sorcery and magic must be
working against him. Like all sailors he was super-
stitious, and like the whole world at that time, he entirely
believed in witches and Satanic agencies whose aid could
be invoked by spells and black arts. There was that
gale which had put him back into Plymouth again, and
since they had left the African coast there had been
nothing but contrary winds and oily calms. Could it
be that he was carrying with him some malignant con-
troller of the elements, who, by his incantations, was
responsible for these adversities .* He began to brood
over that. . . .
Or it was night, and for coolness he lay on deck. His
brother was there by him, and neither could sleep for the
heat. As the ship rolled, he could see the lights of the
“ Pelican,” and again he wondered how Doughty was
conducting himself. It had been a monstrous and
unfounded accusation that he had brought against young
Thomas, that he had pilfered the cargo of the prize.
. . . And then there were the stories about his mutinous
talk before the expedition had sailed at all. Drake had
refused to credit them, but somehow they had stuck in
his mind, and now perhaps he asked himself if he had
been wise to dismiss them so carelessly. The man
certainly had been treacherous and false about his
brother. . . . And then this weather, this series of
contrary winds, wdth never a sailing breeze : surely some
witch, some master of black arts was at work against
him. As he grew drowsy, the two threads of thought,
separate hitherto, began to weave themselves together,
and now he was broad awake again, definitely asking
I 20
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
himself whether Doughty was at the bottom of it all.
These superstitious imaginings, now knit into more
solid strands of suspicion, began to gain force and
reality.
Drake had occasion one Sunday morning to send over
to the “ Pelican ” his trumpeter Brewer, who had accused
Doughty of pilfering the prize cargo. He was welcomed
there with some piece of horse-play, ill-befitting the
reception of the General’s messenger, and Doughty had
a hand in it. It was close upon the hour for prayers,
and Brewer hurried back to the “ Mary,” wheie he told
Drake what had happened. Drake was furious that the
chief officer on the flagship should have done anything
so utterly unbecoming to his position, and off skimmed
the boat again to the “ Pelican,” with orders for Doughty
to come over at once to the “ Mary.” Drake went to
read prayers to his men, and as he knelt there, he heard
Doughty’s voice hailing to be taken on board. Pie
rose, and called over the side to him to stay where he was,
and told the sailors who rowed him not to take him back
to the “ Pelican,” but to the “ Swan,” and give him in
charge to the captain, John Sarocold. His unbecoming
conduct on the “ Pelican ” perhaps was reason enough
for his deposition, but there was more in Drake’s mind
than that, and he must have given utterance to the dark
suspicions over which he had been brooding, for as soon
as Doughty got on board the “ Swan,” he told the
captain that he was sent there as a prisoner “ and as
one suspected for a conjurer.” ^ From that day till the
axe set him free. Doughty was under surveillance or
arrest.
It was fifty- four days after leaving Cape Verde
before the fleet sighted land again on April 5th, 1578.
Nuno da Silva tells us they first landed to get water at
the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, but from other
t Hakluyt Society, The World Encompassed, p. 166,
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGFITY 121
accounts it is clear that they made the coast north of this
pointd There Drake found further grounds to think
that magic was the root of all his ill-luck, for on their
approach the natives made spells and incantations “ to
cause shoals to arise in their course ” and storms to break,
and sure enough there drove up a prodigious tempest
of thunder and rain, accompanied by terrifying dark-
ness. When it cleared, the “ Christopher ” had dis-
appeared. Drake had gone back to the “ Pelican,”
probably on Doughty’s transference to the “ Swan,” and
for three days he searched for the missing ship without
success. Hardly had she rejoined when the “ Swan,”
with Doughty on board, disappeared also : this happened
in calm weather, and was most mysterious. On the top
of that came another storm, and when it passed, Drake
found that the prize ship, the “ Mary,” was missing as
well as the ” Swan.” At this Drake’s dark imaginings
broke out, and he kept on inveighing against Doughty
as a witch and a conjurer, and the author of all this foul
weather.® He found willing ears to speak to, and a
corroborative confession to back him, for John Doughty,
the culprit’s younger brother, had been heard to boast
that he and Thomas “ could conjure as well as any men,
and could raise the devil, and make him to meet any man
in the likeness of a bear, a lion, or a man in harness.” ^
But the worst devil they had raised for themselves was
Drake’s determination, which he now seems to have
formed, to put an end to this.
It is necessary here to trace separately the external
progress of the voyage and the inward development of
the case against Doughty. Drake just now, as regards
the latter, was convinced that he was a master of black
arts, but there, for the present, the matter stayed, since
* Hakluyt Society (extra series), vol. xi. p. 107.
^ Hakluyt Society, The World Encompassed, p. 195.
“ Jhid; p. 173.
122
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
the “ Swan ” which carried him had disappeared. Mean-
time, the ships had watered at the mouth of the River
Plate, but he could find no good anchorage there for the
careening that they needed after the protracted voyage,
and they moved southwards in search of a suitable
haven. On land, if we may trust the narrative of
Chaplain Fletcher, there were phenomena of unusual
interest to be observed, most of which must be
omitted as being insignificant stories, with no bearing
on Drake or on exploration. But it is impossible to
pass over the picturesque history of the giants and the
ostriches.
All the country south of the River Plate was found to
be inhabited by a race of giants, the breadth of whose
sole was larger than the length of any English foot. Evi-
dently some doubt was subsequently cast on the Chap-
lain’s observations, for at the end of his narrative the
transcriber adds a note in defence of the existence of these
giants, accounting for their prodigious size by the
ingenious suggestion that it was the result of their diet
consisting of equally monstrous ostriches, the argument
being that if a man had a diet of fleas he would become
a microscopic man, and that if he had a diet of elephant
flesh he would become elephantine. These ostriches
(on which the giants fed) were fully as remarkable as their
consumers, for they had Captain-ostriches who drilled
them to march in line, and who corrected them “ in a
chiding voice ” if they did not march properly. The
giants, however, were a little cleverer than these gifted
fowls, for when they wanted provisions one of them
dressed up in an ostrich skin, grazed with the others, and
by edging away out of line led them by degrees to where
an ambush of giants lay in wait, with men, women, dogs,
bows, arrows, stones, cudgels, and nets, ready to kill or
capture them. These giants were good, kindly folk,
and one morning, as the sailors ashore were having a
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 123
glass of Canary wine, one of them took a taste of it too,
and was so instantly intoxicated by it that he fell flat
down, and his friends thought he had been poisoned.
But the clever fellow kept hold of his glass, and when he
got sober again, drank the rest of it, and liked it so much
that every morning he came for his dram of Canary wine.
They produced fire by rubbing two pieces of wood to-
gether; music and dancing were their chief delights, and
such good benevolent giants were they that Fletcher
says they were kinder to him than many of his clerical
brethren at home had been. In other places sea-fowl
settled on the persons of himself and his companions in
such numbers that they fainted with the effort of pulling
them off each other, and w'ere in danger of being abso-
lutely suffocated by them. . . . Chaplain Fletcher, in fact,
seems to have been a most remarkable observer, and
throughout the voyage saw more than his shaix of
astonishing things. It is perhaps less astonishing that
the Authorized Narrative, which was compiled from his
notes, omits the greater part of them, and is very dubious
about the size of the giants.^
Now, since their arrival off the coast of America, ship
after ship had been missing, and the fleet had been
employed in little else than looking for them. May
was already more than half over, and now, when the
“ Swan ” was sighted again, Drake determined to break
her up and take her crew on to the “ Pelican,” which was
short of hands, as she had supplied most of the prize crew
for the “ Mary.” With Doughty among them they
came on board, and Drake called for the master of the
“ Swan,” John Sarocold, to hear what report he had
to give of Doughty’s conduct while in his charge. Grim
grew his face as he listened, for once again Doughty had
^ IForld Encompassed, p. 60. Fletcher’s entire narrative, which
IS of the most entertaining and gossipy land, is now printed m The
Wot Id Encompassed (Argonaut Press, 1^26),
124
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
been busy encouraging discontent and fomenting mutiny.
He had urged John Chester, who was captain of the
soldiers, to depose Sarocold by force, and had promised
him his support, saying that he would make the ship’s
company ready to cut each other’s throats ; he had
asserted that his own authority was equal to Drake’s,
about whose private life he knew certain discreditable
secrets. Sarocold had reminded him that they would
soon be at the place where Magellan had hanged two
mutinous officers, but Doughty pooh-poohed the warn-
ing, saying that Drake had not Magellan’s authority.
While the “ Swan ” was being broken up, Drake, in
spite of all that had come to his ears, took no further
step : probably he was considering what to do, and
meantime Doughty remained, apparently under arrest,
on the “ Pelican,”
Then suddenly the storm burst ; Drake and Doughty
had been talking together, and after “ unkind speeches ”
had passed. Doughty (according to one account) said
that “ the lightest word that came out of his mouth was
to be believed as soon as the General’s oath.” ^ At that
Drake lost control of himself altogether. He struck
him, and had him tied to the mast in pillory. When
those sun-stricken hours were over, Drake ordered that
he and John Doughty should be slung on to the “ Christo-
pher,” and the two never met again till they faced each
other at the trial. Immediately afterwards another
tempest broke out, and once again the ship that carried
Doughty disappeared.
Indeed, it was enough to make the stoutest materialist
believe that some malign control was brewing spells
against him. Enough, too, had happened in ways
less occult to convince Drake that Doughty was doing
his utmost to ruin the success of the voyage. Wher-
ever he had been (and already he had sailed in four ships)
^ Anderson, Captain Cook’s Voyages, p. 382,
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 125
there had been trouble. He had pilfered the cargo of
the “ Mary,” and tried to shuffle out of that with slanders ;
he had tried to corrupt the master and crew of the ‘‘ Peli-
can,” where he had publicly arrogated Drake’s authority ;
he had played the same treacherous game on the “ Swan.”
The “ Swan ” had gone astray when he was on her ;
now, on his transference to the “ Christopher,” she had
vanished also. Trouble within had marked his baleful
presence on every ship, and then, too, there was this
inexplicable continuance of foul weather, of contrary
winds and calms, of storms unprecedented and black-
nesses of the noonday. And Drake, it must be re-
membered, was anything but a materialist : his faith in
the Divine protection was the strongest driving force in
his character, but he believed also in evil and appalling
potencies that befriended and obeyed the witch and the
sorcerer. For week after week the most persistent ill-luck
had dogged him, and from whom could that have come
but from the Arch-enemy of God, working through the
spells and black magic in which the younger Doughty
had avowed that he and his brother were adepts and
masters ? ^ How could this expedition arrive at success
if he carried with him the author of ail these adversities,
who, apart from his spells, had also shown himself a
master in the school of treachery ? As yet, too, but the
preliminaries of the voyage had been engaging him, but
now he was approaching the first great adventure, the
passage, if God willed, of the famous and ill-omened
straits, which must be surmounted before the real quest,
against the treasure ships that plied from Peru to Panama,
began. If this voyage, which up till now should have
been a mere placid progress to the scene of operations,
had been so beset with sinister hints of devil work, with
^ Such beliefs were universal. The Church recognized the existence
of witches and appointed exorcists. Sumner, History of Wiuhorafi,
p. 226.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
1 26
what force might that be expected to burst forth when
the hazards of the arduous sequel faced him ?
After three days of search the “ Christopher ” was
sighted again, and Drake made up his mind to break her
up also ; there was still a ship too many and a man too
many in his squadron. As they lay at anchor, he went
on board the “ Elizabeth,” and summoned the crew
together. Ele told them he was about to send on board
the two Doughtys, “ the which he did not know how to
carry along with him this voyage and go through withal.”
Thomas Doughty, he told them, was a conjurer and a
seditious fellow : John Doughty, a witch and a poisoner.
Tie warned the crew not to speak to either of them, and
“ he willed that great care should be taken that they
should neither write nor read.” With that he went back
to the “ Pelican ” without seeing either of the brothers,
who presently, now in strict arrest, were brought on
board the “ Elizabeth.” Drake subsequently sent a
further order to them “ commanding them as they
would answer for it with their lives, not to set pen to
paper, nor yet to read but what every man might under-
stand and see.” ^
Now these precautions leave no room for doubt that
Drake truly and soberly believed that the two brothers
were in league with the Devil, and the injunction on
their reading or writing clearly means that they should
not use their mysterious books of magic or indite their
spells. One distinction, however, he made between
the brothers. They were both witches, but Thomas
Doughty was also a seditious fellow, and it was for sedi-
tion that the imminent trial took place. John Doughty
(though a witch, and, as we shall see, kept under sur-
veillance) was not proceeded against at all, and in Drake’s
indictment of his brother, no word is said of witchcraft.
It was not till June 19th, 1578, when the diminished
^ Hakluyt Society, The World Encompassed, p. 200.
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 127
fleet was within a few leagues of Port St. Julian, that
the “ Mary,” so long missing, joined up again. On
putting into the bay an attack was made on a small
landing party by natives, which might have been serious,
had not Drake’s swiftness of resource extricated them
from an awkward situation : as it was, he lost his gunner,
Robert Winter. From here three days’ sailing would
bring them to the entry of the Strait of Magellan : they
were now on the threshold of the adventure which had
drawn them to the confines of the known world. On
the shore lay a “ spruce-mast,” which the men conjectured
to be the gibbet of Magellan’s executions fifty-eight
years ago ; and digging at the foot of it, they found the
evidence of human bones.^ From the wood of the
gibbet the rather macahre cooper of the “ Pelican ” made
tankards for such as cared to drink out of them.® But
that the sight of these relics, and the associations of the
place, suggested to Drake’s mind the grim fitness of
re-christening the spot with the blood of another mutin-
ous officer, is surely a most mistaken view.® His mind
was made up ; he had already affirmed that the voyage,
of which the real hazards were now to begin, could not
succeed while Doughty was there to ruin it. The cumu-
lative evidence of Doughty’s seditious behaviour, and of
the misfortunes which Drake believed were due to his
spells, had convinced him of that, and now he meant
to act. He brought his whole company ashore, and
summoned Doughty to appear before him.
It seems clear that Drake would have been justified
in executing Doughty out of hand, on the authority
which he had received from the Queen, without the
^ HaHuyt Society, T/ie World Encompassed, p. 69.
^ Ibid., p. 68. . . . Mr. Froude {English Seamen, p. 88) tells us that
a skeleton was lianging on the gallows, the bones of which were picked
clean by vultures, but nobody else seems to have seen it.
® Corbett, Life of Drake, p. 72.
I2i SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
procedure which he now adopted. Pie had ample
evidence, in the depositions made at the trial, of the
man’s mutinous spirit, and of his attempts to corrupt
captains and crews. Pie was also firmly convinced that
Doughty contributed a standing menace to the success
of the voyage, though that conviction was partly based
on his belief that the two Doughtys had been raising
storm and tempest by black arts. But he did not proceed
against the younger Doughty, nor did he make the charge
of witchcraft (however implicitly he believed it) a part of his
indictment. Sedition and mutiny were the sole grounds
of it. Cooke, who throughout his narrative makes the
case as black as he can against Drake, accusing him of
murder and tyrannical blood-spilling, gives the words
of the indictment, and if we accept them as accurate,
we shall certainly not be taking a view that is biassed in
Drake’s favour. In them there is not a syllable about
magic. The indictment, according to Cooke, was as
follows :
“ Thomas Doughty, you have sought by divers means, inasmuch
as you may, to discredit me to the great hindrance and overthrow
of this voyage, besides other great matters which I have to charge
you, the which, if you can clear youmelf withal, you and I shall
be very good friends, whereto the contiary, you have deserved
death.”
Doughty denied the charge in general terms, and it
was then perfectly open for Drake to produce his wit-
nesses, and execute him on their evidence, which was
ample. But he did nothing of the sort, and instead
asked the prisoner how he would be tried. Doughty
asked to be taken back to England and tried there.
This was clearly impossible. Drake would have been
obliged either to abandon the expedition altogether, or
to detail a ship from his already much-diminished squad-
ron to take him home, or to have carried along with him,
for the adventure to whose threshold they had come,
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 129
the man who had already been, guilty of inciting mutiny,
and whose presence he considered was a standing menace
to success. He naturally refused to take any of these
courses, and said that he would impanel a jury and try
him on the spot.
Now Doughty, in his bombastic speech to the crew of
the “ Pelican,” it will be remembered, had said that the
Queen had given Drake a commission which included
the power of pronouncing the death sentence, and that
Drake had delegated that authority for the time being
to him. But now, perhaps with the effrontery of
despair, he said, “ Why, General, I hope you will see
that your commission is good,” though he had already
publicly affirmed its validity.
So far we have followed (and accepted) Cooke’s narra-
tive, but -with regard to this commission it is impossible
to believe his statement that when, later on in the trial,
Drake was to produce his commission for the inspection
of the jury, he could not find it, and said he must have
left it in his cabin, the inference being that he never had
it at all. The statement is palpably false, for the Portu-
guese pilot, Nufio da Silva, who was present at the trial,
and who was no partisan of Drake’s, describes in detail
how Drake produced certain papers, kissed them, and
read them out, subsequently letting the jury inspect them.
“ All present,” writes Nuno da Silva in his deposition,
“ saw the papers were his and from her (Queen Eliza-
beth), and that it was by her authority that he was execut-
ing Doughty.”^ Drake also subsequently showed this
commission from the Queen to Don Francisco Zarate.^
With such evidence it is impossible to suppose (as Cooke
hints, and as Sir Julian Corbett considers likely) that
Drake had no such commission,^ while that such a
^ Hakluyt Society, iVifw Lig/U on Drake, p, 279.
® Hid., p. 2og.
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. p. 257,
T
130
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
commission was not unusual is proved from the
narrative of Drake’s voyage to the Indies in 1585, on
which he executed two men for civil and not military
offences.!
But if we reject Cooke’s evidence about Drake’s com-
mission, we must equally reject the account given in the
Authorized Narrative (which has no support in the notes
of Chaplain Fletcher, from which Drake’s nephew affirms
he compiled it) that as soon as witnesses were produced,
“ the gentleman ” — for he never mentions Doughty’s
name — “ was stricken by remorse, and acknowledged
he had deserved not one death, but many ” : and that
Drake was so moved by this, that “ not able to conceal
his tender affection,” he withdrew from the trial and left
the jury to come to their verdict. This is as palpably
false as the other, for Drake had long regarded Doughty
with violent enmity as the curse of the expedition, as a
rank mutineer and a witch, and there is abundant evi-
dence to show that he was present throughout the trial.
Moreover, if Doughty had then and there confessed,
there would have been no need for the jury to have
considered the evidence at all.
Drake then, after Doughty’s untenable proposal to be
taken back to England for his trial, empanelled a jury
of forty: how he selected them we do not know, but it
seems to have been an impartial jury, for on it were
Fletcher, who was certainly a partisan of Doughty’s,
Vicary the lawyer, who was his chief ally, while the fore-
man was John Winter, who subsequently proposed an
alternative to the sentence of death. Witnesses were
produced, and among them Edward Bright, who swore
to Doughty’s mutinous talk before the fleet left Plymouth.
The witness and the accused wrangled over this, and
Doughty let slip that Burleigh, the Lord Treasurer, from
whom all knowledge of the voyage was by the Queen’s
! N.ival Records Society, vol. xi. {Log of the Primrose), pp. 10, 17.
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 131
orders to be withheld, had been told of it. Drake in-
stantly denied that Burleigh could have known of it, and,
on Doughty’s repeated assertion, asked how. “ He had
it from me,” said Doughty.
This admission seems to have occurred early in the
trial, but, in a sense, it was the climax of it. Drake
denied that it was possible that Burleigh knew, and
Doughty, stung into reckless contradiction, spoke the
truth, and by his answer admitted a flesh treacliery that
Drake had never so much as suspected. His leply to
Doughty’s admission was simple enough. The man had
condemned himself out of his own mouth as guilty of
the grossest tieacheiy' in this matter of the Queen’s
orders, which Drake himself must have confided to
him in the days when he looked on him as a trusted
friend.
*' Lo! my masters,” he said, “ what this fellow hath
done, God will have all his treachery known, for Her
Majesty gave me special commandment that of all men
my Lord Treasurer should not know it.”
Further evidence from Cuttill, Sarocold, and others
having been produced, Drake put the question to
the jury as to whether Doughty was guilty or not.
He did not, it must be observed, ask them -whether
he was guilty of having beti-ayed tlie secret of the
voyage to Burleigh, for Doughty had confessed to that,
but whether he was guilty on the indictment. Vicary
the lawyer, who was on the jury and had patched up the
first quarrel between Drake and Doughty, thereupon
told Drake that the jury was not legally competent to
condemn a man to death. Drake, with a gibe at “ crafty
la-wyers,” answered that the juiy was not asked to do
anything of the kind, but only to pronounce on his inno-
cence or guilt with regard to the accusation against him.
This was perfectly sound, for Drake’s commission from
the Queen gave him power of life or death ; the jury
132
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
(whom Drake had voluntarily appointed, thereby putting
a check on his own prerogative) only had to say whether
he was guilty or not. They pronounced him guilty,
and thus Drake had in his support the concurrence of
forty voters.
He then duly and in order produced his commission
from the Queen, the existence of which, though denied
by Cooke, is, as we have seen, amply vouched for by the
account of Nuno da Silva. Yet still he did not act inde-
pendently on it, but put the further question to the jury
as to whether, in their opinion, Doughty deserved death,
calling for a show of hands.
The verdict was that he deserved death. Probably it
was unanimous, as there is no record of any dissentient,
and Cooke, rising to the very felicity of malice, rather
implies this, accounting for the vote by the suggestion
that some held up their hands for fear of Drake, and that
others were holding up their hands in supplication to
God for delivery from this “ cruel tyrant.” So pro-
digious a statement carries its own refutation, for we
cannot believe that, if forty men are asked to put up their
hands for the express purpose of signifying their con-
demnation of a prisoner on trial, any of them could be so
absent-minded as to forget that this gesture recorded
their vote, and that they did so only because they were
occupied in private prayer.
Drake, thereupon, using his commission for the first
time, now that Doughty’s guilt and also the deserved
penalty had been confirmed by forty independent votes,
passed sentence and “ pronounced him the child of
death, and persuaded him withal that he would by these
means make him the servant of God.” He fixed the
execution for the day after the next, but it is evident that
he was still willing to spare his life, if any means could be
devised whereby the voyage might continue without the
daily risk of a repetition of his former offences, for he
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 133
added that if any one, himself included, could think of
such a plan between now and the day after to-morrow, it
should be adopted. Doughty asked to be put ashore in
Peru, and Winter, foreman of the jury and captain of the
“ Elizabeth,” offered to be responsible for his safe
custody. Drake, after consideration, could not accept
this : probably he doubted Winter’s loyalfy, and the
event proved him right, for after the passage of the
Strait, when the fleet was again dispersed by a storm,
Winter, instead of proceeding to the rendezvous which
Drake had appointed, persuaded his crew to abandon
the expedition, and returned to England. No other
suggestion was put forward, and the order for the
execution stood.
Now, was Drake’s conviction that Doughty by spells
and magic was brewing evil for the success of the enter-
prise, a factor in his instituting this trial ? I think we
may say, from a study of the various narratives, that it
undoubtedly was, and that Drake was sure in his own
mind that he carried with him a master of black arts who
could imperil, and already had imperilled, the expedition.
To the modern mind the idea is monstrous, and Drake,
if he had executed Doughty for being a magician, would
be classed by us among the abominable judges who
burned cross-eyed old crones with callousness and indeed
enthusiasm. But whatever his convictions as to this
were, it cannot be too clearly pointed out that it was not
on them that he acted, nor does the charge of witchcraft,
as we have seen, enter into his indictment. No such
evidence was produced against Thomas Doughty at all,
though in the depositions his brother John was men-
tioned in this connection. But Drake did not try John
Doughty, but Thomas Doughty, and he tried him on the
charge of mutinous conduct, and on that alone, with the
vote of his entire jury to back him, he passed sentence
of death.
134
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
And then, whatever was good in Doughty assumed
command of him. His treachery, his mutinous in-
trigues, of which there can be no reasonable doubt, had
failed j he was beyond the hope of any reprieve, and he
met his fate with piety, with gallantry, and with gaiety.
He asked to be allowed to receive the Communion, and
that his Commander should partake of it with him.
This was done, and when the two, kneeling side by
side, had eaten of the Sacred Feast, they had dinner
together once more as friends, and they talked cheerfully
and drank to each other’s welfare. When that was
over. Doughty asked for a few minutes’ private conver-
sation with Drake (but what passed between them was
never certainly known), and then the procession moved
off to where the block was ready. Doughty knelt and
prayed for the Queen and for the prosperity of the adven-
ture in which his share was finished, and begged Drake
to forgive any whom he might suspect as having been in
conspiracy with him. Drake gave that promise, and
duly observed it. Then Doughty laid his head on the
block, with Sir Thomas More’s jest about the shortness
of his neck, and there died a black traitor and a very
gallant gentleman. The severed head was held up for
all to see ; justice and not vengeance had been done,
and Drake, who, an hour ago, had received the Sacra-
ment with his friend and drunk to his welfare, told his
company the significance of the accomplished tragedy:
“ Lo ! this is the end of traitors,” he said.
Drake seems never to have told any one what Doughty’s
last words to him in private were, and the most reasonable
conjecture is that they were a confession of his guilt,
and perhaps a plea for forgiveness. The communication
must have been of some solemn and final sort, an affirma-
tion of innocence or a complete confession, and the first
may be ruled out when we consider not only Doughty’s
bearing, but Drake’s inexorable epitaph, “ Lo ! this is
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 135
the end of traitors.” Iron-souled he was, and one to
whom duty, above all, was “ Stern Daughter of the law
of God,” but it is impossible to imagine such a man
making this pronouncement, if these last words had been
a final protestation of innocence on the part of one who
had been a trusted friend. Besides, if they had been a
protestation of innocence. Doughty would surely have
delivered them with all possible publicity, instead of
asking for privacy.
So, judging as best we may between the conflicting
evidence of Cooke’s violent hostility to Drake and
Drake’s nephew’s no less misplaced piety, we are forced
to believe that if Drake erred in the strict administration
of justice, he erred on the side of leniency in his pro-
cedure. Not only was he entitled by the Queen’s com-
mission to pronounce the death sentence and cause it
to be carried out, but even without that it was his duty,
if he believed that one of his officers fatally risked the
success of the voyage, to put the voyage as his first
concern. Nor did he use his undoubted authority with-
out support. The jury, impartially selected, adjudged
Doughty guilty on the indictment, and on a show of hands
voted that he deserved death. And even then, Drake
promised that the death penalty should not be inflicted
if any means could be devised whereby Doughty’s life
could be spared without again endangering the hopes
of success. So, on the confines of the known world,
reluctant justice was done, and we must believe that
vengeance was as far from Drake’s mind as, at that
moment, misplaced clemency.
Though, in the light of the narratives, the charge on
which Doughty was tried seems simple and sufficient,
there have always been those who have seen political
considerations and intrigues behind it. Sir Julian
Corbett, for instance (though he does not explicitly adopt
it) puts forward a “ solution that meets all the known
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
136
facts,” and suggests^ that Burleigh was at Doughty's
back, and that Doughty’s mutinous behaviour on the
voyage was not only connived at, but instigated by him,
in Older to induce the crews to refuse to take the ships
into the Pacific for the treasure-hunting of which Bur-
leigh so strongly disapproved. From what we know of
Burleigh’s character, this seems totally incredible. Pre-
sumably Doughty’s information as to what the destina-
tion of the expedition really was reached him too late to
enable him to stop the voyage (which doubtless he would
have done if he could), but that he commissioned Doughty
to foment mutiny on the ships, with all the black and
murderous sequel which might have resulted, passes the
bounds of belief. Doughty peihaps knew that if he
succeeded in his mutinous attempts he would find a
powerful protector in Burleigh when he returned, but
that the sage and upright Lord Treasurer was instigator
of so fiendish a plot as to sow mutiny in the fleet when at
sea, cannot be accepted. Doughty, a born intriguer, a
man to whom the confidence of Drake’s friendship served
only as a smoke-screen to conceal further treacheries,
was, so we must believe, acting on his own innate crooked-
ness, not on the instruction of one whose long and honour-
able record does not justify us in attributing to him,
without a single particle of real evidence, so diabolical
a design.
More ingenious, but not more credible, is the theory
that Lord Leicester (though in a very different sense)
was the secret influence behind Doughty’s trial and exe-
cution. Doughty had openly hinted that Leicester had
poisoned Lord Essex with a view to mariying his
wife, as Leicester subsequently did. So the suggestion
arose that Leicester suborned Drake to take Doughty
on this voyage, and see to it that he never returned.
Camden mentions the story as no more than injurious
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. pp. 342, 34.3.
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY 137
gossip, but it was known and remembered nearly
sixty years later, for in 1641 there appeared a poem in
pamphlet form called “ Leicester’s Ghost,” in which
that guilty spirit says :
“ I doubted lest that Doughtie would betray
My counsel, and with other party take.
Wherefore, the sooner him to rid away
I sent him forth to sea with Captain Drake,
Who knew how t’ entertain him for my sake.
Before he went his lot was by me cast ;
His death was plotted and performed in haste.” ^
This pretty story, however, is unsupported by any
evidence, and is disproved by all we know of Drake’s
friendly relations with Doughty, unless we suppose that
he was the most consummate traitor, not excepting
Judas, that the world has ever known.
Throughout July, mid-winter in the south, the fleet
remained at St. Julian, and it was not till the middle of
August that Drake took in hand the reconstruction
which alone could ensure a prosperous future for the
voyage. The danger spot, the focus from which dis-
content and mutinous suggestion had been undermining
the discipline without which Drake knew that he could
never bring the expedition through, had gone, but that
was only the first step towards creating the needful
fellowship of spirit. Doughty’s mischievous tongue was
silent now, but the evil it had wrought must be remedied,
and that was Drake’s first task. Whatever his suspicions
of others, especially of Doughty’s brother, may have been,
he made, as he had promised, no further enquiry, and
set himself to restore. He took the highest line, and in
accordance with that faith iii Divine power on which his
nature was built, he appealed to the best in every man of
his company, and gave the order that all hands, from
^ Campbell, Lives of British Admirals^, pp. 434, 435.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
138
cabin-boy to captain, should make their confession to the
Chaplain, and receive the Sacrament. That, in his view,
was the first step towards unity and brotherhood.
Then he took practical hold of the situation, and
summoned the whole company together. Chaplain
Fletcher thought that his services might be acceptable,
and suggested a sermon. Drake told him that there
would be a sermon, but that he proposed to deliver it
himself. He went straight to the root of the matter, and,
without any reference to Doughty, told them that want
of fellowship between gentlemen-soldiers and sailors
was the cause of mutinous and mischievous talk. That
must all be changed, “ for, by the Life of God,” he cried,
“ it doth even take my wits from me to think on it. The
gentleman in the future must haul and draw with the
mariner, and the mariner with the gentleman.” Then
with the utter unexpectedness that always characterized
him, he made them all the most amazing offer.
If any section of his audience did not like the prospect,
he would let them have the “ Marygold” and get off
home at once. But if they settled to do that, home they
must go, “ for if,” he said, “ I find them in my way I will
surely sink them.” His boldness was justified, for not
a hand was raised in favour of this. More amazingly
yet, for he was rightly determined to have the entire
command on all points in his own hands, he turned to
his ships’ officers and told them that from that moment
they were ordinary seamen. At this there were protests,
and Drake reminded them that it was in his power to do
exactly what he chose, and waited for any further rejoinder.
None came, and for the present he left it at that. Then
for a moment he reverted to the tragedy, and said that he
knew there were others who deserved death, but that the
affair was over. Finally, he appealed to their patriotism
to make a success of the adventure on the threshold of
which they now stood ; failure would make them the
THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF DOUGHTY
139
scorn of their enemies, and be a great blot to their country
for ever ; and since his authority was unchallenged, he
reinstated all the officers whom he had just deposed.
That was all. He had dealt with every point in the
situation, not with subtle cleverness, but with simple
genius. With a clean slate, from which all the evil
scribble of jealousies and mutinous talk had been erased,
he turned with unabated confidence to the future. There
faced him no menace so black with danger as that which
now had been dispersed.
CHAPTER VIII
THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC
HE fleet weighed anchor on August
17 th, 1578, and three days’ sailing
brought it to the opening of the
Strait. Drake had with him a copy
of Magellan’s Discovery^ which no
doubt was the English translation
of Pigafetta’s narrative by Richard
Eden, published in 1555. Now,
before entering the Strait he broke up the Portuguese
prize, the“ Mary,” for she was leaky, and there was no
place for the inefficient in the work that lay before him,
and, as always, he rid himself of all that was more like to
be a hindrance than a help. He also rechristened the
“Pelican” with the immortal name of the “Golden
Plind,” the same being Christopher Hatton’s crest, and
on August doth, 1578, she rounded the last cape, beyond
which lay the ominous corridor that opened into the
Pacific. The fleet thus consisted of but three vessels,
the “ Golden Hind,” the “ Elizabeth,” and the “ Mary-
gold,” and as they turned westwards under the curtain
of cliffs that draped the entrance, there came from the
flagship the order to strike the topsails in honour of
the Queen’s Majesty. Tortuous was the passage and
the chart deceptive ; often they had to tack out of
land-locked inlets, or Drake scouted ahead in a small
boat to find the way, and the winds were contrary,
^ Hakluyt Society, New Light on Drake, p. 303,
140
THE “ GOLDEN FUND ” IN THE PACIFIC 141
but the stimulus of unknown adventure had begun
to ferment, and Drake’s drum was beating. Like all
great men, he had the power of stripping from him the
irrevocable and tragic past, and from now till when the
“Golden Hind” crept up Plymouth Sound on the tide
of the Channel, his was the irresistible boyish spirit that
revelled in hazards, and wasted no regrets on calamity. To
the north there were to be seen the fires of native tribes,
and they occasionally came across their canoes : there
were, too, great numbers of penguins, “ fowls that could
not fly, of the bigness of geese.” The crews slew and
salted companies of these fearless inquisitive birds, who
had no knowledge of man, and it says much for the new
spirit of cheerfulness w'hich Drake had created, that these
were found to be excellent eating. The plains that here
and there bordered the Strait were green and fruitful,
then there rose towering clilfs again, and high above
them soared the remoter summits and spires, where the
“congealed clouds and frozen meteors” fed snowfield
and glacier. The winding Strait took them west, then
south, then west again, to the buffet of cold and shifting
squalls, and after landing on one of the group of three
islands in order to christen it by the name of the Queen,
the fleet slid into the Southern Sea on September 6th,
1578. The ocean of Drake’s dreams lay open before
them, and there was plain sailing now to Peru and
Panama.
But all the powers of the air seemed banded against
him. Next day there arose an intolerable tempest
from the north, and though at present the three ships
kept in touch with each other they were whirled blindly
southwards, and an eclipsed moon added terror to their
helpless drifting before the gale into seas unknown.
When at length, a fortnight later, the storm abated,
Drake found that the “ Marygold ” had disappeared.
The two remaining ships sought shelter and anchorage
14-2
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
near the mouth of the Strait, but once more, as they
waited for a fair wind, a tempest of incredible violence
descended on them, and the “ Golden Hind ” parted her
cable, and beating out to sea for safety, lost sight of her
only remaining companion. The “ Elizabeth ” regained
the Strait, and there, after waiting three weeks, and
seeing no sign of the “ Golden Hind,” Winter gave her
up for lost, and, instead of trying to make the appointed
rendezvous, deserted. He navigated the Strait east-
wards, and, with Cooke on board, returned to England.
There Cooke dictated to Stow the narrative which we
have been largely following : its venomous and often
false attacks on Drake were, no doubt, intended to dis-
credit him in anticipation of his possible return, and
prejudice his case if he proceeded against Winter and
the crew of the “ Elizabeth ” for desertion.
Of the squadron which had left England last October
the ” Golden Hind ” alone remained. She had reached
the Pacific, on which, from the Pisgah-tree, Drake had
prayed he might sail an English ship, but that calm and
glittering vision came to fulfilment in week after week of
unprecedented tempest. Yet this last storm, ■which
seemed to have been the heaviest of all the misfortunes
which had befallen him, was indeed the first of the
prosperous gales which attended him henceforth. Its
rage had driven him even further south than before, and,
lo 1 at the end of the islands below the Strait was no vast
continent, as Magellan had supposed, that stretched
continuous into polar ice, thus constituting his Strait
the only southern corridor from Atlantic to Pacific, but
a limitless open sea. The conjectured Terra Australis
had no existence : there was ocean, not continent to the
south of Cape Horn, and Drake saw how the “ Atlantic
and South Sea meet in a most large and free scope.”
On the southernmost of these islands, which Drake
christened the “ Elizabethides,” he and Fletcher landed.
THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC 143
and Drake, “ seeking out the most southernmost part
of the island, cast himself down on the uttermost point
grovelling, and reached out his body over it,” ^ thereby
becoming, in truly Drakian fashion, the most southerly
of all living or dead explorers. Fletcher carried a bag
of tools ashore, and set up a stone, on which he
chiselled the Queen of England’s name and the exact
date.
The storm that had driven Drake so far south was the
blind instrument of his discovery, for it had been no part
of his design to verify the existence or the reverse of
Terra Australis. Though it appears that he had doubts
of the reality of this supposed continent, it was not with
intention that he made one of the greatest geographical
discoveries of all time. For practical value, with regard
to all subsequent navigation, it was indeed by far the
greatest of which we have record.
But his business was northwards ; he had appointed
a rendezvous with the two missing ships, which he still
hoped to rejoin, on the coast of Chili, and on October 30 th,
1578, he shaped his course there. The Spanish charts
figured the land as trending strongly to the north-west
of his present position, and he steered in accordance with
them. But no Chilian coast came in view, and now,
when by these inaccurate charts he should have been
sailing far inland in Chili, he guessed that the Spaniards
were as inefficient map-makers as they were in every
other point on which he had tested them, and altered his
course. Chaplain Fletcher ingeniously suggests that
these charts were drawn wrong, for the confusion of
alien voyagers. This cast eastwards brought them first
to the island of Mucho, where they were attacked while
watering by the natives, treacherously, according to one
account, but, according to another, owing to some mis-
understanding. Drake sustained two wounds, one in
^ Hakluyt Society, Observations of Sir Ricbanl Hawkins, p. 224.
144
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
his face and one in his head, and others of the company
were severely injured. One surgeon of the fleet had
died, the deserter Winter had the other on the “ Eliza-
beth,” all medical aid had to be given by a boy “ whose
goodwill was more remarkable than any skill he had,”
but all recovered. Drake took the view that his party
had been mistaken for Spaniards, in which case the
natives were highly to be commended for thus attacking
them, and refused to allow reprisals.
They sighted the coast, but no “ Marygold ” met them,
nor yet the “ Elizabeth,” for the one had foundered in
the storm that had driven the “ Golden Hind ” south-
wards, and the “ Elizabeth ” was now safely back in the
Atlantic, scudding home. But Drake had no more
thoughts of going back than Winter had of going for-
ward : he was at war with the King of Spain, and the
‘‘ Golden Hind ” was his navy, his diminished company
his army, and the Pacific his chosen battlefield. Still
scouting for the missing ships, they went northwards
along the coast, and the fun began.
They fell in with a comely, harmless Indian a-fishing
in his canoe. After some presents and politenesses, good
relations were established, and from a friend of his who
spoke Spanish, Drake learned that there were victuals
and harbourage and something more worth having at
Valparaiso, where, on December ^thj 1578, the Indian
piloted them. There was indeed something worth
having, for the “ Grand Captain of the South,” a richly
laden Spanish ship, about to sail for Panama, lay at anchor.
There were but eight Spaniards on board, who (no more
suspecting that the modest little “ Golden Hind ” could
be anything but a Spanish ship, than that the monster
Drake, last seen six years ago in Spanish waters, was her
captain) drummed them a welcome, and bade them
come on board and drink a bottle of wine. Thomas
Moone, with a party, put oflF in answer to this kind
THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC 145
invitation, but the moment they were on board, Thomas
very rudely began to lay about him, calling out, “ Go
down, dog ! ” One dog swam ashore, but the re-
mainder were captured, and Drake landed at the small
settlement on shore, and took it. In a chapel there, he
found a chalice, two Communion cruets, and an altar-
cloth, which he gave to Chaplain Fletcher for use on the
“ Golden Hind,” and there were some cedar logs and a
quantity of wine. Then he set the seven captured
Spaniards on shore, and took the prize out to sea. Prize
indeed it was, for there was gold to the value of over
;^8ooo, not to mention 1770 jars of wine, and a Greek
pilot who would take them to Lima. And so the
Spaniards knew that Drake was in the Pacific, and had
paid a call.
This opulent interlude over, Drake once more set
himself to look for his missing ships, and spent the
remaining month of 1578 in searching the wooded
inlets of the coast with his pinnaces. But all was fruit-
less, and now he turned northwards again, piratically
raiding as he went in the best and most surprising style
of the Nombre de Dios days. The burden of past dis-
sensions and tragedy slipped from him ; he revelled
again in pilferings and great prizes and gay adventure.
These piracies may not have been magnificent, but they
were war, for they deprived the King of Spain of ‘‘the
gold with which he troubled the world.” They kept
close in shore, so that “ any person travelling on land
could be distinctly seen from the ships,” and thus it was
that at Tarapaca they spied a Spaniard lying on the
beach, fast asleep, with four thousand ducats’ worth of
silver by him, and these they took away so softly that
they did not even wake him up : it must have been a
most astonished Spaniard who marvelled at this night-
mare conjuring-trick when his nap was over. Another
day there was a lack of fresh fish, and as a boat, laden
K
146 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
with a nice catch, was conveniently near, Drake went
shares with the owners in it : another day, again wanting
fish, he found himself completely outwitted, for he took
a laden fishing-boat in tow, but the perfidious occu-
pants quietly undid the towing-rope during the night
and sailed off, so there was no fish for dinner after all.
It was pleasant after that to find a Spaniard driving eight
llamas, each of which carried two leather bags containing
fifty pounds’ weight of silver. . . . There were heavy
disappointments as well, for by now the news of Drake’s
amazing epiphany in the Pacific had preceded him, and
after finding at Arica that a ship, richly metalled, had
gone northwards, they pursued her, and after a long chase
found her quietly lying at anchor. Very stealthily they
boarded her, but the crew, already warned, had removed
all the treasure and themselves. So Drake, betwixt rage
and laughter, set her sails for her, and out she went to
sea for ever and ever. But neither that nor the capture
of some table linen next day tan quite have consoled him.
These small affairs were but Drake’s diversions, a
mere culling of wayside flowers ; now the nosegays were
abandoned for a more serious undertaking, which he
conducted in his usual manner, making his plans com-
pletely depend on such circumstances as might develop,
and wresting advantage out of chance and unforeseen
difficulties with a quickness otherwise unknown outside
the pages of incredible fiction. There are several
accounts of this adventure, which supplement each
other to make up an entrancing story.
He was approaching the port Callao de Lima, from
which the golden argosies were wont to set sail for
Panama. He had no idea whether he would find the
harbour bristling with defensive guns, or whether the
news of him had not yet arrived. It was wiser, there-
fore, to make a quiet and unobtrusive entry after sunset,
on February 1 5th, i ^79. Nothing more tranquil could
THE -‘GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC t47
be imagined ; in the harbour, duskily visible, lay five
Spanish ships waiting for their cargoes ; their crews
were ashore, and Drake, finding his visit was unexpected,
came right in among them, and quietly anchored. If
any one noticed his entry, they mistook him for a Spanish
craft. Then in the darkness he sent out a party to shear
these dozing unshepherded lambs, but they found only
one chest of bullion and some silks, which they put for
safe keeping on the “ Golden Hind.” But Drake
learned news that was richer than that chest of bullion,
for a chance watchman, captured on one of these ships,
told him that a great vessel, ” Our Lady of the Con-
ception,” laden with gold, had sailed a fortnight ago for
Panama.
No alarm had yet been given, for while these quiet
investigations were going on, a Spanish ship from Panama
swung into the harbour, and confidingly, but embarras-
singly, took up her moorings close to Drake. But at
this point the “ Golden Hind ” must have attracted
attention from shore, for a boat put out and asked who
she was. So Drake instantly whispered to his Spanish
prisoner to sing out that she was a Chilian ship, and that
her captain was Miguel Angelo, w'ho was well known to
be in the Spanish service. But unfortunately the
enquirer swarmed up the ship’s side to see his friend,
Captain Miguel Angelo, and instead he found himself
looking down the muzzle of a large gun. This was
strange, for the treasure ships plying in the safe and
unraided waters of the Pacific carried no big guns, and
he dropped down into his boat again to tell the garrison
on shore of this remarkable trader. The alarm was
given, and the confiding ship from Panama slipped her
anchor, and put out to sea, pursued by Drake’s pinnaces.
But he did not follow until he had cut the cables and
masts of all those five tranquil Spanish ships that lay at
anchor round him, so that they drifted together, and got
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
148
hopelessly muddled up, and could not pursue. Then
out he went after his pinnaces, and captured the ship
from Panama. He did not spend much time in search-
ing her, for he must be off' under full sail after “ Our
Lady of the Conception,” if he was to catch her before
she came to Panama : a fortnight was a long start, though
doubtless she would put in at ports on the way.
Then came a delay which must have made Drake
curse. For two whole days the wind entirely dropped,
and there he stuck not far outside the port. Worse yet,
the Viceroy of Peru, hearing of the raid, hurried soldiers
down to Callao and embarked them. There came a
slant of wind from landwards, and they could use that,
while still the “ Golden Hind ” lay hopelessly becalmed :
all that Drake could do while waiting for the wind to
reach him was to get the crew he had put on to the prize
into the pinnaces again. But at last the breeze set the
“ Golden Hind’s ” sails shivering ; it grew rapidly to
a strong wind, and he could laugh at his lumbering
pursuers. Next day they took a frigate, but had no
news of ‘‘ Our Lady,” and now Drake himself sailed in
the pinnace which he kept close in shore in case of her
having put in to water or provision, while the ” Golden
Hind ” stood out to sea. Then they got news of the
quarry : a ship which they boarded outside Paita re-
ported that she was gone from there only two days before,
and with a rattling gale to speed them, they overtook
next day a Spaniard bound for Panama, from which they
learned that “ Our Lady ” had passed him only twenty-
four hours ago. This ship had more than news aboard,
and she was lightened to the extent of eighty pounds’
weight of gold and a crucifix set with large emeralds.^
While dealing with it there occurred an incident which
^ Hakluyt Society, vol. xi. p. 1 16. Tliis was clearly “ the great cross
of gold set with emeralds, on which was nailed a god of the same metal,”
which the Authorized Narrative says was taken at Valparaiso.
THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC 149
has been grossly distorted to Drake’s discredit. The
Captain guaranteed that he had declared all his cargo,
but a half-breed necrro boy concealed on his person some
small bars of gold which he had abstracted. They
were discovered, and Drake is said to have “ hanged ”
him.^ But such a hanging does not mean execution at
all : it was a mode of punishment, brutal, but not fatal,
and here well deserved. The culprit was strung up
and ducked in the sea : or, in another form, he had a
rope put round his neck and was lifted off his feet. This
is alluded to in the deposition of a pilot, Alonzo Sanchez
Colchero, whom Drake also “ hanged.” Colchero says
that he was twice hanged, but being then exhausted, was
let go.® Drake only once, under extreme provocation,
killed any prisoners,® and his detractors must reluctantly
abandon this incident as a proof to the contrary.
So they were rapidly gaining on the great prize, and
the “ Golden Hind ” crossed the line with a full gale
behind her. There might be a fight before they took
her, for “ Our Lady of the Conception ” had earned the
less-exalted name of the “ Cacafuego,” or “ Spitfire.” But
the ” Golden Hind ” had fire inside her too, and now all
eyes were strained seawards, for Drake had promised a
chain of gold to the man who first sighted her. At
three in the afternoon, on March ist, 1579, as they
came opposite Cape San Francisco, young John Drake,
the Admiral’s page, sang out from the mast that the gold
chain was his, for his young eyes had seen her at three
leagues’ distance.^
Thereupon Drake gave an order, the object of which
is disputed. He trailed at the stern of the “ Golden
Hind ” some wine casks, which Nuno da Silva says were
filled with water, for the ship was ” sailing heavy,” and
^ H.illuyt Society, Neta Light on Drake, p. 306.
- Ibid.,-^. 196. •'* Seep. igj.
^ Hakluyt Society, Nevt Light on Drake, p, 48.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
150
this weight at the stern would cause her bows to rise, and
she would sail more lightly. Others maintain that his
object was to reduce his speed by these brakes, because
he did not wish to attack till nightfall, and in the mean-
time the Spaniard would not see she was being pursued
and overhauled. Shortening sail would seem to have
been a simpler device, but no precaution of such sort was
necessary, for the Captain of the “ Cacafuego,” Juan de
Anton, strolling along to Panama, and not dreaming
that any enemy could be in these waters, put about to
Join the vessel he had sighted, came alongside the
“ Golden Hind,” and asked who she was. Drake
instantly called on him to strike sail and surrender to
the Bnglish, and on his refusal opened lire with guns
and arrows. Her mizzen was sent overboard, and
from the pinnaces the English swarmed up the ship’s
side. The crew fled below, Anton was taken prisoner,
and the rude “ Spitfire ” surrendered without showing
a touch of her quality.
For two nights and a day, with a prize crew on board
his capture, Drake beat out to sea, and there, in the
vast seclusion, explored the immensity of the treasure.
Four days they lay there, transferring the cargo to the
“ Golden Hind,” and this included thirteen chests of
coined silver, and twenty-six tons of silver in bars, and
eighty pounds of gold, and boxes of jewels and of pearls.
There was on board an amusing pilot’s boy, who, as the
treasure was evacuated from the “ Spitfire,” said that
she must now be known as the “ Spit-silver,” “ which
pretty speech of the pilot’s boy ministered matter for
laughter to us both then and long after.” Meantime,
Senor Juan de Anton was Drake’s guest and sat at his
table, and the Admiral treated him with the utmost
courtesy and friendliness, showing him over his ship,
and telling him frankly that he w'as getting back what
the Spanish had stolen from him and Hawkins : he even
THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC 151
discussed his own future plans with him. And when
the transhipping work was over, Drake carefully wrote
and signed a formal receipt for the treasure he had taken
on boardd It remained then only to part with his
prisoner-guest, to whom he appears to have taken a real
liking, and his last courtesy w'as to give him a letter of
safe-conduct if he fell in v/ith either of his missing ships.
It was addressed to John Winter, Captain of the “ Eliza-
beth,” and ran as follows :
“ Master Winter, if it plcaseth God you shouid chance to meet
with this ship of Senor Juan de Anton, I pray you use him well
according to my word and promise given them : and if you want
anything that is in this ship of Senor Juan de Anton, I pray you
pay them double the value of it, which I will satisfy again : and
command your men not to do her any hurt : and what composition
or agreement we have made, at my return to England I will by
God’s help perform, although I am in doubt that this letter will
never come into your hands, notwithstanding I am the man I
have promised to be. Beseeching God, the Saviour of all the
world to have us in his keeping, to whom only I give all honour
praise and glory. What I have written is not only to you M.
Winter, but also to M. Thomas, M. Charles, M. Caube, and
hi. Anthony, with all our other good friends, whom I commit
to the tuition of Him that with his blood redeemed us j and am
in good hope that we shall be in no more trouble, but that He will
help us in adversity : desiring you, for the passion of Christ, if
you fell into any danger, that you will not despair of God’s mercy,
for He will defend you and prevent you from all danger, and bring
us to our desired haven, to whom be all honour glory and praise
for ever and ever. Amen.
“ Your Sorrowful Captain, whose heart is heavy for you,
“Francis Drake.” ^
No one can doubt the sincerity of this letter, and it
is a most important documentary portrait of Drake’s
^ Southey, British Admirals, voL iii. p. 150.
^ Hakluyt Society (extra seriea), vol. xi. p. 147.
152
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
mind. Piracy and the most fervent piety were not only
compatible but identical, for the pirate who looted the
King of Spain’s treasure ships was a crusader under the
direct protection of the Most High : Drake was doing
His Will (as well as getting back what the perfidious
nation owed him). Instructive, too, is his complete
trust in Winter ; the notion of his desertion clearly
never entered Drake’s head. This and the growing
chronicle of his voyages are already filling in his self-
portrait, and presently we shall have the sketch of an
independent delineator to give the detail of material
accessories, which will touch into vivid life the picture
of the “ Golden Hind ” and its captain as the furrow of
her keel lengthens. . . . For the moment then, having
drawn this inmost sketch of himself (in which we at
once recognize the man who received the Sacrament
with Doughty, and dined cheerfully with him just before
the execution), he salutes his new friend, Sefior Juan de
Anton, as he stands on the deck of his rifled “ Spitfire,”
and the ‘‘ Golden Hind ” slides off into the sunset. That
evening) with the viols playing, and young John Drake
standing behind his chair, wearing the smart gold chain
which his quick eyes won for him, Drake supped without
his Spanish guest, a little relieved perhaps that he had
not to talk Spanish any more, though he knew it well
enough to need no interpreter.^ The ship was quiet
that night, for the thumping tread of sailors laden with
silver was over, and when the table was cleared, no doubt
Drake and young John sat down and drew pictures
together, as their habit was in hours of leisure. Soon
he sent the boy to his bunk, and sat down to think. . . .
The question was what to do next. It was more than
two months since the “ Elizabeth ” and the “ Marygold ”
had disappeared, and though he had just written to his
r Hakluyt Society, New Light on Drake, p. 335.
THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC 153
good John Winter, Drake had given up the chance of
finding them again by loitering here. Besides, it was
impossible to loiter here, for wdth the return of Anton
to Panama, every Spanish ship in the Pacific would be
alert for his capture. Originally he had hoped to take
Panama and to plant a settlement on coasts thus severed
from Spain, but now with only one ship that was impos-
sible, and it was part of Drake’s most sane genius never
to confound the impossible with the highly improbable.
Into a highly Improbable adventure he went tingling
with enjoyment and resource, but to attempt to take
Panama, already probably warned and armed, with the
“ Golden Hind,” would have been the dream of a mad-
man. Besides, “his voyage was made”; its object
(apart from taking Panama) was to fill his vessels to their
utmost capacity with Spanish treasure, and now the only
ship remaining to him had her glut. There was no
Plimsoll mark in those days (and if there had been, Drake
would certainly have painted it out), but he knew the
“ Golden Hind ” was gorged. He still regarded his
plunder as the debt due to him for the treacheiy at San
Juan d’Ulua, seven years ago, and had sent a message
through Anton to that blackguard Viceroy of Mexico,
Don Martino Enriquez, who was the author of it, telling
him that he was still repaying himself. Now, when the
least precious part of the “ Golden Hind’s ” ballast was
of silver, he made up his mind to go home. But by
what route, south, west, or north ?
The southward route through the Strait was the one
by which he had come and by which he had meant to
return, but with only one ship left, he would be running
the gauntlet of the Spanish fleets of Chili and Peru, W'hich,
expecting him back, would by now be guarding the
Strait. , . . Then there was a route westwards, aci'oss
the Pacific, and by the Cape of Good Hope, thus circling
the world. Probably that was the least hazardous, and
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
n;4
ill itself a glorious feat, but hazards never seemed hin-
drances to Drake, and he considered yet a third route,
one never yet traversed, and only theoretically possible,
namely, north into Arctic seas and a navigation of the
North-West Passage from the west, which Frobisher was
attempting from the east. He had a map of it, which must
have been Zeno’s (published in the fourteenth century),
and shortly before he put Nuno da Silva ashore, he showed
him thereon “ a strait situated at 66° N., saying that
he had to go there, and that if he did not find an opening,
he would have to go back to China.” ^ He resolved to
try that, but his mind was still wavering between that
and the glorious circumnavigation, for he consulted the
ship’s company. There ivas the ‘‘ Golden Hind ” full
of gold and silver, and so adventurous a voyage meant
the gravest risks to the harvest of which they were part-
owners. But his crew were with him, and without
delay he set a northerly course towards the coast of
Nicaragua, where they might clean ship and take in
water and stores.^
On the way Drake captured a frigate carrying a novel
and abominable cargo of sarsaparilla, which he brought
along to a convenient creek behind the island of Cano.
He transferred the treasure into the frigate, and mounted
guns for its protection while the “ Golden Hind ’’was
cleaned and overhauled ; and sorely she needed it. The
dainty pinnace meantime cruised about and took another
frigate which had come from China with Chinese pilots
who knew the route. Though Drake had resolved to
attempt the unexplored passage, he kept the pilots and
their charts, as being likely to be of use, if the other route
proved impracticable. Then, throwing the nasty sarsa-
parilla away, he reloaded, and in the last week of March
set off again, intending to touch at Guatulco.
1 lialduyt Society, New Light on Drake, p. 319.
® Soutliey, British Ndmii'als, vol. iii. p. 1^2.
THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC 155
En route he captured a Spanish frigate, and though
the booty of Chinese silks and porcelain (Ming) must
have seemed paltry to him, he took it, because his wife
needed it. That seems a poor reason, for he had not
seen Mary for a year and a half ; If she had w'anted silk
and china then, she would probably have got them by
now. But this capture is of enormous interest to us,
for wc owe to it a unique picture of Drake and his life
on the “ Golden Hind.” This frigate was taken without
resistance just before dawn on April 4th, 1579, and its
captain, Don Francisco Zarate, who recounted the whole
incident in a letter to Drake's old enemy, Don Martino
Enriquez, was brought on board the “ Golden Hind.”
Drake, whom he describes as a short man with a fair
beard, about thirty-five years of age, received him on
deck. He put a few questions as to the cargo his prize
carried, and — rather grimly — ^whether there were any
relations of Don Martino Enriquez on board. When
it was dinner-time, Zarate was bidden to seat himself
next Drake, who told him to have no fear for his life or
property, and to show no poisoning was intended, gave
him viands from his own cover. As regards property,
Zarate did not come off quite so well, for he records that
Drake liked ‘‘ certain trifles ” of his, one of which was a
gold falcon, “with a great emerald in the breast thereof.”
Drake gave him, in exchange, a dagger and a silver
chafing-dish, so that, as Zarate drily remarks, he did not
lose by the bargain. Nine or ten officers dined at the
table, among whom was Nufio da Silva and John
Doughty ; the latter never left the ship, and seemed to
Zarate, no doubt correctly, to be under surveillance.
All manner of delicacies were served on silver plate
parcel-gilt, and while they ate a string band played.
There were scents, too, which Drake said the Queen had
given him, rose-water, no doubt, for washing the hands
«ftpr dinner. There rome*^ in ihe “ swan'' ” of this
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
156
most human personage : he loved to tell Zarate that
the greatest of all Queens had given him perfumes.
Perhaps she had done so, but we must remember that he
also told Nufio da Silva that the bronze cannon on his
pinnace, which bore the maker’s mark of the world with
the sun above it and a star on top, signified the coat-of-
arms that the Queen had also given him when she sent
him to encompass the world. Drake was wrong about
that : the Queen had never sent him to encompass the
world, nor did she confer arms upon him till his return,
and the arms she then gave him were not the device on
the bronze cannon.
None of his officers, Zarate wrote, sat down or covered
their heads in Drake’s presence, unless bidden to do so,
and even then they had to be bidden more than once.
They formed his Council, whom he consulted on the
most trivial matters, “ though he takes advice from no
one.” The crew were extremely smart and well trained ;
Drake treated them with affection, though discipline was
strict, and he punished the slightest fault : elsewhere we
learn that gambling with cards or dice was forbidden.^
Zarate enquired whether he was liked, and found that
every one ” adored ” him. He carried carpenters and
caulkers for repairs, and painters “ who sketched all the
coast in its proper colours.” This troubled Zarate, for
so true to nature were these sketches, that any who
followed Drake could not possibly lose their way. On
Sunday the “ Golden Hind ” was all decked out with
flags and streamers, and Drake himself was dressed very
fine. Zarate makes a big mistake about the tonnage of
the ship, which he estimates at four hundred tons, instead
of one hundred, but he was full of ungrudging admira-
tion for it, and especially for Drake, whom he calls the
greatest of mariners. Drake seemed to have talked freely
to his guest, for he told him of his commission from the
^ HaHuyt Society ; Ma-yna-iAe, Sir Francis Drake : his Vo’jage,^.b^.
THE “GOLDEN HIND” IN THE PACIFIC i;?
Queen, of her half share in the proceeds of the voyage,
and of the execution of Doughty.^
It is tempting to supplement Zarate’s vivid little
sketch of domestic life on the “ Golden Hind ” with
that of the Factor of Guatulco, who shortly afterwards
spent a compulsory day or two on the ship." What
chiefly impressed him was the quantity of prayers which
were said. We know from the instructions Drake gave
to the captains of his fleet in the expedition of 1595, that
the first order was to hold service twice a day,^ and the
Factor of Guatulco tells us how Drake read prayers him-
self to his officers, Chaplain Fletcher ministering to the
crew. Twice a day, before dinner and supper, a table
was set for him, with a box and a cushion for him to kneel
on; and when all was ready, he struck the table twice,
and his nine officers, with small books in their hands,
placed themselves round the table. Drake knelt and
prayed for a quarter of an hour, and then turned to the
Factor and other prisoners, and told them that if they
liked to recite the psalms in his fashion they could stay,
but if not they could go away, but must keep quiet. This
lasted, so says the Factor, for about an hour (he was pro-
bably bored with keeping quiet), “ and then they brought
four viols and made lamentations and sang together ”
to their accompaniment. After that young John Drake
was ordered to dance to them “ in the English fashion,”
which the Factor took to be part of the service (like
David dancing before the Ark), and then they had dinner.
As well as reading the psalms, we learn that Drake
preached.^ . . . Between these accounts we can get a
good picture of days on the “ Golden Hind,” when there
was nothing doing, and of the relations between Drake
.A Hakluyt Society, Nezo Light on Drake, pp. 201-210.
2 Hid., p. 3 54.
3 Hakluyt Society : Maynarde, Sir Francis Drake ; kis Voyage, p. 63.
* Hakluyt Society, Hew Light on Drake, p. 301.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
158
and his men. But when there was work ahead, the pomp
and the viols were put aside, and wherever danger was
hottest, there was Drake.
So Zarate was sent back to his ship, and on April 15th
Drake put into Guatulco, the last Spanish port at which
he touched. The trial of some natives for conspiracy
was going on, and Drake, in order to water and clean
and victual in peace, surrounded the court, and put the
whole lot of them, prisoners and police and judge alike,
on board the “ Golden Hind,” while he stocked himself
in tranquillity. The town was quite empty, but he
pillaged the church, taking away vestments and vessels,
and smashed the images to pieces ^ : thus we finally get
rid of the foolish sentimental legend that Drake spared
church property whenever he could. Here, too, he
left Nufio da Silva, the Portuguese pilot, whose narratives
and depositions have contributed so much to our know-
ledge of this voyage hitherto unknown, putting him on
a ship bound for Panama. For that, too, Drake has
been attacked, as having left him in a hostile country.
But nothing can be more ill-founded : Spain and Portugal
were allied countries, and Nuno da Silva, in his deposi-
tions, has not a word to say about any ill-treatment on
this score. Plis depositions were merely informatory
about Drake, not self-accusing confessions, for he had
been carried off by force.
At this point, then, we must consider Drake’s outward
voyage over, as far as his intention went. It was ” made” ;
he had passed the Strait of Magellan, and his one ship
left was now laden with the spoils he had set out to take.
England was his goal, by the shortest possible route,
through the unexplored North-West Passage. The
amazing feat he actually accomplished was still, in his
mind, a faute de mieux,
^ Hakkyt Society, Jdew Light on Drake, p. ^152.
CHAPTER IX
COMPLETION OF THE VOYAGE OF
CIRCUMNAVIGATION
RAKE, no doubt, was glad to leave
Spanish seas (though, to be sure, all
seas had been bestowed on Spain by
His Holiness) and take his treasure
out of range of pursuit. From April
r6th till June 3rd, r5'79, he drifted
and sailed west by north, and on
June 5th was in latitude 42° N.
Here they ran into weather piercingly and, for that time
of the year, inexplicably cold : meat froze soon after it
was taken from the roasting, the rigging was iron with
ice, and great discouragement and misgiving took
possession of all the company but Drake. Something
was wrong, too, with the charts, for now, when they
imagined that the American coast was far away to the
east, a change of wind to the north-west brought them
suddenly in sight of it. The land, in fact, did not trend
away eastwards, but to the west. They struggled on,
however, till, at latitude 48° N., opposite Vancouver,
even Drake began to share the general misgivings. They
had to anchor in an open bay, where the wind blew in
dangerous gusts, with alternations of thick fog. It was
impossible to wait in such an anchorage, impossible also,
with a crew so disheartened and with useless charts, to
proceed, and Drake turned and sailed south-east along
the coast, arriving at latitude 38° N. in a sheltered bay,
189
r6o SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
now known as Drake’s Bay, to the north of San Francisco.^
As far as he knew, no European had ever been so far
north along this coast before, though actually Rodriguez
Cabrillo, a Portuguese, had touched here in a voyage of
exploration in I5'42. But to the best of Drake’s know-
ledge, it was undiscovered land. Piercing cold still
prevailed, though it is impossible to understand such
weather here at midsummer, and the habits of the birds
were equally unusual, for after the laying of its first egg,
the parent never quitted the nest for a moment till the
whole clutch was hatched.^
The “ Golden Hind ” was a-leak, and she must be
lightened for repairs. But before landing, friendly over-
tures had to be opened with the natives, whose huts lined
the shore. The natives took the lead, sending out a man
in a canoe, who made a long oration with copious gestures ;
as it was completely unintelligible, the English found it
tedious. But it was the preliminary to an exchange of
presents, and an offering of a bunch of feathers, “very
neatly and artificially gathered upon a string,” was taken
on board the “ Golden Hind,” and a hat duly bestowed
in exchange : they would take nothing of all the enticing
objects that Drake displayed but one hat. That was a
good beginning, and Drake established himself on shore,
making some sort of defensive palisade. As repairs
went on, the tribe assembled in greater numbers, and all
night women were heard shrieking : they beat their
faces and bosoms, and dashed themselves on the ground.
It began to be clear that the English were supposed to be
gods, and these acts to be of a propitiatory nature.
^ Mr. H. R. Wagner, Str Francis Drake’s Voyage around the Wot Id,
pp. 1 56-8, puts forward the theory that Drake landed at Trinidad Bay,
chiefly on the evidence of a map in the “ Hondius ” broadside. But
he damages ratlier than supports his case by arguing that because Bruno
Heceta in 1775 found natives there in possession of iron knives, these
were given their forefathers by Drake two hundred years before.
* Hakluyt Society, The World Encompassed, pp. ii'j-iy.
THE END OF TEIE CIRCUMNAVIGATION i6i
Drake, who was grievously shocked at such a notion,
thereupon ordered his whole company to prayers, and
they tried by genuflexions and gestures of supplication to
convey the idea that they, too, were engaged in worship.
This pious device was successful : the natives grasped
the intention and, “ greatly aftected at what they wit-
nessed,” responded with loud “ Ohs ! ” at every pause ;
the singing of psalms particularly pleased them. Their
confidence grew : they gave up these propitiatory mutila-
tions, and after some days of cabalistic symbolism and
worship on both sides, an embassy announced that the
Hioh, or king of the tribe, was coming.^ He wore a
crown of knitted work ornamented with feathers, and
before him went a mace-bearer and a large bodyguard.
The mace-bearer made an oration that lasted half an
hour, and when he had finished, everybody said “ Amen,”
and then there were dances and songs, and when they were
tired out, signs were made to Drake to sit down. Then
there were more orations, which, had they been under-
stood, were a supplication to Drake to become their king,
for with more songs the king clapped the crown of
feathers on his head, and encircled his neck with chains
made of small polished bones, and loud shouts of
“ Hioh ! ” went up. Thereupon Drake, “ in the name
and to the use of Her Most Excellent Majesty, took the
sceptre, crown, and dignity of the said country into his
hand,” with all solemn formality. With his love of
ceremony, he must, though slightly embarrassed by the
feather crown, have enjoyed the proceedings quite
enormously.
The tribe, however, still regarded them all as gods,
for while the ceremony of coronation was going on, the
^ Mr. Froude, English Stamen, p. loo, says that Drake found here
“ an, Indian King who hated the Spaniards.” Only one European had
ever landed here before ; that was nearly forty years ago, and he was
a Portuguese. . . .
i 62
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
“ common sort ” circulated among the crew, “ and such
as pleased their fancies (which commonly were the
youngest of us), they presently, enclosing them about,
offered their sacrifices to them,” with more of that tearing
of their flesh as a sign of worship. John Drake was
certainly among the youngest of the ship’s company,
and must have received a good deal of worship that after-
noon, and it is permissible to imagine the young god
standing as page behind the Admiral’s chair at supper
that night, with his gold chain about his neck, while his
master had only the feathered crown and the chains of
small bones. Perhaps when supper was over and the
two were amusing themselves with their painting, they
drew each other instead of the “ birds and trees and sea-
lions,” which were their usual subjects.^
Thus Drake took possession of California in the name
of the Queen, and called the country New Albion, to
link it to England. The chief of the Californian Indians
had undoubtedly ceded it to him, and in the absence of
any evidence that Cabrillo had landed and annexed it,
the title was probably a perfectly good one. That
Drake himself considered it so, and believed that he had
discovered and taken possession of the coast, there is no
doubt, for before he left he set up a brass plate as monu-
ment of the Queen’s and her successors’ right and title
to the same, on which was engraved Her Majesty’s name,
and the date of the year of the annexation. He made a
cachet with Elizabeth’s picture and arms, and a sixpenny
piece with a hole in it, and his own name scratched on
it. But it is to be feared that the title lapsed through
desuetude, for it was many years before an Englishman
again set foot on the shore of San Francisco, and in the
interval it was peaceably annexed from inland. Indeed,
the Queen herself, when told of her new province, was
not very sanguine about her supremacy, for she asked
^ Hakluyt Society, New Light Drake, p. 303.
THE END OF THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION 163
what was the good of owning a place if you had no one
there to hold it. So, when Drake left the coast, it was
merged once more in the pool of annexable territory,
and of Drake’s title, valid in 1579, all that remains to us
is the designation of New California in English atlases
as New Albion, even as he then christened it.
Before the repairs to the “ Golden Hind ” were
finished, midsummer had passed. Drake made excur-
sions inland to explore the new English dominions, and
the description of the conies that were found “ with the
tail of a rat of great lengtli ” possibly indicates that he
was the first living European who saw a beaver.^ Their
skins were much prized, and the ex-Hioh wore a coat
made of them. There were big deer also, and, with a
sigh for the rich days of Spanish prizes, the chronicler
records that there were indications of silver and gold
everywhere in the soil. But while this pleasant inter-
lude was playing, Drake must have made up his mind
to abandon the easterly traverse of the North-West
Passage, for when they set sail again his course was no
longer northwards. The whole episode of the Cali-
fornian adventure remains as a sort of pastoral played
between two acts of serious drama. Though it was in
a perfectly serious spirit that he annexed New Albion,
the whole affair was a “ lark ” into which no one could
have entered with gayer boyishness than he, and the
spirit of fun, which inspired him to scratch his name on
the toothpick for Ellis Hixom, was all alive when he
received his feathery coronation, and again scratched his
name on a sixpence.
For five weeks he had remained in the Bay, but now his
drum beat again, and the “ Golden Hind ” pricked up
her ears and sniffed the breeze. The superstitious awe
1 The description does not wholly fit any known animal. Mr.
Wagner, Sir Francis Drake’s Voyage around the World, p. 146, says
they must have been vround-squirrels.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
164
of the natives had long given place to true friendliness
and affection, and they brought their sick and those
who had wounded themselves in the propitiatory rites
to receive “ lotions, plasters, and ointments according
to the state of their griefs.” The whole tribe aban-
doned itself to “ sighs and sorrowings and lamentable
mourning ” when the departure was announced, and
had to be comforted with the saying of prayers and
psalms. As long as the ship was in sight they kept
beacons blazing on the hills, and watched it till it
disappeared.
It may be questioned whether Drake’s idea of exploring
the North-West Passage was ever a very serious one, for
his usual determination to carry out anything on which
he was really set, until the impossibility of it was demon-
strated, seems to have been lacking. A few days of very
bad weather, combined with the discovery that his charts
were hopelessly inaccurate, had been sufficient to make
him abandon it. Indeed, we may question if the weather
was really as bad as the Authorized Narrative represents
it, for such extremes of cold at midsummer off the coast
of California are absolutely unprecedented, and may even
be called incredible, and possibly an exaggerated account
of these conditions cloaks a stubborn opposition on the
part of the crew to proceed. The fact, too, that Drake
had retained a Chinese pilot on board, who knew the
navigation of the Pacific, shows that he at least provided
for failure, and he may possibly have learned from the
natives who traded northwards for skins that the coast
(in spite of his charts) still trended far westwards, and
that he would encounter cold infinitely more rigorous
than he had yet experienced, and the perils of ice-sown
waters, before he came near the passage he looked for.
Now the course was set south by west, without any attempt
to cast about northwards, till the “ Golden Hind ” was
within 8° N. of the Equator. After leaving the American
THE END OF THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION 165
coast she did not sight land again till the end of September,
having been a full two months at sea.
The group of islands to which they came has been
universally identified as the Pelew Islands. A quantity
of highly decorated canoes, adorned with shells, put out
to meet them, but when it came to trading for provisions,
the natives proved less handsome than their crafts, for
their way of doing business was to carry away the English
goods, and return with showers of stones with which they
pelted the crew, instead of the due equivalent of victuals.
They had to be driven off with guns first filed over their
heads and then at them. Magellan, in his voyage round
the world, had experienced a similar reception at, pro-
bably, the same group. Since he had left it unchristened,
Drake now called it the Isle of Thieves, and weighing
anchor, he left these unprofitable swindlers behind. A
fortnight’s sailing brought him to the Philippines, and
after passing various unidentified islands, they arrived,
on November 3 rd, I5'79> off the Moluccas or Spice
Islands.
He had Intended to anchor at the island of Tidore,
but he was met by an official canoe from the Sultan
Baber, with the request that unless he was a friend of
the Portuguese, he should instead put in at the island of
Ternate, from which Baber had driven out the Portuguese
some six years before in consequence of an atrocity they
had committed in killing his father, cutting up his body,
and throwing the shredded pieces into the sea. The
Sultan had attacked and defeated them,' but the natives
of Tidore had rescued them, and they were on that island
now. Drake had no liking for the Portuguese : indeed,
there was no one he liked less, except the Spaniards, and
since his only business was to provision, and, if possible,
trade in spice, he accepted this invitation, and sent for-
ward a velvet cloak for the Sultan, in token of friendship.
There came back the present of a signet ; Drake anchored
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
1 66
in a harbour recommended by the Sultan, and waited to
receive the royal visitor.
Then indeed there was the pomp and finery in which
Drake delighted when there was not sterner work in
hand. Four great canoes made the circuit of the “ Golden
Hind,” canopied with perfumed mats, and bearing the
officers of state all dressed in white, and attended by
divers comely young men and armed troops. The
Sultan’s canoe followed, and Drake’s guns gave him a
salute, and the ship’s band played, which delighted His
Majesty so much that he insisted on its coming aboard
his canoe. They played to him for a good hour as he
was towed along, and he said he was in “ a musical para-
dise.” He promised to pay another visit next day for
some more music, and sent sago and rice and figs and
olives to the ship that evening. But next day only his
brother arrived, who invited Drake to visit the Sultan
ashore. The crew and officers suspected treachery, and
with the same devoted mutiny as they had shown at
Nombre de Dios, refused to let him go. Instead, a
party of officers were sent, and Drake must have regretted
he had remained behind, for no treachery of any kind
was intended, and the Sultan received them at a magnifi-
cent Durbar, in a skirt made of cloth of gold, and golden
chains and head-dress, and sumptuous jewels on his
fingers. He sat in his chair of state, and a page fanned
him, and it was a pity that Drake and his page were not
there. Then they came to business, and the Sultan,
who seems to have been a really sagacious monarch,
offered the English exclusive trading rights in spices, if
they would frame a commercial treaty.
But Drake was not handling commerce ; it was out
of his line, and the “ Golden Hind,” big with treasure,
was still far from home. No such treaty was executed
(though it might easily have been of immense value),
and the “ Golden Hind ” sniffed the wind again, and
THE END OF THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION 167
trotted off to some small unidentified island pro-
bably (by their course) in the Bangaii Archipelago.
They had been more than two months at sea, a long
voyage was still in front, and here Drake cleaned ship,
and gave his men a month’s holiday, so that from being
very weary fellows, they grew “ to be strong, lusty, and
healthful persons.” Swarms of fireflies illuminated the
night, and bats as big as hens and amazing cray-fish
were the seamen’s wonder. These cray-fish lived on
land, and made burrows in the ground, and when pursued
climbed trees, and each was a meal for four hungry men.
No wonder that they called the place “ Crab Island.”
And now, when it seemed that all dangers were out-
run, the “ Golden Hind ” encountered such peril as had
never yet menaced her. Drake made his course to sail
northwards of the Celebes, but winds drove him back
south again, and he got entangled in uncharted leagues
of reef-strewn waters. They sailed gingerly for some
days, till they thought they were clear of these treacher-
ous fangs, and, at last, running under full sail once more,
the ship drove on to some outlying reef, struck twice,
and was fast. This was at eight o’clock on the evening
of January 9th, 1580, and all night they laboured to free
her. Close round the reef was deep water, where no
anchor to pull on could be cast, and the starboard wind
served only to ground her more firmly. In the morning,
as usual, Drake called all hands to prayers, and the
Sacrament was administered by Chaplain Fletcher to the
whole company. Trust in God must be endorsed by
all possible human effort, and they threw overboard the
cloves they had brought from the Spice Islands, tliree
tons in weight, and eight guns, and a quantity of food-
stuffs, but all seemed in vain. By the middle of the
afternoon it was low tide, and there were but six feet qf
water to port of the “ Golden Hind,” which drew thir-
teen. But about four o’clock, the wind, which had been
r68
SIR FRANCIS DRAKJi
holding her tight to her perilous position, suddenly
veered ; she heeled over towards deep water to star-
board, and moved a little. Instantly they hoisted sail,
and “ the happy gale ” slid her olF the rocks. Amazingly,
for all her twenty hours’ impalement, which included two
low tides, at any moment of which she might have split
like a lath, the Golden Hind,” double-sheathed,^
had received no serious damage.
There followed on the heels of this great deliverance
an episode so astonishing that, though it must be narrated,
it may easily seem incredible to any reader. Its sole
source is in some contemporary memoranda which cer-
tainly concern this voyage, but by whom they were made,
or for what purpose, it is impossible to say. . . . After
the ” Golden Hind ” floated off into deep water, Drake
ordered Chaplain Fletcher to be padlocked by the leg
to the fore-hatches, and himself, sitting cross-legged on
a sea-chest, with “ a pair of pantoufles in his hand,”
summoned the whole ship’s company together, and
addressed the unfortunate clergyman in truly astounding
terms.
“ Francis Fletcher,” he said, ‘‘ I do here excommuni-
cate thee out of the Church of God and from all benefits
and graces thereof, and I denounce thee to the devil and
all his angels.” Fie further forbade him, on pain of
death by hanging (real hanging), to appear on the fore-
deck, and had a “ posy ” put round his arm bearing the
uncompromising legend, “ Francis Fletcher, the falsest
knave that liveth.” . . , And if he wanted to be hanged,
let him take that off ! ^
Now, such details as the pair of pantoufles in Drake’s
hand, and he cross-legged on the sea-chest, must give
us pause before we reject the story ; they have a strong
air of actuality, as if recorded by an eye-witness. In
^ Hakluyt Society, New Light on Drake, p. 207.
® Hakluyt Society, The World Encompassed, p. 176.
THE END OF THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION 169
these memoranda there is no mention of what Fletcher’s
offence was, but the editor of Drake’s voyage of circum-
navigation in Anderson’s volume of Captain Cook's
Voyages had certainly access to them, and perhaps to
additional ones no longer extant, for not only does he
describe the scene with the exact details given there, but
tells us that while the “ Golden Hind ” was on the reef,
Fletcher “ exclaimed against the Captain as one whose
crimes of murder and lust had brought down Divine
vengeance on all the company.” ^ The crime of murder
no doubt refers to Drake’s execution of Doughty, and
that of lust to an otherwise uncorroborated story which
he gives concerning a mulatto girl of fourteen, whom he
took off Zarate’s ship. Drake, “ or other of his com-
panions,” he tells us, seduced her and abandoned her
on “ Crab Island,” when she was about to bear a child.®
But since there is no contemporary authority extant
either for this story or for the reason of Fletcher’s punish-
ment, it is impossible to accept as authentic an account
written two hundred years later, and the story of the
seduction is utterly opposed to all we know of Drake.®
Certainly, if Fletcher told the crew, while toiling desper-
ately to save the ship, that the disaster was a divine judg-
ment, no one ever better deseiwed abusive posies and
excommunication, but we have no real reason to believe
that he did. All the memoranda tell us is that Drake
excommunicated Fletcher, but give no reason for it.
Drake in a rage was probably appalling, and the wretched
chaplain cannot have been amused, but to us the notion
of an infuriated layman cross-legged on a sea-chest, with
^ Captain Cook’s Foyages, p. 394. ^ Hid , p. 391.
^ Hakluyt Society, New Light on Dtake, pp. 31-32. John Drake, in
his first declaration, says that there were two negroes and one negress
on board the “ Golden Hind ” who were left at Crab Island, but he
says nothing about any seduction, and no other authority mentions
thpm at all.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
i^o
a pair of slippers in his hand, fulminating his excommuni-
cation on an ordained minister, is a mere figure of fun.
There was still a month’s beating about among
dangerous shoals and insignificant islets before, on
February 8th, 1580, the “ Golden Hind ” got into the
open, arriving at Java in the middle of the month. Here
they were hospitably entertained by the various Rajahs,
and the Anonymous Narrative richly records that they
had as many as four Rajahs visiting the ship simul-
taneously. Their departure was hastened by the news
of the approach of some ships as big as the “ Golden
Hind,” and of uncertain nationality, and as Drake
no longer wished to meet any doubtful strangers,
but only to get home safely, they said a hasty good-
bye to the Rajahs and sailed at once, passing the
Cape of Good Hope, “a most stately thing,” without
touching. Of the voyage after leaving Java there is
almost nothing recorded, and we must assume it was
eventless. They were very short of water before they
got to Sierra Leone, where the famous oyster trees were
still flourishing : indeed, so covered were they with
spawning oysters that no vegetable bud could find room
to grow. Then, putting out to sea for the last lap, they
came, without sighting a single vessel, to Plymouth
Sound. The exact date is uncertain and unimportant :
the Authorized Narrative gives September 26th, John
Drake the first week in October. To the mariners the
day of the week after this westerly circuit was Monday,
but on shore, as at Drake’s return from the Spanish Main,
it was Sunday. The “ Golden Hind ” was home again,
and her keel had cut its furrow through the seas of the
round world.
CHAPTER X
DRAKE ON SHORE (1580-1585)
HERE came fishing -boats about
the “ Golden Hind ” as she slid up
the Sound, and Drake, from the
deck, asked if the Queen was alive
and well. That was most import-
ant : he had foreseen how awkward
it would be if, on his return, some
monarch friendly to King Philip was
on the throne. The Queen was in health, he was told,
but there was pestilence in Plymouth. The “ Golden
Hind ” notified her identity and dropped anchor, while
one of the smacks made haste to sail into Plymouth
Harbour. Her captain landed at the quay, and went
hot-foot for the Mayor with the amazing news that he
had spoken with Francis Drake, who had sailed into the
golden West nearly three years ago, and was returned,
all golden from the East. Twelve months and more
had elapsed since John Winter, captain of the “ Eliza-
beth,” had come home, and he had been a nine days’
wonder, for that he threaded forth and back the mythical
Strait of Magellan, but all that he could tell about Drake
was that he and the “ Golden Hind ” were last seen in
the Pacific, and had disappeared, seemingly for ever, in
such a tempest as no ship had yet survived.
The Mayor, we may guess, knew rather more than
the fisherman who had brought him this stupendous
news, for the agents of the Spanish Ambassador had been
much interested, for many months past, in the shipping
171
172
SIR FRANCIS DRAICE
that put into Plymouth, and Drake’s history had been
carried further than the hiatus at which John Winter
had left it. For Drake had been a subject of vivid
correspondence between the Foreign Office of His Most
Sanctified Majesty of Spain and His Majesty’s Ambassa-
dor to the heretic court of “ that Jezebel of the North.”
Jezebel had received innumerable notes on the question,
recounting how the corsair had been playing hell with
the ships of the Most Sanctified in the Pacific, and load-
ing his pirate craft with the gold that should have paid
troops m the Netherlands and built ships at Cadiz.
These (though the point was not explicitly stated) were
certainly designed, when there were enough of them, to
pitch Jezebel out of the window and buy dogs to eat her.
His Majesty made strong complaints about this piracy :
he thought it Too Bad, and did his Sister of England
know anything about it ?
Elizabeth had promptly replied that she knew nothing
whatever about it. She was the last, the very last person
to countenance such impudent attacks on her Brother’s
beautiful property. She was much shocked at the
corsair’s impudence, and (though this point was not
stated at all) since Winter’s return a year ago, she had
been sorry she had given the corsair a thousand crowns
of her own to be impudent with, for it looked as if it was
lost, and she hated losing money. ... At the same time
she was not sure yet that it was lost, for in the interviews
she had given her “ little pirate ” three years ago, he
had struck her as a singularly efficient little pirate, who
might turn up again. So, having represented herself
to her Brother as a guileless lamb, bleating with injured
innocence at the suspicion that she knew anything what-
ever about that horrid Drake, she began to consider
what would happen if her little pirate was not at the
bottom of the Pacific after all, and if not only her
thousand crowns, but a gigantic dividend as well, were
173
ON SHORE (1580-1585)
still in existence. Drake appeared to have captured no
end of her Brother’s beautiful property, and, if still afloat,
would bring it back to England one of these days.
Ambassador Mendoza had told her that the booty he had
captured was immense : her thousand crowns would
have multiplied like stars on a summer night, and she
writhed at the thought of having to restore all that to her
Brother. And then there was her little pirate to think
of : perhaps she would be requested to hang her little
pirate. Plymouth would probably be his port, if he
returned, and so she sent a private message to the good
Mayor. To make sure, she sent similar instructions
to her other ports as well.
So when the Mayor heard who waited on the deck of
the barnacled ship which had come into port that Sunday
morning, he lost no time, and presently he and a woman
he had sent for were being rowed out to it. Up she
went over the ship’s side, and Mary Drake was in her
husband’s arms, and after that she went to look at the
silks and china he had brought her, for he must have some
serious conversation with the Mayor. When their talk
was done, the Mayor went ashore again with certain
letters that Drake had written. These were given to a
messenger, who set off with all speed to London. The
letter he must deliver first was addressed to the Queen’s
Majesty, and there were others for certain officers of
State ; Walsingham and Hatton, who had favoured the
voyage, each received one, and we may be sure that
Drake told Hatton that the sole remaining ship of the
squadron, now heavy with gold and silver, bore the name
of the “ Golden Hind,” which was his crest. But there
was no letter for Burleigh.
The treasure was at once conveyed into Plymouth
Castle, pending the result of Drake’s letter to the Queen.
The first news from London was not encouraging : he
was informed by friends to whom he had written, that
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
174
he was in Elizabeth’s bad books, for she had already
heard, by way of Peru and Spain, of the robberies he
had committed, and Mendoza was making a claim on
the treasure. But at present there was no direct answer
from the Queen, and this discouraging news was clearly
her official attitude to the Ambassador, while she was
considering what to do. The fact that she had a thousand
crowns (plus dividends) at stake must have been consol-
ing to Drake. It was a difficult situation for Elizabeth,
and while she was considering, the most fortunate coin-
cidence occui'red, for she learned that Philip had landed
troops in Ireland.
At once she saw her way out, and refusing to see the
Ambassador while a single soldier was on Irish soil, she
said there was no proof that Drake had robbed the King
of Spain, and the matter must be carefully gone into.
She sent for Drake, saying that he had nothing to fear,
and bidding him bring “ some samples of his labours.”
Drake understood that, as clearly as if she had winked
at him, rushed to Plymouth Castle with the Queen’s
command, and loaded up such a treasure train as had
never passed between Panama and Nombre de Dios.
The Queen, as he had told Zarate,^ was half owner of the
proceeds of the voyage, and so, in full confidence that all
was well, he took to London half the dazzling ballast of
the “ Golden Hind.” ^ That, so he correctly guessed,
was the meaning of “some sample of his labours.” If
we may take Purchas’s estimate of the total value of the
cargo as ^•^' 2 , 6 , Elizabeth’s moiety would be worth
about ;,^i, 125,000 of our money.® The Queen’s share
^ Hakluyt Society, Nea/ Light on Dtake, p. 208.
2 Ibid., p. 33.
^ The Spaniali estimate of the value of the booty from the “Cacafuego ”
alone was 363,333 pesos. Sir Julian Corbett {Drake and the Tudor
Navy, vol. i. p. 431) makes the oddest error over the English money
equivalent of this, for after tellinv us that the peso was worth 63. 8d., he
175
ON SHORE (1580-1585)
may have been liberally computed, but as the rest of the
shareholders got 4700 per cent, on their capital,^ no one
grumbled.
The treasure came, Elizabeth saw, and Drake con-
quered. There was still a section of the Council, notably
Burleigh, and Sir James Crofts, the Controller of the
Household, who was frankly in Spanish pay, who were for
giving back to the King all that Drake had taken. They
denounced him as an unscrupulous thief, and Drake’s
simple idea of bribing Burleigh with a handsome present
did not meet witli success. But the Queen was openly
for him (and for her dividends), and by now the tale of
his exploits was abroad, and once more the whole nation
were dancing and laughing for sheer exhilaration at the
man. That enormous national popularity made him as
safe against any judicial steps as Elizabeth herself; the
rhythm of Drake’s drum was irresistible. Not yet did
the Queen openly recognize the glory of his adventure,
but sent him back to Plymouth to register the treasure
still there, with permission to abstract 0,000 for him-
self and a suitable bonus for his crew before the regis-
tration began. The whole registration, indeed, was
merely a bluff to satisfy Mendoza that she was going into
the matter in a thoroughly business-like manner, which,
in a sense, was perfectly trae, for no one could be more
business-like.
Into all the plots and counter-plots of policy which
followed, it would be tedious and irrelevant to enter.
There was a set of wheels and another of wheels within
wheels which ticked out the growing conviction that
Spain was the deadliest of England’s enemies, and an
antiphonal mechanism, of which the mainspring was
the hope of an alliance with Spain, and Elizabeth some-
makes the value of the “Cacafuego” to be £i,ogo,ooo. Apparently he
multiplied by three instead of dividing.
^ Wdgner, Sir Francis Drake’s Forage, p. 506.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
176
times wound up the first machine and sometimes the
second. Drake brought the sea-weary little “ Golden
Hind” to Deptford, and all London went crazy with
enthusiasm, to the horror of his detractors there, and he
was mobbed by his admireis when he walked along the
streets, and the chroniclers and ballad-makers were busy
with his name.^ The Queen, while still diplomatically
shocked with him, saw him in private audience in her
cabinet ; she walked with him in her gardens, and
graciously accepted some nice presents from him — a fine
emerald crown, in which were three stones as long almost
as a man’s finger, and a diamond cross.^ He gave her
also something which now would be more priceless yet,
namely, his diary of the voyage copiously illustrated by
him and his young cousin, whom he presented to the
Queen. What has happened to this is not known ; no
trace of it remains. But in 1585 Henri of Navarre
wrote to Walsingham, asking if the Queen would com-
mand the “ Chevalier de Drac ” to send him the “ dis-
courses of the great voyage,” ^ and perhaps the impru-
dent woman lent him this book. In return, she gave
Drake the Manor of Sherford, and some gold cups and
vessels. The Church, too, looked kindly on the pirate,
and Drake gave the Archbishop of Canterbury, “ his
friend,” a map of the voyage richly decorated with
coloured and gilded designs,^ which his friend seems to
have lost, for it is no longer in the library at Lambeth
Palace. On the other hand, in commercial circles which
traded with Spain and saw that if such expeditions were
encouraged the credit of Spanish merchants would be
seriously impaired, there was strong feeling against him,
and this animosity, fostered by Mendoza, solidified into
^ Stow, Aitnah, p. 808.
® Letter of Mendoza to King of Spain.
® I-Iakluyt Society, lAew Light on Drake, p. xlv,
* Ibid., p. xxvii.
ON SHORE (1580-1585) jyy
a series of accusations against him of cruelty to prisoners
and barbarous punishments. No definite charge was
made, but tongues were busy. Drake courted enquiry,
and his crew, en masse^ deposed on oath that there was
no shred of truth in these scandals, and this set the
matter at rest.
Possibly this enquiry had something to do with
Elizabeth’s belated recognition of his achievement ; she
may have waited till he was cleared, or perhaps she was
only being diplomatic, but on April 4th, 1581, she
decided to persevere no longer in this correctness which
deceived nobody, and went in state to visit her little
pirate on the ‘ ‘ Golden Hind ’ ’ at Deptford. She was served
with such a banquet as had never been seen since the days
of her father’s magnificence, and when dinner was done, in
open defiance of the King of Spain, who had demanded
Drake’s head, she bade the culprit kneel before her, “ for
now she had a golden sword to strike it off,” and at her
bidding there was knighted, as Mendoza acidly remarks,
“ the master-thief of the unknown world.” Arms, too, she
gave the thief, with a crest that commemorated his exploit,
and the ship that had carried him was installed in a shed
at Deptford, where, dry-shod, she should be a standing
memorial of that long furrow. The scholars of West-
minster were permitted to inscribe a tablet to be affixed
to her mast, and perpetrated some remarkably poor
Latin Elegiacs.
But of far more interest, even to pomp-loving Drake,
must have been the private talks he had with the Queen,
in which, with no Burleigh by, he could unfold his policy
to the enchanted Gloriana, whom he had so bountifully
enriched. Spain was the arch-enemy, and the right way
to cripple her and loosen her hold on the seas was to
strike at her trade, to capture her treasure ships, and so
put her into bankruptcy. Twice already had Drake
demonstrated the process, and the terror which he and
M
SIR FRANCIS DRAKF
I7B
his unexpected exploits had inspired showed that Spain
fully appreciated the danger. Those raids must be
repeated again and again on a larger scale, with bigger
squadrons. A base, too, difficult of capture, an eyrie
from which the sea-eagles could pounce on the slow
golden carp that swam from the Indies to Cadiz, must
be established.
The plan began to weave itself, and by the day Drake
received his knighthood it had shape and outline. An
integral part of it was an alliance with France, and that
promised well, for the Duke d’Alenfon, brother of the
King of France, was here, and his marriage with Eliza-
beth, in spite of the ludicrous disparity of age, seemed
likely : it was even stated that Calais and Boulogne
were to be returned to the English crown. ^ The
idea of the marriage, it is true, was very unpopular
in England, and it may be questioned whether the Queen
ever seriously intended it. What she did intend was to
procure an alliance with France, for France was to help
in this new scheme of Drake’s against Spanish trade-
routes, and Alen?on was perhaps only a pawn in the
game, to be sacrificed when the Queen had moved.
During this autumn of 1581 Drake was in high favour ;
he appeared at tourneys by the Queen’s side ; he was
constantly in company and conversation with her, and
supped with Lord Sussex and Lord Arundel, to whom
he said that he was quite capable of making war on the
King of Spain, which seemed to their Lordships a great
piece of impudence.
The project in which Fi-ance was to assist was the
establishment of an eyrie at Terceira in the Azores,
from which to swoop on Spanish treasure ships. On the
death of Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal, in 1580,
Philip had grabbed that country, basing his claim on
his marriage to the daughter of John in, and it was now
^ Fugger News-Leitets (second series), p. 66.
ON SHORE (1580-1585) 179
in Spanish hands. Don Antonio, Prior of Ocrato, and
natural son of Don Luis,^ was a claimant, but after a
short campaign he had to fly. After hiding for a time
in disguise, he had escaped on a Venetian ship ^ and had
got to England, followed by loyal aristocrats from
Portugal,^ bringing money and jewels. The Queen
received him with high favour (as another pawn), for,
though he was an exile from his own country, the Azores
were faithful to him, and the strong English squadron
which was to be sent there would take possession in his
name and, hoisting his flag, operate against Spanish
treasure ships. Drake was to be in command of the
fleet, and he, Hawkins, and Walsingham were to be the
principal shareholders.'* But the Queen still insisted
that France should join in the enterprise, and France
would give no promise. Then more money was wanted,
and the Queen refused to advance it. So also did Drake
and Hawkins, and after innumerable complications and
still-born amendments, the whole scheme, magnificent
as Drake first conceived it, crumbled away to nothing.
The Queen’s insistence on France’s co-operation, which
was quite unnecessary, ruined it. She had a great idea
of her diplomatic gifts, and her repeated failures never
taught her anything.
Drake must have been bitterly disappointed. He had
no taste for international squabbles and bargainings :
all he wanted was to get to sea and have business with
the Majestic Beard again. So for the present he went
back to Plymouth for a spell of domestic life with the
shadowy Mary and her Chinese porcelain. He was
elected Mayor in 1581, and during his term of office
^ His parentige is uncertain : he was also said to be the son of a Lisbon
merchant. (Monson, Naval Tracts, vol. i. p. 187, note.)
2 Fugger News-Letters (second senes), p. 50.
^ Ibid., p. 60.
* Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. p. 347.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
i8o
passed a rather characteristic regulation that the Corpora-
tion should wear red gowns : he also set up a great com-
pass on the Hoe. For this year and the next he lived at
Plymouth, waiting for the moment when he should be
allowed to resume on a bigger scale such raids on Spanish
commerce as Elizabeth and Walsingham approved in
idea. He hated inactivity, and only one incident, and
that fogged with mystery, interrupted the tedious round
of civic duties. But since that concerned the execution
of Thomas Doughty, and Sir Julian Corbett has pro-
pounded a remarkable theory about it, it must be shortly
gone into.^
Sir Julian founds his theory on a passage from a speech
of Sir Edward Coke’s in the debate in the House of
Commons in 162,8 on Martial Law :
“ Drake slew Doughty beyond sea. Doughty’s
brother desired an appeal {i.e. a prosecution for murder
to be tried by battle) in the Constable’s and Marshal’s
Court. Resolved by Wray and the other judges that
he may sue there.”
Now this prosecution of Drake never took place, and
Sir Julian’s theory is that the trial must have been stopped
by some very powerful influence, namely that of Burleigh,
whom, as we have seen, he regards as the sinister first
cause of Doughty’s mutinous attempts. On the sole
evidence that this trial never came on, he wishes us to
believe that Burleigh stopped it because he had induced
Doughty to stir up mutiny among the crews of the expedi-
tion of which he disapproved, and try to wreck it. This
would come out if Drake was put on trial, and Burleigh
would be ruined.
Now there arc invincible objections to such a theory.
In the first place, if Bmdeigh had sufficient influence to
stop a trial after the Lord Chief Justice had sanctioned
it, it would surely have been easier for him to have
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. i. p. 341, etc.
ON SHORE (1580-1585) 181
arranged that it should not be sanctioned. A more
serious objection, already dealt with,^ is that from all we
know of Burleigh’s character, it is inconceivable that he
ever was an accomplice in Doughty’s behaviour, or
commissioned him to stir up mutiny. A third objection
is, that even if he had done so, nobody knew about it
except Doughty, and Doughty was dead. It never came
out at the trial, or all the jury, forty in number, would
have known about it, and the fact would have been
public property long ago.
If, then, we reject so impossible a theory to account for
John Doughty not prosecuting Diake, as he was legally
entitled to do, for murder, we ought to find another more
tenable, and Sir Julian, quite unwittingly, gives us the
real reason for it, with his usual admirable detail. For
shortly after John Doughty had obtained the legal de-
cision that his action would lie, he wrote slanderous
letters about Drake, saying that the Queen had knighted
“ the arrantest knave, the vilest villain, the cruellest
murderer that was ever born.” He was also implicated
in some mysterious and bombastic plot for the assassina-
tion of Drake : the King of Spain was said to have oflFered
2.0,000 ducats to any one who would kill or kidnap Drake,
and Doughty had certainly been approached on the
subject. He was therefore clapped into the Marshalsea
prison, and trial of Drake could not possibly proceed for
the very simple reason that the prosecutor was not at
liberty. He appealed to be released and tried, and in
the fact that this was not done, Sir Julian again asks us
to see the sinister influence of Burleigh. But if Bur-
leigh had wished to silence John Doughty for ever (as
by hypothesis he did), the simplest way of doing it was
to have used the influence that was apparently so supreme
in the much easier task of getting him brought to trial,
for he would assuredly have been hanged.
^ See p, 136.
i 82
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
In 1583 there came about an event that must be con-
sidered as inaugurating a new era not alone in the life of
Drake, but in the evolution of the British Navy. His
voyage of circumnavigation had already been honoured
by the Queen with knighthood, but now his policy
received its official accolade. A royal commission was
appointed to enquire into a report on the state of the
Navy, and the Commission, then as now, were highly
placed personages who knew nothing about the subject,
and so they naturally appointed sub-commissioners who
did know about it. From the fact that Drake, Frobisher,
and Walter Raleigh were among these, we can gather
that the new school of sailors, who regarded the Navy
not as subsidiary to the Army, but as the main national
weapon in offence no less than defence, had won the
day, and that Burleigh’s policy, which had always been
that the Navy was coastguard and conveyer of soldiers
to desired points, had been definitely scrapped. The
policy of Drake’s voyages, the point of what his detractors
called piracies, was recognized as the dawn of the new
idea about the Navy.
The excuse for this commission was the investigation
of certain contracts with regard to shipbuilding which
had been carried out in an unsatisfactory, and possibly
fraudulent manner, but the reason for it was that the
Queen and her Council had at last recognized the fact
that before long war with Spain was inevitable, and that
sea-power alone, used not merely for coast defence and
military ferrying, but for attack, could save England.
Offensive operations by sea, in raids and piracies, had
always been Drake’s method of carrying on his own
private war with King Philip, and now at last, when
national war was seen to be some time inevitable, his
policy received national recognition in his appointment
to the board of sub-commissioners. Never would he have
been appointed unless he was meant to make himself
ON SHORE (1580-1585) 183
felt, and he might be safely trusted to do that. His
record showed that whatever stood in his way, wind or
witchcraft or incalculable odds, was scattered like chaff
before his violence and will. If he had not been intended
to exercise those now, he would certainly have been left
to put on his red gown at Plymouth. It had a black
mourning band round the arm, for shadowy Mary had
died this year, and he was a childless widower. He
had taken his seat in Parliament as member for Bossiney
in Cornwall, but these two years, 1583 and 1584, he
chiefly spent in visiting dockyards and making himself
increasingly felt on the Naval Commission. There his
only object was to get the Navy put into such a condi-
tion that it could at any moment send to sea a powerful
and efficient force for offence, instead of merely guarding
ports and conveying troops.
There were, during these years, innumerable rumours
of war and innumerable wavings of olive branches :
Elizabeth had a cutlass in one hand, an olive branch in
the other, and she waved them alternately. Philip was
arming too, for the English naval preparations, as
reported by his agents in London, had alarmed him, and
the two countries, England under the spur of the Naval
Commission, and Spain under the representations of the
Captain-General, Santa Cruz, were feverishly employed
in building ships, for Spain was quite as firm a believer
in Drake as Drake himself. But Elizabeth was still
frightened of Philip, and Philip of Elizabeth, and, in a
word, they continued gabbling about peace to each other,
while the war party behind each urged them to fisticuffs.
Once, during i j'83, war seemed imminent, for the French
plot to invade England, with the approval, if not the
alliance of Spain, came to light, but its discovery was
its undoing, since unexpectedness could alone have
ensured success. Tension more than once seemed at
breaking-point, and the international barometer jerked
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
iS/j
Up and down, as in highly unsettled weather, but the
storm never burst, because neither Spain nor England
were quite ready. During 1584, however, plans were
laid for a big offensive expedition by sea, of which Drake
was to be Admiral, Frobisher vice-Admiral, and the
command of the troops accompanying it to be given to
Captain Carleill, Walsingham’s son-in-law.
By the end of this year, if Elizabeth had just clapped
her hands, the expedition could have started. Drake’s
policy had won the day, for even Burleigh was now con-
verted to it, and its object was exactly the same as had
always been his, namely, to strike at the trade routes of
Spain, to take the treasure ships which were her sinews
of war, and to capture the stations of her Western
Empire. But now this was no raid of a private pirate
whom Elizabeth might disown even though her pockets
dripped with the gold of her dividends ; the raid was
publicly approved by her Coauicil and herself ; the
English Government was the pirate, and diplomatic
denials for the future would be waste of breath.
It was exactly this finality which caused Elizabeth to
hesitate before she clapped her hands, for the curtain
would rise not on a romping and glorious farce, as Drake’s
previous expedition to the Indies had been, but on an act
of serious international drama. She might still hope
that Brother Philip would not consider the expedition
an irrevocable reason for war, since he had stood a good
deal of beard-singeing without biting, but she could not
make up her mind to risk it. At one moment she was
all majesty and uncalculating fury, the next she was a
whimpering creep-mouse ; never had she been more
feebly vacillating. Physically and for herself she had a
notable pluck : her life was in constant danger from
Catholic and Jesuit plots, but she snapped her fingers
at the notion of personal peril, and proceeded to the next
business with an unconcerned shrug. But when it was
ON SHORE (1580-1585) 185
a question of national policy, she had to be cornered
without escape before her courage could be aroused ; as
long as two courses were open, she would always choose
the less hazardous.
While Elizabeth still remained irresolute, Drake had
gone a-courting, and early in 1585 he married Elizabeth
Sydenham, daughter and heiress of Sir George Sydenham
of Combe Sydenham, in Devonshire. We know almost
as little of her as of his first wife, and for the present she
saw but little of him, for in May King Philip, acting on
the most Christian pronouncement of the Pope that no
faith or bond of honour need be kept with heretics, com-
mitted, under Apostolic sanction, one of the rankest
pieces of treachery that it is possible to imagine. Har-
vests had failed in Galicia, starvation threatened the
provinces, and, under a promise of safe-conduct, he had
induced a fleet of corn ships from England to bring grain
into Corunna and Bilbao. They had hardly begun to
unload when he sent down an order that all the English
vessels should be seized and the crews thrown into
prison ; and of the whole fleet only one escaped, namely,
the “ Primrose,” which was in the harbour at Bilbao.
The Corregidor of Biscay, with the King’s order in his
pocket, had come on board with six men, in the guise of
friendly merchants, and after ascertaining the number of
the crew, which was only fifteen, had returned to the
shore, leaving three of his men on the “ Primrose.” He
came back again on a pinnace, bringing twenty-four
armed soldiers, and summoned the crew to surrender,
for they were the King of Spain’s prisoners. But this
was not quite the case, for the sailors of the “ Primrose ”
went for them with extreme vigour and drove some back
to their boats, and pitched others overboard, and cleared
the ship of them. Among those who had been put
overboard was the Corregidor himself, who was subse-
quently pulled out of the water by the English, and in
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
1 86
his pocket was found the King of Spain’s order. The
“ Primrose ” brought him and this highly incriminating
document to London.
At that Elizabeth boiled over ; Drake was bidden to
get ready to go to sea, with the ostensible object of
enquiring into this seizure of English ships. London
and other ports sent their quota, and the fleet gathered
at Plymouth. All speed was made, for fear the Queen
might cool down again, and by the first week in Sep-
tember the fleet was expecting to weigh anchor in a day
or two. Then a totally unexpected event occurred,
which, though it might have been serious, had its comic
side. Sir Philip Sidney suddenly came on board the
flagship, and said that he was joining the troop of
gentlemen adventurers.
Now there was no one whom Drake would less willingly
have had on board (not even Gloriana herself) than this
charming and courtly man, who was under the singular
delusion that he was a leader of men, and would, no
doubt, have tried to prove his quality. But to refuse
point-blank to receive the favourite not only of Elizabeth
but of all the Court, was almost as impossible as to do so.
In this difficulty Drake had one of the brightest ideas
that ever entered that most fertile brain : it occurred
to him that possibly Gloriana’s darling had run away
from Gloriana. If that was the case, and he took Sir
Philip with him, the Queen was perfectly capable of
sending a swift pinnace after the fleet, and ordering it
all back. ... So he scribbled a despatch to some
friend in London, bidding him instantly let the Queen
know where Sidney was, and smuggled this off, while
he ordered a banquet of welcome for the great man.
The reply came back without any of that hesitancy
with which Elizabeth often drove her captains crazy : in
fact, three replies came back. One was to Drake, a
peremptory prohibition to take Sidney on board ; the
ON SHORE (1580-1585) 187
second was to Sidney to tell him to come back, At Once ;
the third was to the Mayor of Plymouth, commanding
him to see that these orders were obeyed. Drake’s
brilliant guess was quite correct : Sidney had run away
from his doting mistress, and her property was to be
forthwith returned. This was done, but the episode
had thoroughly alarmed Drake. He felt he would never
be secure till he had put leagues of blue water between
himself and the Royal weathercock, and precipitately
he bundled all his remaining stores on board, to sort
them out afterwards, and on September 14th, 1585, he
weighed anchor. For five years he had been tied up on
shore : now his string was cut, and he splashed into the
sea again.
CHAPTER XI 1
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 1585
EVER had such a lusty lot of pirates
— for pirates in effect they were —
set sail together. Elizabeth frankly
godmothered them, for there were
two Navy ships, the “ Elizabeth
Bonaventure” of 600 tons, and the
“Aid.” The rest were subscribed
for by private shareholders, and
numbered nineteen, exclusive of pinnaces. Among these
was the “Primrose,” which had escaped from Bilbao,
on which sailed Drake’s vice-Admiral, Frobisher : the
galleon “ Leicester,” of 400 tons, came next in size to
the “ Elizabeth.” But because the fleet was so large
and powerful that it could not easily be put in a tight
place by the Spanish, the voyage, though highly signifi-
cant, lacks the thrill of Drake’s earlier ventures, when
tight places were his normal environment. He had less
opportunity, too, just because he was now conducting a
national enterprise sanctioned by the Queen, for those
swift and dazzling decisions which so often before had
pulled success out of almost certain disaster. We follow
him with more seriousness, but less excitement.
Yet the first incident was Drakian enough. He was
short of water, for he had left Plymouth almost in a
panic, and now, instead of putting into Falmouth for it,
1 The main records of this voyage are those of Captain Walter Biggs,
Hakluyt Society (extra series), vol. x. p. 97 ; and The Log of the Prim-
rose (author unknown), Naval Records Society, vol. xi. p. i.
IBB
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 1585 189
which was the natural thing to do, he thought it would
be more amusing to water at a Spanish port. So he
sailed direct to Cape Finisterre, anchored among the
Bayona Isles, and sent Captain Sampson (Corporal of
the Field) with pinnaces strongly manned and armed to
enquire of the Governor of Bayona, rather in the manner
of Jehu, if it was peace or war, and why the English
corn-ships had been seized. The Governor was a little
shy of saying it was war, with a strong English fleet off
the coast and English soldiers already landed, so he said
it was peace. That was satisfactory ; Drake asked for
provisions and water, and also learned that the detained
English corn- ships had been set free. What further
humorous developments there might have been is un-
certain, but bad weather was coming up, and he had
to get his men aboard without watering. They rode
out a three-days’ gale, and when that was passed, Drake
ruffled across to Vigo, and took some rather valuable
loot (as it was peace) on his way.
He had now actually performed the ostensible object
of his voyage, which was to enquire into the seizure of
those English corn-ships, but he put into Vigo for the
water he had not yet obtained, and the capture of more
loot. He had a parley with a nervous Governor, after a
demonstration in force, and put to sea again, well supplied
by the Spanish with all he wanted for attaining the real
object of his voyage, which was to do the utmost possible
damage to the King of Spain’s new Empire. He had
also, with the impudent contempt which he always both
felt and showed for Spain, let King Philip know that
he was “mightily at sea again.’’ That was pleasantly
accomplished, and he left behind an agitated committee of
Spanish state officials, all guessing what he was intending
to do next. Admiral Santa Cruz rightly guessed that he
was off to America, but thought he would make for the
coast of Brazil, anticipating perhaps another raid into the
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
tgo
Pacific ; and King Philip, with a dilatoriness that rivalled
Elizabeth’s, told him that when they were all agreed as to
where Dralce had gone, a strong squadron must certainly
pursue him. This was done about the middle of the
coming spring, when Drake had quite finished and was
on his way home.
The fleet’s first point of call was the Canaries, and on
the way it talked with a French pirate who had news that
must have made Drake gnash his teeth. Olf Cape St.
Vincent he had missed by a few hours only a Spanish
fleet from the Indies. This seems to have been the last
to sail that year (for in winter the track across the Isthmus
of Panama became impassable), and Drake, though
following the trade route, never set eyes on a single
treasure-ship. At Las Palmas they hoped to furnish
their stores with “ such good things as it offered very
abundantly,” but Las Palmas was ready for them and
only afforded them “ many of their cannon-shot ” : the
sea also was so rough that no landing could be made
and they went on to the Cape Verde Islands. There
Drake must have joined in a laugh against himself, for
he made very careful preparations to take the fortress of
Santiago. Carleill landed with a thousand men, and
after prudently delaying the attack on this strong place
till daybreak, advanced to the assault, but found not a
soul there, as news of the expedition had reached the
island and the town had been abandoned. Less humor-
ously, there was no treasure there either, and all they
could do was to hoist the royal ensign and fire off all the
guns of the town in honour of the date, November i yth,
which was the anniversary of the Queen’s accession.
A Portuguese ship came in under a flag of truce to
ask who they were, and Drake sent a message to the
Governor that if he was wise, he would come and parley :
failing that, every town on the island should be burned
to the ground. No Governor appeared, but there was
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 1585 191
news that he and other important folk had gone to San
Domingo, some twelve miles inland. Drake sent a
contingent of six hundred men there, but they found it
deserted also, and burned it. Then from a prisoner
came information that there was treasure hid at Porto
Praya, but the search was in vain, and so Porto Praya
was burned. Returning to re-embark at Santiago, he
burned it as well and set sail to the west, leaving the three
towns of the island in smoking ruin, but without having
enriched the expedition by a single ducat.
Shortly after leaving Santiago Drake seems to have
sketched out his proposed campaign in the Indies to
some one on the expedition with him, for there exists a
most interesting document^ recording the incidents of
the voyage up till then, and giving “ by conjecture,” with
dates, his future movements. His plan was to sail to the
island of Domenica, arriving on November 2.8th, and
after watering there, to take the town of Margarita.
From there he meant to cross to the Main, and by
December 6th to have sacked Rio de la Hacha with a
prospect of great spoil. An alternative plan (which he
subsequently adopted) was to take Domingo first, and
after that proceed to Rio de la Hacha. Santa Marta
was to be taken next, and then Cartagena, which would
occupy him till January 8th, 1^86. After that he pro-
posed to take Nombre de Dios, collect friendly Cimaroons
and go up the River Chagres and attack and take Panama,
thus severing from Spain all the fabulous wealth of Peru.
While these land operations, which should be complete
by February 25th, were going on, he would himself
cruise up the coast of Flonduras, to victual and to capture
all the frigates on the coast, numbering 200. He would
also “ prey upon many rich men ” and enrich himself
with ransoms. After that he meant to take Havana, and,
if tenable, leave a company of soldiers there, getting back
^ Naval Records Society, vol. zl. pp. 69-74.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
192
to England on June loth, 1586. Apart from tke enor-
mous spoil of bullion and jewels which would fall into
his hands, Drake states, as follows, what he expected to
get from the ransom of the towns he took :
San Domingo
Santa Marta
Cartagena .
Panama
Rich men of Honduras
500.000 ducats.
10,000 ,,
1,000,000 ,;
1,000,000 „
100.000 ,,
2,610,000 ducats.
This in sterling would be about £ 6 ^ofioo for ransoms
alone. As we shall see, both the programme was con-
siderably curtailed and the ransoms did not amount to
one-tenth of Drake’s estimate ; but the whole document
is of the greatest interest as showing the huge scope of
Drake’s design, and with what expectations he set off from
Santiago. The schedule gives the impression of having
been taken down from conversation, and its scheme to
have been elastic and dependent on future circum-
stances.
But Drake took with him westward a more dangerous
enemy than all the Spanish ships-of-war. They had
been at sea a week when a disease like plague broke out :
so virulent was it that before they arrived at the island
of Domenica, only eighteen days after leaving Santiago,
more than two hundred men had died. They traded
with natives there, took in a store of tobacco and spent
Christmas at St. Christopher’s Island, where the sick
were nursed and the ships thoroughly cleansed and
aired. Drake held a council there, and announced to
it (his usual method of consultation) the opening move
in the campaign, namely (according to his alternative
plan) to attack and capture San Domingo on the island
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 15S5 193
of Haiti. It was supposed to contain much treasure,
which was pleasant, but almost pleasanter yet would be
the loss of prestige to the Spanish, if their ancient
capital was taken. It was the oldest of all their West
Indian towns, having been founded in 1496, and sub-
sequently built with great splendour and magnificence;
no city in Spain itself except Barcelona excelled it. By
report (foi Diakc only knew it from charts) it had a
harbour difficult of access, defended by a nasty castle,
and the first step was to find out about that. He there-
fore sent off a detachment to reconnoitre. They picked
up a frigate which was on its way there, with a pilot who
knew the coast well, and learned from him that a landing
under the guns of the castle, through a difficult and
narrow channel, was next to impossible, but that ten
miles further down the coast was a far easier disembarka-
tion. This conversational pilot was retained, and a pinnace
sent back to Drake with the news, while the reconnoitring
squadron remained opposite San Domingo to keep the
eyes of the garrison busily employed in watching these
disquieting-looking ships.
Drake thought out his plan and joined his advance
squadron, and so, just out of gunshot from the castle,
there rode a formidable fleet evidently intending a direct
assault. As soon as it was dark, he embarked the whole
of his troops on pinnaces and light craft, and steering the
foremost himself, with the conversational pilot to direct
him, he put them ashore ten miles from the city, before
the dawn of New Year’s Day, 1586. He had given
them their orders, and now sailed back at top-speed to
his fleet, which he brought nearer inshore, and opened
a bombardment on the castle. If he could silence their
guns, he probably intended to force a landing there with
his crews, but the really important thing was that the
garrison should think this was his design. Naturally
they did : all eyes were on the fleet with its crowd of
M
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
194
pinnaces and small craft that were being manned. But
about noon their attention was diverted, for they per-
ceived, advancing on the town in their rear, the troops
that had been landed during the night. Completely
surprised, they wheeled the guns that had been pointing
seawards, and got in one round. Before they could re-
load the English troops were upon them, and they fled
back into the town, pursuers and pursued in a huddle
of cutlasses and muskets, and were driven out into the
country landwards.
The town was thus in the hands of the English, but it
was too big for them to hold in its entirety, and the
castle was still untaken. The troops barricaded them-
selves in the market-place, and then nrade a night attack
on the castle. Before morning its defenders had evacu-
ated it, the English flag flew from its tower, and Drake
negotiated at leisure the difficult entrance into the harbour
and occupied it. There was a ship there, likely to be
useful, and Drake put a prize crew on board, christened
her in honour of the day, the “ New Year’s Gift,” and
incorporated her into his squadron. There were galleys
also in the harbour, containing English and French
prisoners, all of whom he set freeA
The search for treasure began, but, as at Santiago
and Porto Praya, it was a huge disappointment. Drake,
with that incalculable acumen of his, always at its keenest
when he was thumping Spaniards, not only liberated the
negro slaves he found in the town, but armed them.^
San Domingo would thus have a Cimaroon menace about
its path for the future. He then opened negotiations
with the Governor, who had fled into the country, for
its ransom. In the course of these he sent out one
morning his small negro servant boy to meet an officer
who was approaching with a flag of truce. The man
^ Naval Records Society, vol. xi. p. 76.
2 (second series), p. 106.
San Domingo
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 1585
195
thrust his lance through him, and the boy crawled back,
told his story to Drake, and died at his feet.
No excuse can be made for so savage a treachery ;
perhaps the officer considered himself affronted by a
little black chattel being sent as messenger. But the
crime was damnable, and Drake, mad with fury, took
two friars, who were among his prisoners, to the spot
where the boy had been wounded, and hanged them there.
It was the first time and the last that he had ever killed
innocent prisoners, but for once, under this foul provo-
cation, he acted as Spaniards were wont to do. Then he
sent a message to them that two more prisoners would
be hanged every day till the murderer was given up.
Next morning he was sent in, and Drake ordered that his
own countrymen should hang him at these same gallows
themselves. When that was done, he opened negotia-
tions again.
Believing that the city contained immense treasure,
Drake asked a ransom that the Governor declared he
could not pay. Drake then began burning the town :
two hundred sailors were deputed for that, but as it was
magnificently built of stone, they did not effect much.
Search for treasure still went on, but apart from a great
store of provisions and any amount of copper, nothing
was discovered. After a month of futile incendiarism,
Drake accepted a ransom of 25,000 ducats (,f6ooo),
and this was formally paid in the hall of the Governor’s
palace. In that sumptuoxrs place there was hugely
painted on the wall the King of Spain’s coat-of-arms,
with the motto, “ Non sufficit orbis ” (“ The world is
not big enough for me ”), and as the money was being
paid, Drake’s officers asked what this meant. They
shook their heads sadly over the interpretation, and said
the Queen of England could not possibly permit it.
Surely Drake put them up to that. . . .
The fleet then sailed southwards. The capture of
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
196
San Domingo had been moi'e enriching to the soul than
to the pocket, and Drake’s next objective was to take
Cartagena, the capital of the Spanish Main. He could
not find a pilot, but a dozen years ago, in his first raid
on the Main, he had spent a fortnight with pinnaces
and the “ Pasha ” dodging about among the little
islands of the harbour, and his marvellous memory
enabled him to direct operations without any preliminary
reconnaissance.
The town was built close to the shore looking west-
wards on to the open sea : directly to the south was a
small inner harbour very difficult of access, for a spit of
land rendered it nearly land-locked, and the narrow
entrance was closed by a chain. Outside this was the
big outer harbour from the mouth of which ran a wooded
promontory to the seaward face of the town. His
tactics were precisely the same as at San Domingo, for
how could they be bettered ? He entered the outer
harbour with his entire fleet, and all afternoon tacked
and bustled about as if planning a night assault on the
inner harbour, which he had not the faintest intention
of attempting. When night fell, he disembarked his
troops at the entrance of the outer harbour, with orders
to march along this wooded promontory, and make the
assault from the west. The signal was to be the sound
of firing from the direction of the inner harbour.
This march was through woods, where they kept
missing their way, until about midnight Carleill, who
was in command, took them down on to the beach, where
there would be no possibility of further blind-man’s-buff.
But they were still half a mile off the town when the
firing began, and here a wall of fortification ran from the
shore to the inner harbour. They must have been seen
too, for a couple of armed Spanish vessels in the inner
harbour opened fire on them. Bvit they forced a barri-
caded passage in the wall, and there was a furious scrap
197
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 1585
with its defenders in the dark. They drove them along,
and chased them into the town, where they found more
barricades in the streets manned by Indians with poisoned
arrows. But, as at San Domingo, they established them-
selves in the market-place, and Cartagena surrendered.
The untaken fort at the entrance to the inner harbour
had no billet for its bullets, for Drake moved off his
feinting fleet, and unless they fired on the town, there
was nothing to be done.
The bargaining about ransom began. Drake, no
doubt intentionally, asked a sum that could not be paid,
namely, ,/^ioo,ooo, and the Governor said, “ Make it
ducats.” This was but a quarter of Drake’s demand,
and he would not accept it, so, after an unavailing hunt
for treasure, he began burning the town. This pro-
duced an amended offer of 1 10,000 ducats, and Drake
added another 2000 ducats for the priory which was
outside the town and the untaken block-house at the
entrance to the harbour. The Governor agreed to
ransom the priory, but let the block-house go. So
Drake blew the block-house into smithereens, and said
he would consider.
But while these bargainings were in progress, there
had been trouble for the English. Sickness had again
broken out in the fleet : it seems to have been malaria,
for those who were out after sunset were attacked by it,
and we may presume they had been bitten by mosquitos :
the death-rate was not high enough for yellow-fever.
And then old Thomas Moone, who had been ship’s
carpenter on the little “ Swan ” and was now Captain
of the “ Francis,” had, with another officer, been lured
into an ambuscade in attempting to capture two Spanish
barks and been killed. We know that the next item on
Drake’s programme had been to take Nombre de Dios
again, and march over the Isthmus to the capture of
Panama, but now for the first time he lacked that rollick-
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
198
ing confidence that had inspired his first raid on the
Spanish Main. He was a man of forty-five now, and
that may have had something to do with it ; he was also
the leader of a national expedition, and not on one of his
gleeful irresponsible raids. In any case, he called a
council of his land-captains, and no longer just listening
to them and then doing precisely as he chose, he asked
their considered opinion as to the future. He put three
points before them.
(I.) Should they hold Cartagena against the Spanish
forces on the Main and the reinforcements
which might be coming from Spain, till fresh
troops and ships were sent for from England ?
To this the land-captains answered that though,
owing to sickness and casualties, there were not more
than 700 thoroughly fit troops, they could hold the
town, provided the sea-captains could guarantee security
against any fleet from Spain.
Now, since Questions II. and III. would not arise if
it was decided to hold Cartagena, we must conclude that
Drake, on his own responsibility (since no council of
sea-captains was called), decided that he could not give
this guarantee. Question I., therefore, was answered
in the negative, and Question II. arose.
(II.) Shoidd they attempt the rest of the programme,
on which the taking of Panama was the next
item, or turn homewards ?
The land-captains decided that though their forces
had been so weakened by sickness that they could not
anticipate success in any further enterprise, they would
cheerfully attempt any such operations which Drake
ordered.
The decision, therefore, was put back to Drake, for
the land-captains, though expressing their own views
in the negative, had passed a vote of confidence in him :
they would do as he thought best. Plere was he close
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 1585 199
to the scene of his former raid, where, with a couple of
small vessels and a handful of Devonshire boys, he had
capered and captured at will, and now he had with him
more than ten times that number of trained troops, and a
fleet instead of two cockle-shells. But he decided to
abandon all further operations and go home.
Now this is so surprising superficially that we must
try to figure out what lay at the back of it, not on the
surface of it. To accuse Drake of want of enterprise
would be, considering his past and future records, an
imbecile charge, for never did he err on the side of pru-
dence when dash had the least chance of success. One
reason for his deciding against an attack on Panama has
been entirely overlooked by those who blame him for
it, and it is this. Treasure from Peru was only on the
move when the winter rains were over (for the track from
Panama was impassable in that season), and even if he
took Panama, he would find it empty of treasure, for the
last fleet bearing the produce of the year before had
already reached Spain. If, on the other hand, he waited
till the trains would be normally on the move again, the
news of his being in possession of Cartagena must have
gone abroad and reached Panama, and it might be taken
for certain that no gold would be sent from Peru while
he was there.
Again, if we look more closely at these two questions,
we see that they are intimately bound up with each other.
If he decided to attempt further operations with his land-
force, it is clear that the guarantee his land-captains had
asked for, namely, security from any Spanish fleet that
might bring reinforcements, must apply whether they
held Cartagena or not. Safety from the sea was asked
for while they were on land, and Drake had already found
himself unable to give that guarantee with regard to
Question I. : he could not, therefore, give it with regard
to Question II. Moreover, since the route to Panama
200
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
would not be practicable for at least another month, if
he decided to attempt its capture he would have to
guarantee safety at Cartagena till then. We are back
then at Question I. in order to understand his decision
with regard to Question II.
Now Drake has been almost universally blamed, both
by contemporary and subsequent judgments, for not
holding Cartagena. He had in his hand the massive
key to the treasure-house of Peru ; not an ounce of gold
could reach Spain while he effectively held it, and without
gold Spain must collapse. But in truth he was far wiser
than his critics. For if he had decided to hold it, he
must instantly have sent several ships to England demand-
ing large naval reinforcements without delay, and this
would seriously weaken his fleet. These reinforcements
would have to reach him before Philip despatched a fleet
from Spain, and though Philip was always leaden-footed,
he would surely quicken his steps when he had news
that the capital of the Spanish Main was in the hands of
the English.
Again, what would Elizabeth do in answer to Drake’s
demand ? To make his capture of Cartagena effective,
she would have to hurry out strong naval reinforcements
to the weakening of her home fleet, just when she knew
that Philip was building and equipping ships with all
speed for the invasion of England. She would certainly
be loth to do that, and might easily refuse, and in that
case, where was Drake’s guarantee to his land-captains
of security from naval attack ? If, on the other hand,
she was staunch to her little pirate, and sent ships for his
support, Philip would have news of that, and there was
a grand opportunity for him to attack England. When
once reinforcements had gone to Drake, he had the chance
of cutting them off from England entirely and holding
the mouth of the Channel in force. This consideration
Sir William Monson, the greatest of contemporary
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 1585 zot
authorities, seems to have overlooked. He says it
would have annoyed the King of Spain enormously
if Drake had held Cartagena, and that he should have
done so.^ But Drake needed far more troops (especially
if he meant not only to hold Cartagena, but attack
Panama) and a much stronger fleet, and it might con-
ceivably have angered Elizabeth if the King of Spain
had made this the occasion, not for ousting Drake, but
for invading England.
For all these reasons Drake’s decision to evacuate
Cartagena and make no attack on Panama was probably
the only wise course. He was no longer a hilarious
adventurer with boys and cockle-shells, but a responsible
national commander (though still a pirate) whose impru-
dence might cause grave disaster. Pie therefore put the
third question to his Council.
(III.) Should they accept the 100,000 ducats (with the
extra 1000 for the priory) which was offered
as a ransom, or still hold out for the ,^100,000
which they had demanded .?
The answer was that they shotrld accept it, especially
since they had sacked the town of its merchandise, and
burned a good part of it. Further, the land-captains
unanimously agreed that, since the voyage had not turned
out as profitable as they had hoped, they renounced all
share in the ransom, “ and do freely give and bestow the
same wholly upon the poor men who have remained with
us in the voyage, meaning as well the sailor as the soldier,
wishing with all our hearts it was such and so much as
might seem a sufficient reward for their painful
endeavours.”
There was no more business, and the meeting ad-
journed. But it was a proud moment for Drake when
he heard the last resolution of his land-captains, and
thought that he was the commander of these men. Much
^ Monson, JVapaJ Tract!, i. p. 1 26.
203
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
of his voyage of circumnavigation had been embittered
by the jealousies between soldiers and sailors, but to-day
they were all brothers, and the richer sort emptied their
purses for the poorer. That was the spirit he always
worked in ; it was that comradeship which had set the
English flag flying from the tower of Cartagena, and
before long would do greater things yet.
They had held the capital for six weeks, but now the
ransom was paid and Drake started on the homeward
voyage. But three days out the “ New Year’s Gift ”
sprang a bad leak. All night the crew laboured at the
pumps, but by morning she had fallen so far behind that
the rest of the fleet were out of sight, with the exception
of one bark, which, seeing her distress, had stood by her
in case she foundered. Drake meantime had seen two
of his ships were missing, and turned to find them.
He put back into Cartagena for repairs (where his re-
appearance on February 14th aroused the most acute
dismay), but the leak was so bad that he left the “ New
Year’s Gift ” there as a valentine. Then starting again,
they made Cape St. Anthony in Cuba, but a fortnight
afterwards were back there owing to contrary winds.
Water again was needed, and we get a pleasant picture
of Drake carrying his bucket among the others to hasten
matters. But that was his way, so says the Narrator
whom we have been following : he was always at work,
“ with such wonderful travail of body, as, doubtless, had
he been the meanest person as he was the chiefest, he
had yet deserved the first place of honour.” Do we
not see who must have been the source of the harmony
between master and soldiers and mariners on this cruise ?
Stern disciplinarian he always was, as befitted the General,
and for that his men respected him, but he was content
to work like the meanest, and for that they loved him.
Setting sail for the second time from Cape St. Anthony,
they coasted along Florida to get into the Gulf Stream,
203
A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES, 1585
and passed by the Spanish settlements of St. Augustine
and St. Helena. These were futile occupations, estab-
lished merely to growl at other comers. Drake intended
to make a raid on St. Helena, but finding no pilot to take
him in through the shoal-water, passed on northward
to visit the English colony which Walter Raleigh had
established in Virginia the year before. Some of the
colonists came aboard, and directed Drake to the island
of Roanoke, where he would find the Governor, Ralph
I^ane. The larger ships drew too much water to enter
the harbour, and instead, the Governor paid a visit to
Drake, who offered him a ship, a pinnace, and a month’s
stores for his colony of a hundred and three persons, if
he wished to push his explorations further. Alterna-
tively he would give the whole lot of them passage to
England if they wanted to get home. Lane chose to
remain, but was glad of the stores, with which a ship was
laden. Unfortunately there arose a sudden storm, and
the laden store ship foundered. Drake could not spare
stores equal to those that had been lost, but offered Lane
a smaller supply. This time the offer of transportation
to England was accepted, the colonists were collected
and the year-old settlement of Virginia was abandoned, to
be colonized anew from the shores to which the fugitive
pioneers were now returning. The fleet, with all on
board, set sail again on June i8th, 1586, and arrived at
Plymouth on July 28 th.
CHAPTER XII
THE CADIZ EXPEDITION
HE fame of Drake’s exploits, hugely
exaggerated, had preceded him, and
this exaggeration shows the panic he
inspired personally among the friends
of Spain and those who were finan-
cing King Philip. The Bank of
Seville broke, the Bank of Venice,
to which the King was a large debtor,
seemed likely to follow,^ and the correspondents of the
Fugger Bank at Augsburg were sending the most
lugubrious reports to headquarters. He had captured
Noinbre de Dios, he had annexed Panama, he had taken
the island of Hispaniola, and was building fortifications
at San Domingo ^ : he had defeated the fleet the King
of Spain had sent after him, and driven it squealing back
to Seville,^ and he had captured Havana.^ Most of
this was quite incorrect : Santa Cruz’s fleet, for instance,
did not leave Spain till the middle of April, long after
Drake had gone from Cartagena ; he was supposed to
be in possession of Havana at a date when he was within
sight of England again, and he had never been to Panama
at all. But such news is interesting, as showing the
“ Drake atmosphere ” which he had brewed, and even
the austere Burleigh, who had consistently disapproved
^ Naval Records Society, vol. xi. p. 77.
^ Fugger News-Letters (second series), p. 106.
Ibid., p. 108.
'* Ibid., p. 1 14.
204
THE CADIZ EXPEDITION
205
of his raids, had to confess that “ Sir Francis Drake is a
fearful man to the King of Spain.”
Very different, in consequence, was his ai-rival now
from that after his far more amazing achievement in the
circumnavigation. Then, though he was the popular
idol who set men’s hearts dancing, it was six months
before any official recognition came to him : officially he
was cold-shouldered and frowned on. But now, though
financially the voyage had not been profitable,^ the
acclamation was public and universal : he was hailed,
from the Queen downwards, as England’s sheet-anchor
in the stormy wind and tempest which was fast approach-
ing. With only the old materials to work on, his genius
had transformed the Navy into a new and marvellous
weapon : he had found and successfully tested this
undreamed-of power, which had Iain gleaming like the
precious lode in the rock, waiting for its discoverer, and
all he wanted to do was to demonstrate its value again
and at once. This time there was no prejudice to over-
come : his policy and his mastery had proved themselves
by the crushing blow he had given to Spanish prestige.
All these years it had been a great mail-clad towering
bogey, with flaring eyes and flashing sword and invulner-
able breast-plate, and Drake in his irreverent way had
tweaked the sword from its hand, had sent the breast-
plate clattering to the ground, and slapped its face, pro-
testing, with great oaths, that those flaming eyes were
but the light of a farthing dip in a rotten turnip. Really
it seemed as if he was right, and that when he had told
my Lord Sussex that he was quite capable of making war
on the King of Spain, it had not been the empty bravado
of a swaggering, low-born sea-captain, but the considered
statement of the Fearful Man. Flis next expedition,
then, was the logical sequel in his policy : he was demon-
1 The shareholders received only 1 5s. for every £r they had subscribed.
(Naval Records Society, vol. xi. pp. 86-96.)
2o6
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
strating the futility of Spanish sea-power, and having
proved that to King Philip’s great undoing in the far
seas, the next step in his proof was to exhibit the truth of
his proposition in Spanish waters and on the coasts of
Spain.
Just now Elizabeth had the whole country behind her.
Close on the heels of Drake’s return, the conspiracy which
had for its object her assassination and the establishment
of Mary Queen of Scots on the throne of England had
been discovered. Anthony Babington, once a page of
Mary’s, directed it, and King Philip, on the outbreak of
the insurrection, was to support it by sea. But the plot,
when almost ripe, was detected, and Elizabeth promptly
executed fourteen of the conspirators. She treated it
all with the utmost contempt, for she never had the
smallest personal fear for herself, and, with a pish of
disdain, went on with her favoirrite diplomacies. She
sat like a great spider in the middle of her far-reaching
weavings, ready to dart this way or that, and seize any
opportunity that bhmdered into her meshes, and Drake,
impotently buzzing, was kept there for a while till she
could make up her mind as to how to ixse him. Once,
at the end of October of 1 586, she sent him to Middel-
burg with ,^50,000,^ on some obscure and totally unin-
teresting affair with Dutch capitalists, and thought that
very clever of her : and now she wondered whether the
discarded Don Antonio was worth picking up from the
floor and putting into her hand again, and now she cast
an eye towards Constantinople, for the Sultan highly
disapproved of the fort at Aden which the Spanish had
built .2 An alliance might be arranged there, for his
fleet in the Mediterranean was very efficient, and could
jog Brother Philip’s elbow finely. This was a scheme
with which she persevered for years, and nothing ever
^ Fugger If em-LetUrs (second ssxics^j-p. 124.
* ItU., p, 1 12.
THE CADIZ EXPEDITION
207
came of it, though she cajoled the Sultan with compli-
ments and clocks, of which one pair were shaped like
galleys and struck every hour, and the other showed the
movements of all the planets in the heavens,^ and she
saluted him as the greatest of Princes, and called the
Most Christian of Kings the greatest of idolaters.^ . . .
But at present the Porte would not commit itself to make
any but the vaguest promise of “ not being behindhand
next spring.” ^ Then, after endless flutterings, she
determined to grant the desire of Drake’s heart, and early
in 1587 told him he might get a fleet together, and worry
the Spanish coasts and harbours. His general instruc-
tions were just what he desired : he had leave to harass
the King’s ships as they concentrated for the Armada
which Elizabeth (for the moment) believed to be gather-
ing : he might attack the convoys coming with gold
from the Indies, he might even enter Spanish harbours,^
thereby creating a definite casus belli. In fact he could
continue his private war with the King of Spain in any
manner he pleased, while Elizabeth remained at peace
with him, and would certainly declare, if convenient,
that she had given no sanction whatever to these piratical
activities. She had already assured her Brother that
Drake’s late operations at San Domingo and Cartagena
had been conducted without her wish or authority, and
if she really thought that Philip believed a word she said,
she was the victim of a fond delusion. But it hurt
nobody, for she realized that “ the gentleman (Drake)
careth not if I disavow him.”
Ignorant then, if necessary, of all that Drake was doing,
Elizabeth gave him four ships from the Royal Navy.
His flagship was again the “ Elizabeth Bonaventure,”
and with it was the “ Dreadnought ” of 400 tons under
’■ News-Letters (second series), p. 2 89.
^ Ibtd., p. 2 o6. ® Ibid,, p. 120.
Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. ii. p. 73.
2o8
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
Thomas Fenner, the “ Rainbow ” of 500 tons under
Henry Bellingham, and the “ Golden Lion ” of 5 50 tons
which carried his vice - Admiral, William Boi'ough.
Borough was an excellent and antiquated theorist in naval
matters, holding an official position as Clerk of the Navy,
a Meistersinger bound by antique rules of counterpoint,
whereas Drake knew no rules of any kind except the
extempore notions which his genius told him would pro-
duce the melodies that harmonized with his drum. A
more unsuitable vice-Admiral for such an Admiral it
is impossible to conceive : probably he was sent as a
check or brake on Drake’s impetuous methods, but
trouble might have safely been anticipated if the brake
should attempt to perform its office. For when Drake
was at sea with the rough water of toppling hazards
around him, he could listen to nothing but his own drum,
and to apply the brake to his movements was only com-
parable to tying a live mouse to the tail of a cat, in order
to curb the cat’s vivacity. Yet it was sadly like Eliza-
beth to give Drake a free hand, and then, with twittering
prudence, to curb the man whose strength lay in freedom
of action. Why, otherwise, should an academic expert
have been dug out from his useful collations at the
Admiralty
The rest of the squadron was fiu’nished by share-
holders, but Drake had the power of selection among the
innumerable applicants. Lord Howard, the Lord High
Admiral of England, subscribed a galleon, the “ White
Lion,” the Levant Company sent in applications for four
more, Drake himself was a shareholder with three ships,
and Bideford and Plymouth furnished several smaller
vessels. In spite of the statement made by the compiler
of the account of this voyage in Captain Cook's Voyages^
it is clear (since we have the complete list of the ships
and their captains) that Frobisher had no command, and
^ Anderson, Captain CooA’s Foyages, p. 295.
THE CADIZ EXPEDITION 209
this may well have been the origin of the jealousy he
exhibited towards Drake. In all, counting pinnaces,
which were likely to be of enormous use in the type of
operations which Drake contemplated, the fleet numbered
twenty-three sail. All was precisely to his liking, the
squadron of his own selection, and the wide licence that
the Queen’s commission gave him : as for William
Borough, his vice-Admiral, there was no harm in him
so long as he remained a meek member of the council of
captains which Drake would occasionally summon to
acquaint them with his intentions. He was on tenter-
hooks to be off, for he remembered the incident of Sir
Philip Sidney, and now he knew, better than before,
the endless vacillations of which Gloriana was capable.
Never was a foreboding more amply justified. Even
while his anchors were dripping ooze on the ships’ sides,
a messenger from the Queen was spurring to Plymouth
with orders that cancelled his freedom of action. Peace
with her Brother might yet be preserved if her little pirate
did not enter his harbours or set foot on his territory.
Brother must not be annoyed too much, or he would
declare war : let the little pmate confine himself to piracy
at sea. All her pluck had oozed out of her, she was
whimpering and wailing again, and praying that her
messenger might be in time to stop Drake from annoy-
ing Brother Philip beyond bearing.
By the grace of God her messenger was too late.
Drake had sailed on April 2nd, 1^87, and all that could
be done was to send a pinnace after him with these truck-
ling restrictions. Owing to bad weather the pinnace
luckily failed to catch him, but as its captain was a near
but not acknowledged relation of John Hawkins, it may
be questioned if the weather was quite as tempestuous
as he reported on his return. It was good enough,
anyhow, to enable him to capture a valuable Spanish
prize. So Elizabeth comforted herself with the thought
O
ilo
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
that she had done what she could, and if her Brother was
very much vexed at what might happen, she could, with-
out perjuring herself for once, declare that she had sent
orders to that Fearful Man not to enter his pretty har-
bours or molest the ships which he was arming for the
conquest of England. And if that monster did work
grievous havoc among them, well, so much the better.
Drake drew a long breath when his ship met the lift
of the Atlantic. Though he did not know how narrow
a squeak he had had, he was relieved to be out of touch
with that marvellous and maddening mistress, who was
sometimes so kindred and fiery a soul and sometimes so
anaemic a trembler. Flis drum was beating lustily, and
after picking up a couple of English ships which his
commission entitled him to commandeer, he had time to
think out details, for a great gale from the west forced
him to tack out to sea and ride it out there. He knew
that Philip was collecting and arming ships, though not
where this concentration was going on : so, when the
gale abated, he must find out.
A ship from Middelburg ^ gave him news that a great
gathering of material was going on at Cadiz to join up
with the concentration at Lisbon, and so Cadiz was the
first destination. Presently Borough, who liked council
meetings and discussions, sent across from the “ Golden
I.ion ” for instructions, and Drake replied, “ Follow your
flagship.” He had never been to Cadiz, and had no clear
notion of the channel and the shoals which might defend
it, so really the only plan was to sail straight in. There
were two galleys hanging about outside, but Drake, after
giving them his broadside, left anybody to deal with
them, and held on full-sailed into the harbour. The
horrified Clerk of the Navy, aghast at such criminal dis-
regard of all that the text-books said about attacking
harbours, had to follow. It was very irregular.
^ Monson, Naval Tracts, yol. i. p. 136.
THE CADIZ EXPEDITION
211
The flagship swung round the northern promontory,
and what richness met Drake’s delighted eyes 1 The
outer harbour was crowded with shipping ; there were
sixty fat ships fitting and loading and unloading. Half a
dozen galleys were there for protection, and sorely they
needed it. Drake went straight for these, raking them
with rapid broadsides. Two fled into the inner harbour,
others sought safety under the guns of the fort, where
he could not attack them, and having thus cleared off the
guard, he turned his attention to the store-laden shipping.
Some he burned, some he took, some he plundered, and
since it was nightfall before he had finished, he directed
his fleet to anchor just where it was, and wait for morning.
Already he had burnt or captured the greater part of
that industrious concentration of ships and stores, some
destined for the Indies, some for the Armada against
England, and anybody but Drake would have been
satisfied with that, and put out to sea again. He must
have known, too, that news of this daring attack would
have gone abroad, and that by the next day troops with
guns would be hurried to Cadiz, but he had to make a
really tidy job of it, and finish it. He had learned also
that there was a splendid prize lying in the inner harbour,
a great ship belonging to the Lord High Admiral Santa
Cruz, and it was impossible to leave it there.
Poor William Borough must have had a wretched
night, for the “ Golden Lion ” was nearer to the guns
of the galleys beneath the fort than he altogether liked,
but what seems to have agitated him most was that this
dreadful Drake had not held a proper council before
entering the harbour, and had broken all the rules on
which naval strategy was based. He had made no
reconnaissance, he knew nothing about the channel, he
just sailed in and began whacking away. It is true that
this deplorably haphazard business had been successful,
for he had taken a dozen ships, and sacked and burned
212
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
twice that numbei-, so perhaps his utter disregard (or
perhaps ignorance) of academic strategy might be over-
looked ; but now, instead of getting safely to sea again,
satisfied with a sadly irregular though pretty exploit, he
remained in the harbour. Borough felt he must expostu-
late, and early in the morning he was rowed across to the
flagship, only to find that the Admiral was not there, but
was believed to be on the “ Merchant Royal,” which had
just slipped into the inner harbour where lay Santa Crvrz’s
galleon and a host of smaller ships. That proved to
be the case : Drake had left the Navy ships outside, but,
with some privately owned vessels, was now very busy
within, lie had sacked and sunk the great ship of
Santa Cruz, a galleon of 1500 tons,^ and his pinnaces
and small craft were buzzing about the other shipping
like a lot of angry wasps. That job was soon finished,
and out they came again, having left nothing within
worth taking or sinking, and so Drake said he was now
ready to go. The fire from the fortress and the galleys
beneath it was hot, and Borough, without orders, took
the “ Golden Lion ” out of range.
But though Drake was ready the wind was not,
and for the next twelve hours he had to wait for it, under
a rather harassing fire from the fort and the shore where
guns and troops had been arriving all day. Little harm,
however, was done, and at midnight the wind awoke,
and he got to sea again, having within the last thirty-six
hours sunk thirty-three Spanish ships and two galleys,
and taken away with him four more ships loaded with
provisions.^ These had been part of the concentration
of equipment for the Armada, and thus the damage he
had done both to Spanish material and prestige was
enormous. He then anchored, in full sight of the town,
to have a little rest. Altogether he had “ spoiled ” about
1 Camden Society, Nan alive ofRoheii Leug, p. 15.
2 Barrow, Life of D/ake. Letter to Walsingham, p. 227.
THE CADIZ EXPEDITION
213
7000 tons of shipping, and amply revictualled his
fleetd
The magnitude of the King of Spain’s preparation
for the invasion of England astounded Drake. He had
struck out such part of it as VT'as being concentrated at
Cadiz, but he had heard there was an even more import-
ant depot at Lisbon, and though he loved the hunting of
treasure-ships from the Indies (which was included in his
commission), it was a more urgent, though less lucrative,
sport first to smash up ships, stores, and equipments
which were being made ready for the Armada. Lisbon
itself, with its labyrinthine channel of approach and its
three powerful fortresses, was probably uncapturable, but
all sorts of ships would be en route thither to contribute
to the concentration, and much pleasant devastation
might be done by cruising about and taking them. But
in order to maintain his fleet on the coast, it would be
necessary to seize some base for harbourage where he
could shelter and water (Cadiz had sufficiently victualled
him for the present), and a week later he held a council
and announced his intention to his commanders. This
audacious scheme was altogether too much for Captain
Borough, who had not yet got over Drake’s shocking
indifference at Cadiz to every established rule of naval
warfare. He went back from the council to his ship,
composed a prodigious letter to remonstrate with his
Admiral, and sent it next morning (April 30th, 1587)
across to the “ Elizabeth.” It was an amazing com-
munication for any officer to make to his superior, and
when we consider that a person called Drake happened to
be that superior, trouble might be confidently expected.
Borough’s letter was a series of indictments, to wit ; ®
“ I. When Drake summoned an assembly (so-called Council)
^ Camden Society, Narratwe of Robert Leng, p. 1 5.
® Barrow, Life of Drake, p. 242, etc.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
214
of his officers, he never caused a matter to be debated nor
asked for advice, but merely informed them what he intended
to do.
“ II. At other times when Drake summoned them to a Council
he gave them a very good dinner, but sent them (in other respects)
empty away, no whit the wiser than when they came. ‘ Albeit
it may please you to term them either Councils or Courts, they
are far from the purpose, and not such as in reason they ought
to be.’
“ III. Drake found all advice offensive, and in consequence
Captain Borough did not always speak up as in duty he should
have done.
“ IV. Drake never treated Captain Borough witli due respect.
He had no sense of Borough’s position, as the Lord Admiral of
England always had.
“ V. Drake had received certain instructions from Her Majesty,
and he construed them as vneaning that he could go where he chose
and do what he liked. Captain Borough prayed liim, ‘ for his
own good,’ to be more careful.
“ VI. Captain Borough, when he came to the flagship yesterday,
heard Drake’s intention to land discussed by troops on deck, before
Drake had told him of it. Most improper. Besides, Di-ake must
remember that the Lord High Admiral had given him instructions
not to land.
“ VII. Captain Borough begged to offer a few general remarks
on making a landing. It is a risky proceeding and cannot succeed.
Landing at all requires a calm sea and a favourable wind, and what,
pray, is to happen if, when troops have been landed, the wind
changes ? ”
Now it has usually been supposed that on the receipt
of this quite preposterous letter, Drake lost his temper,
put Borough under arrest in his own ship, and appointed
Captain Marchant to command the “ Golden Lion.”
Sir Julian Corbett even traces the workings of Drake’s
mind in doing this ; how he remembered that Borough
had gone out of the harbour at Cadiz without orders ;
how the ti'agedy of St. Julian’s Bay had permanently
THE CADIZ EXPEDITION
215
warped Drake’s judgment, and how in Borough he seems
to have seen another Doughty. ^ He may have done all
that (we do not know), but certainly he lost his temper,
for three days afterwards Borough again wrote from the
“ Golden Lion,” regretting that Drake took his first
letter so badly, and promising to burn his own copy of it,
thereby withdrawing it.^ But that Drake arrested and
suspended Borough because of that letter seems highly
improbable, for he wrote to Walsingham on May 17th
(more than a fortnight later) and made no mention what-
ever of his having done so, nor lodged any complaint
against Borough.® On May 21st, however, Drake
wrote to Burleigh, saying that though unwilling to
complain, he had dismissed Borough, “ for in his persist-
ing he had committed a double offence not only against
me, but it toucheth further.” * It is then far more
probable that, though Drake lost his temper (and that
was neither new nor wonderful), he did not take any
extreme step against Borough till after May 17th, when
his “ persistence ” rendered it necessary. This per-
sistence can hardly mean anything else than that Borough
gave him another dose of advice^ which was more than
Drake could stand. The end of the matter — as far as
this expedition went — was that on May 27th the crew
of the “ Golden Lion ” mutinied, and sailed straight
back to England, carrying the wretched Clerk of the
Navy with them. But as he subsequently declared that
while he was with the squadron he daily expected that
Drake “ would have executed upon me his bloodthirsty
desire as he did upon Doughty,” ® he was probably much
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. ii. p. 91.
2 Barrow, Zije of Drake, p. 247.
“ IMd., p. 231. Drake to Walsingham.
* Ibid., p. 229. Drake to Burleigh.
Banow, Life of Drake, p. 251. This may perhaps account for Sir
Julian Corbett’s reconstruction of Drake’s reflections. But they were
only Borough’s reflections.
2i6
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
happier among his files at the Admiralty than at sea with
that dreadful man.
So Drake lost his temper, and turned to business again.
It was an admirable notion (though Borough considered
landings nasty, dangerous things) to find a base for his
fleet, where he could water and careen, and the. King of
Spain would hate it. He made a landing at Lagos,
but had to retire, though without loss, in the face
of cavalry ; and having thoughtfully smashed up the
Royal fishing fleet, which was on its way to Lisbon with
large stoi'es of tunny ^ for the victualling of the Armada,
he sailed to Cape St. Vincent again, where there was a
convenient little bay. But on the point high above it
was a castle, Sagres Castle, which must be taken first,
and contrary to the advice of all his military officers, he
landed and attacked it. Muskets were no good against
well-armed fortifications, so, quite in the old Nombre
de Dios style, he heaped brushwood against the gates,
basted it with pitch and resin and set fire to it, carrying-
faggots himself like any other seaman. He wanted
Sagres Castle, and there he was in the middle of the
smoke and the shot, swearing and bawling encourage-
ment, and making his men laugh and cheer by summon-
ing the Spaniards to surrender in the name of Queen
Elizabeth. How horrified Borough would have been at
such conduct on the part of an Admiral ! Borough
would have thought it very irregular, and have directed
operations at a suitable distance in a cocked hat, and
after a council meeting have seen that this was an impos-
sible task and withdrawn his men. But Drake saw that
it was not impossible at all, but only highly unlikely, and
so there he was with his Tommies and his tars, stagger-
ing under his load of brushwood, and working like a
Common Fellow. And before evening the Common
^ F’l-ggei' News-Letters (second series), p. 134.
Southey, British Nelmirah, vol. iii. p. 201.
THE CADIZ EXPEDITION
217
Fellow was justified : the Spanish commander was shot
and the garrison surrendered. There was a monastery
in the castle which, with its church and pictures, was
burnt,^ and Drake got a safe base for his ships in the
little harbour below.
From here he reconnoitred Lisbon, and though Mr.
Froude says he could easily have passed up the Tagus, ^
Drake at once came to the conclusion that, with its three
defensive forts and difficult channels, it was impossible
to take it. But Admiral the Marquis of Santa Cruz was
at Cascaes Bay, just outside the estuary of the Tagus,
with seven galleys, and Drake hung about in the vain
hope that he might come out and give battle, occupying
his fleet meanwhile with fresh captures of store-ships.
But Santa Cruz had no mind for the adventure.® He
had heard of the heavy loss of store-ships and of his own
galleon at Cadiz, and that had bred “ such a chagrin in
him that he never enjoyed a good day after.” ^ Flis
great concentration of material for the Armada had been
wiped out, and he would not risk the ships of war. He
was a brave and capable officer, and nothing shows more
clearly the terror which Drake inspired than his refusal
to engage. Apparently Drake got into communication
with him, and made some offer for an exchange of
prisoners,® but nothing came of it, and he retired again
to his base below Sagres Castle.
He waited here some days, picking up fresh material
destined for the Armada, but by now the alarm had
^ Fitgger News-Letters (second series), p. 134.
® Froude, English Seamen, p. 183.
“ The Fugger Bank correspondent at Madrid says that Don Alonzo
de Bazan, Santa Cruz’s brother, was in command of seven galleons here,
and that he sailed out and had a skirmish with Drake, but was driven
back by the English fire. Possibly a few shots were exchanged, but
the skirmish can have been of no very enterprising sort.
* Hakluyt Society (extra series), vol. vi. p. 440.
^ 'St'ixxoyt, Life of Drake, (Drake to Walsingham.)
2i8
SIR FRANCIS DRAi^E
spread all along the coast, and shipping remained in port,
for nothing on the sea was safe. Spain was in the grip
of panic ; King Philip was sending troops this way and
that to ports where defences were insecure, and planning
large movements of ships to sweep the English away.
Now it was Santa Cruz to whom were sent urgent orders to
get to sea, now the Duke of Medina Sidonia,^but counter-
mandate followed mandate in the King’s best style, and
nothing whatevej- was done. Then for the Spanish
came an ominous morning, when the English anchorage
at Cape St. Vincent was found to be empty : Drake and
his ships and his prizes had completely disappeared. To
suppose that he had gone quietly home to England was
beyond the hope of the most sanguine : none doubted
that he had sailed westwards, and that presently some
convoy of treasure ships from the Indies would be
gobbled up. In Spain he had left utter confusion and
disorganization, and all the equipment and furnishing
of the Armada had to be started anew. A year’s careful
concentration had been burnt, smashed up, or captured,
and none cared to think what the next news of that
dreadful man would be.
It was on May 22nd, 1587, that Drake disappeared.
He had written less than a week before to Walsingham,
giving an account of what he had done, and hoping to do
greater things yet ; “ God make us all thankful again
and again,” he says, “ that we have, although it be little,
made a beginning upon the coast of Spain.” He asked
for more ships, and his letter seems to indicate that he
proposed to hang about the Spanish coasts yet awhile.^
But, as we have seen, he found that coasting vessels,
with material for the Armada, had practically ceased to
ply, and he had heard that there was a very great prize,
the “ San Felipe,” now on the high seas, sailing towards
Lisbon, the chance of capturing which appealed to the
^ Fugger News-Letters (second series), p. 133.
® Barrow, Life of Drake, p. 233. (Drake to Walsingham.)
Saint Augustine
the CADIZ EXPEDITION
219
merchant ships which were the property of his syndicate.^
This was worth trying for, and with one of his lightning
changes of plan, off he went scouting for it. But he had
many sailors and troops in hospital, and so he sent some
of his merchant fleet home with them, while he kept
the ships of the Navy, giving them the Azores as a rendez-
vous. Almost immediately he ran into very dirty weather,
and when it cleared, he found that though all the Navy
ships were in touch, the “ Golden Lion ” was steering a
most inexplicable course, and soon disappeared. Pre-
sently Captain Marchant, whom Drake had now appointed
to succeed Borough, came to the flagship in a pinnace
with the news that the crew of the “ Golden Lion ” had
mutinied, and had sailed home ; he himself had left her
and rejoined Drake. Instantly Drake summoned his
cocmcil, and by jury condemned to death Borough and
the officers of the mutinous ship.^
The loss of the “ Golden Lion ” was a serious weaken-
ing combined with the damage done by the storm, and
it seems to have made Drake give up the idea of any
large operation. But there was still the great prize he
had heard of, and now in sight of the easternmost of the
Azores, they spied one evening in shelter of the land
some very large ship, man-of-war it might be, or perhaps
the “ San Felipe.” He knew all about her from informa-
tion picked up on the Portuguese coast ; she was the
private property of the King of Spain (originally Portu-
guese) and the largest merchantman in all the navies of
the world. By class she was a carrack, and would cer-
tainly be armed like a ship of war. Next morning,
June 9th, there she was again, and now they could see
that she was indeed the ” San Felipe.” She was making
1 Monson, Naval Tracts, vol. i. p. 137-
® Mr. Froude’a account of the Borough incident is truly remarkable.
He tells us that Borough became so loud in his clamours that Drake
found it necessary to lock him up in his own cabin, and at length to send
him home with his ship to complain.” (livglish Seamen, p. r 80.)
220
SIR FRANCIS drake
her unsuspecting course towards them, and presently
she showed her colours, expecting the response of a
friendly flag, but the strange ships to right and left of
her were dumb. They crept nearer, till they were within
gunshot, and then suddenly the flags and pennants of
England blazed from their masts, and the fire from their
guns. She answered back, but the English out-
talked her, and down came her ensign. No carrack had
yet ever fallen to English seamen, and it had always been
reckoned a most formidable type of ship. But this
capture of the “ San Felipe ” “ taught them that they
were no such bugs but that they might be taken.” ^
The repute of her richness had not been exaggerated,
for she was laden with tons of spices and silks ^ : such
store of them had never yet been seen, and there were
jewels and bullion as well. The passengers and crew,
unmolested, were put on board a merchant vessel with
their luggage and landed on the Azores,'^ and with a
prize crew on board, Drake took the “ San Felipe ” home
to Plymouth, where he arrived on June 26th, 1587.
The contents of the prize, after a little genteel grabbing
on the part of the Queen, who was not content with her
allotment of ,^40,000, were sold for 114,000, and the
austere Burleigh, who acted as broker to distribute it
between the shareholders, received ^1000 as brokerage.
Drake’s share was ,^17,000.^
As for Drake, now by far the most significant man in
England, he hurried up to London to get the Queen’s
permission to equip another fleet, and start again, without
pause, to harry the coasts of Spain.
^ Hakluyt Society (extra aeries), vol. vi. p. 443.
^ The inventory of the contents of the “ San Felipe ” included 200
tons of pepper (valued at ^40,000), calico, silks, cinnamon (,^8000),
cloves, ebony, velvet, lacquer, saltpetre, gold, and jewels. {Narratwe
of Robert Le?ig, pp. 50, 51, appendix.)
“ Fugger News-Letters (second series), p. 139.
^ Calendar of Cecil MSS., part iii. p. 269.
CHAPTER XIII
THE COMING OF THE INVINCIBLE
ARMADA
NTO the stew of political phantas-
magoria, and in particular of the
timidities and indecisions of the
Queen during that autumn, it is not
needful to enter in detail. Drake’s
only desire was to get to sea again at
once, and finish the work of which,
as he had written to Walsingham, he
had only made a beginning. Yet the beginning was
such that he had left behind him in Spain an almost
stupefied dismay, and had come near to prove that
William Hertle was right when, two years ago, he had
written to Burleigh that Spain was “ a great colossus
outwards, but inwards stuffed with clouts. . . . This is
the scarecrow of the world that Her Majesty hath to
contend with." ^ Drake had knocked to bits all the indus-
trious preparation for the Armada, so that it could not
possibly sail this year, as King Philip had undoubtedly
intended, and as he still maintained it should, till his
admirals convinced him that any attempt of the sort
must end in disaster.^ Had Elizabeth there and then
given Drake such a cominission as she had given him in
the spring, with such equipments and ships as Walsing-
ham was eager to furnish, it is more than possible that no
Armada would ever have left Spanish shores.
Ever since Drake had spied out the coasts of the
^ Monson, Naval Tracts, vol. i. p. 20. ® Ibid., pp. 161, 162.
222
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
Spanish Main with the “ Swan ” for his entire navy, he
had been demonstrating his conviction that he conld
wage successful war on King Philip. His work had been
a continuous crescendo ; he had captured treasure trains,
he had sailed into the Pacific and attacked Spain from the
western coast of her new continent, he had taken her
island capital there, and her capital on the mainland, and
now, in home-harbours, he had knocked to bits the King’s
preparation for his Armada and had perched on Spanish
soil. There he stood, with such a record of achievement
to his own name as the combined captains of the English
Navy could not jointly emxilate, for during the last fifteen
years there was nothing that the rest of them had done
which rivalled a single one of his amazing voyages. But
still Elizabeth, with the half-convinced Burleigh behind
her, was fearful of unduly irritating the power of which
Drake had shown himself the master. Scrutinize these
years as we may, with any eye for detraction, the history
of the British Navy had been the history of Drake, and
after his death its progress ceased, till nearly a couple of
centuries later there arose the man who, in genius of
daring and success, was his only eqiral. It seems in-
credible to us to-day that, after this expedition to the
Spanish coasts, Elizabeth did not give Drake instant
commission to frame his next campaign and go to sea.
The man was there, and the time was ripe.
But, as usual, she got busy again with hare-brained
schemes of persuading the Porte to send a fleet into the
Mediterranean,-' with fresh weavings to get Don Antonio
to play the pawn for her queenship, with her gossamer
attempts to secure an impossible peace and not offend her
Brother of Spain beyond all bearing. She seemed unable
to understand that he was working tooth and nail to invade
England as soon as Drake would permit him to get ready,
and blinded by the illusion of her own diplomatic gifts,
1 Fiimr News-Lefters (second series), p. i/i6.
THE COMING OF THE ARMADA
223
she was merely playing into the King’s hands in giving
him precisely what he wanted, namely, time to repair the
immense damage Drake had done, and in allowing his
treasure ships to ply the seas unharassed and bring to
his exchequer the gold for which it so sorely starved. As
long as Drake was not drumming, his navy could equip
itself without fear of the inward clouts being sent flying,
and even Burleigh, who was no friend to Drake, allowed
that it was “ a great oversight that Her Majesty did not
send Sir F. Drake to sea again, for that if Sir F. had not
intercepted the Indian fleet (the taking of which had
been of more value than the getting of half Flanders), yet
he should have kept the King in such suspense that he
should have no leisure to molest you at home.” ^ There
was the case in a nutshell, and the Queen, by her con-
tinual refusals to use the man who had demonstrated to
proof the soundness of his policy, and only longed to
demonstrate it again, was aiding her enemy to the very
best of her power. She had not even the courage of her
own mistaken opportunism, for she never persevered in
any of her intrigues, and her indecisions this autumn
amounted to mania. She had, too, the fatal habit of
being convinced by the last person who talked to her,
and when we remember that the Controller of her House-
hold was Sir James Crofts, who beyond dispute was in
Spanish pay, we can appreciate the irritated despair of
her more loyal servants.
Drake did his best. He went straight up to London,
as soon as he could make a rough inventory of the con-
tents of the “ San Felipe,” armed with the weapons to
which the Queen would be most likely to surrender,
namely, a casket of jewels from the carrack, and an
estimate of what her share in the prize would be worth ;
;,f40,ooo, he hoped, would be an unanswerable argument.
The Queen wore the jewels, disputed her share of the
^ Calendar of Cecil MSS., part iii. p. 279.
224
SIR FRANCIS drake
spoilj declaring that more was due to her, and in a
despatch to the Prince of Parma, to whom she was truck-
ling for a treaty of peace, formally disowned Drake’s late
operations, which had sown her red hair with jewels,
had burst her pockets with gold, and had prevented the
Armada from being now in the Channel. There was
nothing more he could do, for if the Queen would not
listen to this golden Lorelei, she would be deafer than
the adder to all other voices, and in a fury Drake turned
to that matter of Captain Borough which required settle-
ment. Pie got him arraigned before a Court of Enquiry,
accused him of cowardice at Cadiz in taking his ship out
of fire of the fort without orders, and charged him with
having incited mutiny on the “ Golden Lion,” demand-
ing that the death penalty passed by his council at sea
should be confirmed. The vindictiveness with which
he pursued this unfortunate man, whose real faults seem
to have been merely inefficiency and meddling pedantry,
is amply accounted for by Drake’s iron notion of disci-
pline. If he was in command, nothing must be done
but by his orders, and mutiny must be punished. But
Borough made out an excellent case for himself, and the
Court of Enquiry acquitted him on all counts. Pie was
only once employed again on active service, and indeed
there was no place for academicians in the new school of
the Navy, which Drake had created and was now
training.
But nothing ever kept him long from his piratical
crusade, and presently he was able to lay before the
Queen’s Council the list of subscribers he had got for a
new expedition, as soon as the Queen felt a little braver.
He could point out also that Santa Cruz had just brought
safe home to Spain the entire West Indian fleet, one
hundred and seventeen vessels in all, carrying bullion
to the value of fourteen million ducats.^ The moral was
1 (second series), p. 141.
THE COMING OF THE ARMADA zz^
plain to draw : If only he had been allowed to go to sea
laefore, that huge sum would never have been safely-
harvested by Spain, and by now be in process of con-
version into ships and shot for the Armada. None could
doubt any more that the great bird of war was fledging
fast with all this food which ought never to have been
bi'ought to the nest. Nor was it in Spain alone that
fleets were building : before the autumn was over four-
large warships were already launched on the Scheldt,
on the poop of one of which was inscribed in Latin,
“ Lord Jesus, show me Thy Way” (the which certainly
led up the estuary of the Thames). On others work was
being feverishly pushed forward, and many more vessels
would be j-eady by Christmas.^ As well as these, Parma
had a fleet of more than two hundred flat-bottomed boats
afloat, each of which would hold thirty horses for the use
of cavalry on the island of the heretics ; all these would
be waiting to join the Arm-ada when it swept up the
Channel, and to land troops in England. That scheme
was already known : it was Drake in all probability
who had discovered it in the spring, for directly after his
raid on Cadiz he had written to his friend, Mr. John
Fox, explicitly stating that King Philip, in his preparation
for the Armada, expected a “ very great fleet from the
Straits,” ^ and this can be no other than Parma’s fleet
from Dunkirk. That he should have kept so crucial a
piece of infoianation from the Government is incredible,
and we must conclude that Elizabeth had known of it
while she was still employed all this summer in hatching
her barren diplomacies. Now every day that passed
which left Philip in peace and plenty to finish his
preparations made it more dangerously feasible. But
at last fresh rumours ai'rived, false but luckily alarming,
that the King was not going to wait for the spring to
^ Fugget Neius-Letteis (second series), p. 145.
2 Camden Society, Narrative of Robert Leng, p. 30.
y
226
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
launch his Armada, and about the middle of December
1587 the Lord High Admiral, Lord Howard of Effing-
ham, was permitted to put to sea.
Drake, as his Lieutenant, was in command of the
vessels he had been collecting at Plymouth, and to these
were added live merchant ships from I.ondon, and foru'
battleships of the Royal Navy, the “ Revenge,” the
“ Llope,” the “ Nonpareil,” and the “ Swiftsure,” with
a cruiser and several pinnaces. Of these his flagship
was the “ Revenge,” and early in January 1588 he
hoisted his flag. Lie was, of course, under the orders of
Lloward, but hi s commission, which precisely suited him,
was practically an independent command. Lloward ’s
main duty was to guard the Channel, while Drake, whose
squadron, when complete, would number thirty sail, was
to harass Spanish ships whether in their harbours or at
sea, and in fact operate how and where his own exuberant
fancy prompted. That must depend on what oppor-
tunities the Spaniards made for him, or he for himself ;
he had carte blanche to handle his squadron as he willed,
and contrive as many unpleasant surprises for the King
of Spain as his fertile brain could suggest to him. Just
for that moment when she signed his commission, Eliza-
beth understood Drake : she recognized that he was a
man apart, a law-giver and a law-breaker, whose genius
must be allowed to scrap all codes of traditional ordin-
ance, because old things had passed away, and Drake
was the evangelist of a new gospel of the sea, undreamed
of in the days when the Navy was considered merely a
defensive weapon to guard the coast and transport troops.
Once or twice, as now, she had a glimpse of his greatness,
but it was never a lasting vision : prudence, diplomacy,
timorousness obscured it again. Just now she visualized
him correctly, and he posted down to Plymouth, leaving
the “ Revenge ” to follow him there. By New Year
1588, it was known to the west country folk that their
THE COMING OF THE ARMADA
227
idol was off to sea again, and wanted crews for his
ships.
Drake’s personal reputation was now at its zenith,
and soon he was to justify afresh, if justification were
needed, the unbounded faith that the nation put in him.
Officialdom for the moment endorsed the popular
verdict : “ Let Drake have the ships he wants, and do
what takes his fancy,” was the spirit of the commission
that had been given him, for rules were not made for such
as he. Never before, and only once since, when Nelson’s
star burned brightest, has there been a leader whose very
name was so instinct with magic, or one whom men
followed in such exultant confidence, asking nothing more
for the full development of their energy and daring than
that Drake should be drumming to them. He had all
the qualities that kindle devotion : he swore and he
cursed and he praised God, and he was brother to the
meanest fellow on board if he did his best, and bullying
tyrant to the greatest if he shirked. He was a loving
comrade and as fiendish as the devil and as full of sky-
scraping spirits, when up against tremendous odds, as a
boy straight out of school for his holidays. The defects
of his great qualities he had too (and yet such defects
were almost a condition of his genius), and though un-
rivalled as a leader, he was ill to work with. Adored by
his subordinates, his equals found him impatient, im-
perious, and deaf to advice. He would not dance to the
flutes of others, but only to the measure of his own drum.
All the time, in that age in which religion was a real
force, a cause for which men went singing to stake or
block, there lay behind his swearings and severities, his
fun and his foul temper, a deep and ferocious faith that
God was with him, and that it was under His direct and
special protection that he flew his flag, and for His glorj?-
that he pounded the Spaniard. Every despatch that
Drake ever wrote reporting his achievements and out-
228
SIR FRANCIS DRAi'.E
lining his future aims (when he condescended to com-
municate them) was based on that absolute conviction.
“ The grace of God ” in his mouth was no conventional
form of words ; it was the sober defined expression of
his trust in the power of the Almighty. Perhaps to-day
we should call such a man a religious fanatic, or, if we
consider his career of frank piracy, a hypocrite, but
either verdict would be the very reverse of the truth.
He prayed to God, fervently and constantly, not from
fanatic mania, but because he was the simplest and most
consistent of Christians, and he singed the King of
Spain’s beard in the name of Jesus Christ, because the
King of Spain was a damnable swindler and a torturer
of Protestants, and an enemy of England. “An act of
piracy against that cursed Papist is an act of piety, so
help me God,” said Drake.
Fitly corresponding with his countrymen’s devoted
belief in him was the abysmal dread with which he was
now regarded in Spain, and just as he was to English
sailors in that age of faith and superstition, a superman in
the wars of God, so to the Spanish he was quite soberly
a magician of portentous might in league with Satan.
They dreaded him as something superhuman ; no news
of a son born to an heirless dynasty was ever hailed with
such exultant joy, as when the tidings of his death arrived
in Spain, and set the towers of every Cathedral rocking
with carillons. At Panama that event was celebrated
with a public holiday, and pious services were held in
thanksgiving for his death and damnation. He had
spells which controlled wind and wave : he gazed on
magic mirrors in his cabin, and looking therein he could
discern where the enemy’s ships were and with what
strength they were manned : if he wanted more ships
himself, he had but to whittle a stick, or hew a block of
wood into fragments, and every chip of it that he threw
into the sea became a vessel full of armed men. TIir
THE COMING OF THE ARMADA
22g
terror of him, indeed, became a joke : we find a Spanish
lady, invited by the King to a water-party on a lake near
Madrid, saying that she dare not take boat for fear of
Drake. This belief that he had superhuman powers
was by no means confined to Spain, for when, later on, he
provided Plymouth with a new water-supply, it was soon
whispered round firesides that this water was brought
there without the use of spade or conduit. Drake had
taken his horse and ridden over the moor till he saw a
spring suitable for his purpose, and had addressed it
with cabalistic signs and words of wondrous might.
Then back he galloped to the town, and lo ! the stream
followed close on his horse’s heels, cutting its way
through rock and bush and briar.^ Again, that was
a strange tale about his first wife. When he set
forth on his journey round the world, she had pro-
mised to wait for him seven years, at the end of which
time, if he returned not, she should be free to wed again.
But before the seven years were out she despaired of his
coming, and accepted one of her many suitors. Already
they were in church, standing before the altar, next
moment to become man and wife, when a cannon-ball
fell between them, and they started apart. That was
Drake’s warning ; he by his arts knew what was going
on, and from the other side of the world he had fired his
biggest gun with quite extraordinary accuracy. ... So
popular was the legend that his second wife adopted a
version of it, and told how she, too, in one of his long
absences, was for taking another husband. On her way
to church a great stone fell from the zenith on to the
train of her dress, so that she could not move a step, and
she knew that Drake had thrown it to stop her.
Now all these pleasing exploits are, of course, the
veriest cock-and-bull stories : no one in these chemical
days would dream of believing that Drake performed any
^ Southey, Biitish Admit ah, vol. iii. p. 237.
230 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
of them, and naturally in trying to paint for ourselves that
man of genius and intolerance, of sincere and simple
piety, of undying vindictiveness and chivalrous pity, we
must not include in our psychological palette the lurid
tints of any such powers. But we should make a very
great mistake if we did not take into account that his
contemporaries, friends and foes, did so include them,
and in order to form any true picture of him, we have to
figure him as how he looked to others then : if we omit
that, we lose the relation in which he stood to his age.
The possession of magical powers, black and white, was
then implicitly accepted and, just as Bothwell in 1590
was believed, not by the uneducated alone, to be leagued
with Dr. Fian and his witches,^ and as Drake was con-
vinced that Doughty had spells which controlled the
winds, so his contemporaries, friends and foes, credited
him with powers that transcended the wits and wills of
normal folk.
To the Spanish mind it was the devil who so richly
dowered him, and the highly educated and most illus-
trious poet of the day, Lope de Vega, who was a soldier
in one of the galleons of the Armada, wrote an epic poem,
“ The Dragontca,” all about Drake, and showed that he
was none other than the Dragon of the Apocalypse. It
is impossible to take a man more seriously than by making
him the diabolical hero of an epic poem, and Drake, who
to Lope dc Vega was the master of black and dire magic,
w'as to his countrymen possessed of superhuman powers,
derived from God. That was as seriously believed as
was the conviction of the Spanish poet that he had the
powers of hell in leash. Drake was a legend in his own
lifetime.
Early in January 1588, then, the superman hoisted his
flag on the “ Revenge,” never to take it down till the
might of Spain was flotsam on the North Sea and jetsam
Sumner, Ilistoty of TFilchaaft-, p. 8.
THE COMING OF THE ARMADA
231
on its coasts. No sooner did it fly there than the young
men of the west countiy flocked in such numbers for
service, that if he had had two hundred ships to man
instead of thirty, he could have sailed them all full-crewed
with volunteers. Down the Channel to join him at
Plymouth came the Lord High Admiral, and it looked
as if Elizabeth had at last recovered from the palsy of
her tremulous diplomacies. But that apparent recupera-
tion was only the prelude to a series of shivering relapses ;
as the wholesome alarm that the Armada was on the
point of sailing died down, she recalled Howard, and
though Drake was allowed to continue equipping his
ships, the prospect of his putting to sea grew more
remote. All the time the wretched woman, with Crofts
at her car, was playing into Philip’s hands, and giving
him time to complete the vast preparation with which
every Spanish port was buzzing. Had Drake been let
loose during February, he could, beyond any doubt,
have worked even more havoc on Spanish coasts and
harbours than he had done the year before, but that
was not allowed, because the Queen was renewing peace
negotiations with the Prince of Parma in the Netherlands !
She still appeared to believe that they might come to
something, whereas Parma, with orders from the Escurial,
was merely fooling her and keeping her hopeful. Then,
in order to impress Parma, she sent Ploward to make a
Naval demonstration off Flushing, which must have
amused him instead. The traitorous Sir John Crofts
was among her emissaries, and in answer to the Queen’s
expressed distrust of the fresh drafts of troops arriving
in the Netherlands and of the Spanish naval prepara-
tions,^ the assurance that these had nothing to do with
any hostile move against England was enough to convince
her that her diplomacies were prospering.
Drake meantime was pulling any string he could lay
r Samuel Clark, Tke Spanish Invasion, pp. 18-20.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
2^1
hands on : he implored Walsingham to urge the danger
of delay ; he wrote also to the young Earl of Essex, under
whose father he had served in Ireland. Essex was the
Queen’s latest favourite, and like most of those petted
young men, if they had any blood in them, was sadly
weary of playing lap-dog to her mature caresses and
scoldings, and like Sir Philip Sidney, three years ago,
seems to have wanted to join Drake, and, in defiance of
Gloriana, to get away to sea. But nothing came of that
project, if indeed it was seriously entertained, and the
most Essex could do was to press Drake’s policy on the
Queen. As the fruitless weeks went on, his ships began
to grow foul again, and in his magic mirror he must
have seen the Spanish equipment which he could so
easily have burned, smashed, and sunk, nearing com-
pletion. Idleness was, next to the Spanish, what he
most loathed, and here he was in that long purgatory of
holiday, unable to leave Plymouth for the chance of
being unleashed, but growing sicker at heart every day.
Then at last there came a despatch for him from London,
enclosing a sort of naval programme which the Queen’s
Council had evolved and the Queen approved.
Now if any one had been playing bowls that day
with Drake on Plymouth Hoe when this despatch arrived,
he would have been wise to guard against heavy missiles
hurled at his face from short range. Who was the
inspirational source of that programme is not known :
to Drake it must have seemed to have been evolved from
the head of Captain Borough (which he had always
thought would have been better “ off ”) in conjunction
with Ci-ofts. Indeed, the King of Spain, had he been
clever enough, might have evolved it himself for his own
exceeding benefit. It pi'oposed to divide the English
Navy into three (or possibly four) parts. One was to be
stationed in the narrows between Dover and Calais, so
as to prevent the junction of the Armada with the Prince
THE COMING OF THE ARMADA
2J3
of Parma, who by now had a very handy fleet on the
Scheldt, and constituted, as Drake realized, a serious
menace. The second part was to hang about off Corn-
wall and the south of Ireland, so that when that guileless
mouse, the Armada, had entered the Channel, it might
bang the door behind it. The third portion was to remain
in discreet retirement till the Armada was in the Channel,
and then descend, with the everlasting Don Antonio,
on the coast of Portugal. The fourth portion (the
wisdom of the academics had not yet quite settled if there
was to be a fourth portion) was to proceed to the neigh-
bourhood of the Azores and intercept convoys from the
Indies.
It would be difficult to frame a well-meant programme
better calculated to produce a prodigy of disaster for
England. The points are perfectly clear t the object
was to enclose the Spanish Armada in the Channel
between two English fleets, and simultaneously to land
on Portuguese coasts and capture Indian convoys. That
would be very pretty business, but it gave the King of
Spain a unique, a providential opportunity of engaging
each portion of the English fleet with the whole weight
of his Armada, and wiping them up, neatly and easily,
in turn. If by chance he had news of the descent on
Portuguese shores, there was nothing to prevent his
going about and, with his horizon-lining array, destroying
that portion of it. Or, if he pleased, he could engage the
detachment which was waiting to bang the west door of
the Channel behind him, again with his whole force. The
third part of the English fleet would be stationed at the
east door of the Channel, and he could then, after landing
troops exactly where he chose on our south coast, saunter
along and bottle it helplessly up between the Prince of
Parma’s fleet and his own. Or, having engaged the
western fleet, he could leave the eastern in check to
Parma, and pursue the possible fourth fleet which had
234 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
gone to intercept the Indian trade. It is indeed impos-
sible fnlly to explore the numerous opportunities which
this programme gave Spain of annihilating English sea-
power, or to mention all the points in which it reacted
from Drake’s whole policy.
Drake left his bowls and wrote the immortal letter
which saved England then, and presently crowned her
with the diadem of the seas. He told “ Her Majesty
and Your Lordships ” that the only defence lay in
attack, and that the attack must be delivered, with all
available forces, against the main Spanish fleet. That
there was danger from the Prince of Parma he did not
deny ; indeed, the junction of his fleet with the Armada
would bring disaster very near. But once stop the main
Armada “ so that they come not through the seas as
conquerors . , . then shall the Prince of Parma have
such a check thereby as was meet.” Therefore there
must be no frittering away of force in the eastern fleet,
but the western fleet which was to meet the Armada
must contain every fighting unit available. As for the
Don Antonio scheme, and the detachment to worry
Indian trade routes, the time for that sort of fiddling
about was past. What England wanted now (and never
was need surer) was a concentration of the fleet here in
the west to meet the Armada. The opportunity of
knocking its equipment to bits in Spanish ports had been
lost, and now the might of Spain must be met. And
there must be no stinting of powder and shot : as yet
his ships here had less than half of what he thought
necessary.
With what impatience he waited for the reply to his
inexorable logic can be imagined. When it came he
must have felt that at last, and not too soon, the irresolu-
tions and indecisions of the Queen’s mind, which, like
an ebbing tide, had left him and his efficiency stranded
on the shore, had begun to turn, and the blessed sea-
the coming of the armada
235
■watei: was creeping up again. It was slow at present,
but she wanted to learn from him directly (and that was
something) what force was needed in the west for his
scheme, and how he proposed to attack the main con-
centration of the Spanish fleet at Lisbon. (Oh, that
Royal mind ! She was now beginning to consider the
course he had urged on her months before : now it was
no longer possible to harass the Spanish fleet in its har-
bours, for it was believed to be ready to sail.) But in
answer to her other question, what he wanted immedi-
ately was four more Navy ships and some merchantmen,
and permission to put to sea at once and find out where
the Spanish Armada was. (They would also require food :
sailors had to be fed.) And, in God’s name, send the
main English fleet down to Plymouth at once. . . .
The salt water crept a little nearer over the quivering
quicksands of the Royal mind. Though he got no
order to put to sea, the Queen was certainly impressed,
and Drake followed up his answer with the news that the
scouting pinnace he had sent out had returned with the
sure intelligence that the Armada which once could have
been crushed in its nest like a new-laid egg was fledged
and fit to fly. At that a long ripple hissed up over the
sands, and there came the command for him to go up to
London at once and put his views before the Council.
That implied, anyhow, that the first imbecile programme
was not sealed and signed. He went up early in May,
put his case before the Queen, and completely won her
over. Next day the old programme was a scrap of
paper, and Drake’s was adopted : all that remained of
the former (and that, no doubt, with Drake’s approval)
was that an adequate force of ships should remain at the
cast end of the Channel, under Lord Henry Seymour
(Lord Howard’s nephew), to have an eye to Parma, and a
sharp reply if he moved. The significance of this radical
reconstruction was that though Lord Howard was still
SIR FRANCIS DRAKF
236
Lord High Admiral, he had to carry out Drake’s scheme,
and in all but titular style, Drake was Lord of the Navy
of England : its strategy and tactics alike were his.
He posted back to Plymouth, and Lord Howard arrived
off the port on May 23rd, 1588, with eighteen ships of
the Royal Navy, and other private vessels and armed
merchantmen of London.
News of his coming had preceded him, and down the
Sound to meet him went Drake with all the pomp and
ceremony that he loved. His pinnaces and small craft
went first, as if reconnoitring, and his thirty ships, three
deep in lines of ten, followed, Drake leading them with
his Admiral’s flag flying on the “ Revenge.” The two
fleets saluted each other with roar of ordnance and blare
of trumpets, with beating drums and shouting crews.
Drake lowered his flag, as Admiral of Plymouth, before
the Lord High Admiral of the English Navy, and the
flag of vice-Admiral which Howard was displaying on
the “ Ark Royal,” as well as the Royal Standard, was
lowered also. Presently there came to the side of the
“ Revenge ” a boat from the flagship, and it carried with
it the vice-Admiral’s flag and the Queen’s commission
to Sir Francis Drake to be vice-Admiral of the whole
fleet. Up it went, and the Navy of England saluted him
as next in command to Howard. Long had he been
the idol of the people, now he had received the highest
official recognition that was possible.^
The combined fleet watered at Plymouth (a lengthy
^ It seems impossible, as Ubaldino’s second narrative suggests, that
Drake expected to be put in supreme titular command of the Armada,
or that he thought the post of vice-Admiral in the English Fleet was a
degradation to one who was already an Admiral. On the other hand,
this second narrative of Ubaldino, as Sir Julian Corbett has pointed out
{Drake and. the Tudor Navy, vol. ii. p. 445, etc.), was undoubtedly
inspired by Drake, and it looks much as if Drake had been rather pompous
in his talks with Ubaldino, and told him that for the sake of England he
Ir’d consented to serve under Howard.
THE COMING OF THE ARMADA
237
and laborious process, since at present the town had no
proper water-supply), and for the next two days Howard’s
Council, of which Drake was the head, sat in debate as
to the practical execution of his “ general idea.” His
programme was to abandon completely all naval defence
of the English coast, and to frustrate any such threat by
sailing south at once, and attacking the Armada as soon
as it put to sea. That all along was the very root and
essence of his idea, namely, to defend by means of
attack, and not to consider for a single minute whether
the Armada was under orders to sail straight into the
Channel or to join Parma’s fleet by passing round Scot-
land and so into the North Sea. Who cared what the
Armada meant to do ? Their business was to prevent it
doing anything at all byincessant attack. There was strong
opposition in the Council, but Drake bawled it down, and
after fruitlessly waiting for overdue stores to arrive from
London, the entire fleet put to sea on May 30th, directing
their course to Cape Finisterre. But hardly had they
got clear when they were met by a south-westerly gale
which raged for a week, and they were forced to put back
into Plymouth. During this gale, however, one of the
English ships had taken a Dutch merchantman coming
from Cadiz and bound for Hamburg, and brought it
into the Sound. The skipper reported that he had
passed Lisbon on June 3rd, and sailed abreast of an
Armada that had put out from that port, but by next day
it had vanished.^ The Armada, therefore — or at least
such part of it as had concentrated at Lisbon — was at
sea : the strong south-westerly gale which had driven
the English back to Plymouth would have favoirred its
swift sailing, and yet it had not appeared. What had
happened ?
Drake, all agog to get to work, propounded a solution
which in point of fact was largely true, though the argu-
r Fup-m Nezos-Letteis (second series), p. 263.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
238
ments from which he deduced it were wholly erroneous.
He guessed that the Lisbon fleet (sighted by the Dutch
merchantman) must have put into some Spanish port
further north to join up with the rest of tlie Armada,
and by the grace of God there was yet time to batter and
thump it as it emerged. Howard agreed, but before
the gale abated and they were able to get to sea again,
there came from London despatches that ordered him to
abandon all attempt to attack the Armada on the Spanish
coast, and to keep his entire fleet in touch with England
for defence. The whole of Drake’s policy, already
endorsed by the Queen and her Council, and now at last
supported by the unanimous vote of Howard’s captains,
was scrapped, and the Queen, with another spasm of her
quiverings and quailings, had done her best to render
the King of Spain the most precious of all her unwitting
and witless services.
Howard replied to these lamentable instructions with
force and indignation. He was now Drake’s man, and
it might have been Drake himself who dictated his answer,
except that Drake’s fury would have rendered the despatch
incoherent. The purport was that these new orders
contradicted, for no reason, the orders that the Queen
had ratified, and that landsmen apparently knew better
than the combined brains of England’s sea-captains.
If the English fleet was allowed to go to sea, it could still
get to windward of the Armada, and attack it whatever
its destination was. He urged the immediate necessity
of that course.
The days went by till mid-June was upon the fleet
still tethered at Plymouth. Contrary weather had forced
it back there, the disastrous timidity of the Queen had
detained it, and now it was still waiting, incredible as it
sounds, to take on board the ammimition and foodstuff
which should have been there at least three weeks ago.
Whether it was by command of the Queen that these
THE COMING OF 'I'HE ARMADA
239
were withheld, in order to keep the fleet there, or whether
her habitual parsimony was responsible, or the dilatori-
ness of the Ordnance and Commissariat departments,
is uncertain, but what is quite sure is that a single word
from her would have remedied these intolerable delays,
and that such word was not spoken. Meantime, all that
was known about the movements of the Armada was
that the Lisbon division had sailed, and was, on Drake’s
theory, joining up with contingents from Corunna or
Vigo. As a matter of fact, the winds which had pre-
vented the English fleet from reaching the Spanish coast
had scattered and badly damaged it, and now, while the
larger portion of it put back into Corunna for repair,
eighteen ships ^ had reached the Scilly Isles, which was
the original rendezvous. News came of their presence
there on June 23rd, but before any effective portion of
the English fleet could reach them, they had found they
were unsupported, and had beaten a swift retreat and
rejoined the main body at Corunna. In thus retiring
they were probably acting in accordance with the general
orders of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, for though he had
given instructions that if any captains found themselves
detached from the main body of the fleet on the voyage,
they were to proceed to the rendezvous and not return
to Spain on any excuse, under pain of confiscation of
their property and a traitor’s death, these ships had
arrived at the rendezvous, and found the main fleet not
there. They had no reason to suppose that the Admiral
was ahead, in which case, according to a further order,
they were to proceed to Mount’s Bay, and thus their
retreat was in order.
But Howard’s blast of protest had now twirled round
the Royal weathercock again, and the last imbecile order
was cancelled, restoring his liberty of action. Stores
^ Ubiildino gives the number as fourteen. Harleian Miscellany,
vol. i. p. 123 .
24c
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
were still insufficient, but once more Drake, arguing that
the main Spanish fleet, since it had not appeared, could
be nowhere but in some home port, vehemently urged
that there was still a chance of realizing his original idea.
What mattered provisions ? They would re-victual
from the store-ships of the King. He carried the day,
overriding all opposition, and how his drum must have
beat, when at last, on July 7th, the entire fleet swept out
to sea, and on the wings of the north wind ran straight
for the Spanish coast.
For two days the gale blew prosperously, on the third
it veered right round and came strongly from the south.
Another day’s fair sailing would have brought the whole
might of the English Navy to the harbour where Drake
had divined that the Armada lay, and we may reasonably
suppose that not a ship of it would have escaped, for it
was bottled up there, a huddled prey to gun-fire and
fire-ships, until the wind changed. The English were
now within sight of the coast, but with that adverse gale
continuing, they could not approach it. Provisions,
already short-rationed, began to fail, and in the bitter
end they were obliged to turn and make for Plymouth
again to re-victual. There was nothing more within the
wit of man to accomplish in face of these inexplicable
winds of God.
That same wind which brought the ships hungrily
into Plymouth blew fair for the Armada, and now, re-
fitted and styled the Invincible, it put out to sea, a flock
of sail that spread along the whole southern horizon.
Never an hour of calm caused its canvas to slacken, until
on Friday, July 19th, 1 588, Captain Fleming, a piratical
sailor, came posting into Plymouth, where lay the entire
English fleet, with the news that he had sighted the
Armada off the Lizard.^
^ Monson, Naval Ttacis, vol. 1. p. 1 5| .
CHAPTER XIV 1
THE PASSING OF THE INVINCIBLE
ARMADA
MONG the many legends that have
sprung up round Drake, there is
none that merits credence less than
that which recounts his lunatic be-
haviour when this news arrived.
We are told he was playing bowls
on Plymouth Hoe with the Captains
of the fleet, and protested that there
was plenty of time to finish the game, and beat the
Spaniards after he had won it. Indeed, it would be
quite as reasonable to accept the legend that he hewed his
bowls to bits and threw the pieces into the sea, and that
from each chip there sprang a warship fully armed. For
the odds which would have been so overwhelmingly
against the Spanish, if the north wind had not failed and
Drake had succeeded in pinning them helplessly into the
harbour of Corunna, were now exactly reversed, and. the
English fleet was pinned in Plymouth Sound at the mercy
of guns and fire-ships, precisely as the Spanish would have
been. The only thing that could possibly save England
was that her Navy, in the teeth of the south-west wind
which still blew, should regain the sea again before the
Armada ruffling proudly along from the Lizard closed
^ 111 this chapter I have not attempted to give any detailed account
of the fight with the Spanish Armada, or solve the many riddles still
knotted into it, but rather to follow Drake on the “Revenge.”
G
Sir FRANCIS DRAKF
*4.2
the entrance of the Sound. Every minute that elapsed
brought utter and final disaster nearer, and since there
is no real reason to suppose that the news sent Drake
stark, staring mad, we must assume that he decided
to postpone his game for less critical times, and ran
down to the quayside, with the Captains at his heels.
Months of indecision and flutterings and incapable
administration had brought England into desperate
straits.
There was no time to think of that. Sailors were
lounging about the quay, and Drake came bawling in
among them. Trumpeters and drummers were sent
flying off through the street sounding the recall to the
ships, and from tavern and skittle-ally the men crowded
in. In three minutes the Captains had got their orders :
tactics, mancEuvres, formations could be decided on
afterwards, for the one need that eclipsed all others was
that the fleet should somehow get out to sea before the
arrival of the Armada. For the present Drake was
vice-Admiral no more : he was an able-bodied sweating
sailorman, now hauling on his cable with the others, now
taking an oar in one of the boats that was towing the
“ Revenge.” As Elizabeth said, ” There is need of
mirth in England now,” and we may imagine the great
vice-Admiral as a ray of indefatigable light in this darkest
hour, encouraging, jovial, barking out his orders with
great oaths, getting a mouthful of wine, and vowing
that it was poor stuff compared to the Spanish nectar
of which there would soon be abundant store, and all the
time sending up from his stout heart his confident suppli-
cation to the Lord of Battles. . . . All through the
summer night the fevered and superhuman activity went
on, and before morning broke, grey and misty, with the
wind dropped to a light breeze and rain falling, two-
thirds of the fleet were clear of the land with sea-room to
fight and sail. The first danger which meant complete
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA
243
annihilation was past, and now it was time to think of
tactics. The one object was to get to windward of the
Spanish, who, covering a front of about eight miles,^ were
advancing very slowly on the fallen breeze in crescent
formation, the bulge of the crescent pointing up Channel,
and “ the Ocean groaning ” under the ponderous
burden.^ As to their numbers, Drake’s and Howard’s
two estimates agree fairly well : there were about a
hundred and twenty sail, of which half were men-of-war.
The English numbered about eighty sail in all, of which
thirty-five or thereabouts were pinnaces. They were,
however, as the fleets went up Channel, reinforced by
ships from the Southern ports.
Plymouth was thus left unprotected, but attack
(according to Drake’s whole policy) being the surest
defence, the English fleet could by engaging the Spanish
rear, push the Armada past the Sound and up the
Channel. The preliminary movement (to get to wind-
ward of the Spaniards) was effected during Saturday, and
on Sunday morning, July 21st, the fleet was in a favour-
able position to harass the left wing of the Armada from
the rear. Howard then “ denounced war ” by firing
the ordnance of his pinnace, the “ Defiance.” There
was no idea on either side of bringing on a general
engagement, and the English tactics were to hamper the
enemy’s sailing formation by attacking its left wing, and
forcing it in towards the centre, and to concentrate their
fire upon single ships. They succeeded in detaching
the “ Santa Anna,” which, under Admiral Recalde, led
the rear-guard of the Spanish port wing, and in seriously
damaging it. After two hours’ battering, the Duke of
Medina Sidonia on his flagship the “ San Martino,” with
Don Pedro de Valdes on “ Oiu- Lady of the Rosary,”
came to its rescue. The latter of the two was soon in
Harleian Miscellany, vol. i. p. 1 24.
2 Samuel Clark, Tie Spanish Invasion, p. 29.
244
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
collision witli the “ Santa Catalina,” and, unknown to
the English, was half crippled. Seeing these two ships
bearing down, Howard signalled to Drake, who was
leading the attack, to break oft'. . . . Almost simul-
taneously an explosion occurred on board the “ San
Salvador,” a “ great ship ” of 800 tons, which caught
fire and lagged behind the rest of the Armada. The
English detachment recalled from the “ Santa Anna ”
made a pounce on it, but again other Spanish ships came
to its assistance, and Howard once more signalled to dis-
engage. Eighting then ended for the day, and the Lord
High Admiral summoned his council for debate. The
council consisted of seven : Drake, Lord Thomas
Howard, Lord Sheffield, Sir Roger Williams (soldier),
John Hawkins, Frobisher, and Fenner.
The day’s work had not amounted to much : no telling
blow had been inflicted on the enemy, but none had been
intended, for a general engagement was not part of the
programme. But the English knew much more now
about their adversary, and what they had learned that
day was highly satisfactory. In actual tonnage and in
number of guns, the Armada was considerably superior,
but Drake’s conviction that, in the matter of mobility and
rapidity of fire, it was quite outclassed by the English
was already demonstrated. Another point, and that a
most important one, was now elucidated ; previously it
had been quite iincertain whether the Armada’s instruc-
tions were to sail north round Scotland (with the inten-
tion probably of making a landing there), and to join up
with Parma’s fleet via the North Sea, or to sail directly
up the Channel.
The latter course was now declared, and with the
English fleet in its rear to windward, the Armada was
committed to it. Before it could efihet this junction,
however, it would have to deal with Lord Henry Sey-
mour’s fleet, which, now stationed off the Downs, was
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA 24;
a very solid obstacle, for it included three of the finest
ships in the Navy, the “ Rainbow,” the “ Vanguard,”
and the “ Antelope.” More solid yet against the
Spanish Admiral’s unimpeded progress would be the
shoals and difficult tides in the narrows between Dover
and Calais. A couple of days’ favourable sailing would
easily cover the actual distance, but Drake’s eye must
have danced when he thought of those great ships in the
perilous waters, the humours of which he had learned so
well as a prentice-lad on the fishing-smack on which he
had passed the first years of his seafaring life. He would
be a boy again, playing hide-and-seek with strangers in
his own home full of blind alleys and steep stairs and
awkward corners.
Another matter which must have been debated at that
Sunday-evening council was the possibility of Sidonia’s
attempting to land troops on the Channel coasts. He
had been pushed past Plymouth, but the Isle of Wight
and the Portsmouth Channel might give him an oppor-
tunity of doing this, and of establishing a naval base.
Certainly such an intention formed a subsequent item in
the Spanish programme, but, though the Pope had
promised the King of Spain a million crowns as soon as
he had reliable news that the Armada had effected a
landing,^ it is fairly certain that Sidonia never contem-
plated one before he had joined up w’ith Parma, and his
letter to Parma that this junction was his first object
confirms this view.^ Moreover, his instructions from
Philip were definite, ” You will sail with the whole of the
Armada, and go straight to the English Channel, which
you. will ascend as far as the Cape of Margate, where you
will join hands with the Duke of Parma, my nephew ” :
while further secret instructions were to the effect that
on no account was a landing to be attempted until Sidonia
1 F agger Neius-Letters (second series), p. 163.
Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navj, p. 229, note.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
246
had joined up with Parma, or had failed to do so.^ On
the other hand, most naval pundits have interpreted the
mancEuvrings and skirmishings of the next four days as in-
dicating that a landing was Sidonia’s immediate objective,
and that the movements of the English fleet prevented
him from cari-ying it out. But this view, as well as dis-
regarding Sidonia’s instructions and his clear statement
to Parma, disregards also the letter that Drake wrote to
Lord Henry Seymour as soon as the council was over
that Sunday night. The council certainly anticipated
nothing of the kind ; had it done so, it seems inevitable
that Drake, with his passion for concentrating on the
Armada, would have insisted that Lord Plenry Seymour’s
powerful squadron be ordered to join the main fleet and
attack the right wing of the Armada, as it attempted
such landing, while the rest pounded at the left. But
Howard’s instructions, as forwarded by Drake ^ to Sey-
mour, were “ that those ships serving under your charge
should be put into the best and strongest manner you
may, and ready to assist his Lordship for the best en-
countering of them (the Armada) in those -parts where you
now are.” Clearly, then, Howard’s Council (including
Drake) believed that the Armada was meaning to pass
straight up the Channel, to join Parma’s fleet. So he
warned Seymour to be alert on his present station. On
the operations of the day Drake, in this letter to Seymour,
had only a cursory postscript. “ There hath passed
some common shot between some of our fleet and some
of theirs,” was his comment. But he did not think that
the Spaniards were despicable foes, for he sounds his
first note of respect, “ They are determined to sell their
lives with blows.”
So, when the council was over, Drake went drumming
^ Fernandez Duro, La Armada hwincibile, vol ii. pp. 6, 14.
(Monson, Naval Tracts, vol. i. p. 50.)
^ Barrow, Life of Drake, p. 290.
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA
247
back to his ship, and wrote this letter to Seymour. The
orders for the night were to keep sniffing at the heels of
the Armada, and the “ Revenge ” was to lead the pack.
Next to the “ Revenge ” came Howard on the flagship,
the “ Ark,” steering by the lantern on the stern of the
” Revenge,” and the rest of the fleet followed. Drake,
in fact, was in charge of the movements of the fleet, and
the Lord High Admiral hearkened to his drum. The
fleet took up this formation at midnight on Sunday, and
since the Armada was a slow-moving body, keeping in
touch with it was only a saunter for the swifter “Revenge.”
While still there was but a glimmer of the coming dawn,
Drake, according to the report he made to his Admiral
next day, saw certain ships sailing parallel with his course
up Channel. Thinking that these might belong to the
Armada and were executing some nocturnal manceuvre,
he turned and went after them, extinguishing his lantern,
so as not to mislead the rest of the fleet into following
him.
Drake was certainly disobeying orders in so doing :
on the other hand, if he had a reasonable suspicion that
those dim ships were manoeuvring vessels of the enemy,
he was bound, as leading the fleet, to find out. He
overhauled them, and satisfied himself that they were
peaceful German merchantmen, seeking safe convoy up
the Channel, and this he gave them, telling them to
attach themselves to the English. Day was on the
dawn now, and before he could put about to rejoin his
fleet, which had passed on ahead, he saw near him a
vessel about which there could be no mistake, for it was
certainly one of the great ships of Spain, without bow-
sprit or foremast, and lagging, like a wounded sea-bird,
far behind the rest of the flock. Instantly he ran close
up to her, and bawled out to her to surrender, giving the
excellent reason that he was Drake, and was also in a
great hurry, which was indeed true, as he ought at this
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
248
moment to have been leading the English fleet. This
great ship was no other than “ Our Lady of the Rosary,”
badly damaged in collision yesterday, and now helpless.
Whether for that reason or, as Drake’s crew exultantly
averred, for mere terror of his dreaded name, its
Captain, Don Pedro dc Valdes, struck his colours, ^ and,
with forty officers, was brought aboard the “ Revenge.”
Don Pedro paid Drake the most fulsome compliments,
assuring him that he would have yielded to no other but
the “ fiery Drake, whose valour and felicity were so great
that Mars and Neptune seemed to attend him.” But
no butter could be too thick for Drake, and Don Pedro
was lodged in his own cabin and refreshed with food
and music and compliments. ” Our Lady of the
Rosary ” carried much that was valuable and curious ;
there were 50,000 ducats on board, a large supply of
whips made of cord and wire, with which (so Don Pedro
stated in his subsequent examination before the Lords
of the Privy Council) the Spaniards intended to flog
to death the English heretics,'^ and some beautiful jewelled
swords which the King of Spain had designed to present
to notable English Catholics. By this sad mischance
they went to a red-hot Protestant, and Drake, despatching
the ship itself to Dartmouth, hurried after the English
fleet. Don Pedro, with his officers and the more valu-
able loot, were kept on board the “ Revenge,” and there
they stayed till the remnant of the Armada, with Drake
in pursuit, was flying northwards. Don Pedro thus
witnessed the collapse and flight of the Invincible, and
he and the loot were then sent back as prisoners and
property of Drake’s, and landed at Rye^ on July 31st.
^ Mr. Froude {English SeamCfi, p. 206) says slie put up a brave defence.
I cannot find who told him so.
^ Samuel Clark, The Spanish Invasion p. 60.
“ It is possible that the magnificent iimhogany altiir in the Clare Chape]
in Rye Parish Church w.ts among these. Local tradition, whicli can be
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA
249
The English fleet meantime had experienced some
agitating moments. Incredible as it seems, the disappear-
ance first of the “ Revenge’s ” stern-lantern, and then of
the “ Revenge,” had never been noticed on the “ Ark,”
and Howard, under the impression that Drake was still
leading, had been following the lights of some rear-
vessel of the Armada, supposing that they were his.
His look-out officer ought, of com'se, to have been court-
martialled, for if there was enough light for Drake to
see the ships of suspicious origin, there must have been
sufficient for this gentleman to have seen the disappear-
ance of the “ Revenge.” As it was, when broad dawn
came, the “Ark,” with two other ships, the “Bear”
and the “ Mary Rose,” found themselves mixed up with
the rear-guard of the Armada, all by themselves, for the
remainder of the fleet, seeing that something inscrutable
had occurred, shortened sail, since they had been told
not to engage, and were now some miles behind. So,
just about the time when pretty speeches and high com-
pliments (so dear to Drake’s soul) were fluttering about
on the “ Revenge,” the Lord High Admiral was in
imminent danger of being captured by the Armada.
Had that happened, the chief blame must certainly have
lain on the bad watch kept on the flagship.
Now Drake was not responsible for the bad watch
kept on the flagship. He might possibly have sent a
traced back into the seventeenth century, has always affirmed that it came
from a ship oi the Armada, and there are points about the altar that endorse
it. It is Spanish in character, the capitals of the legs being the heads
of the lion of Castile ; it bears on the sides the cockle-shell of St. James.
At the back there are pierced five holes, clearly to clamp it to a wall,
which would be unusual in an altar from a church on tena finna, but
exactly what we should expect on one that came from a chapel on a ship.
Drake certainly did land his capture at Rye ; this, combined with the
ancient local tradition, makes the identification very reasonable. Experts,
however, disagree about the style and nationality of the altar, and are
not likely to desist.
250 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
boat back to the “ Ark,” saying that in performance of
his duty he had left his post as leader of the fleet to find
out what these mysterious ships were. He might also,
perhaps, have turned back the moment he was satisfied
about them, but, it must be remembered, he had just
then stumbled upon this great galleon, which was un-
doubtedly a Spanish warship. He had no idea how
badly she was injured, and if he had left her there un-
taken she might have been repaired and become a fight-
ing force again. It was therefore clearly his duty to
capture her, just as it was his duty, on seeing suspicious
sails, to find out who the strange ships were. It must
be remembered also that when he stayed to make capture
of “ Our Lady of the Rosary,” he had no idea she carried
50,000 ducats and jewelled swoids, and while it may
freely be admitted that this would have strengthened
his decision to take her, it was duty, not temptation, that
caused him to do so.
During the morning Howard extricated himself from
his perilous position, captured the “ San Salvador,” on
which a serious explosion, wrecking her upper decks,
had occurred the day before, and in the afternoon
Drake caught the fleet up again, and gave his
Admiral his account of this nocturnal adventure, which
Howard accepted. But another version of it was hinted
at, and it was said that he deliberately forsook his post
because he saw a crippled Spanish ship, and lay by her
all night in order to make a prize of her, and that this
story of the suspicious ships was a sheer invention of his.
In consequence it has always been considered doubtful
as to what really happened, and Drake’s reputation has
never been quite clean of the suspicion that he left his
station in order to capture a prize. But now, nearly
three and a half centuries later, a confirmation of his
account has turned up, which puts beyond a doubt the
correctness of his report to Lord Howard. This is a
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA 251
communication from the captain of one of those very
German ships which were sailing up the Channel. It
is dated Hamburg, August 3rd and 4th, 1588, and runs
as follows 1 : —
“ Hans Buttber has arrived off the town in a big ship. He
came through the Channel from San Lucar. He was with
Captain Drake for four or five days, and joined the Englishman
on the twenty-first of last month (t.e. this particular Sunday
night). Drake captured Don Pedro de Valdes, Admiral of four-
teen vessels, and had him and the other nobles brought on to
his own ship. He gave them a banquet and treated them
very handsomely, entertained them besides with trumpets and
music. . . . Jll this happened in the presence of the skipper. ”
This seems to settle the matter completely. Drake
left his post that night, not to capture a prize, but, as he
told Howard, because it was his duty to investigate the
presence of strange ships, on one of which was this
independent witness in whose presence he subsequently
captured Don Pedro. Frobisher, however, already
jealous of Drake’s position, believed and propagated the
scandalous version. He was so outraged by this gross
breach of discipline that he swore that unless Drake gave
him a share of the prize, he would have “ the best blood
in his belly.” This luminous remark enables us to see
precisely what the outrage on Frobisher’s feelings was.^
At nightfall on Monday, July 22nd, after an action-
less day, the two fleets were lying off Portland Bill, in a
windless calm. During the night the Spaniards made
an attempt to capture an English merchantman, some-
what isolated, by an attack of galleasses, or oared ships,
^ Fugger News-Letters (second series), p, 168.
^ Frobisher had been Drake’s vice-Admiral in the expedition to
the Indies of 1585, but had been given no command in Drake’s raid on
the Spanish coasts in 1587. Possibly this had something to do with
his marked hostility to Drake afterwards.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
252
but a breeze sprang up, and she slipped away. The
breeze, however, sprang up from an inconvenient direc-
tion, for the wind had veered into the north-east, and for
some hours the Armada was to windward of the English,
and on Tuesday morning there began a series of opera-
tions which has puzzled contemporary and subsequent
historians as much as it then puzzled the Spaniards them-
selves. It was a day of disconnected scraps and skir-
mishes, in which Drake’s share was a bewildering sort
of conjuring entertainment which showed the vastly
superior mobility of the English. While one squadron
of ships was dealt out like a pack of cards, ostentatiously
placed on the table of the sea, and the Spaniards were
“ choosing ” one, the whole pack was gathered up,
shuffled, and arranged in quite a different pattern some-
where else. Sidonia’s eyes were glued to these conjuring
tricks, so that inattention should not allow a surprise to
be sprung on him, and their object, from the English
point of view, was thus secured. Tittle firing was done
by the English, because already their powder and shot,
thanks to the criminal parsimony with which it had been
doled out, was running low, and it was necessary to keep
the enemy inexpensively engaged till it was replenished.
So in and out all day, mostly silent, except for one short
and concentrated bombardment of the “ San Martino,”
flitted the elusive ships, waiting for the food which should
give their guns voice again. Drake was always alert to
seize an occasion, but the Armada was wary, not under-
standing what was going on, and this was the object of
these bewildering manoeuvres. During the afternoon
fresh supplies of ammunition began to arrive, and, not
less welcomely, the wind changed again, and put the
English once more to windward of the Armada.
The powder and shot, for which H oward had hitherto
appealed in vain, were still not in the least adequate, for
within a few days there was shortage again. Though
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA
2S3
the Queen perhaps was not directly responsible for this
chronic starvation, it is certain that a couple of furious
oaths from her would have put right so iniquitous an
economy. Her whole soul was set on the destruction
of the Armada, but even in these supreme moiuents she
liked getting it done as inexpensively as possible ; never
did the salvation of her beloved country succeed in
knocking her parsimony off its perch. . . . But a little
ammunition was better than none, and that night and
next day, Wednesday, July 24th, which was dead calm,
the English were busy with renewing their emptiness of
powder and provisions, and in assimilating into the fleet
fourteen ships which had joined it from Plymouth, with
the mob of volunteers who offered themselves for
service.
Late in the day a breeze sprang up, but neither side
attacked, and Thursday, July 25th, saw the fleets opposite
the Isle of Wight. On the Spanish side nothing had
yet been heard of Parma, and when that morning Sidonia
was seen to be provoking a general action, it has been
supposed that he had changed his mind about making
the junction with Parma his first object, and was intend-
ing to force a landing on the island, and establish some
naval base in the Solent. Moreover, the day was the
feast of San Domingo, his patron saint and traditional
ancestor ; no morning could be more auspicious, and the
Armada blazed into banners and hallowed symbols.
But among the confusing accounts of that day’s action,
it is impossible to find any manceuvres of his which can
be interpreted into a preliminary for a landing, and, in
view of his explicit orders, it seems far more likely that
his object was to engage the English, in order to give
time for Parma (to whom he had already sent a despatch-
boat) to join him.
The English, now reinforced and reammunitioned,
were ready to accept battle, and after a little skirmish-
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
25 +
ing round the crippled “ Santa Anna,” which had got
detached from the main body, Howard in the centre, and
Frobisher on the left wing, advanced to the capture.
They were well in front of their squadrons, and now,
when they were close to the Spanish galleons, the wind
completely dropped, and it looked as if San Domingo
was awake. The “ Ark’s ” boats were launched to tow
her up to the “ Santa Anna,” when an attack was made by
the oared Spanish galleasses. In the dead calm the ships
of Howard’s squadron could not go to the rescue, and he
and P'robisher were cut oIF. Their capture must have
seemed imminent to the encompassing enemy, when
the dead wind came to life again, and the sails of the
“ Ark ” flapped and filled. From moment to moment
the wind freshened, till it was blowing half a gale, and on
its swift wings there swept down on to the slower-moving
Spaniards the combined squadrons of Drake and
Hawkins. Each ship, putting about as it came within
short range, poured out the hell of its rapid fire.
The position was completely reversed. An hour
before there was a noble capture to be made at leisure,
and now the left wing of the Armada was being forced
in upon the centre, and the whole formation, with the
head wind preventing any possible advance, was drifting
under a murderous fire towards the deadly shoals of the
Owers. The action lasted five hours, during which
time the peril of the Armada was momently increasing.
Then the wind veered round to north-west, and Sidonia
set sail for the coast of France, in order to get out of this
wasps’ nest, and join Parma’s fleet as soon as possible.
San Domingo must have dozed off, and, as Spanish
prisoners said, Christ showed Plimself a Lutheran.^
It had been a great day for the English Navy, and,
above all, for Drake's tactics in swift unexpected move-
ments. But though the Armada had been driven off the
Harleian Miscellany, vol. i. p. 150.
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA 255
English coast, it had suffered no serious crippling as a
fighting force, and was still formidably proceeding up
Channel on the last stage of its journey, as originally
planned, to join Parma outside Dunkirk. The peril
in which the realm stood was, as yet, not markedly
diminished ; indeed, every hour that broughtthe Spaniards
nearer this junction with Parma accentuated it. On the
other hand, the Invincible, though still unvanquished,
had now, on the dawn of Friday, July 26th, been for a
week in touch with the English coast, and for five days
in close touch with the fleet, and so far from effecting
a landing on the one, or proving its invincibility to the
other, it was still being pushed up the Channel, as if
the English were quite favouring its advance. It had
learned also that in point of seamanship and rapidity of
gunfire it had met not its match but its immeasurable
superior, and if the English could not claim to have
demonstrated that to any decisive purpose, there was not
a single captain in the Armada who was not aware of it.
Throughout Friday, as the two fleets drifted on in an
almost windless calm, or were taken aback by the tide,
some inkling of coming doom, or at least a grave uneasi-
ness, defined itself dimly in Sidonia’s mind, and, like the
moving finger on the wall, wrote strange runes on the
lead-coloured sea. That morning he sent off a pinnace
to Dunkirk, following the one he had despatched the
day before. He recognized the awkward heaviness in
movement of his own ships, and bade Parma send him
forty light vessels^ which could cope with the antic
mobility of the English. As the morning went on
and still no reply came to his message of the day before,
his uneasiness increased, and he sent yet a third pinnace
carrying the same urgent demand. He looked east-
wards from his poop, “ high as a church,” ^ hoping to
^ Barrow, Life of Drake, p. 297.
“ Fumr Nezos-Leiters (second series), p. 172.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
256
see the sxtccouring sails, but, though the day was clear,
there was no sign of them. To the south lay the coast
of France ; to the north-west, calm-bound, like himself,
the English fleet, but should a breath of wind spring up,
they would steal magically nearer, and Drake, the terror
of Spain, would lead them. It was he, Sidonia knew,
who was the inspiration of the foe, and only Drake could
tell what Drake intended. Flis ship flitted here and
there like a bat’s shadow; it wheeled and blazed its
ruinous broadside, and like a shadow it was gone again.
Sidonia’s sailors had strange legends about him : ships
sprang up on the sea if he whittled a stick into the water.
Incredible, no doubt, but yet . . . Yesterday had been
the feast of San Domingo, and, calling on his holy name,
Sidonia had advanced to the attack that his soul knew
must be irresistible. Then Drake, in his shadow-ships,
had slung hell’s fires on him, and where had San Domingo
been ? Yet surely the Armada was under God’s pro-
tection, for had not the Holy Father blessed it, and
promulgated a Bull making the Crown of England
feudatory to the See of Rome ? That sacred docu-
ment had been translated into English, and thousands
of copies had been printed at Antwerp to be distributed
when the Armada landed its troops in the new province.
. . . Sidonia began to consider the wisdom of sailing
straight to Dunkirk, before he had news that Parma was
ready. But the pilots warned him of the dangerous
shoals and currents of the North Sea, and, had they
known, they might also have warned him of some more
ships under Seymour, round the corner of the heretic
island. That evening the wind began to stir again, and
he made up his mind to wait for Parma’s reply, and
anchor off Calais in French waters. The English would
think twice before following him there.
The wind increased, and he made full sail for Calais,
and when Saturday, Jrrly 27th, dawned, dark and rain-
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA
257
streaked, he was within a few hours of the French port.
But swinging along close at his heels was the English
fleet, and the “ Revenge ” led it. Drake knew that
Lord Henry Seymour was alert and competent to prevent
the junction of the Armada with Parma, even if Parma
had the power and the will to break out of Dunkirk, and
now, with Sidonia nervously awaiting his colleague and
eager to realize that happy meeting, he was following
rather than pushing the Armada into the dangerous and
difficiilt waters that had been the instructive playground
of his own boyhood, and his drum was beating, and he
thought no more of that damned Frobisher, who had
openly said that he had deserted his post four nights ago
to pick up a prize. The fellow had been knighted
yesterday with Hawkins and some of those grand rela-
tions of Howard’s, bxit what did he care, when the wicked
grey North Sea was opening in front of him and the
might of Spain was presently to be delivered into his
hand ? Whatever the Armada did now, whether it
crept up tmder the French coast or made straight for
Dunkirk, he had something for it which would make
Sidonia wish he was back in his orange-groves again.
The sea was choppy, the grey tides ran strong ; it was just
that dirty squally weather which made his eyes dance.
All day he gained just a little on the enemy, closely
watching them, and then he went down to read prayers
to his ship’s company before supper. It was the 27th
evening of the month, and from his prayer-book, with
his arms on the cover, he read how the Lord turned the
captivity of His chosen, and how their mouth was filled
with laughter and their tongue with joy. The Lord
had done great things for them already, and a greater
reaping was at hand.
Supper over, up he went again, for his eyes were
starving for the sight of the sailing castles of Spain, and
as he peered through the vdndy drift he saw that the
R
SIR FRANCIS DR^MCE
258
cliffs of Calais were close, and suddenly the towering
sails that he followed were furled. From the “ Ark ”
came the signal to anchor, and Sidonia looked west and
saw the pack of sea-wolves still on his trail.
Naval critics have generally derided Sidonia as a figure
of fun, an aristocrat, an excellent farmer, but no sailor,
and these gentlemen make us feel that it was indeed
fortunate for England that none of them were in com-
mand. But Sidonia was following out the instructions
he had received, to make his junction with Parma his
first object, and he was doing this with skill and success.
He hacl brought his fleet with but slight loss through the
Channel, he had extricated it from at least one perilous
position, and he had shown as much competence as
Howard : Howard, however, had the advantage of
having a genius at his back. It was Drake whom
Sidonia feared, and he must now have had the tin easy
consciousness that Drake had no objection to his suc-
cessful performance. . . . And Sunday morning brought
little comfort to him. Flis first messenger to Parma
returned with the news that he was at Bruges, and that
(though reams of Pope Sixtus v’s Bull were printed and
ready) the embarkation of troops and stores on the fleet
which Sidonia hoped would join him to-day had not
yet begrxn. The howling of the wolves sounded the
more ominous for these ill tidings, and surely the pack
was larger than before. So indeed it was, for that morn-
ing Lord Plenry Seymour joined the main fleet with
twenty ships, which were now taking up their places to
seaward. Sidonia might even have seen a pinnace put
across to the “ Ark ” from the “ Revenge,” and another
brought Frobisher from the “ Triumph,” and Sir John
Hawkins came from the “ Victory,” and from the
“ Rainbow,” newly arrived, came Seymour. The little
figures were visible on the poop of the flagship, and then
the sea-captains went below, to consult, like grim
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA
259
physicians in conclave, over the best modes of euthanasia.
There they settled to send eight fire-ships ^ among the
Armada as it lay at anchor, and since the wind served,
and would blow with the tide that night, there was no
time to send to Dover for hulks that were lying there in
readiness. Eight of the smaller and less efficient mer-
chantmen were selected, and among these was the
“ Thomas,” the property of Drake.^ Sidonia would
have watched long before the captains came vrp on deck
again — that quick-moving, thick-set, little fellow was
Drake — and they obseiwed the weather, and went back
to their ships. Presently Drake’s squadron moved a
little more inshore, so that now it was to the direct wind-
ward of the Armada. Then all was quiet again, and
the wolves sat and watched, and their lights gleamed
like eyes.
The rain had ceased, but as the moonless night
darkened, the wind grew fresher. Patrol boats scouted
round the Spanish fleet to give warning of any sign of a
night attack, but the hours ticked quietly on till mid-
night, and the lights of the English ships showed that
they still rode at anchor. There came a half-hour of
slack water, and the flood-tide came pouring up Channel
with the wind to speed it. And then, out of the windy
darkness, came the terror by night. A ship on fire, with
all sails spread, slipped forth from behind the English
line, and as it moved forward on swift tide and favouring
wind, the brushwood on the deck burned higher, and
the flames licked up the mast, and the sails blazed wide,
for sails and deck and mast were daubed thick with
pitch and resin and brimstone and wild -fire. Seven
1 Tlie idea of the fire-ships is .supposed to h.ive originated with the
Queen. Harleian Miscellany, vol. i. p. 133.
Drake sent in a bill to the Government for the loss of this ship, claim-
ing £xooo. Lady Eliott Drake, Fawify and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake,
vol.i. p. 93-
260
SIR FRANCIS I3RAKE
more followed, and all this fleet of fire bore down full on
the anchored Armada. Every gun on the burning ships
had been loaded, and the gunners were the flames that
would presently lick the touch-holes.
To remain in the path of that advancing blaze meant
destruction, and so swiftly was it bearing down that there
was no time to weigh anchor. Panic seized the entire
Armada, ship after ship cut or slipped its cables, and
amid crash and collision, and in unimaginable confusion,
they streamed helter-skelter away, steering north-east,
out of the path of the Terror. So swift was their flight
that not one of the fire-ships found a billet for its flames,
but the Armada was dislodged from its anchorage in
French waters as a ripe orange is shaken from its bough,
and when morning dawned it lay out in the North Sea,
jarst where Drake would have it. Sidonia had anchored
off Gravelines, and was signalling to his fleet to join him
and get into formation again, but at present it was
scattered unshepherded, like sheep that have burst from
the fold into which the wolves have leaped.
The English captains in council the day before had
laid their plans for the sequel of the fire-ships, and the
orders were to pursue the disorganized Armada before
it could form again, and play havoc with its scattered
ships. Eloward was to lead with his squadron, Drake
to follow, and as soon as day broke the Admiral gave the
signal to weigh anchor. No such opportunity for smash-
ing up the Armada had occurred in all the week’s fight-
ing, but now the chance was as golden as the light in the
east, and failure was impossible if the attack was de-
livered instantly and in mil force before Sidonia could
rally his vagrants. At that supreme moment PToward
imperilled the success of the whole scheme. He saw the
most splendid of all the galleasses of Spain limping back
towards Calais, and, for the sake of that firize, he did
what Drake has been wrongly accused of having done,
-c^
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA
261
and instead of leading the fleet into action he drew off
his squadron for the capture of a single vessel. But we
should probably be quite wrong if we accused him of
mere cupidity, for Howard was a man of the highest
principles, and he was following out his own often-
declared principle, that the right way to fight the Armada
was to pluck it feather by feather. He had simply
not understood that here (if he had carried out his
own orders) was a sure chance of wringing the neck of
the bird.
Drake’s orders had been to follow his Admiral, but he
would not have been Drake if he had done so. Instead,
he turned seawards, where the “ San Martino ” was
rallying the scattered galleons. Frobisher and Hawkins
followed him, and thus Drake was in actual as well as
virtual command. Round Sidonia were now forming
some forty of his finest ships, and Drake directed his
course straight for the flagship, but not till he was within
a cable’s length did he open fire. Then, at that short,
deadly range, his bow-guns barked, and turning rapidly
he poured into her his withering broadside. Loading
again, he drove on the group of galleons on Sidonia’s
flank, while Frobisher and Hawkins continued battering
the “ San Martino,” whose mast was so weakened by
shot that on the subsequent voyage it could not bear full
sail.^ The fire from the Spanish guns flew high, for the
most part, over their assailants, but the sides of their
great ships were riddled by the plugging round-shot,
and their decks swam with the red slaughter. Galleon
after galleon, shattered and disabled, ceased fire, but not
one surrendered. Indeed, as Drake had said a week
before, they meant to sell their lives dearly, and they
showed that morning that the high valour of Spain was no
empty phrase.
It was not till mid-day that Howard returned from ms
1 Harlcian Miscellany, vol. i. p. 137, Deposition of Emanuel Francisco.
262
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
pickpocketing excursion to join the fleet of which he was
in nominal command. Had. he obeyed his own orders
at dawn, and added the weight of his squadron to the
attack, it is probable that not one of these forty galleons
round Sidonia would have escaped. But by now, in
spite of the devastatiiig fire, the Armada had resumed
some sort of formation, and other stray ships which had
been drifting towards the Dutch coast had beaten up
against the wind and joined the nucleus. The Armada
was still in existence, but even now a few hours’ more
fighting would have rendered it helpless, had not the
English ammunition given out : once again a miserable
parsimony had caused the fidl sheaf of victory to be left
unsickled. Already the fight had taken the Spanish
ships past Dunkirk •, the junction with Parma was no
longer possible, and had powder and shot not been
lacking, that day or the next must have seen their final
destruction. Then about three in the afternoon came
up a squall of blinding violence from the west, and when
it had passed the Armada had disengaged itself, but with
the stress of the strong wind it was gradually edging
nearer and nearer to the shoals along the Dutch coast.
Many of the galleons were still efficient for sailing and
for battle : others, with shattered masts and riven sails,
fluttered like a flock of broken-winged birds towards
what seemed their certain doom. 'I'hough none of those
proud ships would be brought in triumph of trumpets
and pealing bells into the port of London, they would be
battered to bits by the rising sea as they grounded on the
banks, and surrender not to man but to the immutable
judgments of God.
All night Drake lay to the windwiird on the heels of
the labouring fugitives. Pie had managed to steal or
borrow a few more rotuids of shot and some scrapings
of powder, but he must have thought, as he waited
through the short darkness before dawn, that he need do
THE PASSING OF THE ARMADA 263
no more than watch the death-struggle of Spain in the
strangle-hold of the wind that was pushing it on to the
shoals. Already three of the galleons had dropped out
of line and were drifting helpless to their doom, but
he let the shoals deal with them, and followed the more
seaworthy ships. Should they attempt to beat out, he
was waiting to windward, ready to serve them the last
dose of the bitter stuff he had given them that morning.
Day dawned, windy and red, and now, seeing the lee-
way of the night, Drake knew that the shoals were very
near. Sidonia knew it too, for he had sounded and
found but five fathoms of water, and it seemed that all
was staged for the final scene of the stupendous tragedy.
Then, on the lip of the catastrophe, it was averted ; the
wind, which had been blowing steady out of the north-
west, veered round into the south, and the Armada, ahead
of the English fleet, slipped out to sea.
Drake accepted this crushing disappointment, and in
the letter he wrote that day to Walsingham there is not
a bitter or savage word. He recognized that it was the
hand of God that had plucked the Spaniards from the
jaws of annihilation, and he had nothing but thanks-
giving for what had been accomplished, and trust for the
future. “ God give us grace to depend on Him,” he
wrote, ” and we shall not doubt victory, for our cause is
good.”
With that change in the wind the might of Spain,
that seemed about to be sunk for ever in the northern
sea, became again a peril that must be faced. A land-
ing on the coast of Scotland was still possible, and for
two days more, though almost ammunitionless, Drake
and Howard held on to the pursuit. Up the coast
they sped before that southerly wind, till they had passed
Newcastle, and then once more it veered to the west.
The Spaniards could not now land in the Forth, but if
there was any fight left in them they might attempt once
SIR FRANCIS drake
264
more the junction with Parma. In the English fleet
provisions and water were running short, and they
turned south again to revictual and guard against that
possibility. The Spaniards pursued their disastrous
destiny round the Orkneys, and the remnants of the
Invincible Armada, crippled, and so short of water that
mules and horses were thrown overboard, after paying
heavy toll as passport to the wild and rocky coasts, got
back to the harbours from which, had not nursery diplo-
macy and criminal economy frustrated Drake’s wise and
daring policy, it would never have set forth. The
English had not lost a single ship of any kind.
* H.irlt'icin Miscellany, vol. i. p. 13H.
CHAPTER XV
THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION
N land meantime Elizabeth, now that
the time for diplomacies was clearly
past, had thrown them all aside, and,
though she might still be starving
her navies of powder and shot, or,
at any rate, failing to make sure
that they were not starved, she rose
to the ftdl possibilities of her
position. Though for years she had schemed and
truckled and trembled, while there was a chance of
averting the supreme danger with which the realm had
been menaced, now that the peril was upon her she
showed herself entirely majestic, queen from top
to toe. Her speech to her troops at Tilbury has been
scoffed at as being bombastic, but splendid bombast like
that was exactly what was required, as the event proved,
to pull the nation together in a manner that no one but
its Queen could have accomplished. She had been
warned, so she told them, not to trust herself to armed
multitudes, and her answer was, “ Let tyrants fear.”
Though she had, by every imaginable trick, tried to
make an impossible peace, she had at this crisis “ the
heart of a king, and of a King of England too, and think
foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe,
should dare to invade the borders of my realm, to which,
rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself
will take up arms. . . Bombast that might be, but
it was absolutely sincere, and no doubt she would have
266
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
been perfectly ready to pick up a musket, then and there,
and discharge it in all directions. The speech ran like fire
through the land : all the nobles in England, beginning
with old Viscount Montague, of the Cloth of Gold, raised
troops, which they kept under arms till the shattered
Armada was known to have passed beyond Scotland.
Even Papists, like Richard Leigh, who was executed about
this time for treason, are ungrudging in their admiration
of the Queen.
Drake was still not quite satisfied that the peril had
passed. He thought that the Armada might intend to
put in at some Danish port for repairs, and, writing to
the Queen on August 8 th, he expressed the view that it
would not be wise to disband the fleet yet. He wrote
also to Walsingham, recommending that a big naval
demonstration should be made in force opposite Dun-
kirk, so that Parma could have a good look at what he
would encounter if he attempted to put to sea : he would
doubtless also observe that the Invincible Armada was
not taking part in that display. But Parma had quite
abandoned his very languid preparation for joining it,
and having seen it stream north in battered disarray, that
faint-hearted viceroy, to whose inaction the Spanish
attributed the defeat of the Armada,® had no fancy for
an unsupported adventure of his own. In the course of
the next few days came news of the Armada far away to
the north, and there was no need any longer to fear or
provide against its return.
The danger was past, and with it faded Elizabeth’s
splendour. On receipt of Drake’s letter, she sent an
equerry to ask for an invoice of the treasure that had
been taken, and wanted to know why no Spanish ships
had been brought in to London. That was all she had
to say, except that she wished to see the Lord High
^ Harleian Miscellany, vol. i. p. 142.
“ Samuel Clark, The Spanish Invasion, p. 58.
THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION 267
Adniii-al. If any further evidence were wanted to show
that it was Drake, not he, who was regarded as having
been in command of the English fleet, it can be found in
the fact that Howard, before leaving for London, got
Drake to “ scribble a few lines ” to Walsingliam, to be
shown to the Queen, saying that Howard’s conduct had
quite satisfied himd The incident of a Lord High
Admiral asking for a testimonial from his vice-Admiral
is certainly unique, and adequately expresses the real
positions of the two.
Drake had reaped the highest reward that can fail to
any man . He had saved England in spite of all the diplo-
matic and economical obstacles that the Queen and
officialdom generally had put in his way, but there were
many tares in that noble harvest. He had all the defects
of his qualities, and doubtless the jealousy with which
he was regarded by Frobisher, Lord Henry Seymour,
and others was largely the result of his openly expressed
contempt for the opinion of any who disagreed with
him. lie was quoted by Frobisher as having said that
no one had done well against the Armada except himself,
and Lord Flcnry asked to be relieved of his command
if he was to serve under Drake. He was envied and
abused, adored and detested, and, while thirsty for fame
and flattery, he snapped his fingers at his detractors. But
all through August he was too busy to bother about
Admirals, for his sailor-boys, for whom he really cared
much more, were in the grip of some dire epidemic,
and he and Hawkins were hard at work paying off
crews that could be spared, thinning out overcrowd-
ing, and removing the sick into healthier conditions,
for Her Majesty’s ships were unsanitary wards for
convalescents. No royal measure for the relief of
these sick sailors was taken by the Queen, though as
the disease-ridden remnants of his defeated Armada
^ Borrow, Life of Drake, p. 312. (Drake to Walsingham.)
268
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
arrived at Santander, Philip did all in his power for then-
care and succourd
Throughout this month and the next reliable news
arrived concerning the plight of the Armada as it pursued
its via dolorosa back to Spain. Shipwreck and sickness
had been levying a heavier toll than had the ill-fed
English guns, and on the Irish coast alone more galleons
went ashore than had been lost in the Channel and
the North Sea. The news of the irreparable disaster
was spreading throrrgh Europe, though Mendoza, ex-
ambassador to London, and now the King of Spain’s
representative in Paris, spread the most gratifying lies
about a huge Spanish victory. Mendoza was a really
magnificent liar ; that the King of Scotland had taken
the town of Berwick, that the Spanish had sunk the
“ Ark ” and sixteen other great ships, that Drake had
headed the flight of the rest, were items which he sent
broadcast over Europe, and Prague was rejoicing over
the landing Sidonia had made at Plymouth,^ and Rome
was cheered by similar news. But Pope Sixtus v, who
had promised a million crowns to the King of Spain
when Spanish troops landed in Idngland,^ was prudent
enough to ask for more evidence, and since such evidence
only made known that wrecked crews had landed on the
coast of Scotland and Ireland, where they were mostly
murdered, Holy Father very sensibly maintained that
such landings did not count, and retained his crowns.
But Mendoza’s fabric-ations had to be exposed, and Drake
wrote an admirable reply to them, published as “ A Pack
of Spanish Lies.” This document strongly tends to
refute Frobisher’s gossip of his boastings, for without
once mentioning himself he attributes all credit to Lord
Howard, saying that it was by the wise and valiant con-
^ Monson, Naval Tracts, vol. i. p.
® (second series), p. 163. ^ /lilc/., p. 163,
* Barrow, Life of Drake, p. 317.
THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION
269
duct of the Loi'd High Admiral that the Armada had
been “ beaten and shuffled together ” from the Lizard to
Portland, from Portland to Calais, and chased out of
sight of England altogether ; and that “ with all their
terrible ostentation they did not in all their sailing round
England so much as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace
or cock-boat of ours or even burn so much as one
sheep-cote on this land.” Early in September the truth
was known in Spain, and Philip fell ill of a fever, and
appeared no more in public for a while.^ Soon it pene-
trated to Rome, and the intercessions held for his success
were abandoned,® and the Vatican came to the unwelcome
conclusion that Mendoza was a liar.
“ So much for Mendoza,” thought Drake, “ but what
am I to do next ? ” The Queen would have liked an
attack on the Indian fleet to recoup her for the dreadful
expense of the most glorious fortnight in English history.
But Drake hated the King of Spain more than he loved
gold, and as he fussed over his sick fellows in the fleet,
and with Hawkins founded the “ Chatham Chest ” for
the relief of indigent sailors, he was thinking over bigger
operations than that. The defeat of the Armada, he
well knew, had caused the Colossus who bestrode the
world to stagger, and now as he rocked on his feet, Drake
longed to topple him over altogether, and show that this
imposing monster was clouts from head to foot.
He bought this autumn a seventy-one years’ lease of
a very fine house in London, called the Herbor in the
Dowgate. Don Guerau de Spes, who had been the
Spanish Ambassador in England, between Silva and
Mendoza, had once occupied it, and had been confined
there under arrest in one of Elizabeth’s diplomatic
intrigues. It had originally been a royal residence,
described by Pennant “ as a vast home or palace,” with
1 Fugger News-Letters (second series), p. 178,
2 Ibid., p. i8r.
270 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
fine I'iver-frontage and gardens.^ Incessant singeings
of the Royal beard had made Drake a rich man, he had
also married an heiress, and he must have lived here in
that state which he always enjoyed. But he was not
born for ease, and this new adventure was seething in
his head. He wanted a coadjutor for it, for it was not
purely naval, and he bethought him of Sir John Norreys,
that savage soldier who had served with him under
Essex in Ireland, and who had been Marshal of the land-
forces in England while the Armada was on the coast.
Together they hatched this scheme (in many ways like
the abortive project of 1581), which was to capture
Lisbon and the Azores, and set Don Antonio on the
throne of Portugal, But now Drake had no mind to be
subject to the checks of the Queen and her ministers,
and though the projected fleet was to exceed in strength
that which had already met and scattered the Armada,
the expedition was not to be a national one, but to be
financed by a private war-syndicate. The Queen miglit
be a shareholder, but not a director, and the supreme
command would be in Drake’s hands. The land-force
was to be as efficient as the fleet and to include a siege-
train, cavalry, and English and Walloon infantry.
The Queen’s consent and co-operation were secured
in October 1588, and though, as soon as that was done,
she began to hedge and make difficulties, and hold back
the ships which she had promised, Drake and Norreys
between them cajoled and managed her so well that in
March 1589 they hoisted their flags at Dover, and sailed
off to join the general concentration at Plymouth, Very
opportunely, since ti-ansports were still lacking, there
came rolling down the Channel that day sixty-five nice
new Dutch merchantmen, and Drake annexed them all,
for they were handy ships. At Plymouth there was a
^ Lady ElioU Drake, Family and Heirs of Sir Fronds Drake, vol. i,
p, 107.
THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION
271
rush of volunteers to the naval and military standards,
and before the end of March there was ready to start
for the coast of Spain a fleet of one hundred and eighty
vessels, six of which, ships of the Royal Navy, were the
Queen’s contribution, the flagship being the “ Revenge ” :
all carried full crews and troops to the number of at
least 16,000. In addition to these six ships, namely,
the “ Revenge,” the “ Nonpareil,” the “ Dreadnought,”
the “ Swiftsure,” the “Foresight,” and the “Aid,” the
Queen also subscribed ,^^zo,ooo in cash. Five months,
now that Drake was not being constantly tripped up in
official red-tape and distracted by the Queen’s whims,
had been enough to furnish and set on its way the largest
expedition that had ever left English shores.
The first attempt at a start was not prosperous ; con-
trary winds forced the fleet back into the Sound, where
it lay for another fortnight, and fresh provisioning was
necessary. During this delay there came a wild de-
spatch from the Queen saying that her pretty Essex had
run away, and that if he had joined the fleet (as Sir Philip
Sidney had done on a previous occasion) he must be
returned at once. A reassuring message was sent back
by Drake that he was not secreting the ungrateful
favourite, which was true as far as it went, bi;t it did not
go very far. Essex, as Drake must have known, had
already made his escape, and was now at sea with Sir
Roger Williams, on the “ Swiftsure,” which had hastily
put out again, apparently in anticipation of Gloriana
sending after him. Fie was heavily in debt, the Queen
had already once paid up for him, and he would not ask
her again, and thus increase her intolerable claim to
scold and pet him. So Drake said that he had not got
Essex, but that unless the Queen sent orders for a
month’s ftxrther provisions, the expedition could not
start, and he would be forced to land twenty thousand
hungry men at Plymouth. Though hugging her money-
272 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
bags the Queen consented, and after this small farcical
prologue, the curtain went up and the fleet set forth
again .
Drake had consented to begin business by smashing
up the remnants of last year’s Armada, and spoiling the
constructive work on a new one, which was supposed to
be in preparation at Santander : Gloriana wanted no
more Armadas, After that would come the capture of
Lisbon (which Drake had not attempted on his last raid
on the Spanish coasts), with a view to putting Don Antonio
on the throne of Portugal. Don Antonio was still
only a pawn, but he would become a royal piece, if
Portugal rose in his favour. He himself was certainly
confident of success, for he guaranteed that Portugal
would be his within a week of his landing, and before
leaving England made an amazing contract with the
Government, promising to pay Elizabeth 5,000,000
ducats for the expense of the expedition two months after
the taking of Lisbon, and an annual tribute thereafter of
300,000 ducats. He bound himself to fill all bishoprics
with English Catholics, to garrison all forts and castles
throughout Portugal with English soldiers, and to join
with the Queen in any fleet she might equip at Lisbon
against Spain. Such terms would reduce Portugal to
the status of an English province, and incredible though
they sound, several independent sources agree in the
existence of this treaty. Besides, Don Antonio who, as
we have seen, was quite possibly only the son of a Lisbon
merchant, had nothing to lose, and it would be more
agreeable to be King of Portugal under these conditions
than to be nobody .•••
(The programme was elastic, as all Drake’s programmes
were, but the destruction of past and future Armadas
was an essential first item, the establishment of Don
^ Fugger Ne-ws-Lettsrs (second series), p. 196; and Monson’s Naval
Tracts, voi. i. p. 191,
THE PORTtTGAL EXPEDITION 273
Antonio the second, and after that the fleet might perch
on the Azores and swoop down on the treasure-ships from
the Indies. Drake found reason to think, however,
that Corunna rather than Santander was the real point of
concentration for the King’s new fleet, and so he steered
his course there, entered the harbour at night, and,
following the plan that had succeeded so well at Carta-
gena and San Domingo, landed Norreys and his troops.
The lower town and the harbour were taken without any
serious defence being made, enormous quantities of
stores fell into their hands, and also the “ San Juan,” a
galleon which had fought in the Armada, with several
other ships of war. But the military operations, de-
signed to take the whole town, were unsuccessful owing
to the absence of a siege-train which Elizabeth had
promised, but forgotten (or not) to supply. An attempt
to open a breach in the walls by mining only buried a
number of the English troops, and a large force of
Spaniards, amounting to nine thousand men, established
themselves in the rear of the English lines. Norreys
drove them off in rout and disorder, and, after setting fire
to the lower town and burning and destroying crops and
windmills, the land forces re-embarked. Though the
town still stood, the damage inflicted had been enormous,
and that always pleased Drake, when the property con-
cerned was the King of Spain’s. He wrote in high feather
to Walsingham, saying, “ We have done the King of
Spain many pretty services at this place, and yet I
believe he will not thank us.” But in truth the exploit
was not very pretty : the undisciplined English troops
under Norreys were clearly out of hand, and rioting,
continual drunkenness, and probably massacre, rendered
the operations singularly discreditable.
So Corunna and the capture of the ships there “ counted ”
for the attack on Santander, which the Queen had insisted
on, and Drake moved his fleet south to attack Lisbon
s
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
a 74
at once and establish Don Antonio there. Could this
be effected there were good hopes of a general Portu-
guese rising, and that would be an immense stroke,
no small barber’s operation on The Beard, but a blow
that might send Spain toppling. Norreys concurred,
and as they beat southwards in the face of contrary
winds, what should they sight but the “ Swiftsure,” with
Sir Roger Williams and Essex on board ? They had
taken several prizes, which was a pleasant hearing, and
Drake seemed quite to forget that he was under orders
to send Essex home to his mistress if he came across him.
Hie “ Swiftsure,” besides, could not be spared; she took
up her place in the fleet, and the plans for the capture of
Lisbon were hatched on the “ Revenge.”
It was a big undertaking, and Drake’s scheme, as usual,
was to make a combined attack by land and sea. The
point selected for the landing of the soldiers was a small
unfortified town called Penichc, fifty miles north of
Lisbon : the harbour was protected by a castle. On
May 1 6th, 1589, the fleet swooped down in front of the
harbour and anchored. Two landing-parties, the first
under Essex, the second under Sir Roger Williams,
were put on shore ; they charged and drove off the
Spanish troops who opposed them, and after a brilliant
little hand-to-hand action, took the town. The garrison
in the castle was Portuguese, and surrendered to the
name of Don Antonio. That looked well for the general
rising.
As a preliminary to the capture of Lisbon, this landing
and the securing of a base was sound enough, bait the
main problem was very dilferent from that which Drake
had solved so correctly at Cartagena. There his ships
and soldiers were in close touch with each other, and
could combine in attack and afford mutual support, but
here a march of fifty miles lay before the troops and more
than fifty miles of sea before the fleet. They would
THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION
275
be out of touch with each other’s advance the whole
time : the fleet might be delayed by bad weather, or the
troops by serious opposition, and no accurate synchroniza-
tion of movement was possible. Furthermore, till both
were successful in an arduous task, the one in taking the
town, the other in forcing its way past the formidable
forts and batteries on the Tagus, they would be like two
loose ends of string, instead of being firmly knotted
together. There was urgent need also of swift pro-
gress, for both troops and crews were suffering from a
rapidly spreading sickness, and they were none too
efficient for their sundered tasks. But Drake, to all
seeming, was as confident as ever, went up the hillside
with the troops, waved Norreys a gay God-speed, and
hastened back to get the fleet moving. Don Antonio
accompanied Norreys, convinced that Portugal would
behave just like Peniche.
Four days later, having of course heard nothing in
the interval of his land-force, Drake and his fleet sailed
straight into the little harbour of Cascaes, just outside
the heavily-fortified entrance to the Tagus. Three forts
guarded the channel to Lisbon harbour, St. Julian, St.
Francis, and Belem, of which St. Julian was held to be
the strongest marine fortress in Europe.^ The terror
of Drake’s name caused Cascaes to be at once abandoned,
but the Portuguese inhabitants returned on his assurance
that he was come to establish Don Antonio on the throne :
the castle, with a Spanish garrison, did not surrender.
That mattered little ; it was small and isolated, and he
could blow it to bits if he chose : his business was not
with it, but with Lisbon.
It is reasonable to wonder whether during those four-
days a little cloud had not arisen from the sea, no bigger
at present than a man’s hand, but pregnant with calamity.
Drake must have foreseen that which now manifested
1 Monson’s Naml Tracis, vol. i. p. 179.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
276
itself, namely the inherent weakness of this sundered
attack. There was no use in attempting the great hazard,
which he had refused to undertake before, of storming
his way past the three forts of the Tagus and occupying
the harbour, till he knew that Norreys had arrived,
and was ready to co-operate. If he was not yet here, the
capture of the harbour, which was bound to be difficult,
would be absolutely ineffective, for Drake could not
possibly hold it if the land force was not launching a
simultaneous counter-attack on the town and castle.
Again, if the wind was favourable {i.e. west by south)
for passing the three forts that guarded the approach to
the harbour, and Norreys had not arrived, Drake would
be obliged to evacuate the harbour again, and repass the
forts with the wind against him, a hazardous if not an
impossible operation, unless an attack was being made
on them from the land. In a word, even if he managed
to reach the harbour, he would be helpless there unless
Norreys’s land-attack synchronized with his, and he had
no idea where Norreys was. He therefore did the best
thing possible, and remaining at Cascaes, he sent out
scouts to find out if Norreys was within striking distance
of Lisbon. On that day the wind was favourable for his
rush up the Tagus, but before his scouts came back with
their news, it had changed, and for the present the attack
from the sea was impossible.
Norj'eys, meantime, since parting with the fleet at
Peniche, had been marching on Lisbon without en-
countering any great opposition. But less promising
was the fact that Don Antonio’s presence failed to excite
the smallest enthusiasm among the Portuguese : the
pawn was likely to remain a pawn. Pic reached Lisbon
two days after Drake had sent out scouts from Cascaes,
and when they returned to Drake, they brought the
news that Norreys had established himself in the
outskirts of the town, but that Don Antonio was still no
THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION
277
attraction. To Norreys there were no signs of Drake
attacking from the sea, and his men, riddled with sick-
ness, were thoroughly discouraged. On the news,
however, that Norreys was in place, Drake gave orders
for the naval attack to be made the moment the wind
rendered it possible. His council of captains, now
knowing the appalling difficulty of the attempt, were
solidly opposed to it, but Drake would hear nothing of
that : he had to carry out his part of the job. Norreys
was there, and by God the fleet should co-operate, and
not leave him in the lurch. That evening the wind
veered to the right quarter, and Drake ordered the ships
he had detailed for the attack to take up their positions
just outside the estuary, and at daybreak to follow the
“ Revenge,” on which he was to lead the attack. Before
dawn a message arrived from Norreys that in the entire
absence of any co-operation from the Portuguese, his
task of taking the town was hopeless, and that he was
marching to join the fleet at Cascaes.
Drake’s great project of capturing Lisbon and holding
it as a naval base in the enemy’s country had failed, and
the cause of the failure was the absence of touch between
land and sea. Had Norreys held on, trusting Drake,
the chances are that the Admiral would have succeeded
in joining hands with him, for the task of getting an effec-
tive body of ships past the forts appeared to him to be
feasible with a favourable wind, and he knew far better
than anybody else what he could do. On the other hand,
it is difficult to blame Norreys : his troops were sick and
tired, and Don Antonio’s promise that all Portugal would
rise in his favour within a week of his arrival with an
English Ai'mada had proved mere pie-crust. Gloomy
indeed must have been the meeting at Cascaes and the
re-embarkation of the land-force, for the great project had
completely failed, stores were short, the troops and the
crews were in the grip of a serious epidemic of dysentery.
278 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
and it was useless in any case to renew an attempt in
which surprise and unexpectedness were necessary for
success. The only question was what the next move
was to be.
It was difficult to hit upon a project that appealed to
both the military and naval representatives on the
Council, for without doubt the complete fiasco at Lisbon
had caused friction, and the bond of brotherhood be-
tween soldiers and sailors had been loosened. Nothing
would succeed unless that was firmly knit ; Drake had
known that years ago in dark days at St. Julian. But
his luck had not deserted him, for just now, when sick-
ness and lack of provisions were creating a serious situa-
tion, there came within sight a big lot of ships evidently
making for Lisbon. lie instantly rounded them up,
and found himself in possession of a Hanseatic fleet
laden with goods and raw material for Philip’s new
Armada : a distinctly cheerful happening. Sixty new
vessels thus fell into his hands, and he turned some of
them into hospital-ships for his sick. Next day a missing
convoy of stores from England turned up also, with a
red-hot letter from the Queen, who had heard that Essex
had joined the fleet, demanding his immediate return
with his wicked seducer. Sir Roger Williams. Poor
Essex was therefore sent back to be slapped and petted,
but Drake frankly told the Queen that the other felon
could not be spared.
Things looked a little brighter, and it was agreed to
carry out the third item of the programme, and make a
raid on the Azores. But before the fleet was under
way, a squadron of galleys put out from the Tagus,
and captured four small vessels, which had drifted apart
from the rest. The loss in itself was insignificant, but
never before had Drake lost a single ship that was in his
charge, and the shadow of his eclipse encroached further.
To add to this misfortune, a furious gale sprang up from
THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION
279
the south ; it raged for a week, and the ships were
widely scattered. But the weather had previously been
so unsettled that Drake had given an alternative rendez-
vous at Vigo, if the wind made the Azores an impossible
gathering-place, and he, with Sir John Norreys aboard the
“ Revenge,” arrived there with three squadrons, more or
less, of the scattered fleet. He had to wait for the rest
to reassemble, and the best occupation was to burn Vigo,
which he accordingly did. The project of a raid and a
base in the Azores, with a golden harvestry of treasure-
ships, still held. They were in need of what Drake
called “ some little comfortable dew from Heaven.”
A large number of ships had never turned up at Vigo,
though the smoke of its burning was a fine guide. Many
others were full of sick men, and these would be a mere
encumbrance to the swift movement of an efficient force.
A rousing success was the only thing that could now
redeem this expedition from complete failure : also, he
had disobeyed several of the Queen’s direct orders, and
he might expect a cold (if not a hot) reception on his
return, if he came empty-handed. But there was one
sure palliation for every offence in Gloriana’s eyes, and
to be able to bring her a pleasant little statement of her
share in the loot would be a guarantee of her forgiveness
and applause. Hitherto the credit side of her account-
book was blank except for her portion in the capture of
the Hanseatic fleet, which, when sold, would not suffice
to pay her anything like a satisfactory dividend on her
investment. Then, too, there was adventure to tempt
him, and the memoiT' of the rollicking days when with a
handful of Devon boys he had captured cities and treasure
trains and had come home up the Sound, sailing heavily
by reason of the precious ballast. But there was no use
in burdening himself with half-manned ships and invalid
crews, and it was arranged that Norreys (for the next
act would be wholly naval) should take the unfit and the
28 o
STR FRANCIS DRAKE
superfltaoLis back to England, while Drake, with twenty
efficient vessels, went off to try his luck on the golden
road that led from Nombre de Dios to Sjuiin.
Sheltering among the Bayona islands I,)rakc picked his
ships and the crews to man them. Some were the
lately captured Elanseatic vessels, which had been built
as men-of-war to be armed in Spain, and the rest he sent
home. He must have, felt much relieved to see them go,
for this great fleet of a hundred and eighty sail, though in
keeping with his big ideas, had been a heavy disappoint-
ment. Brilliant as he was as leader, the greatest of his
gifts was his personal inspiration, and he had Jiot gripped
that huge Armada nor handled it with the success that
had been invariably his when his spirit and influence
were felt by every man on board. Unfettered and able
to follow swiftly the inspiration of his own genius, he
could do more with a small fleet than any living man
with a large fleet, and perhajis he himself was only handi-
capped by the sixe of his command. A rapier in his
hand did better work than a sledge-hammer. Swift
movement and lightning thrusts were his speciality : his
wrist had been weighted by the heavier weapon, and the
quickness of his brain hampered by the sense that he had
not welded captains and crews and troops into himself.
Perhaps, too, his own quickness was beginning to fail,
and the irresistible quality of his youth, which had once
made light of every difficulty, and plucked success out of
disaster, to grow less buoyant. That fiasco at Lisbon
could scarce have happened to Drake in his heyday, or,
if it had, it would have been swiftly overscorecl by some
meteor-like improvisation which would have gilded it
with triumph. What he could have done wc do not
know, but young Drake would have known.
The short and melancholy sequel confirms the view
that the magic mirror was beginning to grow dim. He
started westward for the Azores, and now, when once
THE PORTUGAL EXPEDITION 281
more a storm of prodigious violence scattered his smaller
squadron, Drake gave up the project altogether. It is
possible, but by no means certain, that the “ Revenge ”
sprang so bad a leak that a further voyage was out of the
question. That would account for Drake’s not keeping
the rendezvous at the Azores, but the evidence is by no
means conclusive.^ Possibly this second dispersal of the
fleet made him realize that the remnant of his dispirited
expedition would not be staunch enough for it, and he
doubted his power of inspiring. Though the squadron
under William Fenner, Captain of the “Aid,” was miss-
ing, Drake sailed straight back to Plymouth. Many
of his captains arriving in advance of him in English
waters, and believing that he would certainly make for
Plymouth, put in at other harbours, and disposed of the
Hanseatic ships to private owners. On July ist, 1589,
the “ Revenge ” came up the Sound alone and treasure-
less. No whisper went round the church that day at
service-time that Drake was home again, and the
“ Revenge ” with a crew that received no more than its
bare pay, took up her moorings unwelcomed. Lisbon
was untaken, Don Antonio uncrowned, and Drake
discredited.
1 Corbett, Dtake and the Tudoi Navy, vol. 11 p. 256, note.
CHAPTER XVI
DRAKE’S FALL AND RECOVERY
RAKE’S Armada had failed ; that
failure was wine to his enemies, and
they plied the Qiicen with it. He had
disobeyed her orders to go to San-
tander, he had failed before Lisbon,
he had given up the capture of the
Azores, and, as crowtiing crime, he
was not ballasted with gold from
treasure-ships. He was guilty on all these counts, and
though he had burned half Corunna and all Vigo, had
destroyed an enormous quantity of stores, and taken
sixty ships which were intended for a new Armada,
nothing made up for the lack of loot. It was a rare
opportunity for all those who, like Frobisher, Lord Henry
Seymour and I-ord Howard, were frankly jealous of the
first seaman of the age, to whom had been entrusted a
larger fleet than ever Lord Howard had titularly com-
manded, and they all joined in the yelp. No allowance
was made for the stupendous difficulties he had en-
countered, for the lack of proper artillery and siege-train
the Queen had promised, for the terrible sickness which
had played havoc with the efficiency of his troops and
crews. Though Elizabeth, in consequence of what he
had accomplished, could sleep without dreaming of new
Armadas on their way, and though often befoiu he had
made her Danae to his showers of gold, had chased the
might of Spain off her coasts without the loss of a single
ship, and had inflicted more damage on her enemy than
FALL AND RECOVERY 283
the rest of her sea-captains combined, she put him straight
into the blackest of her books, and from the date of his
return in this summer of 1589 until the end of 1 592 she
refused even to consider giving the conqueror of the
Armada any command at sea. She had lost her invest-
ment in his last cruise, and nothing that he had hitherto
done could atone for that.
Drake seems to have accepted the situation without
remonstrance. He knew (no one better) how many
enemies his past triumphs and, not less, his own dicta-
torial intolerance of opposition, had raised against him.
For the present they were in power, and bitter though it
must have been to know that Hawkins was being com-
missioned to lit out a blockading expedition against the
Spanish ports, while Frobisher made a raid on the Azores
with Drake’s “ Revenge ” for flagship, he bided his time,
and after clearing himself in an enquiry held on his and
Norreys’s command in this last voyage, he retired to
Plymouth and private life. He had lately bought from
Sir Richard Grenville the neighbouring manor and estate
of Buckland Abbey, and there he betook himself with
his drum and his wife. That suited the King of Spain
admirably, for though Drake’s Armada had been ofiicially
pronounced a failure in London, the failure had been an
expensive one for Philip, since it had involved the sack
of Corunna and Vigo, and the loss of a large number of
ships. Fie must have been pleased to think that no more
similar failures were to be feared at present, and with a
sense of comparative security he set about reorganizing
the fleets that brought treasure from the Indies. The
sea-dragon whom he feared more than all the rest of the
Fhiglish admirals put together, was chained up on land,
and for this relief he gave his Sister of England much
thanks.
But Drake in his tent on shore was no sulking Achilles.
Land was not a proper place for a man to live on, but his
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
beloved Plymouth was the least objectionable spot on
terra firma^ and, though debarred from the sea, he was
allowed to employ himself on fortification-work for the
port, which tlie Governmenl had ordered, and to which
he contributed /^lood Plymouth was in need, too, not
only of fortifications, but of a jM'oper water-supply, for
at present all water, when cisterns were not replenished
with rain, had to be carried into the town in carts and
buckets from the distance of a mile, and ships coming
into the harbour to water must send out for it. Drake
took this in hand also, and made a contract with the cor-
poration to bring to a reservoir, constructed just outside
the town, the water of the Meavy from eight miles away
on the moors, and thence to lay it on into the town
through pipes, 'bhis was a considerable engineering
feat, for the lie. of the ground necessitated detours which
trebled the direct distance : there were bogs to be
drained, and rocks to be blasted, and on its way it
reinforced itself with an affluent slream. Where its
course ran steep, he erected Hour-mills, and it seems
certain that he bore the greater part of the expense him-
self, for the corporation only conti-ihuted ^,350.“ The
first sod of this leat was cut in December 1590 and it
was completed in April of the next year. Then when all
was ready for the induction of the water, he arranged one
of the ceremonious scenes he loved, lie and the Mayor
and Corporation in the red robes which he, in his own
mayoralty, had ordained must be worn otr official occa-
sions, went out to welcome the water to the town, and
marched ahead of their lit]uid guest as it flowed down the
conduits,^ amid the rejoicings of the populace. Wc
picture him, pleased as a boy with this pomp, drinking
^ Lady ElloU Drake, Fiimily and Hein of Sir Vnint-is Dnike, vol. i.
p. 109.
2 Barrow, Life of Drake, p. 419.
^ Southey, Britis/i Admtrals, vol. iii, p. 20i| .
FALL AND RECOVERY 285
the Mayor’s health in the water, and vowing with many
oaths that he had never tasted so fine a draught. The
water which still supplies Plymouth comes from the
same source as Drake’s, and in many places on the hills
behind the town there are remains of his original conduit,
which ran open to the air, though now the water is brought
in underground pipes. Even to this day this gift of his
to the town is annually commemorated at the “ Fyshynge
Fcaste ” on April 30th. On that day, after an inspection
of the water-works, the Town Council assembles at the
Flead Weir, and a goblet of water is drawn and handed
to the Mayor by the chairman of the Water Committee,
who asks him to drink to the pious memory of Sir Francis
Drake. After the Mayor has drunk the assembled
company do the same.^
For the present, then, owing to jealousies and ingrati-
tudes and his own failure, Drake was on a lee-shore. He
could busy himself over the fortifications of Plymouth
and over engineering a water-supply, but these were mere
toys for the passing of idle days, and gave no outlet to
his volcanic energy ; and when he had played with
them there was nothing left for him but to hang up his
drum at Buckland Abbey, and sit to have his portrait
painted. And all the time his genius was beginning to
burn itself out in this desert of domesticity : a wickeder
waste was never made. News came sometimes which
made it flare up, but it was without the fuel of action
which alone could really feed it. The temperament of
fire which was his is not fulfilled in idleness, which
merely damps it down as with wet cinders ; it prospers
only when stoked with hazard and adventure. There
was the King of Spain reorganizing the convoys of his
Indian trade, and building a fleet for its protection at
Havana, and Drake, who could have played the deuce
with that, was walking with my lady in her flower-garden,
^ Famil'j and Hens of Si) Frauds Drake, vol. i. p. iii,
2g6 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
twitching and fidgeting and cursing as he thought of
old days on the “ Swan.” Then the King of Spain was
busy concentrating a now fleet at Corunna, with which
he meant to seize the ports of Brittany, and establish
there a naval base that would menace the narrow seas,
and Drake smote off the heads of my lady’s best blooms
as he thought of what he had clone at Cadiz. Even
worse was it to know that the Government which would
not employ him had commissioned an expedition to carry
out the type of raid which he had invented : a rare mess
Hawkins and h'robisher and others, who had got the recipe
of the wizard’s spell but lacked the compelling waiul of
his genius, were making of it ! Hawkins and h'robisher
accomplished nothing : they sailed for the Azores, and
then they just came back again. So Lord I'homas
Howard was tried to sec if he could get hold of the
treasure-ships for which Elizabeth was starving. Sir
Richard Grenville, from whom Drake had bought Buck-
land Abbey, was his vicc-Admiral on the ‘‘ Revenge,”
and how willingly would Drake have reinstated him
here, if only he could take his place on the ship that
answered his hand like a horse which knows its rider, and
on which he had ridden down the Invincible Armada.
But when the tragic and .splendid tale of what Sir
Richard had done came down to Plymouth, Drake forgot
the gnawing ache of his idleness a while, for never had
there been so heroic an adventure. The ‘‘ Revenge ”
had been cut off from the fleet in the middle of a Spanish
squadron, and all day and night she fought them, and
four of them she sank. Her bulwarks and defences were
demolished by the rain of shot, and Grenville was mortally
wounded, but he fought on till not an ounce of powder
remained. As he lay dying on deck, he told his gunner
to hew open the timbers of the ship and sink her, but
before that was done the Spaniards had boarded and
carried him on to their flagship where, with chivalrous
FALL AND RECOVERY 287
reverence for so stout a soul and so fine a foe, they tended
his last moments. To his obsequies there hurried the
mightiest gale that ever blew, and plunged into his sea-
sepulchre not the “ Revenge ” alone, but a hundred ships
or Spain.
During these three years when Drake was in the outer
darkness of disgrace, Elizabeth’s eyes were opened, and
she saw that though an occasional success against treasure-
ships fattened her exchequer, dusk was already falling
on the English sea-power which under Drake had
begun to dawn. The sea-birds of Spain were daily
increasing in strength and numbers now that no one had
Drake’s secret of how to strike at their nests on Spanish
coasts, and at the harbours that hatched them. Her
captains now and then winged one of the fledglings,
but the eyries and breeding-places were unravaged, and
their menace began to cast its shadow over the narrow
English seas. Already Philip had established a base in
Brittany ; he had learned the bitter lesson of the Armada,
that swift and mobile craft were the masters of his slow-
moving forts, and he was feverishly building a fleet of
such. Suddenly it burst on the Queen how great the
danger was becoming, and in the autumn of 1592 she
summoned Drake from the disgrace that was disgraceful
only to those who were responsible for it, and he was
not among them. He reopened his fine house in the
Dowgate, and his star, which the envious had thought
was set for ever, shot up again into the zenith of the
Royal favour. Once again there was nobody like Drake
in the Queen’s eyes, and he gave her his new picture-
book, illustrated by himself in his idleness, concerning the
voyage to the Spanish Main. She seems to have lost it.
Parliament met in February 1593, and in consequence
of Drake’s representations to the Queen a vote of
£ 200,000 for the Navy was asked. As member for
Plymouth he spoke on the great and growing danger of
SIR FRANCIS DRAKR
Spanish sca-power, and after a long debate tins sum,
immense for that day, was voted. Instantly rumour
began to spread that Drake was going to sea again.^
But it seems clear that the expedition to the Indies, on
which he left England for his last voyage, was not then in
contemplation ; the grant was not voted with that end
in view, but to defend the coasts and narrow seas against
the Spanish menace in Brittany. As early as 1591,
Walsingham, as is shown by the Queen’s speech to
Parliament after the granting of this vote,'** had seen how
real this danger was, and an intercepted letter from him
to Elizabeth shows how gravely he took it even then.
The Duke de Mercosur was head of the Catholic party
in Brittany, and was inviting Spanish help against the
Protestants, and Philip since then had been busily
establishing himself at Brest with the purpose of keeping
there a fleet which would be an intolerable and constant
danger to English shipping. Warnings, moreover, were
ni'riving from English agents in Spain of the rapid growth
of the navy there, and this vote was to be apjdicd to
corresponding preparation in England, and not to fit
out a raid on the Indies. Before the end of 1593 the
Spanish had made good their occupation of lEest and
had landed troops. Erobisher was sent out with a fleet
in the ensuing summer to prevent the arrival of fresh
Spanish reinforcements, and in the autumn of 1594
Norreys conducted a military expedition to the relief of
Brest in conjunction with the fleet. After severe fight-
ing it was successful, and Brest was cleared of Spanish
troops. In the simultaneous naval action Frobisher
was mortally wounded, and died within a few hours.
This capture of Brest from the Spanish, though it has
received little attention from historians, was extremely
^ Ftigger News-LrtUrs (second scries), p. 2*17.
“ Harleian MiscelUny, vol. i. p. 436.
® Fugger Nsm-Letters (second series), p. 223.
FALL AND RECOVERY 289
important, for it put an end for the present to any serious
menace in home waters. The Queen could listen now
to Drake’s urgent advocacy of the renewal of that delight-
ful game of raiding treasure-ships, and of harrying the
coasts of the Spanish Main. During these two years
since the beam of Royal approval shone on him again,
Elizabeth had been of sound judgment in refusing to
weaken home defence while those Spanish hornets were
busy at Brest. Now the nest was smoked out, and early
in 1595 Drake got her consent to make ready for one of
the old buccaneering scampers.
It will always be uncertain whether Drake could have
renewed his youth again, and brought off once more
such a scries of brilliant recklessnesses as those which had
apotheosized piracy. Conditions had changed out there,
as he was to fnd ; the Spanish fear of him had been the
beginning of wisdom, and in those wasted years of his
disgrace they had established defensive systems. Per-
haps, too, the penumbra of age which already had invaded
his bright disk had now too far eclipsed it; but whether
that was so or not, the brightness of it had always lain
in unhampered improvisation. Now that was denied him,
for the Queen, in a disastrous and characteristic fit of
caution, insisted that Sir John Elawkins, now well over
seventy years old,^ and the very last man who should
have served with Dj-ake, should be in joint command
with him. What made the appointment the more
surprising was that Sir John was in her bad books. The
command of his last expedition with Frobisher had been
thoroughly ineffective, and when, in a fit of singularly
unwise resignation at his ill-success, he had told the
Queen that ‘‘ Paul planted and Apollos watered, but
God gave the increase,” she had screamed out, “ God’s
death 1 this fool went out a soldier and came home a
divine.” It was a great pity, indeed, drat in the spirit
1 lie was born, according to Hakluyt, about 1 530.
T
ago
SIR FRANCIS DRAKF
of that rude but just ohservalion she did not give
him some chaplaincy, or that she did not recall the
disaster that had befallen Drake and flawkins at San
Juan d’Ulua, when last they had sailed together for the
Indies, d’he old man was past the age of foresight and
swift decision, and his long and sjilcndid record of service
should have been closed.
But Drake was to take the sea again, and the glamour
of that magic name was enougli to bring a surfeit of
volunteers flocking to his flag, while abroad tlm prospett
of the Indian fleet soon to sail for Spain was regarded as
particularly gloomy.^ Already the Sjyauisb exchequer
was on the verge of bankruptcy ; it could not jniy the
enormous sums due to business firms foi" supplying
materials and ccpupjnng ships until the gold arrived
from Pci'u, and on the mere nows that the I'ci-ror was
off westwards again, a moratorixim was declired.'-^ Had
the Queen allowed Drake to set off at once without poor
Hawkins, foi' the improvised adventure that precisely
suited his genius, the first convoys now moving from
Panama, when the winter rains were over, woulcl prob-
ably never have reached Spain. Instead, the merest
rumours, utteidy unsubstantiated by any reliable infor-
mation, that another Armada was preparing to sail for
England, was sufficient to set her atrcmble again, and,
though by the beginning of May i^c^^ all was ready, she
suddenly forbade Drake to sail. She felt more comfort-
able with him at home ; she had the jumps.
Indeed, the legend that good Queen Bess was the
inspiration of her great captains must perish ; she was
never their inspiration, but always their dcsjniir. Drake
had sold the lease of his fine house in the Dowgate in
order to invest in this txuise/' fondly supposing that the
Queen had gone too far to draw back. She had approved
^ Figg(i Nt;a)s-Lt'iurs (accoadstinv:s), yi. 2(n\. - //jh/., - p.
8 fmil’j and Ihin of Sir Frauds Diaio, vol, i . p. mij ,
FALL AND RECOVERY 291
his admirable plan of making a dash on the Isthmus,
taking Panama, and cutting off all supplies of gold from
Spain, and he had promised to be back again before
there could be the slightest possibility of a new Armada
being ready. She was a big shareholder, too, in the
expedition, having furnished it with six ships of the
Royal Navy, and she had made an excellent appoint-
ment for the command of the land forces in Sir Thomas
Baskerville, who had highly distinguished himself at
Brest, and here she was again whimpering in a corner !
For two months more, while the crews and troops who
had signed on munched the victuals provided for the
voyage, her tremors continued, but in July she felt a
little stronger and said they might put to sea. While
the weather of the Royal mind was so unsettled, there
was clearly no time to be lost, and Drake dashed down
to Plymouth with the Navy ships to collect fresh victuals
and make the long-delayed start. But before he could
be off a fresh incident occurred which caused the Queen’s
reviving courage to suffer the most desperate relapse.
Four Spanish galleys made a raid on the Cornish coast,
landed troops just beyond Newlyn, and burned Penzance
and some neighbouring villages. The raiders seem to
have thought that Drake’s expedition had sailed, but on
hearing that it was now ready at Plymouth to put to sea
they re-embarked with the utmost possible speed in terror
of the Terror.
The effect of this raid on the Queen was quite deplorable.
She sent down orders to Plymouth that the expedition, in-
stead of sailing to the Indies, should first cruise on the Irish
coast to make sure that no landing was intended there,
and then proceed to the coast of Spain and convince
itself that no immediate danger need be feared from that
quarter. If all was perfectly quiet (but not otherwise)
they might carry out the original project. In other-
words, the Queen proposed to use the ships, crews, troops.
2g2
SIR FRANCIS DRAKK
and stores provided in the main l)y money belonging to the
shareholders to do the work of the Navy. Never before
had she woven timidity and economy into so Ttlizabethan
a fabric : this plan would save her purse and comfort
her quakings.
Drake and Haskcrvillc protested, and (lie. Oueen lost
her temper. It is probable that the expedition would
never have sailed at all, had not the most medicinal news
suddenly come to hand. 'I'hough a precious West
Indian fleet had already reached Spain safely (which,
had it not been for the Royal timidity in May, it might
never have done), one treasure-ship, with an enticing
cargo of gold, had, been left behind for rejiair.s at San
Juan de borto Rico. Klizabeth’s mouth began to
water : she felt she could swallow again, and with the
final order that the fleet must visit (he Spanish coast first,
and be back before Philip could frighten her, she let
them go. Only six ships of the Navy were engaged,
so that Elizabeth had ]>ractically the whole of the English
sea-power to protect her, and we can best account for
these almost insane seizures of fear by (he supposition
that it was Dj-akc whom she was so unwilling to let go.
She did him justice at last : she saw that none of her
other sea-captains, great though they were, could compare
with him.
CHAPTER XVII
J:) R A K E GOES E S T
O for the last time Drake’s flag was
flying and his drum beating, and, on
the deck of the “ Defiance,” sister-
ship to the beloved “ Revenge,”
he felt, after six land-locked years,
the sweet lift of the sea. Young
Whitlocke, who had been his page
on the last voyage to the Spanish
coasts, was with him again : it is likely that he had lived
with him during the intervening years in the childless
house of Buckland Abbey. EIc was grown now to the
verge of manhood, fair and tall and flaxen-haired, a
l)rcezy, handsome fellow, gay and reckless, the type of
youth with whom, over twenty years ago, Drake had
done the rollicking deeds on the Spanish Main which he
was now revisiting.
The fleet sailed on August 28th, 1595, twenty-seven
sail, with crews and troops amounting in all to 2 500.
As if in presage of disaster, the “ Elope,” which carried
Sir Thomas Baskcrville, struck on the rocks of the Eddy-
stone. She was got off without much damage on the
flow of the tide, and they laid a course for the Spanish
coast, in obedience to the Queen’s timidities.
Almost immediately the folly of this joint command
with Sir John Elawkins, in which were yoked together
Drake’s fiery soul and a mind cautious and tired and old,
began to manifest itself. Friction had already developed
Slii FRANCIS DRAlili
294
between them before tlie expedition started, for as Captain
Thomas Maynarde (a soldier whose account we follow)
picturesquely puts it, “ Hawkins entered into matters
with so leaden a foot that the other’s meat would be eaten
before his spit could come to the fire,” and hardly had
they got to sea when there were more differences between
them at council meetings about the victualling of the
fleet, and “choleric speeches” passed.' Drake was
always a bad commissariat Admiral : he left that to
others, and now It appeared that he had 300 more men
to feed than had 1 lawkins, on the same supply of rations.
Hawkins would have made some arrangement, but first
Drake must “ entreat him,” and Drake never entreated
anybody except Cod.
Then came a more acute disagreement alxnit an attack
on the Canaries, where it wfas necessary to water the
fleet before the Atlantic voyage. Drake, wlro proposed
it, was supported by Baskervillc, hut Hawkins was
strongly opposed to it. “ The fire whieli lay hid in their
stomachs began to break forth,” and though the
matter was patched up at a pacificatory dinner on
Hawkins’s ship, the “ Garland,” by Hawkins yielding,
the incompatibility of two saxch controlling minds was
only damped down for the time, 'i'he Queen’s delays,
moreover, were already bearing bitter fruit, for news
of the expedition had reached Spain three weeks before
it left Plymouth, and when they arrived opposite Las
Palmas it was to find the only landing-place barricaded,
and troops prepared to repulse them. Baskervillc under-
took to capture the place in four days, but now it was
clear that the better speed they made to the West Indies
the more hopeful was the chance that they would be
unexpected, and Drake refused to waste time. Without
attempting a landing they moved to the west of the
island) where they watered, and on September 2,8 th set
^ Hakluyt Society : Sir Francis Drake ; Jiis Foyage, ]>,(}.
DRAKE GOES WEST
395
forth on the voyage from which neither he nor Hawkins
were to return.
A month later they were nearing Martinique, and,
had they only known it, there had been following them
across the Atlantic, just out of sight, five Spanish frigates
which were bound for San Juan de Porto Rico on pre-
cisely the same mission as the English, namely, to take
on board the bullion from the disabled treasure-ship,
of which the thought had proved so timely a tonic to
Iflizabcth. By a stroke of the bitterest ill-luck, when
the English fleet was within a couple of days’ sail from
the rendezvous at Guadeloupe, a series of storms scattered
it, and two small merchant-vessels lagged behind the
rest. They were overhauled by the Spanish frigates,
and one of them, the “ Francis,” was taken : the
“ Delight,” a Bristol ship, after being chased within
sight of the fleet, which had now collected again, escaped,
aiid brought news of this disastrous capture. What
was even more disastrous was that Don Pedro Tello
dc Guzman, who commanded the Spanish frigates, had
seen them, and now knew that an English fleet was
in these waters.
Drake instantly and, of course, correctly divined that
the whole success of the first objective (namely, the cap-
ture of this disabled treasure-ship) was topj)ling, and that
swift action alone could save it. The prisoners of the
“ Francis,” under torture, would reveal the destination
and purpose of the English, and the frigates would make
all speed for Porto Rico with the news and fortify the
harbour. Now, more tragically than before, the mon-
strous folly of the joint command was proved, for while
Drake insisted that the only chance of success was to
forestall the alarm, Hawkins was for getting the big
guns in place, and setting up the pinnaces, so as to be
in fighting trim. He was old and tired and unfit when
he left England, and on the news of the capture of the
SIR FRANCIS DRAKK
296
“ Ffancib,” his nerve untl hcallh alike suft'ered a com-
plete breakdown, though with the querulous obstinacy
oh the sick he stuck to his disastrous policy. Out of
compassion for his ohl kinsman, Drake, “ being loth
to breed him further disquiet,” yielded. Meantime,
Guzman, exactly as he had foreseen, had tortured the
information out of the hapless crew of the “ hb-ancis,”
and the five .Spanish frigates were in full sail for San
Juan. He arrived there, and reported that an English
expedition of twenty-five ships, with 3000 infantry and
10,500 sailors, under command of Drake, ^ were close
at hand, 'fhe prodigious exaggeration of the figures
was a tribute to the Terror.
Now, Drake’s yielding like this is psychologically
[mzzling. He knew that to outsail the frigates and
bring off a surprise attack was the only chance of
getting the treasure-ship, and when the success of this
first objective of the expedition was [irobably at stake,
it was exceedingly unlike him to give way for senti-
mental reasons. It is impossible, in fact, not to
wonder whether dusk was not falling thick on the
bright mirror of his superb sdf-confiilence, and to see
in his yielding the “ Kismet ” of a declining vitality.
His hands had been tied by this joint command,
and he made no i-eal cftbrl to break his bonds, but
acquiesced, instead of bawling down all opposition, as
was his custom when he knew he was right. Shadows
were gathering, and now, when Hawkins’s fatal counsel
had, with the supjiort of Sir Nicholas Clifford, carried
the day, the fleet, starling again on November qlh, con-
tinued loitering. IVicc it anchored among the Virgin
Isles, to water and organize the land troops ; also navi-
gation was difficult, for we find Drake scouting ahead
in his barge to find a passage. It is impossible to accept
the explanation that Drake was playing his old trick of
^ Mj.ynarde, Spanish Account of the Proteedings at Porto Rico, p. 48,
DRAKE GOES WEST
297
causing the fleet to vanish, in order to put the enemy ofF
their guard, ^ for any forther delay would only enable
the enemy to barricade the harbour of San Juan the more
impregnably, or give them ample time to trans-ship the
treasure from the disabled vessel on to the frigates, and
be off home again. It is far more probable that Drake
himself was of divided mind, wondering whether it was
now of any avail to attempt the capture of the treasure-
ship at all, or whether it was better, giving it up, to pro-
ceed to the bigger task of taking Panama. Whatever
the reason was, he did not appear off San Juan till Novem-
ber 14th. Hawkins, who for the last day or two had
been sinking, died as they came within sight of the
harbour, with disconsolate speeches on his lips. He
was old and tired : “ his heart was broken,” he said,
‘‘ that he saw no other biat danger of ruin likely to ensue
of the whole voyage,” and perhaps he realized that his
ov/n obstinacy in procrastination was the cause of the
jeopardy, Drake, too late, was left in sole command
of the fleet.
As he must have expected, the Spaniards were ready
for him, but with a dash of his old contempt for the
brutes he anchored within range of the forts. He had
often played such a bravado, to inspire in his men that
rollicking confidence which had pulled triumph out of
defeat, but now disaster followed. That night, as he
sat at supper, a shot came through the side of his cabin
in the steerage, struck from under him the stool on which
he was sitting, and killed Sir Nicholas Clifford and a
young officer called Brute Browne,'^ to whom Drake was
devoted. “ Ah, dear Brute,” he exclaimed, “ I could
grieve for thee, but now is no time for me to let down
my spirits.” Perhaps he had intended some attack that
^ Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, vol. ii. p. 418.
“ The Spanish account says that this shot billed Hawldns, but Hawkins
was already dead.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
298
night, but that was given up and the fleet taken out of
range.
By next morning Drake had moved his ships to the
west of the harbour, where three sniall islands protected
them. The Spanish frigates were within the port, and,
as he learned from some prisoners he captured, the
treasure on which they and the English fleet alike were
centred had already been conveyed from the disabled
ship into one of the forts, where now it lay, three millions
of ducats. For defence, the Spaniards had sunk a big-
hulk across the mouth of the channel into the harbour,
but without the frigates the treasure could not leave
the island, and that night Drake launched an attack
of pinnaces and small craft on them. A hot action
ensued : one was burned down to the water-line, and
both Spaniards and Emglish lost heavily. But the other
four frigates were still lighting-fit, the treasure still un-
captured, and this attack had failed. Jiut Drake would
not give up the chance of so huge a prize, and since there
was sailing-room — it was the young Drake who noticed
that' — ^I'ound the edge of the hulk that had been sunk to
bar the channel-mouth, he determined, with a flash of
the old daring, to sail his great shijis right into the har-
bour, and there fight frigate and forts together. Next
day he took his fleet out to windward to attempt one
of those superb pcll-mells of his youth. But though his
brain could conceive these swift strokes, the speed and
the dash necessary to success were gone. Young Drake,
we may be sure, wordd have vanished out to sea that night
to get to windward of the harbour, and have swooped down
at dawn. But old Drake waited till next day, and before
he could get back to the mouth of the harbour the
Spaniards had sunk three more ships, completely block-
ing the extrance.
tie knew he was beaten then, and that the great treasure
he had come to seek would never gladden the eyes of
DIUKE GOES WEST
i99
Elizabeth. There was still, he thought, a chance that
an attack by land would succeed, but Baskcrvillc was
against it, and it was not attempted. But more surely
now when he had failed, it was no time for him to let
down his spirits, and he thumped the table in his old
way, and told his council that he would take them to
twenty jilaccs “ more wealthy and easier to be gotten.”
Was there not Nombre de Dios, with the mule-bells
tinkling in the dusk of morning down the road from
Panama, and Panama itself the key to the fabulous
wealth of I’cru ? Why fret, then, over one treasure-ship ?
Olf to the south-west, where lay the source of the
golden I'ivcr which so long had been coined into the
navies of Spain.
It had been unlike the Drake who had so gloriously
and gainfidly skylarked with his Devon boys on the
Sjvanish Main, to he forced to remind himself that he
must not let down his spirits, for never before had he
known the need of such an effort, and now there was
this last failure to be chased out of his darkening soul.
As the coast of the Main began to outline itself, there
came to him the remembrance of that first voyage of his
on which, at Rio dc la Hacha, the Spaniards had swindled
him and Ca])tain Ix)vcll, now long dead. He had repaid
himself a thousandfold and ten thousandfold for that
loss, in wedges of gold and bars of silver, but never had
he considered the debt truly cancelled, and now disas-
trously he turned eastwards from his course, to finish
with Rio de la Placha. Revenge, pure and simple, can
alone account for his diverging from the direct course
to Nombre dc Dios, whence his land force would start
for the capture of Panama. Young Drake would have
known that surprise was the source of success, and a
dash to Nombre dc Dios might have found the Isthmus
undefended. T'o loiter, to score small successes, im-
perilled all that was worth gaining, but young Drake
300
SIR FRANCIS DRAKF.
was dead and the dash oh him and the glory of his
swiftness, and now we follow the wraith of what Drake
had been.
On December ls(, 1595, he. landed his troops to the,
east of Rio de la llacha, ami next morning anchored off
the harbour with the fleet, d'hc troops, under Basker-
villc, were already in possession, and 1 )rake’s revenge
was dust, for the place had been descried on the news
of his being in the wcslenv seas. Just a ()oeketful of
treasure was found, but still Drake wtnihl not go for the
dwindling chance of ea[)turing Panama. News of his
advent, as he was now aware, had come to the Main, but
the days of his youth and his splendoui* were over, and
he left Baskcrville to burn stupid villages and devastate
the barren country, and moved the fleet again eastwards,
for the paltry capture of the pearl-fishing coast-villagc of
Ranchcria. There is no accounting for tliis move,
except by supposing that, as in tiic case of his yielding
to Hawkins, he distrustcxl his own initiative, and that
his fire was burning low.
Ranchcria was taken without resistance, and he held
it to ransom, Pearls to the value of twenty-fouj’ I lumsand
ducats were offered, but they were found to be worth
nothing like that sum, and J)rake refused to au’cpt them.
Two days later, the (lovernor of the place came in under
a flag of truce and frankly told Drake tivat he had
been outwitted. He had no intention of ransoming
Ranchcria, for such ransoming was catntrary to his
King’s orders •, he had only been making pourparlers
and proflxring a derisive fraction of the ransom, to gain
sufRcicnt tinre to warn the coast and countryside, so that
the inhabitajits could escape into the woods with their
valuables. Drake gave him two hours to get clear, for
he had come in under the flag of truce, and had the empty
pleasure of burning an empty town.
He soon saw that the tJovernor’s stratagem had sue-
DKAaK goes west
301
cccded. He sailed westwards again, to join up with
Baskervillc, and found Santa Marta similarly deserted
and IreasurolesB, He burned it, not wasting any fruit-
less time over parleys for a ransom, and at last, too late,
moved on to Nombre dc Dios, where he should have gone
direct from Poito Rico. Here a handful of Spaniards
held a small fort, but they fled on the first assault,
and once more the English marched into a deserted
town. Since they had left San Juaji, not a Spanish ship
worth chasing had been sighted at sea,^ not a Spanish
regiment had opposed them on land, and, beyond a few
bars of silver and a few sticks of gold, no treasure had
been taken. 'Hicy could destroy, but that was all ; the
rest was like some pilgrimage in a sombre dream, with
who knew what crash of nightmare to follow on this
silence and this emptiness ?
A.ny one who loved Drake — and of the men in the fleet
there was none who did not — must have been better
content that he had died now, before the gathering dusk
had expunged the last gleam of his old splendour, But
the dark was not spai'cd him, and now came the great
adventure which shonld either restore the noon and
crown the expedition with final and stupendous success,
or stamp it with the brand of irremediable failure.
Noml^rc dc Dios was in his hands, and there lay the
track to Panama over that watershed from which he
had first seen the Southern Sea, from the tree-top where
his faithful Cimaroons had led him. But now there
was no time to get in touch with them again, for the
alarm had flared through the Main that the Dragon was
here, and on December a9th Baskerville started across
the Isthmus with seven hundred and fifty of the flower
of his troops.
'L'herc were two possible routes : the one by water up
the river Chagres, which was navigable to within twelve
1 Maymrcle, Sir Francis Diah: his Voyage, p. 19.
302
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
miles of Panama, the other by land from Nombrc dc Dios.
Drake selected the latter, and thougli Baskervillc seems
to have foreseen the difficulties that might lie ahead,
now that the time had gone by for a surprise attack, he
consented to attempt it. J le was to make all speed to
Panama, while Drake moved the fleet round to Porto
Bello, the new Spanish harbour, twenty miles to the
west along the coast, and (here await news li'om Basker-
villc and his triumphant return. But there would he
time before that to burn Nombrc de Dios and the ship-
ping in the hai'bour, and Drake celebrated the passing
of the old year, and the dawn of the new, by this
conflagration. On the cveniiig of January ist,
Nombre de Dios was a smoking ruin, and the fleet
was preparing to start for J’orto Bello, when there
came in an Indian bringing a tlcspatch from Baskcj-
ville. lie had failed to reach Panama, aiul was now in
full retreat.
Next evening Baskervillc brought in a tired, footsore,
and hungry remnant of his men. They had marched
up the narrow track which led through the forest,
incessantly harassed by Spanish sharp-shooters. On
gaining the watershed they found a concealed foil
which commanded the road, and twenty men were killed
before they localized it. Even if they had succeeded in
getting past that, there were two more such forts, so
Baskervillc had learned from friendly Indians, before
they reached X'^anama, which, on the news of Drake’s
presence on the coast, had been very strongly fortified.
Provisions already were running low, for the rain had
rendered much of them uneatable, and fi-om ahead they
could hear the crash of the felled trees with which the
Spaniards were obstructing the narrow path. Even if
they had been able to reach Xkinama, Baskervillc knew
that with his weakened force he would be tjulLc unable
to hold it, and so he decided to retreat. He had been
DRAKE GOES WEST
303
obliged to leave in the hands of the enemy such wounded
us could not march.
The fire died out of Drake’s eyes as he heard, and the
brightness faded, so that never afterwards in the short
talc of his earthly days that was to follow was the light of
mirtli seen there, ^ But the undaunted front with which
he had ever met adversity was still his ; none must see
his secret surrender, and he put to his captains what
their next enterprise should be. He had no personal
knowledge of the coast further westwards, but there
were maj-)S and charts, and he showed them Trujillo,
the Irarbour in Honduras, and the golden cities round the
lake of Nicaragua, and asked which should be theirs.
Baskcrville cried that they could have first one and then
the other, and surely behind that brave reply there
lurked just such shadow of despair as lay behind the
question. But up went the sails again, and the course
was set westward.
The fleet met contrary winds which blew without
intermission, the ships needed careening, and waiting
for the weather to moderate they put in at the island of
Escudo de Veragua to clean and water. Of all ports
on that fevered coast, it was the most pestilential ; ®
dysentery began to ravage the fleet, and Drake, who all
his life had been immune from the arrows of the sun
and the miasma of tropical swamps, sickened of it. But
still he held on as if the voyage was going prosperously
forward, and he told Maynarde that God had many
things for them yet. So the ships were cleaned, and the
pinnaces put together, but still the winds were contrary,
and on January 23rd, 1596, his strength failed, and he
kept his cabin. One more order only he gave, and that
was to take the fleet out of this bower of death, and go
before the wind back to Porto Bello.
On January 27th, before the fleet reached Porto Bello,
1 M.i/narJe, Sir Francis Drake ; Ms Voyage, p. ig. ® Fbid,
304
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
the great Admiral knew that he lay dying, lie had
brought his will with him on this last voyage, though he
had not signed it yet ; now he sent for Captain Jonas
Bodenham, his wife’s nejrhcw, and his yoinigest brother
Thomas, who had served with him on all his voyages
since, the old days of the Spanish Main. He signed his
will, and added a codicil which Bodenham wrote for him,
and he liadc his brother be “ kind and loving ” to Boden-
ham, while Bodenham must requite him with faithful
dealing. After that he sent tor some of his officers,
giviirg them such little mementoes of himself as were at
hand, and all that day he lay with young Whitlockc
watching him. 1 le told the hoy there were some, jewels
he wished him to have and his finest silver plate : ’ per-
haps they talked, too, of the fair days and doing.s they
had seen together. Noon passed and the day declined,
and there was no news from his cabin hut that his sick-
ness was sore on him, and his life ebbing out,
Night fell, and the flickering spirit flared up once
more. Drake stiaiggled up from his bed, and insisted
on being dressed : Whitlockc must Fetch his armour
and put it on him that he snight die in soldiei*’s harness.
That was done, and in the delirium of his fever he raved
wildly and incoherently. But the frenzy passed, and
E rcsently he allowed the boy to lay him down again on
is bed, ajid loosen his armour. And very early in the
morning, before the rising of the winter sun, even as a
child falls gently to sleep, Drake died.
The fleet reached Porto Bello that day and anchored.
Next morning it put out to sea again and hove-to a league
from the shore. Sickness had carried off so many of the
crews and of the troops that the ships were much under-
manned, and now, on each side of the “ Defiance,” where
Drake lay in his lead coffin, was a vessel that was dedi-
Laly ElioU Drake, Family and Heirs of Sir Francis l)rake, vol. i.
p. 126, quoted from Sir J, Whitlocke’s Liber FamsHcns,
DRAKE GOES WEST
3 °^
Gated to be his funeral pyre. Fuel was piled on them,
and when all was ready they were set ablaze. The guns
of all the fleet saluted their Admiral, and on the deck of
his flagship his trumpeters blared out their homage to
the dead. The leaden shell slid forward, and in the
tranquillity of the deep there was laid to rest the greatest
of the Master Mariners of England, who had won her
the sea as her heritage.
u
BiBLiOG RABHY
The Principal Navigatinns, Voyages , Traffics, ami Discoveries of the English
Nation, by Richard Hakluyt.
The publicaliona of the ITakluyt Society (witli Extra Series and Second
Series), Thc.se include : —
(i) The IVorld Encompassed (Vaux), containing the Narrative of Sir
Francia Drake, Bart., compiled from the Notc.s of Francis
Fletcher, Chaplain to the F'.xpcdilion ; Francis Fletcher’s
Narrative : John Cooke’s Narrative : Franci.s Frelty’.s Narra-
tive : Edward Cliffe’s Narrative : various memoranda and
depositions, etc.
(ii) Sir Francis Drake Revived.
(iii) Sir Francis Drake : his Voyage d'hninas MaynarJe.
(iv) Netv Light on Drake, by Zclic Nutlall (191^1). This contains a
quantity of most important new material (depositions, etc.)
concerning the Voyage of Circumnavigation.
Sir Francis Drake’s Memorable Service done against the Spaniards in
Robert I.eng. (Camden Society.)
Annals. Stow. B'hc author was born in 1525.
Annals, Camden. The author was born in 1551, and received .some
of his information from Drake him.aelf.
History of Great Britain, Speed. I’hc author was born in 1552.
Haklnytiis Postlmmus, Purclias. B’he compiler was horn in 1575, and
Continued Hakluyt’s Voyages under this title.
The Tivo Narratives of Ubalditto, giving the arrount of the Armada, The
first of these is an Italian translation of T.ord Howard’s Relation, and i.s
dated April 1589. The second (dated August 1589) was certainly
inspired by Drake. (For a full account of these MSS. .sec Drake and
the Tudor Navy (Corbett), vol. ii. p. 4.j2.)
[The above chroniclers were thus all contemporaries of Drake.]
.mo
BIBLIOGRAPHY
30?
T/ic Holy State and the Profane State. Fuller (b. 1608).
Worthies of Devon. Prince (b. 1643).
Calendar of Cecil MSS., now in possession of the Marquis of Salisbury.
Papers relating to the Navy during the Spanish War. Naval Records
Society, vol. xi. Edited by Julian S. Corbett. These include
papers concerning Drake’s voyage to the Indie.s in 1585, and the
operations on the Spanish coast in 1587. Among them is the log
of the “ Primrose.”
Naval Tracts. Sir William Monson.
The Spanish Invasion. Samuel Clark, 1657.
Harleian Miuellany.
Captain Cook's Voyages, edited by Anderson {circa 1783). In this
volume is “ Sir Francis Drake’s Voyage to the South Seas and round
the World.” Plis life and other voyages arc also described in it, and
the author uses The World Encompassed and Sir Francis Drake
Pevweds^x^ii Cooke’s Narrative, from which he freely quotes. Through-
out his attitude is violently hostile to Drake, whom he accuses of
“infamous piracy,” saying that on the two occasions when he was
employed in a joint command he ruined them by “ his perfidy and
self-conceit.” 'Fhe author also uses the memoranda concerning the
Voyage of Circumnavigation (Vaux, The World Encompassed, p. 175),
and it seems clear that there were more of tliesc memoranda still in
existence, which have since disappeared. The narrative has many
inaccuracies.
Fttgger News-Letters (i56a-r6o4). Second Scries, published 1926.
'Fhese are a most valuable series of reports from agents and correspon-
dents in various capitals and trade-centres of Europe, sent to the head-
quarters of the Fugger Bank at Augsburg. They are not by any means
always reliable (news was sent, for instance, from Prague and Rome
of the victory of the Spanish Armada), but they are of inestimable
value as being the actual current news of the day, and throw much
fresh light on contemporary events and on the impression produced
by them.
Ih'itish Admirals. Robert Southey. The author (like the author in
Captain Cook's Voyages) seems to have had certain sources of informa-
tion of which nothing is now known. Some of them, perhaps, were
only traditional : others (as in the description of tlie siege of Corufia)
must have been from MSS. or published accounts.
3o8 sir FRANCIS DRAKK
LwCs of Bfitiih Atlmirals. Campbell.
Engliih H/'timt'n. J. A. Fromle. ’Fbeic cli.miiiiig eanaya arc vitiated by
many amazing iiiaeiuiMcies.
Life of Dr, the, Harrow.
Drake and the 'I'mlot Naay. jnli.in S. ( 'orlitU.
Life of Dritke. Julian S. C'oibell.
Fitwily and lleits if Fir Framit Dtahe. Lady I'lliott Dmke.
Sir Fratnii Drake's Vnyagr atimiid the IPmId. II. R. Wagner.
