Sir FRANCIS DRAKE’s VOYAGES, PARTICULARLY THAT ROUND THE WORLD, In 1577, 1578, 1579, and 1580. (continued 3)

These gentlemen were received by another of the king’s brothers, and conduced in great state to the castle, where there was a court of, at least, 1000 persons, among whom were threescore ancient men, privy counsellors to the king; and on each side of the gate without, stood four old men of foreign countries, who served as interpreters in commerce. In a short time appeared the King himself, drest in cloth of gold, with his hair woven into gold ringlets, a chain of gold upon his neck, and on his fingers rings very artificially set with diamonds and jewels of great value. Over his head was borne a rich canopy and by his chair of state stood a page with a fan set with sapphires, to moderate the excess of the heat. Here he received the compliments of the English, and then honourably dismissed them. The castle, which they had some opportunity of observing, seemed of no great force. It was built by the Portuguese, who, attempting to reduce this kingdom into absolute subjection, murdered the King, and intended to pursue their plot by the destruction of all his sons. But the general abhorrence which cruelty and perfidy naturally excite, armed the whole nation against them, and procured their total expulsion from all the dominions of Ternate, which, from that time, increasing in power, continued to make new conquests, and to deprive them of other acquisitions.

Here they shipt between four and five tons of cloves, intending to bring them to Europe. While they lay before Ternate, a gentleman came on board attended by his Portuguese interpreter. He was dressed somewhat in the European manner, and soon distinguished himself from the natives of Ternate, or any country they had ever yet seen, by his civility and quick comprehension. Such a visitant may easily be imagined to excite their curiosity, which he gratified by informing them that he was a native of China, of the family of the King then upon the throne; and that being accused of a capital crime, of which, though he was innocent, he had not sufficient evidence to clear himself, he had petitioned the Emperor that he might not be exposed to a trial; but that his cause might be referred to Divine Providence; and that he might be allowed to leave his country, with a prohibition against returning, unless heaven, in attestation of his innocence, should enable him to bring back to the King some intelligence that might be to the honour and advantage of the Empire of China. In search of such information he had now spent three years, and left Tidore for the sake of conversing with the English General, from whom he hoped to receive such accounts as would enable him to return with honour and safety. Drake, whether he credited or disbelieved his story, caused a recital to be made by one of the company, who talked the language of the interpreter, of such adventures and observations as he judged would be most pleasing to his visitor, to all which the Chinese Exile gave the utmost attention; and, having caused them to be repeated a second time, to impress them in his mind, thanked the Creator of the World for the knowledge he had gained, he then proposed to the General to sail to his country, to which he willingly undertook to be his pilot; but Drake could not be induced to prolong his voyage.

He therefore set sail, on Nov. the 9th, in quest of a more convenient harbour, where he might clean and refit his ship, which, by the length of the voyage, and the heat of the climate, was now become foul and leaky. Directing his course southward, he soon fell in with an uninhabited island, which, by its appearance, promised fair to answer his purpose. At a distance it looked like a beautiful grove; the trees were large, straight, and lofty; but, what was more extraordinary, they were interspersed with such an astonishing number of shining flies, that the whole island in the night seemed to glow with fire. Here they found a convenient haven, and here they landed and continued 26 days. They found upon this island tortoise, but of a monstrous size, and various sorts of fruits of a delicious flavour.

Leaving this place on the 12th of December, they cruelly deserted the unhappy mulatto girl whom they had taken for their pleasure from a ship that fell into their hands on the coast of New Spain. They had, at the same time, taken on board a negroe youth, who they thought might be serviceable to them in conversing with his nation in their way home; but, finding him of little or no use on board, and provisions beginning to fail, they pretended to send this simple couple far into the country to gather fruits, and, in the mean time, unmoored the ship, and hoisted sail; and, before the return of the victims, were out of sight of their tears, and out of hearing of their cries: a melancholy instance this of the depravity of man’s heart, and of the relentless cruelty of minds addicted to rapine and lust. The poor girl, not yet fifteen, was ready to be delivered of an innocent babe; and the youth, not twenty, was the only resource in the midst of her distress. What befel them cannot be known; but Providence seemed to punish the perfidy of the crew by a severe trial of their fortitude soon after.

Having a wind not very favourable, they happened to be intangled among a multitude of islands, interspersed with dangerous shallows, till January the 9th, 1580. When they thought themselves clear, and were sailing along with a brisk gale, they were, at the beginning of the night, suddenly surprized in their course by a sudden shock, the cause of which was instantly discovered, for they were thrown upon a concealed rock, and, by the speed of their course, fixed too fast for any hope of escaping.

Here the intrepidity of Drake was shaken, and his dexterity baffled: here all the horrors of mind, attendant on conscious guilt, concurred to aggravate the distress of those who were instrumental in abandoning the harmless slaves. Those who were innocent reproached the guilty with being the authors of their present distress; and, among the rest, Mr. Fletcher, the chaplain, exclaimed against the Captain, as one whose crimes of murder and lust had brought down divine vengeance on all the company. Drake, who knew well how to dissemble his resentment, judging this an improper time to encourage disputes, endeavoured, by every means in his power, to appease the increasing animosity. To preserve, therefore, the minds of the company at rest, he found it necessary to keep their hands employed, and, for that purpose, ordered the pumps to be constantly plied. Convinced by this experiment that the water did not gain upon them in the hold, he conceived hopes, that, by lightening the ship, they might possibly be able to heave her off. He knew it would be in vain to persuade them to part with their treasure, and, therefore, he first caused the guns to be thrown overboard, and then the spices; and, afterwards, the water-casks to be bulged, being in hopes, that, if they could be released, water might again be supplied from the neighbouring islands, some of which were at no great distance. His next attempt was to discover about the shallows some place where they might fix an anchor, in order to bring their ship to, and, by that means, clear her from the rock: but, upon examination, it was found that the rock on which they had struck, rose, as many others in those seas do, almost perpendicular, and that there was no anchorage, nor any bottom to be fathomed a boat’s length from the ship. But this discovery was by Drake wisely concealed from the common sailors, lest they should abandon themselves to despair, for which there was, indeed, much cause, there being no prospect left, but that they must there sink along with the ship.

In this deplorable situation they had remained for four and twenty hours, when Drake, finding all human efforts vain, addressed himself to his companions in distress, and exhorted them to lay aside all animosities, and prepare themselves, by forgiving each other, for obtaining that mercy through Christ, which they could not hope to receive on any other terms. “On this occasion,” says my author, “every thief reconciled himself to his fellow-thief, and Fletcher administered the sacrament to them all.” At length, when their hopes had forsaken them, and no new struggles could be made, they were, on a sudden, relieved by the wind’s shifting, and a fresh breeze springing up, which taking the ship on the leeward quarter, she reeled off the rock, without receiving any very dangerous hurt, to the unspeakable joy of every soul on board.

This was the greatest and most inextricable distress which they had suffered, and made such an impression upon their minds, that for some time afterwards they durst not adventure to spread their sails, but went slowly forward with the utmost circumspection, till, arriving at the fruitful island of Baretene, they entered the port to repair what damage the ship had received upon the rock. They found the people of this island of an amiable and obliging disposition, courteous in their manners, and honest in their dealings. They are finely proportioned, tall of stature, and of comely features. The men, in general, go naked; but the women cover themselves from the waist downwards, are modest, yet not insensible of love and pleasure. They found the island abounding with every necessary, and not as few of the comforts of life.

Having repaired the ship and refreshed the men, they continued their course without any material occurrence till the 11th of March, when they came to anchor before the island of Java, and sending to the King a present of cloth and silks, received from him in return a present supply of refreshments; and on the day following Drake went himself on shore, and entertained the King with music, and obtained leave to store his ship with provisions. This island was governed by a great number of petty Kings or Rayas, subordinate to one Chief. Of these princes three came on board together a few days after their arrival, and having, upon their return, recounted the wonders they had seen, and the civilities with which they had been treated, incited others to satisfy their curiosity in the same manner; and Raya Denan, the chief King, came himself to view the ship, with the warlike armaments and instruments of navigation. This intercourse of civilities somewhat retarded the business for which they came; but, at length, they not only victualled their ship, but payed the bottom, which was the more necessary frequently to be repeated, as, at that time, sheathing of ships was not in practice.

The Javans were at this time a warlike people, well armed, with swords, targets, and daggers, forged by themselves, and exquisitely wrought. They were sociable, full of vivacity, and beyond description happy. They were likewise hospitable to strangers, and not at all addicted to thievery, the general characteristic of the islanders in the Pacific Sea.

From Java Drake intended to have visited the Malaccas, but his company became troublesome, being desirous of returning home. On this occasion he called to mind the speech of Master Fletcher, while they remained hopeless upon the rock, and, under pretence of his spiriting up the people to oppose him, he caused him, says my author, “to be made fast by one of his legs with a chain, and a staple knocked fast into the hatches, in the forecastle of the ship. He called all the company together, and then put a lock about one of his legs; and Drake, sitting cross-legged on a chest, and a pair of pantofles in his hand, he said, Francis Fletcher, I do here excommunicate thee out of the Church of God, and from all the benefits and graces thereof, and I renounce thee to the devil and all his angels; and then he charged him, upon pain of death, not once to come before the mast; for, if he did, he swore he should be hanged, and Drake caused a posey to be written, and bound about Fletcher’s arm, with charge, that if he took it off he should then be hanged; the posey was, Francis Fletcher, the falsest knave that liveth.” It does not, however, appear how long he was obliged to wear this posey as it is called. But Drake was obliged to alter his resolution, and comply with the company’s desires.

On the 25th of March, 1580, he, therefore, took his departure, and, on the 15th of June, they doubled the Cape of Good Hope, having then on board his ship fifty-seven men, and but three casks of water.

On the 12th of July they passed the Line, reached the coast of Guinea on the 16th, and on July the 22d arrived at Sierra Leona, after a most delightful passage, in which they discovered how much the Portuguese had abused the world in their false representations of the horrors and dangers that attended the navigation round the Cape. At Sierra Leona they staid two days to refresh the men, and, having furnished themselves with wood and water for the remainder of the voyage, they set sail for England in high expectation of enriching their country with the spoils of the Spaniards.

On the 11th of September they made the island of Ferara, and, on the third of November, they entered the harbour of Plymouth. In this voyage Drake surrounded the world, which no Commander in Chief had ever done before; and what, at that time appeared a thing extraordinary, by steering a western course they had lost a day in their account.

Their success in this voyage, and the immense wealth[2] they brought home, raised much discourse throughout the kingdom; some highly commending, and some as loudly decrying the principles upon which it was acquired. The former alledged, that this enterprize was not only honourable to the Commander who conducted, and the crew who assisted in the performance of it, but to their country; that it would establish our reputation for maritime skill in foreign nations, and raise a laudable spirit of emulation at home; and that, as to the money, our merchants having suffered deeply by the treachery and villainy of the Spaniards in the new discovered country, there was nothing more just than that the nation should receive an equivalent by the reprisals which Drake and his company, at the hazard of their lives, had bravely extorted.

The other party argued, that Drake, in fact, was no better than a pirate; that, of all others, it least became a trading nation to countenance such depredations; that the expedition was not only a breach of all our treaties with Spain, but likewise of our old leagues with the House of Burgundy; and that the consequences would infallibly involve the Queen in a war, by which the nation would suffer infinitely more than the riches acquired by a single ship could counterbalance.

These were the sentiments, and these the speculations with which the different parties amused themselves for some time after the arrival of Drake in his native country. At length, the approbation of the Queen determined the dispute; for all acquiesced in the wisdom of their Sovereign.

On the 4th of April, 1581, her Majesty went to Deptford, and dined on board the ship in which so many Kings had been entertained before; and, after dinner, she conferred the honour of knighthood on her Commander; an honour not to be obtained in those days on trivial occasions, but as a reward for signal services. This mark of distinction was a full declaration of her Majesty’s approbation, silenced Drake’s enemies, and gave joy to his friends. She likewise gave directions for the preservation of the ship, that it might remain a monument of his own and his country’s glory.

What contributed the more to render the fame of Drake illustrious, was the frequent attempts that had been made by navigators, the most renowned in their time, to atchieve the fame; but without success. In 1527 the Spaniards sent Gracca de Loaisa, a Knight of Malta, with a squadron of seven ships to follow the rout of Magellan, who, though his ship returned to Spain, yet he himself lost his life, before he arrived at the Malaccas, the promised islands. Loaisa passed the straits, indeed, lost some of his ships in the South Seas, others put into the ports of New Spain, and only his own vessel and one more reached the East Indies, where himself and all his people perished.

In 1526, the Genoese sent two ships to pass the straits, of which one was cast away, and the other returned home without effecting any thing.

Sebastian Cabot, in the service of the crown of Portugal, made the like trial; but, not being able to find the straits, returned into the river of Plate.

Americus Vespusius, a Florentine, from whom the new world received its name, undertook to perform, in the service of the crown of Portugal, what Cabot had promised without effect; but that vain man was still more unfortunate; for he could neither find the straits, nor the river of Plate.

Some years after this, the Spaniards equipped a stout squadron, under the command of Simon de Alcasara; but, before they reached the height of the straits, the crews mutinied, and obliged their Commander to return.

Such repeated miscarriages discouraged even the ablest and boldest seamen; so that from this time both Spaniards and others dropped all thoughts of emulating Magellan, till Drake conceiving his design, as has already been said, concealed it in his breast till ripe for execution.

Being now advanced to eminence, in 1585 he was employed in the Queen’s service, and sent on an expedition to the West Indies as Commander in Chief; and having under him Captain Martin Forbisher, Captain Knollys, and other experienced Officers of the royal navy, he took St. Jago, St. Domingo, Carthagena, and St. Augustin. He returned elated with his success; but, as my author says, not much enriched by the plunder.

In 1587, he was again employed in an expedition to Lisbon, in which Captain Forbisher also bore a part. Here they gained intelligence that a considerable fleet was assembled in the bay of Cadiz, with a view to the forming an armament for the invasion of England; he immediately repaired to their place of rendezvous, and fell upon them at unawares; and, as it is said, burnt 10,000 tons of shipping, with all the stores which they were amassing for the intended invasion.

In their return they fell in with a carrack from the East Indies, richly laden, of which they likewise got intelligence in the port of Lisbon. This was the St. Philip, of which Linschoten gives the following account, when this Dutchman was at Goa, the chief settlement of the Portuguese in the East Indies: “There came in, he says, from the island of Japan, certain Jesuits, and with them three Princes, being the children of so many Kings of that country, wholly apparelled like Jesuits, not one of them above the age of 15 years, being minded by the persuasion of the Jesuits to visit Portingall, and from thence to go to Rome to see the Pope, thereby to procure great profit, privileges, and liberties for the missionaries in that island.

“In 1584, they set sail for Portingallo, and from thence travelled into Spain, where, by the King and all the Spanish nobility, they were with honour received, and presented with many gifts, which the Jesuits kept for themselves.

“Out of Spain, they rode to see the Pope; that done, they travelled throughout Italy, where they were much honoured, and presented with many rich presents, by means of the great report the Jesuits made of them.

“To conclude, they returned to Madrid, where with great honour they took their leave of the King, who furnished them with letters of recommendation to the Viceroy, and all the Portingall Governors of India; so they went to Lisbon, and there took shipping in 1586, and came to Goa in the ship called St. Philip, which ship, in her return to Portingall, was taken by Captain Drake, being the first that was taken coming from the East Indies; which the Portuguese took for an evil sign, because the ship bore the King’s own name;” both Spain and Portugal being at that time governed by the same Sovereign.

“When the Princes and Jesuits of Japan arrived at Goa on their return from Europe, they were received, adds Linschoten, with great rejoicings; for it was verily thought they had all been dead. On their landing they were all three apparelled in cloth of gold and silver after the Italian manner, being the same the Italian noblemen and gentlemen had given them. They came to Goa very lively and in high spirits; and the Jesuits were not a little proud, that through their means the voyage had been successfully performed. In Goa they staid till the monsoon or time of the wind’s setting in to sail for China, and thence to Japan, where, with great triumph and wondering of all the people, they were received and welcomed home, to the great furtherance of the Jesuits.”

The St. Philip, in her voyage to Goa, had been driven by stress of weather into Masambique, where she met with the St. Laurence, homeward bound, that had likewise been driven into the same port disabled, having lost her masts, and received other considerable damage, by which she was rendered unserviceable. The St. Philip, therefore, as soon as she had landed her passengers at Goa, returned to Masambique, and took in the lading of the St. Laurence, which enabled her to make her voyage to Europe about the usual time; a circumstance fortunate for Drake, as it increased both his fame and his fortune.

In 1588, Drake was appointed Vice-Admiral, under Charles Lord Effingham Howard, High-Admiral of England, to oppose the formidable armada that had for three years before been secretly preparing in Spain for the invasion of England. In Drake’s letter to Lord Treasurer Burleigh, acquainting him with the approach of the Spaniards, he concludes with this elegant compliment to his superior: “That, though the strength of the enemy out-went report, yet the chearfulness and courage which the Lord Admiral expressed gave all who had the honour to serve under him assurance of victory;” a compliment which was the more admired in Drake, as in a former letter to the same Minister, in which he tells him of his gallant atchievement in the port of Cadiz, “Not resting, said he, at Lisbon, we sailed so close to the Spanish King, that we singed his beard;” a course metaphor, it must be owned, but strongly characteristic.

Drake’s good fortune still accompanied him; for in the engagement which afterwards happened on the arrival of the armada, though he committed the greatest error that ever Commander was guilty of, by pursuing some hulks belonging to the Hans Towns for plunder, when he was entrusted to carry lights in the night for the direction of the English fleet, he misled the Admiral; yet he was the only Commander who profited most by the destruction of the enemy. Lord Howard, supposing the lights of the Spanish Admiral to be the lights which Drake was ordered to carry, was entangled in the very centre of the Spanish fleet, before he found his mistake; but, fortunately, night favouring his escape, he disengaged himself before he was discovered. This blunder was afterwards effaced by the gallant behaviour of Drake, than whom no man was ever bolder, or more determined. We do not, however, find his name among the Commanders whom the Lord High Admiral thought proper to thank for their services on that occasion. On the 2d of July, says Strype, Sir Francis, observing a large Spanish galleon, commanded by Don Pedro de Valdez, who was the reputed projector of the invasion, floating at a distance from both fleets, sent his pinnace to summon the Captain to surrender, who at first vauntingly set him at defiance; but being told it was Drake that required him to yield, he immediately struck his colours, and, with 46 of his crew, came on board the conqueror. In this ship he found 50,000 ducats, with other effects to a much greater amount.

The next year he was appointed Admiral of a squadron sent to place Don Antonio on the throne of Portugal, to which that Prince pretended to have a right. “But, says Rapin, (whose account of this expedition we shall follow) as the Queen was extremely frugal, and an undertaking against Spain could not but be very expensive, she so ordered it, that Drake and Norris took upon them to be at the charge, in hopes of making themselves amends by the booty they should meet with. So she only found them six ships of war, with a present of 60,000 l. with leave to raise soldiers and sailors for the expedition. Drake had already tried the Spaniards in America and in the Channel, and was convinced they were more formidable in common opinion than in reality; wherefore, joining with Sir John Norris, and some other private persons, they equipped a fleet, and embarked 11,000 soldiers and 1500 marines. The Hollanders having also added some ships, the fleet consisted, according to Stow, of 146 sail, transports and victuallers included. Drake commanded at sea, and Norris was General of the land forces. They took with them Don Antonio, who hoped, by the assistance of the English, to be put in possession of his kingdom, where he pretended to have many friends.

“They sailed from Plymouth on the 18th of April, and soon after arrived at the Groyne, where landing their troops, they assaulted the lower town, and carried it by storm. Then they besieged the upper town. But Norris, having advice that the Conde di Andrada was approaching with a body of troops to relieve the place, suddenly raised the siege to march against him; and, overtaking him, slew 3000 of his men. This done, he burnt several villages; and, without returning to the siege, re-embarked his troops, their principal design being against Portugal.

“Whilst they were sailing towards the coasts of that kingdom, they were joined by the Earl of Essex, with some ships he had armed at his own charge, unknown to the Queen. Some days after, they arrived at Panicha, a little town in Portugal, and, taking it, restored it to Don Antonio; from thence Norris marched by land to Lisbon, Drake promising to follow with the fleet up the Tagus. The army marched 40 miles without opposition; and encamping before Lisbon, took the suburbs of St. Catharine: but, as Drake performed not his promise, and the army wanted cannon and ammunition, it was resolved in a council of war to retire. This resolution was taken, because there was no appearance that the Portuguese were inclined to revolt, as Don Antonio had expected; and also, because there was no news of the succours he had boasted of from the King of Morocco. The army marching towards the mouth of the Tagus, met Drake, who had taken the town of Cascaes, and excused himself upon the impossibility of performing his promise. Some days after, the castle of Cascaes surrendering, it was blown up; and, to make themselves amends for the charges of the expedition, the English seized sixty vessels laden with corn, and all manner of naval stores to equip a new fleet against England, belonging to the Hans Towns. Then they went and took Vigo, which was abandoned by the inhabitants; and, firing the town, returned to England. This expedition did some damage to the King of Spain, but was of no benefit to Elizabeth; and the booty was not sufficient to pay for equipping the fleet, though Camden says, they brought home 150 pieces of heavy cannon, and a great booty. Above six thousand men perished in this expedition by sickness.”

The writers of Drake’s life say, that Norris grievously reproached Drake with breach of his promise, and charged the miscarriage of the expedition to his timidity. Indeed, Drake’s good genius seems now to have forsaken him; and happy, say the same writers, if, having received this first check at play, he had withdrawn his stake.

As the war with Spain continued, Hawkins and Drake, who, as it should seem, wanted to continue their old game, where the profits were more, and the danger less, united their interest to persuade the Queen and Council to undertake an effectual expedition to the West Indies, by which the nation might be enriched, and the enemy deprived of those resources by which they were enabled to carry on the war.

For this purpose they procured, according to Rapin, twenty-six of the Queen’s ships, the equipment of which, like the former, seems to have been supplied by private adventure; a practice at that time very common, where plunder was to be the reward. The preparations for this expedition, however, as it far exceeded all former enterprizes to the American Indies, could not be made so privately, or conducted so secretly, but that the Spaniards found means to discover both its strength and destination, and prepared themselves accordingly.

As the places that were to be attacked lay at a great distance, it was necessary to gain time, in order to fortify them. It was, therefore, found necessary to devise some expedient to prevent the sailing of that formidable armament, till every thing was in readiness to oppose it. Accordingly, it was given out, that a second invasion was intended against England; and when the Spanish fleet was ready to sail for America, that had been equipping under pretence of an invasion, a sham attack was made upon Cornwall, in order to spread an alarm, and give it countenance.

This had the desired effect. It was thought improper to part with so many stout ships while the nation was threatened; and the expedition was therefore retarded, till the panic had subsided.

It was therefore the 28th of August, in 1695, before the Commanders obtained permission to sail; and in the mean time the Queen having received advice that the plate fleet was safe arrived in Europe, and that only one ship, which had sprung her mast, remained behind, her Majesty acquainted them with the intelligence, and advised them to attack Porto Rico, before they pursued their grand enterprize, by which they might make themselves masters of the galleon without losing much time in the conquest.

Sir Francis Drake, who was not formed to act in conjunct expeditions, had not been long at sea before he differed in opinion from his fellow Commander, and pursued a project totally different from the first object of the voyage, in which, however, he was seconded by Sir Thomas Baskerville, Commander of the land forces. This scheme was to attack the Canaries in the way to America; in which, however, they failed; and spending necessarily much time in the island of Dominica in landing and refreshing the men, who, being unused to long voyages in hot climates, were many of them unfit to proceed, the Spaniards had so effectually prepared themselves, that, when the Generals came to action, they found an opposition very different from what they expected; and were soon sensible, that what they had formerly effected by surprize with a handful of sailors, was not now to be accomplished with a whole army of disciplined troops.

In their course to Porto Rico, one of the sternmost ships of the English fleet fell into the hands of five Spanish frigates that had been sent from Spain to convoy home the galleon from that port. From this ship they gained the intelligence of the intended attack, the consequences of which being foreseen by Sir John Hawkins, it threw him into a sudden disorder, of which in a few days he died⁠—some say, of a broken heart.

They were now, Nov. 12, 1595, before Porto Rico, and the same evening that Sir John Hawkins died, as the principal officers were at supper, a cannon-shot from the fort pierced the cabin, killed Sir Nicholas Clifford, wounded Captain Stratford, mortally wounded Sir Brute Browne, and struck the stool from under Sir Francis Drake, as he was drinking success to the attack.

The next day, pursuant to a resolution of a council of war, a general attack was made upon the shipping in the harbour, but without effect. The Spaniards suffered much, but the English more; who, finding it impossible to make an impression upon the fortifications of the town, weighed anchor, and steered to Rio de la Hacha, set fire to the town and burned it to the ground: they likewise performed some other exploits of the like kind; but having landed the troops destined to cross the isthmus to attack Panama, after a fatiguing march in which they were great sufferers, they returned, without being able to reach the place. This disappointment materially affected Drake, who having, as he thought, provided a sufficient force to carry into execution the enterprize which he had well-nigh effected with a few sailors and Symerons some years before, could not bear the thought of surviving his disgrace. “Now, says Fuller, began the discontent of Sir Francis Drake to feed upon him. He conceived, that expectation, a merciless usurer, computing each day since his departure, exacted an interest and return of honour and profit proportionable to his great preparations, and transcending his former atchievements. He saw that all the good which he had done in his voyage, consisted in the evil he had done the Spaniards afar off, whereof he could present but small visible fruits in England. These apprehensions accompanying, if not causing, the disease of the flux, wrought his sudden death; and sickness did not so much untie his cloaths, as sorrow did rend at once the robe of his mortality asunder. He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.”

This account of the manner of Sir Francis Drake’s death seems to be authentic, though some have not scrupled to insinuate, that sickness had no part in that catastrophe. Be that as it may, Fuller’s reflections upon it deserve to be remembered. “Thus, says he, we see how great spirits, having mounted to the highest pitch of performance, afterwards strain and break their credit in striving to go beyond it; Or, it may be, God oftentimes leaves the brightest men in an eclipse, to shew that they do but borrow their lustre from his reflection.”

Thus we have endeavoured to trace the actions of this celebrated navigator from beginning to end. If we have withdrawn the veil, which has hitherto covered his infirmities, it has been in the pursuit of truth; not with a design to detract from his real merit, but to shew his character in the true light. In the current of success, even crimes of the deepest die are sometimes patronised even by the public. The actions which gave rise to Drake’s popularity, are such as a courageous leader, with an hundred armed followers, might in these peaceable times easily perform, by entering the cities or towns on the coast of Britain, in the dead of night, cutting the throats of the watch, and all who happen to be awake in the streets, breaking open and plundering houses, and churches, seizing every thing valuable that should fall into their hands, and before the people could recover from their consternation, making their escape with their booty. Were such a company masters of an armed vessel, if there were no ship of force to oppose them, what should hinder their sailing from place to place, and, provided they could out-run report, performing the like exploits in every town they came to? Would there be anything truly great in this? Or would the man who should undertake and execute an enterprize of such a horrid nature, be justly entitled to the name of Hero? If not, what shall we say of Drake’s nocturnal enterprize on Nombre de Dios; of his way-laying the treasure in the road from Panama; of his ranging the unarmed coasts of Chili and Peru; and of his plundering villages, towns, and ships belonging to a peaceable unsuspecting people, with whom his nation was at peace, and from whom opposition was not to be dreaded? What, indeed, did the people at that time say? Those who were the sufferers cried out loudly against the plunderer; and Bernardine de Mendoza, the Spanish Ambassador at the court of Queen Elizabeth, insisted that he should be punished for his robberies, and that all the money and effects he had seized should be restored; but, if the Queen was a private adventurer, as, from Drake’s declaration to his followers, and from other instances of the womanish littlenesses of that Princess, there is reason to suspect, What hope was there of justice or restitution from remonstrance? Indeed, it served that avaricious Queen for a pretence to sequester the treasure which Drake brought home, and to convert, it is probable, the greatest part of it to her own use; for, as we have already shewn from good authority in a note, though the whole booty was valued at 800,000l. yet only 80,000l. was divided among the plunderers; and Rapin tells us, that some part of the treasure was afterwards repaid by the Queen to Spain. If she had not retained enough in her hands, no one will suppose, that the Sovereign, who could cause the goods of her favourite Leicester to be set to public sale after his death, for the payment of money she had lent him, would have repaid to Spain from her own coffers the plunder that had been unjustly taken by one of her meaner subjects.

To dignify actions, therefore, of the most infamous piracy with the name of great, is to exalt vice, and to substitute successful villainy in the place of substantial virtue. If we view Drake in the light of a courageous plunderer, he may vie with the De la Poles, the Blackbeards, or any of those daring disturbers of the times in which they lived, who struck a panic wherever they roved to commit their ravages: but, consider him as a Commander, employed in the defence of his country, and we shall see nothing to admire, except his courage. In the first enterprize in which he was engaged, he was indeed successful. The Queen, suspecting an intention in Philip of Spain to revenge the injuries his subjects had received, pitched upon Drake, who had given the offence, as the fittest man to prevent the consequences. He, therefore, as he had done before, attacked the enemy by surprize, and set fire to a defenceless number of transports assembled in the harbour of Cadiz, without a ship of war to protect them, or a gun fired by way of opposition. The accident which afterwards threw the rich India ship in his way, on his return home, did him no honour as a Commander, though it gave him credit as a fortunate adventurer: nor did his behaviour in the Channel, when, instead of maintaining his post, he pursued the Hans merchant ships, add at all to his reputation as a Vice-Admiral. His American enterprize with Lord Carlisle was attended with no laurels; and the only two enterprizes in which he was employed in a joint command, he ruined by his perfidy and self-conceit.

It may, indeed, be urged in Drake’s defence, that it was the policy of the Queen his Sovereign, to countenance her subjects in distressing Spain, and in mortifying the haughty monarch who sat upon the throne; and that almost all the heroes of her active reign, acquired their glory by practices founded on the same prevailing principle.

This argument in his favour cannot be denied its due wright. The expeditions of Sir John Hawkins; of Sir Walter Raleigh; of Lord Carlisle; of Sir John Norris; of the Earl of Essex; of Cavendish; and, indeed, of most others undertaken against Spain; were professedly with a view to plunder; and the charges of fitting them out were chiefly borne by those who were to be sharers in the booty: yet, surely, there is a material difference between the glory that is purchased by valour in the field, and fame that is acquired by compacts to surprize the innocent, and invade the property of the peaceable.

Having now seen Drake in two distinct points of view, as a leader of a company of plunderers, and as a Commander in the royal navy, let us do justice to his character by viewing him as a mariner, and in that light he will hardly have his equal. To project a voyage round the globe, and to conduct it without the assistance of a single mariner on board who had ever crossed the Line, Nuno da Silva, the Portuguese pilot, excepted, was, perhaps, one of the boldest exploits that ever man performed. His navigating his ships along the coast of Brazil; his carrying them through the straits of Magellan in a shorter time than any mariner has ever done since; his keeping the sea in a storm for thirty days together; his skill in navigating the coasts of Chili, Peru, and New Spain, where no English ship had ever sailed; his accuracy in discovering the track of the Spanish ship from the East Indies, and his consummate sagacity in pursuing a new course home to avoid pursuers; cannot be enough admired or applauded. His knowledge of the globe is manifest from the first attempt he made to return home by a northern passage; a passage which he knew would not only secure him from the danger of pursuers, but, were it practicable, would open a free intercourse between his nation and the rich inhabitants of that opulent country in which he was then situated. Finding himself, however, disappointed in this design, how great was his sagacity in the discovery of an unknown country, wherein to repair his ship, refresh his followers, take in wood and water, and to supply himself with every necessary for the vast voyage by sea he was to encounter; and yet, such was his knowledge in making provision against every contingency that might happen, that he lost but one man by sickness during the long run from the coast of New Spain to the Ladrones, in which Commodore Anson lost near half his crew. Nor is his skill less to be admired in his return from the Ladrones, the most dangerous navigation of any part of the known world; for, except the accident upon the rock, as has already been related, he sailed from the Ladrones to Java unembarrassed; from Java to Sierra Leona, on the coast of Africa, without touching at any port, or encountering any difficulty, save from a scarcity of water; a thing hardly to be credited, and which was never performed by any mariner before his time, or since.