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 HISTORY 1 
 
emli^i) Mm of Slrtion 
 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 
 
First Edition 1890 
 Reprinted xZtjA,, February 1898, igoi, 1902, 1907, 1908, 191 1 
 
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 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 
 
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 
 
 BY 
 
 JULIAN CORBETT 
 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 
 ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 
 
 19 11 
 
11 
 
 HISTOR/ I 
 
 • • * 
 
 • . '.• I : •• ••• • 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Reformation Man ..... i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 The Spanish Main 16 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Mule-Trains 32 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Gloriana and her Knights .... 47 
 
 CHAPTER Y 
 An Ocean Tragedy ...... 62 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Waking the South Sea ..... 76 
 
 251275 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Great Mistake ...... 88 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 The Dragon Loosed . . . . . . 98 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 Singeing the King of Spain's Beard . . 112 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 In Quest of the Spanish Armada . . .130 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 The Battle of Gravelines . . . .148 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Drake's Armada . . . . . .172 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 The Last Treasure- Hunt .... 189 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE REFORMATION MAN 
 
 Of all the heroes whose exploits have set our history 
 aglow with romance there is not one who so soon passed 
 into legend as Francis Drake. He was not dead before 
 his life became a fairy tale, and he himself as indistinct 
 as Sir Guy of AVarwick or Croquemitaine. His exploits 
 loomed in mythical extravagance through the mists in 
 which, for high reasons of State, they long remained 
 enveloped, and to the people he seemed some boisterous 
 hero of a folk-tale outwitting and belabouring a clumsy 
 
 ogre. 
 
 And that our Drake might David parallel, 
 A mass of Man, a gyant he did quell. 
 
 So punned a west- country Protestant; and even 
 now the most chastened explorer of pay-sheets and 
 reports cannot save his imagination from the taint of 
 the same irrational exultation that possessed the 
 Admiral's contemporaries. The soberest chroniclers 
 reeled with unscholarly gait as they told the tale, and 
 the most dignified historians made pedantic apology 
 for the capers they felt forced to cut. From his cradle 
 
2 SIR PRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 to his grave the story is one long draught of strong 
 waters, and the very first sip intoxicates. Peer into 
 the mists that fitly shroud his birth and all is dark, 
 till on a sudden the veil is riven with an outburst of 
 Catholic fury. Then, while the flash of the explosion 
 illuminates the scene, a small party of desperate Protest- 
 ants are seen flying for their lives, and in their midst 
 a blue-eyed, curly-haired child, scarce out of babyhood, 
 who is Francis Drake. 
 
 So Reformation set her seal in his forehead at the 
 outset. It was in the year 1549, when Edward the 
 Sixth was king, and on Whitsunday the new service- 
 book was to be read for the first time throughout the 
 realm. To the fervent simplicity of the west-country 
 folk, to whom the mass was the beginning and the end 
 of religion, it was as though Christ were being banished 
 from the earth, and ere the week was out all Devon and 
 Cornwall were in a blaze of religious riot. In the heart 
 of the conflagration lay Tavistock, where still green 
 memories of the kindly monks added fuel to the flames. 
 Little mercy was there in the shadow of the old abbey 
 walls for active partisans of the new order. About the 
 great centres of trade there was now growing up on 
 the ruins of the INIiddle Ages a party democratic in 
 politics and religion, the nucleus of the revolutions 
 to come, and of such was little Francis's father, Edmund 
 Drake. He had once been a sailor they say, and that 
 is not unlikely. For his kinsman, old AVilliam Hawkins, 
 like his father before him, was a great merchant and 
 shipowner of Plymouth, and, first of all Englishmen, 
 had sailed to the Brazils in King Henry's time. Now, 
 however, Edmund Drake had taken his place among 
 
BORN INTO A FEUD 
 
 the lesser western gentry-, and was settled down in sub- 
 stantial comfort at Crowndale, hard by the town of 
 Tavistock.^ There he had won himself powerful friends, 
 as a strong " Reformation man " Avith a turn for preach- 
 ing, which in those days, when politics and religion 
 Avere not yet divorced, took the place of political 
 speaking. The great Earl of Bedford, himself the most 
 powerful of the Protestant leaders, bestowed upon him 
 his patronage. The Earl's eldest son, Francis Russell, held 
 the preacher's first-born at the font, and endowed him 
 with his own name, as he afterwards endowed Francis 
 Bacon. Thus honourably the flail of the Papacy was 
 baptized into the Protestant faith; but now the preacher's 
 great friends were only a source of danger. There could 
 be for him no thought but flight. The most powerful 
 of his political patrons could not shield him Avhere he 
 was ; for the Earl himself, with all the forces he could 
 muster at his back, dared not approach within fifty 
 miles of his own seat at Tavistock. But in the good 
 Protestant town of Plymouth Edmund Drake had 
 friends to shelter him, for William Hawkins and his 
 sons owned a great part of the town. Out in the 
 harbour lay St. Nicholas island, which in the years to 
 come was to be honoured with the blue-eyed baby's 
 
 ^ The idea that Drake was of low birth seems to have arisen 
 from a misapprehension of tlie word "mean," by which con- 
 temporary translators rendered Camden's mediocri loco. We 
 should now write "moderate birth" or "middle class." The 
 patient investigations of Dr. Drake and others have shown clearly 
 that the Diakes of Tavistock freely intermarried with the lesser 
 Devon gentry, and Francis Drake not only seems to have borne 
 arms before the Queen's grant (Peralta, Costa Rica, etc., p. 583), 
 but was in the habit of using those she gave him as an augmentation 
 upon his family coat. 
 
4 S/J? FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 name, and there, as a throng of fugitives gathers for 
 sanctuary, darkness falls upon the preacher's flight. 
 
 But it is only to startle us again out of all sobriety 
 when next the veil is lifted, so like a fairy tale the 
 truth appears. In Chatham reach, off the new dockyard, 
 was the anchorage where the navy ships were laid up 
 when out of commission, and there too lay veteran war- 
 hulks slowly rotting to death. So well had Edmund 
 Drake's friends stood by him that one of these had been 
 assigned to him as a dwelling-place, and with it an official 
 appointment as Reader of prayers to the Royal Navy. 
 To such a nursery had Catholic devotion driven the 
 most redoubtable of its enemies. What wonder that it 
 bred a crusading sea-king ! The clatter of the ship- 
 wrights' hammers in the dockyard, the sea-songs of the 
 mariners as they polished the idle guns, the fierce and 
 intemperate denunciations of his father's friends vowing 
 vengeance on the " idolaters who had defiled the House 
 of God," — such were the first sounds his dawning intelli- 
 gence learnt to grasp. His eyes could rest nowhere but 
 on masts, and guns, and the towering hulks of the warships 
 which lay anchored about his floating home. His very play- 
 things were instruments of destruction ; the prayer he 
 lisped at his mother's knee was little better than a curse. 
 
 So passed the first years of his boyhood, and year 
 after year was born another sturdy little Protestant till 
 Edmund Drake had round him twelve young champions of 
 his hot opinions. " As it pleased God," the old chronicler 
 rejoiced to say, "to give most of them a being on the 
 water, so the greatest part of them died at sea." Boys 
 whose lullaby had been the rush of the tide and the 
 hum of the wind in the standing rigging were marked 
 
A TURBULENT NURSERY 
 
 by destiny for a sailor's life, and the influence which 
 their father commanded seemed to open the navy to 
 their ambition. But as Francis approached the age of 
 apprenticeship all his interest was lost at a stroke. In 
 the summer of 1553 the sickly young king breathed 
 his last, and a Catholic princess reigned in his stead. 
 Drake's party found itself fallen from the Delectable 
 Mountains of Patronage into the Valley of the Shadow 
 of Death, and soon Protestant England was chafing omin- 
 ously at the news that Mary was to marry with the 
 Prince of Spain. The new faith, the very independence 
 of England seemed at stake, and it was under young 
 Drake's eyes that the storm of opposition burst. He 
 must have seen Wyatt ride into Eochester and establish 
 his headquarters in the castle. He must have heard him 
 call on all true Englishmen to rally to his standard to 
 save the country from the Pope and Spain. He must 
 have seen the fleet in the Medway supplying the patriot 
 rebel with artillery, and shouted with the rest to see the 
 Duke of Norfolk recoil before Wyatt's banner from 
 Rochester bridge. Then came the pause while London 
 was beleaguered, and then the block and gibbet were 
 busy with those who had failed. Friends, namesakes, 
 perhaps even kinsmen of the Drakes, suffered with poor 
 Wyatt, and Francis was at least old enough to know it 
 was because they had lifted their hands against Spain 
 and Eome. For the issue was so clear, and feeling so 
 intense, that children forgot their games to play at 
 politics. They snowballed the suite of the Spanish 
 Ambassador, they fought mock combats between Wyatt 
 and the Prince of Spain, and once were barely prevented 
 from hanging the lad who represented Philip. 
 
6 S/J^ FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 These were the boy's first recollections, and upon them 
 came a rude change of fortune to heap up the hate that 
 was gathering in his masterful temper for Kome and 
 Spain. The preacher's occupation was gone, his pro- 
 spects shattered, and he had to seize any opportunity 
 to launch his sons into the world. Francis was appren- 
 ticed to the skipper of a small craft that traded to 
 France and Holland. It was a poor end to his brighter 
 expectations. The hardships of a ship-boy on board a 
 Channel coaster in those days are to us inconceivable. 
 In danger, privation, and exposure, the lad was moulded 
 into the man, and even as his frame was being rudely 
 forged into the thick-set solidity that distinguished his 
 manhood, so was his spirit being tempered in the subtlest 
 medium that destiny could have chosen. As he 
 passed to and fro upon the narrow seas in the months 
 of his hottest youth, he Avas plunged into the most 
 violent religious passion which the Reformation ever 
 evoked. For ere he was well on the threshold of 
 manhood, Philip was goading his Low Country subjects 
 into a frenzj' with his insane persecutions. On quay, 
 and market, and shipboard the horror of the Inquisition 
 was the only talk, and the Flemings were flying for 
 sanctuary to England. Elizabeth, who had now begun 
 her reign, received them Avith open arms, and the 
 preacher too held up his head as the tide turned once 
 more. His Devonshire friends and patrons were those 
 who had stood most stoutly by the young princess in 
 the darkest hours of her danger. They were now all- 
 powerful, and Edmund Drake Avas gladdened with tll^ 
 living of Upchurch on the MedAvay. Fortune smiled 
 on Francis no less. His master died, and out of love 
 
THE HAWKINS BROTHERS 
 
 for the lad who had served him so well left him the 
 vessel on which he had been apprenticed. The young 
 skipper could thus begin to trade on his own account; and 
 it can hardly have been but that he brought over bands of 
 Flemish refugees, and caught from them something of their 
 defiant and implacable attitude towards their persecutor. 
 Year by year the grumbling of the coming storm 
 grew louder, and the narrow seas began to swarm with 
 Protestant rovers revenging themselves with wanton 
 cruelty upon Catholic ships. England was their base 
 and market, and at last, in January, 1564, Spain, in a fit 
 of just exasperation, closed her ports and seized every 
 English vessel on which she could lay her hands. Drake's 
 trade was stopped, but it mattered little. He sold his 
 vessel and entered the service of his two kinsmen, old 
 William Hawkins's adventurous sons. A wiser step he 
 could not have taken. The brothers, already large ship- 
 owners at Plymouth and London, were more than 
 maintaining the family name for skill and enterprise. 
 Captain John, the younger brother, had just returned 
 triumphant from that first slaving voyage of his which so 
 darkly ushered in the grandest era of English maritime ad- 
 venture. The shareholders were revelling in an unheard-of 
 profit, and court, commerce, and admiralty were bowing 
 before the brothers as society now caresses the last 
 enthroned financial king. In October, 1564, John Haw- 
 kins sailed again to repeat his happy venture, but 
 Drake did not accompany him. As soon as diplomacy 
 had removed the embargo he had sailed as purser of a 
 .^Jifip, belonging probably to William Hawkins, to the 
 Biscayan province of Spain, and once more it seems as 
 though the finger of Destiny had beckoned him there to 
 
8 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 show the work lie was born to do. St. Sebastian was 
 the chief port of Biscaya, and there at this moment were 
 creeping from the pestilential dungeons of the Inquisi- 
 tion the remnants of a Plymouth crew, who had been 
 seized when the embargo was first proclaimed. In six 
 months half of them had rotted to death, and it may 
 even have been that his ship brought home the broken 
 wretches that survived. 
 
 So successful was John Hawkins's second voyage, and 
 so alarming the activity it bred in the English ports, 
 that Spain began to tremble for her monopoly of the 
 western trade. She had absolutely forbidden her 
 American subjects to traffic with foreigners, and particu- 
 larly in negro slaves, and so indignantly did the Am- 
 bassador protest against Hawkins's conduct, that the 
 Council, still ignorant of their strength, felt themselves 
 obliged to bind him over the following year not to go to 
 the Indies. But if he did not go, an expedition went. 
 It was under the command of a Captain Lovell, one of 
 the forgotten pioneers of North America, and with it 
 sailed Francis Drake. It was his first sight of the 
 fabled Indies, and one he never forgot. For in attempting 
 to set the prohibition at defiance in the port of La 
 Hacha, on the Spanish Main, they found themselves the 
 victims of some treacherous stratagem which sent them 
 home with the loss of all their venture. 
 
 It was a blow Drake never forgot nor forgave, but in 
 the following year the attempt was not repeated, and he 
 sought to recoup his shattered fortunes by serving in a 
 voyage to Guinea. It was probably that under Captain 
 George Fenner ; and, if so, he must have witnessed that 
 brilliant engagement, in which for two days with his 
 
THE MERCANTILE MARINE 
 
 own single ship and a pinnace Fenner fought and finally 
 drove off a great Portuguese galleasse and six gunboats. 
 It was the first action of a long and glorious series, and 
 the news of it came most timely to add its inch to the 
 lengthening stride of the epic. For the Netherlands 
 were sullenly turning upon their Spanish governor, the 
 English Catholics were staring dumbfoundered at the 
 blackened relics of Darnley's murder, and Elizabeth felt 
 she could for the present snap her fingers at the Spanish 
 Ambassador and indulge in a little more buccaneering. 
 
 It was her favourite investment. For her the risk 
 was small and the hopes of profit too rosy to be resisted. 
 It seems strange conduct for a great Queen, but she had 
 to encourage adventurous commerce, on which, in those 
 days of a half- established navy, England's maritime 
 position depended. The ro3'al ships were merely a 
 nucleus round which armed merchantmen gathered in 
 time of war. It was as natural for the Queen to employ 
 her ships in commerce while the realm was at peace, as 
 it was for shipowners to accept a charter-party from the 
 admiralty at the outbreak of a war. The mercantile 
 marine then formed what we should now call the naval 
 reserve. The situation was perfectly understood and 
 recognised by both Government and shipowners. Private 
 cruisers were a necessity to every considerable owner. 
 He kept them, as large firms now insure their own 
 ships ; and at a time when the diplomatic system was 
 not yet established, a merchant who considered himself 
 injured abroad had more faith in reprisals with his 
 cruisers than in complaints to his Government. 
 
 In such a state of things it is hardly to be wondered 
 at that the line was not always very sharply defined 
 
lO SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 between naval and commercial expeditions. In the 
 present case there is little doubt that both the Hawkinses 
 and Elizabeth had scores to settle in connection with 
 the La Hacha affair, and the rough usage of the last 
 expedition to Guinea. The Queen's name, of course, did 
 not appear. It never did. It was nominally a venture 
 by Sir William Garrard and Co., in which the Hawkinses 
 were the largest subscribers. The Queen's contribution 
 was two ships of war. This was her usual practice. They 
 cost her nothing. They had merely to be valued — 
 not often, it would seem, much below their worth — and 
 Her Majesty then stood as a shareholder to the extent 
 of the valuation. Not a penny of cash was she wont 
 to provide. The Company had even to fit out the ships 
 for sea. She had but little to lose and everything to 
 gain, and the temptation to filibuster under such terms 
 is not difficult to appreciate. 
 
 Such was the expedition which on October 2nd, 1567, 
 sailed out of Plymouth harbour with John Hawkins as 
 admiral, and Francis Drake as pilot or second officer 
 of his ship.^ It consisted of the Jesus and the Minion 
 of Her Majesty's navy, and four other vessels which the 
 Company had chartered of the Hawkinses. In no way 
 did it differ from a naval squadron. It had its admiral, 
 its vice-admiral, and its captain of the land forces. 
 It had every kind of munition of the latest type ; it 
 even carried field-artillery, and its crews had been com- 
 pleted by the pressgang. The first rendezvous was 
 fixed at the Canaries, and thence early in November the 
 squadron sailed for the Avest coast of Africa. They were 
 
 1 Memories dr. los Corsarios Ingleses . . . en las Indias, S. P. 
 Spain, 1580, bundle xviii. 
 
t SLAVE-TRADING II 
 
 now well within the Portuguese sphere of action, and 
 no time was lost in exacting reprisals for Fenner's ill- 
 usage. Trade in these regions was carried on in vessels 
 called caravels. They were rigged and fitted like 
 galleys, with a lofty square poop, and being of light 
 draught, they were admirably adapted for entering the 
 rivers and inlets where the trade was done. One of 
 these was picked up before the squadron reached Cape 
 Blanc, and on the way to Cape Verde another was 
 sighted. It had been captured by a Frenchman, but 
 this made no difference to Hawkins. The Minion gave 
 chase, and took it without compunction. It proved to 
 be a smart new craft of one hundred and fifty tons, and 
 as two pinnaces had been lost in the foul weather that 
 had prevailed, it was permanently attached to the squad- 
 ron, and Francis Drake placed in command. 
 
 For three months the squadron continued on the 
 coast hunting for negroes and Portuguese caravels, and 
 Drake, in the Grace, of God, was not behindhand in 
 landing and burning and cutting out. It was work he 
 could enjoy without compunction, though he was as 
 religious as Hawkins himself and quite as humane. 
 The institution of the slave-trade was the first genuine 
 attempt at the abolition of slavery. Las Casas himself, 
 the apostle of the Indies, the father of philanthropy, 
 had been its ardent advocate. Forced labour in the 
 American mines and plantations was rapidly extermin- 
 ating the natives. By importing black labour from the 
 pestilential heathendom of Africa to the Christian 
 paradise in the west, the saintly missionary thought 
 not only to confer a temporal and spiritual blessing 
 upon the negroes themselves, but also to save the 
 
12 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Indians without ruining the colonists. So fairly did 
 the idea promise, that it seemed an inspiration from 
 Heaven. Its evils, of course, soon pronounced them- 
 selves, and Philip had forbidden the trade except under 
 special license from himself. Of this the English 
 understood nothing ; and the old Puritan captains went 
 on hunting slaves, just as they prayed and fought, with 
 all their heart and with all their strength, and never 
 knew a reason why they should not. 
 
 By the end of January some five hundred negroes 
 had been collected, and the squadron sailed for the 
 Spanish Main. The French captain seems to have been 
 persuaded to join hands with Hawkins, for Drake was 
 transferred to the Judith, a barque of fifty tons and one 
 of the original squadron. In seven weeks they were 
 lying off the island of Margarita. It was the depot 
 from which were supplied the struggling settlements on 
 the Spanish Main, as the north coast of South America 
 was then called, and here in spite of the Spaniards' 
 protests the fleet quietly revictualled. It had now been 
 five months at sea, and in those days ships' bottoms grew 
 so quickly foul that it was already necessary to clean 
 them. With the same effrontery which marked their 
 dealings at Margarita, the well-stored squadron put into 
 a lonely little port somewhere between Caracas and 
 Coro in the Golfe Triste, and there for two months they 
 stayed, leisurely careening, scraping, and refitting their 
 weather-beaten ships. 
 
 Then trade began in earnest, and as lawfully as might 
 be. It is a story that has been told more than once in 
 the glorious and disreputable annals of British enter- 
 prise, and not so long ago about opium on the coast of 
 
I HOW HAWKINS DID BUSINESS 13 
 
 China. The Spaniards of course refused to buy negroes, 
 as the Chinese refused to buy opium ; but Hawkins knew 
 it was only because of a stringent Covernment order that 
 they must pretend to obey. He had only as a rule to urge 
 the comity of nations and the old commercial treaties 
 between England and Spain for the Spaniards to buy 
 his dearly coveted wares. If these arguments failed he 
 had another, which at La Hacha was sure to be wanted. 
 Thither the Judith and another ship were sent, and at 
 once were fired on. For five days they blockaded the 
 port, and then Hawkins came round with the rest 
 of the squadron. The field-guns and two hundred 
 musketeers were landed, the defences stormed, and the 
 town cleared of Spaniards. At night they began to 
 steal back to trade in secret. Governor and all, and 
 Hawkins did not leave till he had thus sold two hundred 
 negroes. 
 
 So the game continued, till the ships were so loaded 
 with gold and pearls that Hawkins would not risk 
 another action, and sailed away northward to take up 
 the Gulf Stream for the homeward voyage. No sooner, 
 however, had he passed the Yucatan channel than two 
 hurricanes shattered his fleet and drove it deep into the 
 Gulf of Mexico. To proceed was impossible without 
 refitting, and he boldly put into Vera Cruz. San Juan 
 de Ulua, as it was then called, was the port of the 
 city of Mexico itself, and twelve large ships laden with 
 gold and silver lay in the harbour waiting for the rest 
 of the Plate fleet and its convoy. They were hourly 
 expected, and next day they arrived off" the port to find 
 it in the possession of Hawkins. The whole year's 
 produce of the Indies was thus at his mercy. The galleons 
 
14 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 within the port were defenceless, and the fleet outside 
 must be utterly destroyed by the first gale unless he 
 permitted it to enter. Never had such a draught been 
 held to an Englishman's lips. But John Hawkins was 
 honest and discreet enough to resist the temptation, 
 and a formal convention was made by which the 
 Spaniards were to be allowed to come in and the 
 English to refit. 
 
 Hawkins scrupulously observed the terms of the 
 agreement, but Don Martin Enriquez, the new Viceroy of 
 Mexico, who was with the fleet, had come out with special 
 orders about that "enemy of God," John Hawkins, 
 and he saw too well a road to high favour with Philip. 
 For three days the English were suffered to dismantle 
 their ships, and then, in spite of oaths and hostages and 
 the sacred word of the Viceroy as a gentleman and a 
 soldier, they were treacherously attacked. Though the 
 surprise was complete, a desperate resistance was made. 
 Four Spanish ships were sunk, the flagship reduced to 
 a wreck, over five hundred of their men slain, and at 
 last it was only by fire-ships that Hawkins could be 
 dislodged. The Jesus, the Minion, and the little Judith 
 were all that got clear, and Drake himself, it is said, 
 only escaped by swarming on board along a hawser. 
 The rest of the ships Avere lost, and so shattered 
 was the Jesus that she had to be abandoned with 
 all the immense proceeds of the voyage. Crowded 
 with the crews of the lost ships, riddled with shot, and 
 only half-victualled, the Minion and the Judith began to 
 stagger homewards, while the Spaniards enjoyed their 
 ill-gotten success. In all those wars it was by far 
 the richest victory which the Spaniards gained over 
 
COSTLY TREACHERY 15 
 
 the English, and of all the most dearly purchased ; 
 for not only did it win for Philip and his perjured 
 Viceroy the mortal enmity of John Hawkins and 
 Francis Drake, but it showed them the path to their 
 
 revenge. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE SPANISH MAIN 
 
 In England the news of the disaster produced a pro- 
 found sensation. It may fairly be said to mark the 
 opening of a new book in the great epic of the Reforma- 
 tion. For the first time the long commercial intimacy 
 between England and Spain received a rude shock, and 
 from that shock it pined and died. Hitherto the party 
 in the Council that believed England's true policy to 
 be a policy of alliance with Spain had more than held 
 their own ; but on January 23rd, 1569, a weather-beaten 
 man was riding post from Plymouth along the London 
 road with the tidings which were destined at last to 
 turn the scale. 
 
 That man was Francis Drake. He had been the first 
 to arrive from the perilous voyage. Since the fatal 
 night he had seen nothing of his kinsman. He 
 had put into Plymouth in great extremity, and in 
 spite of his long privations, had been despatched by 
 William Hawkins post-haste to the Council on the spot. 
 It was in a critical moment that he came. Alarmed by 
 the restlessness of the Northern Catholics and the sus- 
 picious preparations which Philip's Viceroy, the Duke 
 of Alva, was making in the Netherlands, Elizabeth was 
 "taking care" of a large treasure which had been 
 
CHAP. II A CRITICAL MOMENT 17 
 
 chased into her ports by the Protestant rovers in the 
 Channel. It was monej- borrowed to pay Alva's army, 
 and the Spanish Ambassador was loudly protesting. 
 Determined not to let it go, the Queen was yet at her 
 wits' end for an excuse for keeping her hold, and Drake 
 reached the Council doors in the nick of time. At the 
 moment when the Ambassador was pressing his claim 
 with a cogency that was not to be resisted, he suddenly 
 found himself recoiling before a new argument. For the 
 Queen was parrying his home-thrust with demands for 
 an explanation of the outrage offered to her trusty mer- 
 chant; and, till satisfaction was given, she was flatly 
 refusing to loose her hold on the treasure. 
 
 A few days later Hawkins arrived in a worse case 
 than Drake. At first he accused his kinsman of having 
 deserted him, but in the official inquiry, which was 
 immediately held, the accusation was not repeated. He 
 had probably been satisfied with the explanation Drake 
 would naturally have given him, that, as he was already 
 overloaded and short of provisions, he thought it his 
 duty to get home as quickly as possible. 
 
 Drake was not present at the inquiry. While he 
 was waiting for the result of the Queen's demands for 
 redress on behalf of her fellow -adventurers, he took 
 service in the navy. The Queen's retention of the 
 treasure had been followed by embargoes on both sides. 
 Trade with Spain was stopped, war with France was 
 imminent, and Sir William Wynter was sent out with a 
 strong fleet under orders to relieve the French rebels 
 in Eochelle and convoy the English merchant fleets to 
 the Baltic, where the swelling trade of the country had 
 pushed a new outlet. It was under him that Drake 
 
 c 
 
i8 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 probably served, and in his school learnt all that the 
 royal service could teach. 
 
 In the summer he got leave, and on July 4 th was 
 married to Mary Newman, a Devonshire girl, who lived 
 at St. Budeaux close by the town of Plymouth. But he 
 can have had but little leisure to enjoy his new happi- 
 ness. For England was passing through one of the 
 greatest crises of all her history, and every one knew it. 
 Men believed that the ensuing year would decide the 
 fate of the Reformation, and a presentiment of coming 
 evil hung over the nation. In the Avinter the insurrec- 
 tion of the Northern Catholics prematurely exploded, 
 and though it was easily smothered, the success of the 
 Government did little to relieve the situation. The 
 dawn of the year 1570 was darkened with the threaten- 
 ing shadow of a crusade for the release of Mary Stuart. 
 England resounded with warlike preparations ; the 
 forces of the south and west were mobilised ; every 
 available ship was being brought forward for service ; 
 and John Hawkins was equipping a force which Avas 
 supposed to be under orders to intercept the Plate fleet 
 at the Azores. We see all England at this moment 
 agitated by the rough gusts that herald the storm ; we 
 see her overshadowed with Avar- clouds ; the horizon 
 blackens Avith coming danger, and like a gleam of hope 
 the Avhite sails of two small vessels scudding westward 
 out of Plymouth harbour detach themseh^es brightly 
 against the surrounding gloom. 
 
 The secrecy which shrouded this daring expedition is 
 still impenetrable. It was only knoAvn that Francis 
 Drake had sailed with tAvo small vessels, the Dragon and 
 the Swan, to reconnoitre the Spanish Indies till he found 
 
II FIRST STEPS TO REPRISAL 19 
 
 at the very well-spring of her life a point where some 
 terrible wound could be inflicted on England's enemy. 
 In England it was always beheved to be a private 
 venture for revenge, which began and ended with Drake 
 himself. Like Hawkins, he was burning to rescue from 
 the clutch of the Inquisition the comrades of the last 
 voyage who had fallen into the hands of the Spaniards. 
 Diplomacy had failed to obtain redress for their losses, 
 and both were bent on reprisals. Still, when we con- 
 sider the demand there was at this moment for naval 
 officers, with what care the intelligence department was 
 being organised, and finally how the expedition was pre- 
 pared under the eyes of Drake's old patron, William 
 Hawkins, who was now Governor of Plymouth, it is im- 
 possible to believe that the Government was not in some 
 way concerned. Without the incentive of a special 
 mission Drake would hardly have sailed Avhile his old 
 commander was hourly expecting to be loosed on the 
 Plate fleet ; and the truth most probably is that Hawkins 
 had suggested the possibility of reprisals in the Indies, 
 that his idea had been favourably received as being less 
 likely to lead to an open rupture than action in Europe, 
 and that he had employed Drake to secure the necessary 
 information. 
 
 In the following year the expedition Avas repeated 
 with the 8wa% only. Whatever Drake did and whatever 
 he saw, the effect of these two adventurous voyages was 
 to earn him a reputation for humanity with the Spaniards 
 and beget in him a magnificent contempt for their power. 
 He returned with his head full of a scheme so wild in its 
 daring that in the bare contemplation of its extravagance 
 we seem transported into the world of the Seven 
 
20 S/J? FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Champions. Spain bestrid the world like a Colossus, 
 half Ei;rope was crawling between its legs, and Drake 
 was volunteering with a jest on his lips to steal the hen 
 that laid the giant's golden eggs. The two years of 
 danger through which the State had just passed had bred 
 a spirit ripe to applaud such an enterprise. Elizabeth's 
 excommunication, and the discovery of the great Ridolphi 
 plot, had filled her with an ugly desire for retaliation 
 both against Rome and Spain, and the relations between 
 London and Madrid were strained once more to breaking- 
 point. Although at last she wisely smiled upon Alva's 
 suggestion that they should kiss and be friends yet a 
 little while, an adder's poison was imder her lips. In 
 deference to the Proconsul's wishes she refused any 
 longer to harbour the savage De la Marck and his 
 Beggars of the Sea under the guns of her Cinque- 
 Ports ; but the Governor of Plymouth received no orders 
 to stay two ■wicked little craft which under his very 
 eyes were being fitted out with every device which the 
 latest science could suggest. 
 
 For Francis Drake had found friends to back his wild 
 scheme, and on Whitsunday eve. May 24th, 1572, he 
 sailed out of Plymouth Sound on board the Pasha, of 
 seventy tons, and in his wake was the little Sivan, of 
 twenty-five, in command of his brother John. Another 
 brother, Joseph, was with him too, and John Oxenham 
 of tragic memory, and others Avhose names were destined 
 to be not entirely lost in the coming blaze of brilliant 
 reputations. The Spaniards always said the Queen was 
 among those who subscribed the cost, but be that as 
 it may, no ship in her navy was better furnished than 
 these. In all respects they might have been Her 
 
11 HIS LAIR DISCOVERED 21 
 
 Majesty's own men-of-war, and yet the whole project 
 wears the air of a schoolboy's escapade. The crews 
 all told, men and boys, numbered but seventy-three 
 souls ; there was but one of them had reached 
 the age of thirty, and their modest end was nothing 
 less than to seize the port of Nombre de Dios, and 
 empty into their holds the Treasure -House of the 
 World. 
 
 On his previous voyage in the lonely depths of the Gulf 
 of Darien, Drake had discovered a little landlocked bay.^ 
 Here he had buried his surplus stores, and here on July 
 1 2th he hove-to his tiny squadron. Secure in the solitude 
 of these untrodden shores, he intended at his leisure to 
 set up three dainty pinnaces which he had brought 
 from Plymouth in pieces, and with which the attack 
 was to be made. No sooner, however, had his boat 
 passed the narrow entrance of his hiding-place, than he 
 saw smoke rising out of the dense tropical forest in 
 which it was embosomed. His fastness had been 
 profaned, and after returning to the ships for more 
 strength and arms, he went ashore and boldly plunged 
 into the tangled vegetation to solve the mystery. Not 
 a soul was to be seen, but a leaden tablet met his view, 
 informing him that some prisoners whom last year, in 
 defiance of all precedent, he had released instead of 
 drowning, had betrayed his hiding-place, and that the 
 Spaniards had removed his stores. One of his former 
 crew had conducted a rover called Garrett to the spot, 
 but, in alarm to find the place had been discovered by 
 the Spaniards, he had hurried away, and the only traces 
 
 1 Probably the lower Puerto Escondido (Hidden Harbour) marked 
 on Keith Johnston's map. 
 
22 STR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 left of him were the kindly Avarning on the leaden 
 tablet and the smoulderina; fire. 
 
 But Drake was not so easily daunted. He had fixed 
 on the spot for setting up his pinnaces, and he did not 
 mean to leave it till they were afloat. The ships were 
 brought in, a pentagonal entrenchment marked out on 
 the shore, and all hands were soon hard at work clearing 
 the ground about it and hauling the felled trees together 
 to make an abattis for its defence. 
 
 So protected, the carpenters next day got to work 
 on the pinnaces, but it was only to be interrupted by 
 the appearance of a suspicious squadron bearing straight 
 for the harbour. It consisted of a ship, a caravel, and a 
 launch or shallop. It proved to be nothing worse than 
 a vessel of Sir Edward Horsey's, Captain James Ranse, 
 with two Spanish prizes in company. Ned Horsey had 
 been a notable pirate in the old wild days when Mary 
 was on the throne, and any man in his employ was not 
 likely to prove bad company for a venture like the one 
 in hand. No sooner had Ranse heard what was in the 
 wind than he begged to stand in with Drake, and 
 the two rovers, with all the solemnity of ink and wax, 
 drew up a deed of partnership. 
 
 In a week the pinnaces were ready, and the com- 
 bined squadron stole out of its hiding-place. Proceeding 
 north-Avestward along the coast, on the third day they 
 reached some fir-clad islands, Avhich they called Islas dc 
 Pinos. Here, too, they found themselves forestalled. 
 Some negroes Avere in possession, loading planks and 
 timber into tAvo frigates or small galleys from Nombre 
 de Dios. The men Avere seized and eagerly questioned 
 for news of the state of the toAvn. Their information 
 
11 THE MAROONS 23 
 
 was as bad as it could be. The waste of hill and 
 forest that lay on either side of the road from Panama 
 to Nombre de Dios was occupied by a savage black 
 people whom the Spaniards called Cimarrones, a word 
 our seamen corrupted into Maroons. Eighty years ago 
 a number of African slaves had been driven by the 
 cruelty of their masters to take to the woods, and 
 having found favour in the eyes of the Indian women, 
 they had now grown into two great tribes, whose terrible 
 mission it was to rob, and kill, and torture every 
 Spaniard on whom they could lay their hands. Filled 
 with the savage cruelty natural to so mongrel a 
 race, possessed of a splendid physique, and alarmingly 
 prolific, they were dreaded and treated by the Spaniards 
 like wild beasts. So formidable had these terrible 
 tribes become, that this very year they had annihilated 
 a strong force which a chivalrous Spanish gentleman 
 had volunteered to lead against their stronghold. Six 
 Aveeks ago they had almost succeeded in surprising 
 Nombre de Dios itself, and the Governor in great 
 alarm had sent to Panama for reinforcements. 
 
 Nothing could have fallen out worse. The town on 
 whose sleepy securit}^ the success of the expedition 
 depended would be all on the alert, and without shame 
 Drake niicrht Avell have reconsidered his determination. 
 But for him the news was but a reason for immediate 
 action, on the chance that the troops had not yet arrived 
 from Panama. "With that remarkable foresight which 
 seemed always to temper his rashest moods, he set the 
 negroes ashore, trusting they would find their way to 
 the Maroons with a good report of his kindness, and, 
 at the same time, made rapid preparations to reach 
 
24 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Nombre de Dios before they could, report his presence 
 on the coast, in case they were so minded. It was 
 arranged that the three ships and the caravel were to 
 lie hidden amongst the Pine Islands under Ranse, while 
 Drake himself made the attempt with the three pinnaces 
 and the shallop. Fifty-three of his own men and twenty 
 of Ranse's were picked for the service, and on the 23rd 
 the last farewells were said as the four boats rowed off 
 on their desperate adventure. 
 
 The arms as yet were lying snugly packed in chests. 
 In their selection Drake showed a scholarly respect for 
 the latest ideas of infantry officers, no less than that 
 almost humorous originality which is so characteristic of 
 all his exploits. Pikes and firearms were in equal pro- 
 portion, according to the approved practice of the time, 
 and the officers were armed with sword and buckler; 
 but with the remaining third of his force he permitted 
 himself the indulgence of an ingenious fancy. Sixteen 
 men were armed with bows, and supplied not with 
 heavy war-arrows but with light roving shafts, specially 
 devised to produce the same distracting effects for which 
 rockets were afterwards employed. Six of the pikes, too, 
 were fitted with gear for holding blazing tow, while the 
 remaining four men carried nothing more deadly than 
 trumpets and drums for the sole purpose of making as 
 much noise as possible, as well for the encouragement of 
 their comrades as the alarm of the enemy. 
 
 In five days they had covered twenty -five leagues 
 and reached a group of islets which was known to them 
 as Cativaas or Prisoners' Islands. Here at break of day 
 the men were landed, and paraded in their respective 
 parties, while Drake with cheery speeches served out 
 
n NOMBRE DE DIOS 25 
 
 their arms and did. his best to remove the bad im- 
 pression which the negroes' news had made. In the 
 afternoon they were away again, and by midnight the 
 four evil-looking craft were lying still as sharks under 
 the point Nombre Bay. Hither, creeping stealthily 
 along the shore, Drake had conducted them unperceived, 
 and here they must wait for the first gray streaks of 
 dawn. It was a time to try the stoutest heart. As the 
 dark hours dragged wearily on, the young hands grew 
 more and more nervous. On the other side of the point 
 under which they lay was a world -renowned town, as 
 big as Plymouth, by this time perhaps full of the un- 
 conquered Spanish infantry. There was nothing to 
 break the spell of the deathlike silence but the booming 
 of the surf and their own anxious whispers, as they dis- 
 cussed beneath their breath the negroes' news. Drake 
 knew that another hour of such suspense would wither 
 the heart out of his force, and it wanted yet an hour to 
 dawn. Suddenly he descried a faint light silvering the 
 horizon. It was only the moon rising, as he well knew, 
 but by a happy inspiration he proclaimed it the dawn, 
 and cheerily ordered out the sweeps. 
 
 No sooner was the harbour gained than they knew 
 they were detected. As ill-luck would have it, a ship 
 was just taking up her moorings, and to their dismay a 
 boat shot from her side straight for the landing-place. 
 In a moment Drake's pinnace Avas leaping across the 
 water at racing speed to head it off. It was a desperate 
 struggle, but Devon muscle told. The Spaniards soon 
 saw they were overmatched, and fled to the opposite side 
 of the bay. A few minutes later the four boats had 
 grounded under the shore-battery, and the men Avere 
 
26 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 tumbling the guns into the sand. Unfortunately the 
 gunner in charge had escaped to give the alarm, and as 
 the men hastily fell into their places, they heard the 
 citizens take fright. No sound under heaven is more 
 awe-inspiring than that of a town awakening in terror. 
 The first confused murmur that is quickly broken with 
 scattered cries, the first woman's shriek and first excited 
 shout, each again and again repeated till the shuddering 
 murmur is a broken roar — all this beset the ears of these 
 threescore sailor lads, and worse than that, the roll of 
 drums calling troops to arms, and the din of the great 
 church bell high above all. 
 
 But now there was no time to be afraid. Twelve 
 men were left to guard the boats, and the rest hurried 
 silently to seize the new eastern battery. It was Drake's 
 great anxiety, and to his intense relief he found that not 
 a gun had yet been mounted. So now the real work 
 could begin, and divided into two parties, with clatter of 
 drums and blare of trumpets, brandishing their blazing 
 fire-pikes and uttering horrible yells, they rushed by two 
 different ways to the market-place. Drake with the 
 bulk of the force ran up the main street, M-hile his 
 brother and Oxenham led the smaller party by a more 
 devious route with Avhich they were somehow familiar. 
 At the corner of the Plaza where the Panama road left 
 it a considerable force had by this time managed to 
 assemble, and as the head of Drake's little column 
 appeared it was received with a roar of musketry. The 
 sand spat up about their feet : the trumpeter dropped ; 
 and the rest with one volley of shot and arrows dashed 
 at the glowing matches before them. Then hand to 
 hand, with sword and pike and the swinging butts of 
 
n THE FIGHT ON THE PLAZA 27 
 
 muskets, the doubtful struggle raged. The event yet 
 hung on the balance, when in upon the Spaniards' flank 
 burst the second party with a startling volley. Be- 
 wildered with the darkness and the din the Spaniards' 
 hearts began to fail. Panic multiplied the handful of 
 their foes. Maddened by the roving arrows, scorched 
 and blinded by the flaming pikes, they were hustled 
 like sheep into the narrow road. Faster and faster 
 they gave their ground, arms were flung down and 
 backs were turned, till all in hopeless rout were flying 
 for life through the Panama gate. 
 
 The Plaza was immediately secured at all its outlets, 
 and Drake with a small guard made a move for the Gover- 
 nor's house. No sooner had they entered the storehouse 
 than a sight of wonder met their eyes. Against the 
 wall they saw the gray shimmer of a pile of silver bars 
 ten feet in breadth, twelve feet in height, and seventy 
 in length. It was a sight beyond the most fevered of 
 the Devon lads' dreams. In open-mouthed amazement 
 they prepared to fall upon it, but Drake only laughed at 
 them and gave a sharp order to stand to their arms. 
 He knew the danger was yet extreme. The town was 
 full of soldiers, and to remove the silver in face of them 
 was madness. He sternly forbade a single bar to be 
 touched, for he knew that down by the shore Avas the 
 King's treasure-house, where was a store of gold and 
 jewels beside which the heap of silver was as mere 
 ballast 
 
 Returning to the main body he found that the re- 
 action from the excitement of the fight had brought the 
 men back into their nervous state. The distracting 
 clang of the great alarm-bell was still crying lustily for 
 
2S SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 help, for Drake would not permit the church to be 
 profaned ; inky clouds were rolling up over the town and 
 obscuring the moon ; frequent shots and warlike cries 
 had been heard by the shore, and the rumour was that 
 the boats had been attacked. John Drake and Oxenham 
 were at once ordered off with their party to ascertain 
 the truth and then rendezvous at the King's treasure- 
 house. Thither Drake hurried with the rest, but ere 
 the goal was reached the tempest burst, and to all their 
 dangers and terrors was added the unearthly roar of a 
 tropic rain. Matches were quenched and bowstrings 
 ruined before they found shelter in a shed attached to 
 the treasure-house. Here another insupportable delay 
 occurred, for from the spot where they stood it was 
 impossible to break in. In the midst of the growing 
 dismay John Drake and Oxenham ran up to report the 
 boat-2;uard safe but in great alarm at the numbers of 
 soldiers they had seen hurrying to and fro. A friendly 
 negro whom they had taken on board reported that a 
 hundred and fifty soldiers had arrived the day before, 
 and that unless the English got clear before dawn 
 they would certainly be overwhelmed. In the face of 
 this it was impossible to keep the young hands steady 
 many minutes longer. In vain the undaunted captain 
 tried to occupy them in repairing the damage which the 
 rain had done to their arms; in vain he encouraged 
 them with hopes and even taunts. " I have brought 
 you," he cried, " to the mouth of the Treasure-House of 
 the World. Blame nobody but yourselves if you go 
 away empty." The men only grew more unsteady ; and 
 as the rain abated a little Drake ordered his brother and 
 Oxenham to go round and break open the treasure- 
 
11 A GLORIOUS FAILURE 29 
 
 house door while he returned to hold the Plaza. 
 Briskly he stepped forward to lead the way, and 
 then with a cheery cry on his lips rolled over in tlie 
 sand. 
 
 Ever since the first encounter he had been struggling 
 against a desperate wound in the leg, lest the timid 
 should make it an excuse for returning with the plunder 
 they had already collected. Now they saw that his very 
 footprints were full of blood, and it was clear his life 
 was in jeopardy. The boldest would not listen to his 
 entreaties to proceed with the work. His life, they said, 
 was dearer to them than all the wealth of the Indies. 
 In spite of his angry protests they bore him with loving 
 violence on board his pinnace, and so as the four boats 
 rowed moodily from the harbour the sun rose on their 
 glorious failure, and the renowned attempt upon the 
 Treasure-House of the World was at an end. 
 
 Every colonial port in those days had its Isla de 
 Bastimentos or Victualling Island, and to that of Nombre 
 de Dios the boats made their course, taking with them 
 for their comfort the ship which they had seen arrive. 
 It was laden with good Canary and other stores, and 
 with the aid of this and the abundance of delicacies on 
 the island Drake and the rest of the wounded rapidly 
 recovered. Hither they were followed by one of the 
 Panama officers, who professed himself overwhelmed 
 with the brilliancy of Drake's feat of arms. He wanted 
 to know if he was indeed that incomprehensible rover 
 who did not drown his prisoners ; and if so, if there was 
 anything with Avhich the Governor could provide him. 
 Drake, who took the Don's fantastic courtesies for a 
 cloak to cover a spy, answered roughly enough that he 
 
30 S//? FRANCIS DRAKE chap, 
 
 was the Drake they meant, and that he intended to help 
 himself to all he wanted. " So tell your Governor," he 
 concluded, " to hold his eyes open. For before I depart, 
 if God lend me life and leave, I mean to reap some of 
 your harvest which j^ou get out of the earth and send 
 into Spain to trouble all the earth." 
 
 Drake meant what he said. He was still unsatisfied ; 
 he was more contemptuous of the Spanish poAver than 
 ever, and his men were intoxicated with their leader's 
 spirit. But not so his partner. When the combined 
 force was once more assembled at the Pine Islands, 
 Ranse declared he was not willing to risk the booty 
 already obtained in the hornets' nest they had stirred. 
 So with mutual goodwill they wound up the partner- 
 ship and parted company. Ten days of rest had elapsed 
 since the attack on Nombre de Dios. Their wounds 
 were already half forgotten, and as Ranse shaped his 
 homeward course, Drake swooped upon Cartagena, the 
 capital of the Spanish Main. As he approached, the 
 boom of guns rolled out across the sea to tell him he 
 was expected. Light airs had delayed him, and in spite 
 of his promptitude a despatch-boat had slipped in to 
 give the alarm. Nevertheless, with his pinnaces he 
 boldly entered the harbour, cut out a large ship that 
 was discharging at the quays, and amidst a loud alarm 
 of guns and bells and musketry carried it in triumph 
 out to sea. Next day he intercepted two more despatch- 
 boats, and learned the full extent of the tempest he had 
 raised. Dazzled though he was Avith his recent feat, he 
 saw clearly the ferment must be allowed to subside. 
 With bewildering suddenness his whole plan was changed, 
 and next night no trace of him was to be seen off the 
 
II SCUTTLING THE 'SIVAJV' 31 
 
 Spanish Main but tlie charred remnants of the Sivan 
 burning down to the water's edge. 
 
 He had utterly disappeared as suddenly as he came, 
 and the mystery of the burning ship was all he had 
 left behind. It was a mystery the Spaniards were not 
 likely to fathom. For the new project on which his 
 genius was bent the pinnaces had to be fully manned, 
 and to man the pinnaces his brother's ship must be 
 abandoned. His extraordinary instinct for the control 
 of men told him that to give such an order was but to 
 court mutiny ; his clear-eyed tenacity of purpose told 
 him the work must be done, and done cheerfully. At such 
 moments his influence over men was miraculous. That 
 night Tom Moone, the carpenter of the Sivan, was 
 secretly scuttling his beloved vessel at the risk of his 
 life, and in the morning she was half full of water ; but so 
 skilfully had Drake ordered the work that no leak could 
 be found. All day he toiled with well-feigned anxiety 
 at his brother's pumps till he and all the company were 
 exhausted, and the water hardly reduced. In despair 
 her heart-broken young captain sought his brother's 
 advice, and so astutely was it given, that that night, as 
 the shadows fell, John Drake with his own hand fired 
 his stricken ship. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE MULE -TRAINS 
 
 To the Spaniards, that sight could only be a sign that 
 the redoubtable rover had left the coast. The truth 
 was far otherwise. On the western shore of the Gulf of 
 Darien a little natural harbour, which through the ages had 
 been undisturbed, was suddenly teeming with busy life. 
 Its primeval silence was awakened with the jolly laugh 
 of the bellows, the ring of the anvil, and the snap of the 
 axe, and the monkeys watched with worried air the 
 mysteries of bowls and quoits and archerj^, and all the 
 pastimes of an English May-day fair. A wide stretch of 
 forest growth had given place to rows of leafy cottages, 
 and by the shore a little dockyard waked the echoes 
 with unceasing clatter. It was another Puerto Escondido 
 which Drake had discovered, and here, far from the ken 
 of Spaniards, with alternate days of work and play, he 
 was refreshing his men and refitting his squadron. 
 
 They called the place Port Plenty, for from hence 
 they swept the sea of every passing victualler, and 
 added the captured cargoes to the stores of game and 
 fish it was their delight to catch. At intervals along the 
 coast and amongst the wilderness of islands magazines 
 were hidden, and into these were poured the stores that 
 had been destined for great Plate fleets. The shark- 
 
CHAP. Ill JOINS THE MAROONS 33 
 
 like pinnaces would suddenly appear in the midst of the 
 trade-route no one knew whence, and, laden with food, 
 as suddenly disappear no one knew whither. Even the 
 solitudes of the far Magdalena river beyond Cartagena 
 were startled with the splash of English oars ; and ere 
 resistance could be made, the storehouses on its banks 
 were swept clean, and all was silence once more. 
 
 It was on his return journey from this expedition 
 that Drake learnt the first step towards the new exploit 
 was accomplished. With the help of Diego, the negro 
 who had joined at Nombre de Dios, John Drake had suc- 
 ceeded in establishing communication with the Maroons. 
 While the Spaniards were straining their eyes seawards, 
 Drake was quietly preparing to seize King Philip's gold 
 behind their backs as it left the gates of Panama. 
 To this wild project the assistance of the Maroons was 
 essential, and the first negotiations convinced him how 
 eager they were to help. But they had to assure him 
 that nothing could be done till the dry season, for 
 during the rains no gold was conveyed by land. Weary 
 months must elapse before the blow could be struck — 
 months of inaction, which in that terrible climate Drake 
 knew was his greatest enemy. Everything was done to 
 mitigate the evil. The Maroons showed them a new 
 and more convenient harbour than their last, somewhere, 
 it would seem, amongst the shoremost isles of the Muletas. 
 Here, within a network of reefs, the vessels were snugly 
 ensconced, and with the eager help of the Maroons a great 
 fort of timber built. 
 
 In October, leaving his brother John as governor of his 
 little kingdom, Drake with two of the pinnaces sailed 
 once more for the Main in search of intelligence. For 
 
 I> 
 
34 Sm FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 more than a month every kind of bravado was indulged 
 in, partly, it may be, from a boyish delight in putting 
 indignities on his enemy, and partly from a sagacious 
 purpose of keeping up the hearts of his men. For in 
 Francis Drake, as in some hero of saga, reckless high 
 spirits and a far-sighted wariness seem ever contending 
 for mastery. He gathered fruit in the gardens of 
 Santiago de Tolu; he cut out vessels from the very 
 mouth of the Spanish guns ; he rode out two gales in the 
 harbour of Cartagena itself ; he jumped ashore in the 
 face of the garrison to show how cheaply he held the 
 arms of Spain; and yet with a skill and judgment beyond 
 his years he eluded every attempt to capture him by 
 force or fraud; and through sickness and hunger, through 
 exposure and disappointment, he maintained his men in 
 such a state of cheerful obedience as had perhaps never 
 before been seen. 
 
 And now, as though to teach the world what heroic 
 fortitude, what a depth of patient resistance, lay beneath 
 the tumultuous surface, misfortune came upon him 
 apace. He returned to find his brother dead. In spite 
 of his orders, Captain John Drake had been taunted by 
 one a little more insane than the rest to attack with no 
 better arms than a rapier and an old firelock a frigate 
 full of Spanish musketeers. It was certain death, and 
 both of them fell at the first discharge. The whole 
 company were overwhelmed with grief for the loss of a 
 man whose brave and loyal nature seemed destined to fill 
 a place but little lower than his brother's. It was their 
 first reverse, and it came at an untimely moment. It 
 was now December. The rains were ceasing; next month 
 the Plate fleet would ax-rive from Spain ; the gold would 
 
Ill AN HEROIC POST-MORTEM 35 
 
 begin to move ; and the time for their daring land- 
 journey was drawing near. It was necessary that they 
 should keep perfectly quiet till the trusty Maroons 
 brought them news that the fleet had come. In painful 
 inaction, therefore, they had to bide their time, while 
 each day the heat increased as the dry season set in, 
 and pestilence steamed from the sodden soil. December 
 dragged wearily to its end, and with the dying year the 
 vitality of the men ebbed fast away in the poisonous 
 atmosphere. With the first days of the year 1573 ten 
 men dropped in a raging fever, and in a few hours half 
 the company were do^vn. Death succeeded death, and 
 the sui'geons were helpless. Joseph Drake was seized 
 amongst the rest, and expired in his brother's arms. 
 Then Drake arose as valiant against the ghostly enemy 
 that was mastering him as he ever showed himself in 
 open fight. Burdened as he was with the horrors of 
 that fever-stricken den, and revolting and inhuman as 
 the bare idea of dissection then was, he resolved to violate 
 the sanctity of his own brother's corpse to save the rotting 
 remnants of his company. The weight of prejudice and 
 tender sentiment he had to fling aside, to us is hardly 
 conceivable, but the memory of it seems to send a 
 shudder through the chronicler as years after he told 
 the tale. "It was the first and last experiment," he 
 exclaimed, " that our Captain made of anatomy in this 
 voyage." 
 
 It was the end of January before the Maroons' scouts 
 reported that the fleet had put into Nombre de Dios. 
 A pinnace was at once despatched to test their fidelity, 
 and it returned with a victual -frigate, whose captive 
 crew and passengers confirmed the negroes' intelligence. 
 
36 STR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 All was now bustle and excitement. Of the seventy- 
 three souls who left Plymouth eight months ago but 
 four-and-forty now remained. Half of these were too 
 fever-stricken to march, and some sound men it Avas 
 necessary to leave behind to tend the sick and guard 
 the prisoners from the fury of the Maroons. Eighteen 
 were all that could be spared for the adventurous 
 journey, and on Shrove Tuesday, February 3rd, they 
 plunged into the forest with thirty Maroons in company. 
 On the third day they reached a stronghold of their 
 allies, where they were overwhelmed with hospitalities 
 and offers of assistance. But Drake would not tarry or 
 accept any increase in his force. Yet his heart was 
 none the less moved Avith their simple kindness, and 
 with pity when he saw them making a fetich of the 
 cross. His earnest Protestantism would not suffer him 
 to leave them in such a slough of sin, nor did he depart 
 till he had persuaded them to cast away their fetich, 
 and in its stead had taught them like children to say the 
 Lord's Prayer, and fed them with some scraps of the old 
 navy chaplain's divinity. Then with his heart lifted to 
 heaven he strode on once more to spoil God's enemies. 
 
 Their march had now begun in earnest. Not a word 
 was spoken ; with all the breathless caution of the chase 
 they followed their strange familiars up the forest-clad 
 spurs of the Cordilleras. A mile ahead four guides 
 felt their way, as it seemed by magic, through the 
 sunless forest, and marked the track with broken 
 bouichs. Twelve more Maroons headed the little 
 column, and twelve more formed its rear-guard. In 
 the midst with the two black chiefs marched the 
 Englishmen. To them it was like some enchanted 
 
Ill FIRST SIGHT OF THE PACIFIC 37 
 
 land. Their devoted friends would not suffer 
 them to carry the lightest burden, and at their ease 
 they crept along the trail in silent Avonder. The 
 miraculous instinct of their guides, the beast-like skill 
 with which the hunters killed their game, the fascina- 
 tion of the endless silence, the wealth of luscious fruit, 
 the prodigies of vegetation, the wonderland of birds, 
 all mingling confusedly with the half-forgotten thought 
 of the wild adventure before them — it was enough to 
 make their lives seem turned to fairy tales, without the 
 vision that was at hand. On the fourth day after 
 leaving the stronghold, the spot on which every thought 
 was bent had been attained. It was at the summit of 
 the range. High upwards rose a giant of the forest, 
 and in its arms was a leafy bower. Drake first 
 ascended, and sank awe struck upon his knees. First 
 of all Englishmen he was gazing on the Golden Sea. 
 Before him spread the unmeasured mystery of the 
 Pacific ; at his back rolled the old Atlantic. His heart 
 was overflowing — so Moses gazed upon the promised 
 land — and like a good crusader he humbly besought 
 Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and 
 leave to sail once in an English ship in that sea. So he 
 descended and told them of his prayer; and before 
 them all John Oxen ham, his lieutenant, vowed that 
 unless the captain did beat him from his company, he 
 would follow him, by God's grace. 
 
 The secret of that fabled ocean, Avhose very name 
 for two centuries thereafter never failed to inflame the 
 imaginations of high and low with dreams beyond the 
 extravagance of alchemy, was a secret no more. 
 Jealously as Spain had veiled the South Sea's beauty, 
 
38 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Drake had seen her face, and athirst Avith desire he 
 began the perilous descent to Panama. In two days 
 the shelter of the forest ceased. The open country 
 increased their danger every hour. On Valentine's Day 
 the magnificent roadstead of Panama with its burden 
 of gold-ships opened before them, and now the peril of 
 discovery became acute. Fearing at every stej) to be 
 surprised by some fowler from the city, they broke into 
 twos and threes, and so by diff"erent routes crept like 
 lynxes through the giant grass, till a grove a league 
 outside the gates gave them a semblance of security. 
 Here, beside the Nombre de Dios road, they laj^ concealed, 
 and rested Avhile a spy was sent in disguise into the city to 
 get news of the movements of the gold-trains. Drake 
 had hardly finished from the skirts of the grove a 
 hazardous reconnaissance of the city against the time 
 when God should grant his prayer, than the spy 
 returned bursting with news. Two large mule-trains 
 laden with victuals and silver were getting ready to 
 start in the market-place, and in front of them that 
 night was to travel no less a man than the Treasurer of 
 Lima himself on his way to Spain, with eight mule- 
 loads of gold and one of jewels. 
 
 The luck indeed seemed turned at last, and in high 
 hope, as night was closing in, a move was made for Venta 
 Cruz. Here, at the point where the Nombre de Dios 
 road crossed the river Chagres, stood the half-way 
 depot, and thus far the mule-trains always journeyed 
 by night, so fierce was the noonday heat across the grass- 
 clad prairie. Thence, either by the river or the roughly 
 paved road which Pizarro had made through the cool 
 forest, the treasure reached the Atlantic. Within a 
 
in AN AMBUSCADE 39 
 
 couple of leagues of the to'mi they halted and prepared 
 their ambush. First every man pulled his shirt over his 
 clothes as the art military demanded for night attacks ; 
 and then, divided into two equal parties, they took up 
 their places on either side of the way, some fifty yards 
 apart. By this disposition the first and hindmost mules 
 of the train could be seized at the same moment, and 
 each party could use its weapons against the Treasurer's 
 escort without hurting the other. Thus with every 
 detail arranged, and certain of their prey, they waited. 
 
 For an hour the silence of death lay upon the grass- 
 bound highway, broken only by the uneasy breathing of 
 the crouching ambuscade, and the murmurous voices of 
 the tropic night. Then faintly over the soft rustle of 
 the giant grass came the tinkle of mule-bells on either 
 hand, and from the direction of Venta Cruz the sound 
 of a horseman's trot and a running foot-boy. The strictest 
 order had been given that everything going towards 
 Panama should be let by without a move, and unsus- 
 pecting the traveller came on at an easy pace. Suddenly 
 amidst the waxing sound of the mule-bells Drake to his 
 dismay heard the trot change to a canter, and the gentle- 
 man clattered rapidly down the hard road towards 
 Panama. Still, it was impossible that he could have 
 seen anything through the impenetrable grass, and the 
 anxious captain lay quietly on. Surely enough the mule- 
 trains were not alarmed. Louder and louder jangled the 
 deep-toned bells till the air was alive with the merry 
 clang. Then sharp and high over all Drake's Avhistle 
 pierced the din — the grass bowed before the rush of 
 black and white figures — oaths and curses mingled Avith 
 the bells — the mules stopped and then lay down — and 
 
40 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE cuap. 
 
 almost without a blow the whole train was in Drake's 
 hands. Pack after pack was rent and ransacked of its 
 contents. A little silver was found, but Treasurer there 
 was none, nor a single jewel, nor an ounce of gold. It 
 was from the chief muleteer they learned the bitter 
 truth. A sailor who had been keeping up his courage 
 with aqua vitce, had been fired to spend it on the 
 traveller. His Maroon mate in a moment had knocked 
 him down and lain on the top of him, but in the struggle 
 they had rolled into the road. The gentleman had 
 galloped on in great alarm, and meeting the Treasurer 
 had told him that El Draque — how and whence he could 
 not tell — was lying in wait for him on the lonely road, 
 and the Treasurer had consented to send on the victual- 
 train in front of him to spring the trap. Thus early 
 did that ominous name begin to have its unearthly 
 sound in Spanish ears. Time and space seemed already 
 not to exist for him, but in truth they were now a 
 terrible reality. Delighted as he always was to hear 
 how he frightened superstitious Spaniards, it was no 
 moment for any but the gravest thoughts. Horse and 
 foot would soon be hurrying out of Panama, and in 
 Venta Cruz perhaps the alarm had already been given. 
 The Avhole party were much exhausted by their recent 
 long marches. To retrace their steps to a place of safety 
 was four good leagues, and the only other line of escape 
 lay through Venta Cruz. 
 
 Needless to say the latter course was chosen. Each 
 man mounted on a mule, they continued their way, till 
 close to the town the Maroons scented musket-matches 
 amongst the trees ahead. Dismounting, they boldly 
 held on along the narrow road till they were cliallenged 
 
Ill CAPTURE OF VENT A CRUZ 4I 
 
 by a Spanish officer. In the name of the King of Spain 
 the pompous captain bade Drake yield. For the honour 
 of the Queen of England, the seaman cried, he must 
 have passage that way, and flashed his pistol in the 
 Spaniard's face. It was the signal for a volley from the 
 Spanish musketeers. As the firing ceased Drake's whistle 
 rose merrily once more, and then through the choking 
 smoke sailor and Maroon dashed blindly at the unseen 
 enemy. Yelling and leaping like fiends the negroes lead 
 the charge. Y6 peM ! Yd pelid !—i]xQ\v terrible war- 
 cry struck dread into the Spaniards' hearts. Backed by 
 the maddened mariners the charge Avas irresistible. 
 Without a check the enemy were swept through the 
 town-gate up the narrow street and into the monastery 
 — monks, soldiers, and civilians in a panic-stricken flock — 
 and there they were safely locked while the victors 
 pillaged the little town. 
 
 Besides'its commercial importance, it was a sanatorium 
 to which the ladies of Nombre de Dios came to be con- 
 fined. Drake had reissued his invariable orders that 
 no woman or unarmed man should be touched, and even 
 in the heat of the sack his savage allies did not attempt 
 to disobey. Yet the poor distracted invalids never 
 ceased their piteous entreaties until Drake himself came 
 to their bedsides to comfort them. Surely never was 
 a pirate so tender, or with such a gentle name. 
 
 For an hour and a half the pillage continued, till an 
 alarm of horse interrupted it. It was the advance guard 
 of the cavalry from Panama ; but a picket was holding 
 the gate, and so Avell had Drake kept his men in hand 
 that, faster than they came, the new-comers were soon 
 galloping back to join their comrades. When they 
 
42 S/H FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 returned with the main body to storm the captured 
 town the corsair had vanished. 
 
 Far and wide the alarm spread. To the confines of 
 Nicaragua the mine-owners did not feel safe, and made 
 ready for a flight to the South Sea. Within a fortnight 
 one of the shark-like pinnaces appeared in the port of 
 Veragua, and it was only the unsleeping vigilance of the 
 garrison that saved a vessel laden with a million of gold 
 from Drake's hands. A frigate of Nicaragua put in 
 with news that Drake had boarded her and stripped 
 her of her gold and her Genoese pilot. To the 
 eastward his lieutenant had captured and carried off 
 a fine frigate laden with victuals. No one, in short, 
 knew where to look. All that was clear was that 
 he was at sea again, and the gold-frigates hardly dared 
 move. 
 
 Meanwhile the treasure was pouring across the 
 Isthmus imder strong escorts unmolested. On the last 
 night of March, guarded by half a company of soldiers, 
 three large mule -trains left Venta Cruz with some 
 thirty tons of silver and a quantity of gold. Almost 
 to the very gates of Nombre de Dios they travelled 
 as safely as the rest, when just as they thought all 
 danger over, in front and rear the jangle of the bells 
 was drowned in a rattle of musketry. The woods were 
 belching shot and arrows, the air was rent with that 
 terrible Y6 pehd ! Yd pehd ! mingled with shouts in 
 French and English. Overwhelmed and dazed as the 
 yelling figures leaped down upon them into the road, 
 the soldiers discharged their pieces and fled into the city 
 in wild alarm. The garrison turned out with all the 
 Dromptitude Avhich their constant watchfulness made 
 
Ill A DESPERATE SITUATION 43 
 
 possible ; but when they reached the scene there was 
 nothing but the mules and the empty packs. 
 
 It was Drake again Avhere least of all he was to be 
 expected. Shortly after his attempt to cut out the gold- 
 frigate of Veragua he had met with a Huguenot privateer 
 in distress. He had relieved its wants, and had heard 
 from its captain the news of the Massacre of St. 
 Bartholomew. Moved with pity at his heartrending 
 tale, and lashed into a fury against the whole Catholic 
 world, Drake had taken him into partnership and 
 determined on this last desperate attempt. Strong in 
 the certainty of his simple faith that God's hand must 
 surely now be with him against the idolatry that was 
 stained with a crime so hideous, he had struck his 
 triumphant blow at the gates of this Moloch, and what 
 wonder if he thought it was the finger of the Lord that 
 had pointed out the way 1 
 
 While the Spaniards were gazing hopelessly at the 
 rifled mules the victors with jests and laughter were 
 stuffing silver bars into the land -crabs' holes, hiding 
 them under trees, burying them in the river-bed, till 
 fifteen tons were concealed. Then groaning under the 
 rest and all the gold, they staggered on to the river- 
 mouth, where the pinnaces were to meet them. Over- 
 taken by a storm of rain, in two days they reached the 
 rendezvous drenched and exhausted, — and there, with the 
 suddenness of a dream, at the very culmination of their 
 fortunes, they found themselves face to face with a situa- 
 tion beside which all their former griefs were as nothing. 
 Not a sign of the boats was to be seen, and in their stead 
 appeared seven Spanish shallops. They Avere rowing 
 towards Nombre de Dios from the very spot where the 
 
44 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE CHAt>. 
 
 pinnaces had been lying during the absence of the shore- 
 party, and all hope, not only of saving the treasure, but 
 of ever seeing home again, was gone. The pinnaces must 
 have been overpowered, and under torture the prisoners 
 would have to confess where the ships were hid. Despair 
 seized every heart but Drake's, and invoking the aid of 
 that extraordinary power in which he was never sur- 
 passed, with a few cheery words he transformed the 
 situation into one of hope. He showed them that if 
 God had permitted the enemy to prevail against the 
 pinnaces. He had sent the storm to bring tree-trunks 
 down the river ; with these they might make a 
 raft and reach the ships long before the blundering 
 indolent Spaniards could make up their minds Avhat to 
 do. "It is no time to fear," he urged, " but rather to 
 haste to prevent that Avhich is feared." In a trice all was 
 movement again. The raft was made ; and with a crew 
 of one Englishman and two Frenchmen, who insisted on 
 sharing the danger, with a biscuit-bag for a sail and a 
 tree for a rudder, Drake was waving a cheery adieu to 
 his company. "If it please God," he cried, as they 
 pushed off into the stream, "that I shall ever set foot 
 aboard my frigate in safety, I will, God willing, by one 
 means or another get you all aboard in despite of all the 
 Spaniards in the Indies." 
 
 Yet no one knew better than he how desperate was 
 his case. No sooner were they at sea than every wave 
 surged over the crazy raft up to their arm-pits as they 
 sat. For six hours they toiled, parched and blistered 
 with the salt and sun. " See," suddenly cried Drake in 
 the midst of their torment, "there are our pinnaces." 
 True enough they were there, and to the sutt'erers' in- 
 
Ill A NARROW ESCAPE 45 
 
 tense joy bearing straight for them. Drake declared all 
 fear was over; when all too soon it was clear the pinnaces 
 had not seen them, and in a few moments they dis- 
 appeared behind a small headland, evidently meaning to 
 stay there the night. Without a moment's hesitation 
 Drake steered his raft straight ashore through the 
 raging surf. Eeckless as the resolution was, the landing 
 was safely effected, and running round the headland 
 they quickly joined the boats. The crews were horror- 
 stricken to see their disfigured Captain with so ragged a 
 following, nor would he relieve their anxiety till with 
 cruel jocularity he had grimly enjoyed their dismay. It 
 was not until he had ascertained that it was the gale 
 which had caused their delay that he had mercy on 
 them. "Give thanks to God," he cried at last, as he 
 drew from his bosom a cjuoit of gold, " our voyage is 
 made ! " 
 
 Well he might say it. The shore -party without 
 further adventure was brought off safely with all their 
 treasure, and much of that which had been buried Avas 
 subsequently recovered, in spite of the Spaniards' efforts 
 to find it. The booty they now had must have been 
 very large. Besides the plunder of Nombre de Dios, 
 Venta Cruz, and the mule-trains, they calculated that 
 of the two hundred vessels of all kinds which then 
 navigated the Caribbean Sea, there was not one they 
 had not overhauled once at least, and some of them had 
 suffered three times. Their only thought now was 
 the homeward voyage. So reduced was the company 
 that the Pashcb was too large for them to navigate, and 
 Drake gave it to his Spanish prisoners as some com- 
 pensation for their long detention. In the Magdalena 
 
46 S/J? FRANCIS DRAKE chap, hi 
 
 he knew he would find plenty of craft to serve his turn. 
 So after parting company with the French on the best 
 of terms, he sailed in his new frigate for the river. In 
 Cartagena harbour were all the great Plate ships and 
 their convoy on the eve of sailing for Spain. But in the 
 exuberance of his spirits Drake stood close in, and then 
 ran by before the whole fleet with the flag of St. George 
 waving defiance at his mast-head, and his silken pennants 
 and ensigns floating do-mi to the water to bid them 
 a mocking farewell. 
 
 Another frigate was soon picked up, and after 
 lingering in his stronghold long enough to refit for 
 the voyage and take leave of his trusty allies, he 
 shaped his course for home. So prosperous Avas the 
 voyage that he did not even touch for water at New- 
 foundland, as the custom then was ; and on Sunday, 
 August 9th, 1573, the good folk of Plymouth, to their 
 preacher's dismay, came running out of church as the 
 triumphant young captain's guns thundered a salute to 
 his kinsman's batteries. ^^ 
 
CHAPTEE lY 
 
 GLORIANA AND HER KNIGHTS 
 
 The storm-clouds had rolled away, and the sun was 
 shining peacefully over England, when Drake came 
 home. A week ago the last adherent of Mary Stuart 
 had been hanged in Edinburgh : Alva had turned his 
 back upon the discredited English Catholics ; and 
 Elizabeth's Government was dra^dng a long sigh of 
 relief. Both England and Spain were but too glad to 
 enjoy the respite which Alva's overtures afforded, and 
 Drake, burning with his desire for the South Sea, found 
 himself plunged into the chilling waters of an amicable 
 arrangement. So far from there being any hope of the 
 Government countenancing his passion, he was con- 
 fronted with the possibility of being sacrificed as a 
 pirate on the altar of Peace. Elizabeth was surrounded 
 by friends of Spain ; the master of her household was in 
 Philip's pay ; Mr. Christopher Hatton, her new favourite, 
 was a Papist in his politics ; and although the Eidolphi 
 plot had ruptured diplomatic relations with the 
 Escurial, there was a recognised Spanish agent in 
 London, Avho began protesting with such energy that 
 Drake found it necessary to hurry out to sea again 
 for fear of arrest.^ 
 
 ^ See draft memorandum of answer given to complaints of Spain, 
 
48 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 There is much to be said for the Spaniard's conten- 
 tion that his proceedings were flat piracy. True, there 
 is no definition of the offence accepted by modern 
 publicists which would fix the guilt upon him. He had 
 not acted as a hostis humani generis, but as an enemy of 
 Spain alone ; he had not jiillaged animo furandi, but 
 under colour of right. Still at that time International 
 Law had not so nicely ascertained the limits of piracy 
 and irregular reprisal. That Drake was entitled to 
 reprisal under the old Law of Nations, there was no 
 denying. He had been wronged, he had applied 
 through his Government for redress, and redress had 
 not been forthcoming. But it was now a well-established 
 doctrine that before a subject of one country put in 
 force his remedy of special reprisal against the subjects 
 of another, he ought to obtain a commission from his 
 own Prince, or some authorised official of his Govern- 
 ment. Such a commission John Hawkins held at this 
 moment, and William Hawkins was the Queen's Governor 
 of Plymouth. If Drake Avas not employed by the one, 
 he at least had the connivance, if not the sanction, of 
 the other. Whether Elizabeth had directly authorised 
 the expedition, the friends of Spain could never find 
 out. They blew hot and cold on the point, like men 
 with a weak case. At one moment they tried to fix her 
 with complicity, in the next they sought to convict 
 Drake by denying that he had her authority. The 
 Queen, as usual, would not commit herself. Though 
 
 S. P. Spain, xxvi. The confusion of erasures, corrections, and 
 interlineations, where Drake's case is dealt with, would afford fairly 
 clear evidence of the complicity of the Government, were no other 
 to be had. 
 
IV CRUSADER OR PIRATE 1 49 
 
 she smiled and held the rod behind her back, it did 
 not suit her diplomacy just then to disown the blow 
 with which Philip's extremities were tingling. It was 
 just what she wanted, to whip him into the ratification 
 of Alva's convention. So it was only a question of 
 time for Drake to be able to reappear out of hiding, 
 and hold up his head without fear of the Lord Admiral, 
 and in the proud consciousness of an exploit that was 
 dear in the eyes of his sovereign. 
 
 Nor did he doubt it was as dear in the sight of 
 Heaven. As Elizabeth consulted Jewell, so Drake had 
 consulted his spiritual adviser, and the parson had told 
 the seaman, as the bishop told the Queen, that to prey 
 on the idolaters was doing God a service. We may 
 laugh in cynical distrust of such convenient doctrine, 
 and doubt the tenderness of consciences so simply satis- 
 fied ; but it was all real and sincere enough then. The 
 Elizabethan Protestants went to the Bible for their 
 political morality as a man goes now to his newspaper ; 
 and in the pages of Scripture they found writ large 
 and clear a command for unceasing war on idolatry. 
 Nothing was plainer to men like Drake than that the 
 Mass was an idolatrous rite. He had seen the Spaniard 
 abasing himself beside the passing Host : he had 
 seen the Afi^ican negro grovelling before his Mumbo 
 Jumbo; and too simple-minded to grasp the higher 
 mysticism of the Catholic creed, he could find no differ- 
 ence between the two states of mind. So with all the 
 devotion of Gideon he warred upon the idolaters, and 
 revelled like a Hebrew captain in the spoil of the 
 heathen. It was to him a crusade ; and like a crusader 
 he made war. Never once was his creed made to serve 
 
 E 
 
50 S//i -FJ^ANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 as a cloak for piratical excesses. For him his religion 
 was as much a bridle as a spur. Implacable as was his 
 animosity against Spain, Spaniards were universally won 
 by the courtesy and even the generosity with which he 
 treated them. He never killed a prisoner, no matter 
 what he risked by sparing his life. He never destroyed 
 a ship unless it were taken in act of war against him. 
 His hate was heroic, and he fought his enemies as though 
 he loved them. For a church, or a woman, or an un- 
 armed man, he had a noble forbearance that puts the 
 brightest chivalry of his time to blush, and it was the 
 grateful eulogies of his prisoners of Avar that crowned 
 his reputation. 
 
 Still, in spite of all his chivalry, politicians who 
 believed his exploits were dangerous would not be 
 persuaded. These men regarded rivalry with Spain 
 as madness. They were content if England maintained 
 her position as a second-rate power, and picked uj) a 
 subsistence in such corners of the earth as she could find 
 unoccupied by Spain. Thus, though the law did not 
 lay hands on him, he was not permitted to put in prac- 
 tice the scheme with which his heart was aching, and 
 with admirable patience he submitted to the restraint. 
 His passion never ceased to consume him. Yet month 
 after month, and year after year, he waited for the 
 Queen to sanction his quest. His only solace was to 
 send his brothers and companions to continue his work, 
 and to watch cruiser after cruiser leaving Plymouth for 
 the West. Fired by his success, Hawkins, Wynter, and 
 half the Devon gentry were fitting out vessels to follow 
 where he had led, but Drake remained at home.^ Poor 
 ^ Memorias de los Corsarios, etc., ubi supra. 
 
IV ^M M^W^(^ 51 
 
 John Oxenham, who had vowed to be his fellow in the 
 great enterprise, was not so patient. After waiting three 
 years, he stole away to the South Sea overland, and 
 being taken by Spaniards, with no commission to show, 
 was hanged for a pirate on Lima gallows, as every one 
 knows. 
 
 More wise and loyal than his lieutenant, Drake sought 
 relief in the public service. In August, 1573, a few days 
 after his return, the Earl of Essex had gone to huvy his 
 reputation in Ulster. In view of the coming struggle 
 with Spain, Ireland was as great an anxiety for Elizabeth 
 as the LoAV Countries were for Philip ; and the chivalrous 
 Earl had craved permission to undertake the quest, and 
 to reduce the island to his mistress's ol^edience with his 
 own Quixotic lance. Drake was there too, if legend says 
 true, hiding in Queenstown harbour, where in the creek 
 that still bears his name he was lost to his persecutors 
 and Philip's cruisers. ^ There he lay till his pardon Avas 
 sure, but with his danger faded all hope of a venture to 
 the Pacific. As the year 1574 grew old the Government 
 drew closer and closer to Spain. Walsingham and 
 Leicester were still for defying Philip, and openly 
 assisting the Prince of Orange ; but Burleigh and Bacon 
 had gone over to the party of the Spanish alliance. 
 Alva was now at Philip's ear, and Spain was as effusive 
 as England. The English refugee traitors were banished 
 from Philip's dominions ; and Sir Henry Cobham went 
 over to Madrid to negotiate a commercial treaty. Thus, 
 when at last Drake was able to emerge from his lair, 
 he found the air filled with such a peal of harmony 
 
 ^ The tradition of liis hiding in Drake's Pool can only refer 
 to this period. 
 
52 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 that it was useless to expect his sighs to be heard 
 In despair he resolved to seek service in Ireland, 
 and in the spring of 1575, armed with a letter of intro- 
 duction from Hawkins, he joined the Earl with his 
 frigate the Falcon} 
 
 Around Essex was gathered the flower of English 
 knight-errantry, and the adventurous seaman was re- 
 ceived with open arms into their company. Here were 
 Black John Norreys and his brother William, and 
 others of their stamp fresh from the Low Country wars. 
 They were the last of the old race of medieval soldiers 
 whom the Prince of Orange's mathematics were soon to 
 improve away — -"breathing valiant" men who, hot of 
 head and stout of heart, gave to Shakespeare his stormy 
 captains, and like them bigoted, quarrelsome, and loyal, 
 loving, hating, and fighting, raged through their lives 
 at Homeric pitch. These, at an age when a man's nature 
 receives its last impressions, were Drake's constant 
 comi'ades ; with these men he now for months shared 
 danger and privation ; what wonder if the strong fellow- 
 ship that such an atmosphere alone engenders left its 
 mark for ever on the adventurous sailor 1 
 
 Nor was this the sum of his changed surroundings. 
 
 1 Harl. MSS. 540, fol. 103, h. S. P. Ireland, liii. 49. ,S'. P. 
 Irelaiid (Folios) vol. viii. Stowe says, "he furnished at his owa. 
 proper expense three frigates, with men and munitions, and served 
 voluntary." Essex speaks of having three frigates in his service, 
 but calls them "your JMajesty's frigates" (Essex to the Queen, 
 Devereux, i. 113-117), and the accounts show Drake receiving 
 pay as captain of the Falcon, and not otherwise. This, how- 
 ever, appears to be the first introduction of this class of vessel 
 into the English service, and Drake may have presented them to 
 her — to shut the Lord Admiral's mouth on the subject of 
 piracy. 
 
IV MR. THOMAS DOUGHTY 53 
 
 If the age still bred its Hotspurs, it was begetting lagos 
 too, and such a one was Mr. Thomas Doughty. Of all 
 Drake's comrades, this accomplished gentleman won the 
 largest share of his affection. He was a man whose nature, 
 once perhaps admirable, had been poisoned by the atmo- 
 sphere of intrigue in which he had lived. It was a type 
 which more justly reflects the age of Elizabeth than any 
 one of those brilliant figures who by the very fact of rising 
 above the ordinary level most attract the attention, and 
 it was a type most nicely calculated to win the rougher 
 nature of Drake. He was a scholar of no mean pre- 
 tensions, and could display both Greek and Hebrew ; he 
 had served a campaign or so in the Low Countries, and 
 gracefully supported the reputation of a soldier ; he had 
 studied law at the Temple, and could discourse in 
 honeyed phrases the fashionable philosophising of the 
 hour. Drake always loved a scholar as he loved a 
 soldier, especially if he were a Cambridge man, as Doughty 
 seems to have been. Even Essex had been won by his 
 parts. He had been in a confidential capacity in the 
 Earl's household, and when Essex found his work was 
 being thwarted. Doughty had been sent over to try and 
 remove the obstruction at Court. But he was now in 
 disgrace, for he had brought back a lying report that 
 the difficulties were all due to Leicester's slanders. Essex 
 had written a furious letter of complaint. Leicester had 
 explained, and Essex in a dignified apology declared 
 that he should withdraw his confidence from Doughty. 
 The discredited servant continued, however, to serve as 
 a soldier. Drake and he became inseparable, and so 
 brotherly in their affection that the seaman even im- 
 parted to his friend the secret on which his whole heart 
 
54 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 was bent, and they vowed to unite their efforts in 
 bringing the great adventure into being. 
 
 It is easy to understand the delight which Drake's 
 humanity found in the polished society of such a man. 
 For the warfare in which he was engaged was of a fierce 
 brutality beyond anything he had seen. The Irish seas 
 were swarming with pirates, and in burning their galleys 
 and supporting Essex in his wretched man -hunts, the 
 frigates were chiefly engaged. All was murder, rapine, 
 and fire, and the piteous spectacle culminated in the last 
 act of Essex's proconsulship. To the isle of Rathlin the 
 chiefs of the rebels and the invading Scots had sent 
 their women and children for refuge, and so heartless 
 was war in those days that CA^en this pattern of Eliza- 
 bethan chivalry conceived the idea of destroying them 
 all. As the Earl retreated to the Pale, John Norreys with 
 his company was left behind at Carrickfergus under 
 orders to concert with the sea-captains the surprise of 
 the sanctuary. One day in July, a flotilla escorted by 
 the three frigates suddenly left the harbour. Two days 
 later, in spite of every difficulty, a landing was effected. 
 The first assault on Bruce's Castle was repulsed, but on 
 Drake and his fellow- captains getting two heavy guns 
 ashore, the Scots leader speedily capitulated. The 
 garrison was given over by Norreys to the vengeance of 
 the soldiers ; two hundred souls were massacred as they 
 left the castle, and then day after day a cruel hunt 
 went on till every cave and hollow of those storm-beaten 
 cliffs had echoed "vvith the victims' shrieks, and not a 
 soul — man, woman, or child — could be found alive in St. 
 Columba's Isle. So miserably did those two famoxxs 
 captains first join their hands in war. AYe can but turn 
 
IV DRAKE IN IRELAND 55 
 
 from the spectacle in disgust, and try to think of it as the 
 parent of that most chivalrous venture when Drake and 
 Norreys went out alone to fight the nation's battle, and 
 set an exiled monarch on his throne. Drake himself, 
 while the massacre went on, was busy with the frigates, 
 burning eleven Scottish galleys ; and had it not been 
 so, still we could hardly blame him for sharing an 
 exploit which the Faery Queen's own knight could 
 describe to her in an exultant despatch. 
 
 With the close of Essex's mission Drake's services 
 were no longer required in Ireland, and he came home 
 with a glowing letter of recommendation from the Earl 
 to Walsingham. Essex had been thoroughly impressed 
 Avith the capacity of his new officer, and now that he 
 could no longer find him work he sent him to the 
 spirited Secretary of State as a man fit to serve against 
 the Spaniards. The expression need not surprise us. 
 Through good report and evil report Walsingham had 
 been Essex's staunchest friend. Both were consistent 
 supporters of the war policy, and Walsingham may even 
 have asked for a likely man ; for once more the wind 
 had gone round and was blowing gustily from the 
 stormy quarter. Cobham's mission had proved a failure, 
 and he had returned without having removed the Grand 
 Inquisitor's opposition to the proposed exterritoriality of 
 heretic merchantmen. In Don John of Austria a new 
 champion for Mary Stuart was sounding his challenge 
 in the lists, and under his countenance the English 
 Catholic refugees had fitted out a pirate fleet. Daily 
 the Council were debating a war with Spain, and seri- 
 ously considering the proffered allegiance of Philip's 
 Dutch rebels. Walsingham was now supported by all 
 
56 S/R FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 the Council except the old peers and Philip's pensioner. 
 Even the cautious Burleigh was catching the war-fever. 
 The city merchants, trembling for their trade, were still 
 hesitating, when, in January, 1576, came the news that 
 a ship of Sir Thomas Osborne, one of the greatest of the 
 merchant princes, had been seized in a Spanish port, and 
 its crew flung into the dungeons of the Inquisition. It 
 was the last blow to the time-honoured alliance, as the 
 affair of Vera Cruz had been the first. The country 
 was thoroughly roused. Elizabeth was furious. Parlia- 
 ment was summoned to provide the sinews of war, and 
 Cobham went over to Brussels to threaten that if Alva's 
 convention Avere not at once ratified, the Queen woidd put 
 into execution " some remedy for her relief that she would 
 not willingly yield unto." 
 
 It was no idle threat. Soon after the delivery of 
 Essex's letter, Drake had been surprised by the sight of 
 Walsingham's grim face in his lodgings. As soon as 
 they were alone the Secretary had unfolded a map, and 
 informing Drake that the Queen had received injuries of 
 the King of Spain, for which she desired revenge, asked 
 him to mark upon it the points at which Philip might 
 be most annoyed. Thinking his hour had indeed come, 
 yet cautious still in the midst of his excitement, Drake 
 began vaguely to hint at his mighty project. Walsing- 
 ham at once asked him to reduce it to writing and sign 
 it. But the wary seaman was not to be caught. No 
 doubt he preferred to keep his own secret, for the King 
 of Spain's eyes might be anywhere ; besides, he was too 
 good a Protestant not to be overflowing with the idea of 
 which the assembling Parliament was full, and he refused 
 to put pen to paper. "Her Majesty is mortal," he told 
 
IV HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE QUEEN 57 
 
 the Secretary, " and if it should please God to take Her 
 Majesty away, it might be that some Prince might reign 
 that might be in league with the King of Spain, and 
 then will mine own hand be a witness against myself." 
 It was all Walsingham could get out of him then. But 
 a few nights later he received a summons from the 
 palace, and was introduced by the Secretary into the 
 presence of the great Queen herself. With all the 
 witchery she so strangely exercised over the sturdy 
 chivalry of her time, she appealed to the young sea- 
 captain as some distressed princess to an errant knight. 
 Her caitiff kinsman had foully wronged her, she Avas 
 pining for revenge, and he alone was worthy of the 
 quest. So with a woman's art she claimed his service 
 and drew from the eager seaman the outlines of his 
 immortal project for a raid into the Golden Sea. 
 
 Full of hopefid resolve he left her, but it Avas only for 
 new disappointment. By the end of March the wind 
 had changed again. The wayward Queen had quarrelled 
 with her Parliament for being as Protestant as Drake, 
 and had rudely dismissed the Dutch envoys. The breach 
 betAveen the tAvo natural allies widened as the summer 
 went on, till in the autumn Elizabeth Avas actually con- 
 templating an active policy against the Prince of Orange. 
 Walsingham Avas in despair. He saAv his efforts to open 
 the perverse Princess's eyes Avere useless ; he saw she 
 had obstinately made up her mind that Philip meant 
 peace, and determined to save her from herself, his 
 unrivalled genius for management seems to have shoAvn 
 him in Drake an instrument to force her into war with 
 Spain. 
 
 HoAv the affair was managed it is still impossible to 
 
58 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 say; but there can be no doubt that the Queen was 
 approached through Hatton, and no one at that moment 
 was better calculated to lead her into mischief than her 
 handsome captain of the guard. Fortunately Thomas 
 Doughty's talents had again served him in good stead, 
 and he was now Hatton's private secretary. Doughty's 
 eloquent tongue turned the favourite's head with 
 the dazzling prospect Avhich the venture promised, and 
 in due course the Queen told Drake she was ready 
 to subscribe a thousand crowns to the expense of an 
 expedition to penetrate the South Sea ; but it was on 
 the express condition that the whole affair was to be 
 kept a profound secret, and she gave stringent orders 
 that above all not a word of it should be breathed to 
 Lord Burleigh. 
 
 So like a naughty child did this strange woman try 
 to cheat her most trusted counsellor. But the Lord 
 Treasurer was not so easily outAvitted. He knew every- 
 thing, though he held his peace, and quietly went to 
 work to prevent the prank on which his wayward 
 mistress was bent. Sad to relate, a tool was ready to 
 his hand. No one knew better than he an lago when he 
 saw him, and with such a man he could play as he 
 would. Doughty, ignorant perhaps of Drake's rela- 
 tions with Walsingham and the Queen, felt that his own 
 Court influence had done everything, and jealous of the 
 prominent position which Drake assumed, revealed the 
 whole project to Burleigh. It takes away the breath to 
 think that the great Minister with whom all the glories 
 of Elizabeth are associated should have deliberately set 
 to work to wreck the most brilliant and typical achieve- 
 ment of her reign ; yet what the instructions were 
 
rv HTS EXPLORATION COMPANY 59 
 
 which Doughty received from the astute old schemer 
 became only too plain in the sequel. 
 
 Meanwhile Drake, without a suspicion of his friend's 
 treachery, threw himself into the Avork of floating his 
 company and organising the expedition. It Avas in a 
 happy hour, for just now the town was run mad on 
 exploration. In the autumn of 1576 Frobisher returned 
 from his attempt to discover a north-west passage into 
 the South Sea, and had turned every one's head with 
 some ore which he had brought from Labrador. Court 
 and city vied with one another in supporting his venture 
 for 1577, and Drake caught the tide of speculation at 
 the flood. Leicester, Hatton, Walsingham, and other 
 courtiers took shares freely. Sir William Wynter, 
 Elizabeth's Admiral -at -Sea, so warmly supported the 
 scheme that the younger Wynter was appointed vice- 
 admiral. It also seems to have received the sanction of 
 the Hawkinses, for young William Hawkins, the son of 
 the Governor of Plymouth, sailed with it. Cadets of 
 the best Devonshire families freely volunteered, and 
 when the little sea-captain with his fine clothes and 
 his page, and Diego, his negro, strutting at his heels, 
 swaggered into the Temple to see Tom Doughty, there 
 were found plenty of spirited young barristers weary of 
 their briefless existence and eager to embark their 
 younger sons' portion in a romantic adventure. Drake's 
 frank blue eyes and hearty self-reliance spread con- 
 fidence around him, and he was soon busy equipping his 
 expedition regardless of cost. 
 
 In Plymouth harbour three ships were brought for- 
 Avard for a voyage to Egypt. There Avas the Pelican, of 
 one hundred tons and eighteen guns, Avhich was to serve 
 
6o STI? FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 him for his "admiral" or flagship ; the Mary gold, a barque 
 of thirty tons and sixteen guns ; and a provision-ship of 
 fifty tons, which he called the Sioan, after the little 
 vessel in which he had founded his fortunes. In Sep- 
 tember John Wynter came round from the Thames 
 with a fine new ship of eighty tons and sixteen guns, 
 named the Elizabeth, and a pinnace of fifteen tons, 
 which Drake re-christened the Christopher, in honour 
 of Hatton. The Manjgold and the Sivan Avere com- 
 manded by two of the gentlemen volunteers, Mr. 
 John Thomas and Mr. John Chester; while the Chris- 
 topher was committed to Tom Moone, the trusty carpenter 
 who had scuttled the old Sioan off Cartagena five years 
 ago. Doughty seems to have considered himself as 
 Captain of the Land -soldiers, but otherwise had no 
 command. The crews, all told, numbered one hundred 
 and fifty men and fourteen boys, and included men of 
 science as well as combatants and mariners. Amongst 
 these Doughty was careful to enrol an ally. For some 
 months past his brother John had been confined by order 
 of the Council without a trial, on a charge, there is reason 
 to believe, not unconnected with the scandal about 
 Leicester having poisoned Essex. Hoping probably 
 never to hear of him again, Leicester had been recently 
 induced to consent to his release, and for this ominous, 
 recruit Doughty obtained a place as gentleman volunteer. 
 From a natural lavishness, no less than a sagacious 
 belief in the efficacy of display, no expense was spared to 
 make the squadron as splendid as possible. Skilful musi- 
 cians were engaged, and arms and munitions of the best 
 patterns provided, while the flagship was fitted with all 
 the splendour proper to the dignity of its commander's 
 
IV SAILS FOR THE PACIFIC 6i 
 
 commission as Captain-General. His table furniture was 
 of silver, richly gilt and engraved with the family arms ; 
 his cabin was redolent with perfumes, which the Queen 
 herself had given him ; and in every way he was sur- 
 rounded with all the state and luxury of one of her 
 Majesty's Admirals-at-the-Sea. 
 
 To the end Drake suspected nothing. True, Doughty 
 had been overheard in Drake's garden at Plymouth 
 making use of expressions Avhich seemed to hint that the 
 Queen and the Council were to be bribed into winkingr 
 at piracy ; but Drake would hear nothing against his 
 friend. Indeed there is no reason to believe that 
 Doughty revealed the destination of the squadron to the 
 Spanish agent, though the Spaniard must have guessed 
 that the thin disguise of a venture to Alexandria covered 
 another of those sharp surprises with Avhich Elizabeth 
 loved to season her diplomacy. Don John had assumed 
 the government of the Spanish Netherlands, and the 
 exiled English rel^els were gathering round him in spite 
 of Alva's convention. In the summer letters were inter- 
 cepted revealing his romantic dream of conquering Eng- 
 land for the love of Mary Stuart ; and the Spanish agent, 
 caught in correspondence with the Scots Queen, was 
 sent to the Tower. At last Walsingham and Leicester 
 persuaded Elizabeth she was being betrayed, and war 
 was on every one's lips. Arms and troops and projects 
 to annoy the King of Spain were the only talk in the 
 Council; and it is impossible to believe that secret orders 
 had not enlarged Drake's innocent commission for trade 
 and exploration, as on November 15th,t 1577, at the 
 height of the war-fever, he ran proudly out of Plymouth 
 harbour. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 AN OCEAN TRAGEDY 
 
 In days when the earth seems haixUy to have a secret 
 still unprofaned, it is difficult to grasp through what a 
 world of shadowy terrors Drake had resolved to push 
 his way. Yet we may conceive the strange fancies that 
 mixed with the music of wind and wave, of trumpets and 
 violins, as he paced the poop of his little flagship and 
 watched her four frail consorts rising and falling to the 
 mysterious swell of the Atlantic. Since the discovery of 
 the New World no event had so profoundly moved men's 
 imagination as Magellan's great achievement sixty years 
 ago. Till then it was believed that America Avas part of 
 one vast continent that covered all the South Pole, and 
 was one with New Guinea ; and even now, geographers 
 taught that there was no southward passage from the 
 Atlantic into the South Sea except by the narrow strait 
 through which the great Portuguese discoverer had passed 
 to find the Old World beyond the New. Time after time 
 the most renowned officers in the Spanish service had 
 attempted to follow in Magellan's track, but even those 
 who succeeded in passing the strait had demonstrated with 
 disaster the impracticability of the route. For a genera- 
 tion it had been abandoned : the riches of the South Sea 
 continued to pass overland by Nombre de Dios ; and 
 
CHAP. V ELIZABETHAN COSMOGRAPHY 63 
 
 primeval silence had once more settled upon the desolate 
 shores of Patagonia. 
 
 To the real and known difficulties of the navigation, 
 the science of the day added all the terrors of its 
 naive deductions. The primuin mobile Avas supposed 
 to set up so violent a westerly current that even if a 
 man passed in he could never return. So great was the 
 dread the idea inspired that Magellan had been com- 
 pelled to hang two of his chief officers before he could 
 proceed, and the last attempt to penetrate the passage 
 had been frustrated by open mutiny. For those who 
 had no science, myth and legend provided horrors in 
 plenty. The seafaring folk of Europe generally believed 
 the fires of Heaven would consume all who attempted to 
 pass the torrid zone ; and those whose comrades had 
 passed and lived, still shuddered at a void beyond where, 
 engendered of incessant storm and darkness, the great 
 Atlantic swell was born. Yet it was through this region 
 of prodigies, chartless and unexplored, that Drake with 
 his imperfect instruments was going to find his way ; 
 and these were the men whom, with no help of modern 
 discipline, he had to persuade to the work. They had 
 only agreed for a voyage to Alexandria, nor was it till 
 the little squadron rendezvoused at Mogadore, on the 
 west coast of Morocco, that they knew anything more 
 adventurous was in the wind. At any time they might 
 refuse to venture farther into the burning void. With 
 all the support of his officers Drake could barely hope 
 to inspire them with his own daring ; and at his side was 
 his dearest friend sworn to overthrow the voyage. 
 
 It was not long before Lord Burleigh's tool was at 
 work, Kunniug down the African coast as far as Cape 
 
64 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Blanc, Drake again jout in with half-a-dozen prizes he 
 had picked up on the way. Here he proceeded to clean 
 his ships, and while the rummaging was going on 
 Doughty got the soldiers ashore to exercise them at 
 their weapons. There was a prospect of sharp work 
 ahead, for Drake meant to water and victual at the Cape 
 Verde Islands, and force might be needed. Mayo, which 
 was then a notable haunt of pirates, was the first point 
 attempted, and here Doughty, with Captain Wynter in 
 his company and some seventy musketeers, was landed 
 to scour the island for provisions. Once out of sight, he 
 began secretly tampering with the men, and after a half- 
 hearted attempt to trade Avith the inhabitants returned 
 to the ships with a report that nothing was to be had. 
 It is possible that this unsatisfactory performance already 
 aroused Drake's suspicions, but the constancy of his 
 friendship suffered him to give no sign ; and when next 
 day off St. lago a rich Portuguese prize bound for the 
 Brazils was captured, Doughty was placed in command. 
 Besides silks and other valuable goods, it contained all 
 the stores Avhich the fleet needed, with the exception of 
 such things as were to be had in abundance at the island 
 of Brava. Thither, therefore, Drake at once proceeded, 
 taking no further precautions with the prize than to send 
 his brother aboard to represent his interests. Thomas 
 Drake seems to have been the last survivor of the eleven 
 sturdy Protestants who had been reared on the Medway 
 hulk ; and, Avith the exception of Tom Moone, he Avas 
 perhaps the only man in the expedition on Avhom the 
 Admiral could implicitly rely. Arrived at Brava, Drake 
 went aboard the prize to arrange for the discharge of the 
 prisoners, and found himself at once face to face Avith 
 
V DOUGHTY IN DISGRACE 65 
 
 his new difficulty. No sooner did he step on deck than 
 Doughty came up and accused Thomas Drake of haA^ng 
 pilfered the cargo. On inquiry, one of Hatton's men, who 
 was now Drake's trumpeter, made a similar charge against 
 Doughty, and not only was his accusation supported by 
 others, but some trifling articles belonging to the prisoners 
 were found in Doughty's possession. In vain he protested 
 they Avere presents. AVhere prize was concerned such a 
 defence Avas inadmissible, and Drake fleAv into a passion. 
 He told his friend plainly that it was not Thomas 
 Drake, but Francis, that he meant to disparage ; he 
 accused him of seeking to sap his credit with the fleet, 
 and swore by God's life he would not have it. For, un- 
 like the later Puritans, Drake Avas no precisian. He could 
 swear like a gentleman, and on his occasions used his 
 fashionable accomplishment with some freedom. Still 
 it was not his way to bark without biting, and he ended 
 his outburst by ordering Doughty aboard the flagship, 
 and giving the command of the prize to his brother. 
 
 With the exception of one smack which had been 
 exchanged for the Christopher pinnace, the AA'hole of the 
 other captures had been already dismissed ; but the 
 Brazil ship so nicely suited Drake's needs that he had 
 resolved to attach it to the squadron as an extra 
 victualler, and before leaving the confines of the Old 
 World, Avhere now they were, he set at liberty all his 
 prisoners. Drake's gentlemen were not a little astonished 
 at his clemency ; it was not at all their idea of honour- 
 able piracy. Some of the Portuguese passengers were 
 men of Avealth and position ; yet not only were they 
 discharged Avithout ransom, but a newly-set-up pinnace 
 was given them that they might get back comfortably 
 
 F 
 
66 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 to St. lago. One, however, remained behind, and the 
 exception is important. He was a pilot for the Brazils 
 from Genoa, with a Genoese love of adventure ; and 
 so soon as he heard Drake's intention of penetrating 
 into the Pacific by Magellan's abandoned route, he 
 volunteered for the voyage. His services were accepted 
 gladly enough, and with this valuable addition to the 
 staff, the course was laid for the River Plate. 
 
 For the present no further notice was taken of 
 Doughty's misconduct. Mr. Vicary, one of the barris- 
 ters who had volunteered from the Temple, interceded 
 in his behalf so successfully that Drake left him in 
 peace on board the Pelican, while he himself sailed in 
 the prize. But his forbearance was of little avail. As 
 they crept across the Doldrums, constant complaints 
 came from the Pelican that Doughty was trying to 
 take upon himself the command of the ship. The gravity 
 of the situation lay in the fact that the position of soldiers 
 and gentlemen volunteers on board ship had not yet 
 been determined, and the consequent jealousy and insub- 
 ordination were exactly the instruments best suited to 
 Doughty's hand. It was a question of extreme delicacy, 
 and on its right adjustment the efficiency of the navy hung. 
 At Brava Doughty had begun by assembling the Pelican's 
 crew, and while charging them to look to the master in 
 all matters of seamanship and navigation, he had given 
 them to understand that he Avas there as Drake's deputy 
 to exercise the powers of life and death contained in the 
 Queen's commission.^ In the absence of the captain, 
 
 ^ See "The sum of Thos. Doughtie's oration upon the Pelican, 
 etc.," Ilnrl. MSS. Q22\, fol. 7, omitted in Yaux's collection, Hak. 
 Soc. 1854. 
 
V DRAKE'S GREA T REFORM 67 
 
 Doughty may really have thought that he was entitled 
 to command. Lieutenants had not then been intro- 
 duced into the sea-service. The second officer of the 
 ship was the master, invariably a practical seaman ; 
 but in the Spanish service seamen had always to give 
 place to soldiers, and as Spain then set the fashion in 
 all things military, Doughty probably thought it a duty 
 he owed to himself and the other gentlemen to teach 
 the master his place. But Drake kneAV better, and 
 face to face with the question for the first time he 
 grappled it with all his masterful directness. No 
 greater debt is due to him than that he successfully 
 resisted the ideas Avhicli paralysed the Spanish navy ; 
 and it is in that very arrogance which disgusted so 
 many of his contemporaries, that much of his greatness 
 must be sought. For from it Avas bred that blustering 
 pride in his profession which for the first time taught 
 soldiers to respect their brethren of the sea ; it was 
 his spirit that inspired Shakespeare's Boatswain ; it 
 was he who made " Out of the way, I say !" the standing 
 order for soldiers aboard English ships ; and it is to 
 the high credit of both teaclier and taught that no 
 admii'al was ever more popular with the military than 
 Francis Drake. 
 
 As Doughty had been sent aboard the Pelican, under 
 reprimand, his case was one of peculiar aggravation, 
 and things soon came to a crisis. The offender never 
 ceased his pretensions, and one day so far forgot him- 
 self as to take advantage of some rough practical joke 
 that the seamen were playing on the Admiral's trumpeter, 
 to be revenged on his accuser. The man had apparently 
 gone on board the flagship in the course of his duty, and 
 
68 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE ' chap. 
 
 Drake seems to have regarded the insult as a piece of 
 deliberate insubordination. On the trumpeter's com- 
 plaint, he sent a boat for Doughty, and so soon as he 
 came alongside, without permitting him to set foot on 
 the ship or to say a Avord in his defence, he peremptorily 
 ordered him on board the victual-ship in utter disgrace. 
 On April 5th the coast of Brazil was made about 
 Eio Grande, and here they lost touch of the fair Aveather 
 that had attended them. Sudden fogs, accompanied 
 with heavy weather, scattered the ships and drove 
 them one after another deep into the mouth of the 
 La Plata in search of water and shelter. It was not 
 till the end of the month that they all got together 
 again, and Drake, resuming his command of the Pelican, 
 ventured to continue his course to the south with his 
 reassembled fleet ; but no sooner had he douUed Point 
 Piedras than another storm struck them, and the 
 victualler parted company. Doughty was still on 
 board of her, and Drake, who like other sailors had his 
 superstitions, began to think his Jonahs were brewing 
 the bad weather. They had never ceased to tamper 
 with the men, and in his anxiety to discredit the 
 Admiral and advance his brother's party, John Doughty 
 had used his Hebrew and Greek to claim acquaint- 
 ance with the black art. The incessant gales which 
 Drake encountered as he struggled southward in search 
 of a port to reorganise the squadron did little to 
 remove his suspicions. The ships were continually 
 losing touch, and so sure as they attempted to ride, 
 a eale would tear them from their anchors. Did 
 Drake venture inshore with his pinnace to explore 
 the coast, a squall would strike him so suddenly that 
 
V DOUGHTY AGAIN 69 
 
 only by the daring seamanship of his officers could he 
 be rescued from destruction. His brother in the prize 
 was missing altogether ; and the victualler, with its 
 uncanny passenger, had not been seen since it first 
 parted company at Point Piedras. 
 
 For six Aveary weeks the struggle southward continued 
 till five degrees north of Magellan's passage Port Desire 
 was discovered. Here the storm-beaten fleet found rest; 
 and now at the moment when all danger seemed over, 
 the victualler mysteriously reappeared to enjoy the 
 security. But this was not all. Her master had to 
 report that not only had Doughty never ceased to 
 disparage the Admiral and make himself appear as the 
 real commander of the expedition, but that he had 
 done all in his power to get Mr. Chester, the gentle- 
 man captain of the victualler, to quarrel with the 
 master and defy his authority. So serious had the 
 situation on board become that some one had even gone 
 so far as to remind the offender of the fate of Ma2;ellan's 
 mutinous vice-admii\al, but Doughty had only laughed 
 and said Drake had no authority of life and death, and 
 gallows were for dogs, not gentlemen. Even if Drake's 
 power of life and death was ever intended to apply 
 to the officers and gentlemen of the fleet, it is highly 
 improbable that he at all contemplated such an 
 extremity. But it is certain that he was bent on 
 upholding the authority of the sea-officers, and that 
 Doughty, with Burleigh's instructions and his own end 
 in view, was deliberately fomenting the jealousy between 
 them and the gentlemen. Still Drake seems not to have 
 despaired of bringing his friend to reason. Being in 
 want of firewood, and desirous of making his squadron 
 
70 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 more compact, he resolved to break np the victualler, of 
 which there was no longer need ; and while the work was 
 going on he once more took Doughty on his own ship. 
 But so persistently did he continue his efforts to paralyse 
 the expedition, that one day in a fit of exasperation 
 Drake ordered him to be bound to the mast. It was 
 an ignominious sea - punishment, well designed to 
 teach the gentlemen their place. But the matter did 
 not end there. The continued friction was fast chafing 
 Drake's masterful s^jiiit to a dangerous heat, and as 
 soon as the oftender was released both he and his 
 brother were ordered on board the smack Christ oj^hcr. 
 At last the conspirators began to be alarmed. It was Tom 
 Moone's ship, and the trusty old carpenter was the very 
 pattern of a pirate's lieutenant. Truculent, fearless, 
 and devoted, he was Drake's chosen instrument for deeds 
 he dare not OAvn ; and reading murder in the grim sea- 
 man's eyes, the brothers refused to obey Drake's order. 
 His only reply Avas to direct tackle to be rigged to sling 
 them on board. 
 
 On June 3rd the four vessels that Avere still together 
 again stood southward, hoping to find that Thomas 
 Drake's lost vessel had preceded them. Again they 
 encountered adverse gales, again the vessel which carried 
 the Doughties parted company, and again, after Drake 
 had desisted from the hopeless struggle southward and 
 was running back up the coast, she reappeared. He was 
 now convinced that the weather was due to sorcery, and, 
 determined to make his squadron still more compact, 
 he resolved to abandon the ChrisfojjJier. Tom Moone 
 was taken on board the Pelican, and the Doughties were 
 handed over to Captain Wynter on the Elizabeth, with 
 
V WITCHES' WEATHER "Ji 
 
 strict orders that no one should speak to them, and that 
 neither of them should be allowed to read or write any- 
 thing but what a man could see and understand. It is 
 easy to smile at such credulity ; but rather should we 
 bow before the undaunted spirit which, oppressed as it 
 was with imagined terrors, could yet bravely lift the 
 load of opposition which each day grew more real. 
 For now the crisis of the voyage was at hand. The 
 harassed Admiral had given the order to stand onward 
 as far south as the latitude of Magellan's Straits ; every 
 man in the fleet knew at last for what he had been 
 brought so far, and at any time Drake might find mutiny 
 staring him in the face. The least credulous might well 
 believe that they were already in the confines of that 
 fabulous storm-land, in which Thomas Drake and their 
 comrades in the prize seemed already engulfed. As 
 they knew the Avorld, it was summer-time ; and yet, as 
 they painfully beat southward, at every league the skies 
 grew more wintry and the sea more tempestuous, till 
 with infinite toil having reached the required latitude, 
 for the third time they were hurled back. 
 
 It was an ill wind, but as though Drake's precautions 
 had paralysed the Doughties' magic, it blew him to his 
 brother. So severely, however, was the prize found to 
 have suffered in the storms that Drake resolved to put 
 in at Port St. Julian to finally refit for the desperate 
 attempt. It was the natural harbour where sixty years 
 ago Magellan had made his last preparations ; and well- 
 nigh overwhelmed with fatigue and anxiety, Drake 
 entered it in safety on June 20th. It AA^as like the end 
 of the earth. For six months he had been sailing out 
 into a Avorld on which God's back seemed turned. Yet 
 
72 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 there it was, upon the shore of that forsaken -wilderness, 
 that the first sign of Christian men fell upon his eyes ; 
 and that sign was the stump of Magellan's gallows. 
 
 What wonder if, as Drake with troubled brow gazed 
 upon that jagged fir-post, the ghost of the old admiral's 
 resolution whispered in his ear, and he saw amidst the 
 desolation a sign from Heaven 1 Buried at its foot 
 they found the skeletons of the two mutinous officers, 
 while on board the Elizabeth the presence of the 
 prisoners was fast demoralising Wynter's ship's com- 
 pany. It was clear the situation could not continue, 
 though Doughty was still confident that the Admiral 
 dare not exercise his powers upon a gentleman. But 
 he knew not his friend, nor could he measure the spirit 
 to Avhich the formulas that bind the world in chains 
 are but as threads. Drake was no man to suffer a 
 great purpose to be strangled with the phrases of a 
 parchment. By the old law of England an offender 
 could be always condemned by the judgment of his 
 peers, and so by first principles he cut the knot. On 
 the last day of June the crews were summoned 
 ashore, and there over against the gallows of Magellan 
 Drake sat in judgment upon his dearest friend. The 
 time-hallowed forms of the English law were rever- 
 ently preserved ; a jury was empanelled m- ith Wynter 
 at its head, and solemn articles were read which 
 charged the prisoner where he stood "with mutiny and 
 treason. Then with bitter taunts and acrimonious evi^ 
 dence the wrangling trial Avent on. Hearsay, prejudice, 
 and abuse were heaped on the wretched prisoner's head 
 in a way that shocks us now to read. But such was 
 then the everyday scene in the old courts of England 
 
TRIAL OF DOUGHTY 73 
 
 where our liberties were shaped ; and few prisoners fared 
 so well at Westminster for another century as did 
 Thomas Doughty at that first Lynch-court amidst the 
 desolation of Patagonia. Though every one believed 
 him guilty of treason, he was acquitted because the 
 evidence was insufficient — an unusual piece of clemency 
 in days when juries were expected to convict on their 
 general impressions. It was not till they had found 
 him guilty of mutiny that Drake produced any evidence 
 himself. At the beginning of the trial he had protested 
 that it was no matter of life and death; but in the 
 midst of one of the sorry wranglings Doughty boasted 
 of having betrayed the Queen's secret to Lord Burleigh. 
 Then at last the whole truth burst upon Drake, and 
 he knew the case was even more desperate than he 
 thought. Leaving the traitor standing alone with his 
 brother, he called the companies down to the shore, and 
 laid his heart bare to them. He told them the whole 
 story of the expedition from first to last, he told them 
 Avhat it meant, and asked them what a man deserved 
 who had conspired to overthrow so great an undertaking. 
 " They that think this man worthy of death," he cried 
 out at the last, " let them with me hold up their hands." 
 And as the words left his lips a throng of brown hands 
 surrounded him. 
 
 On the second day from the trial the tragedy was played 
 out. Wynter, it is said, made an effort to save the culprit, 
 but Drake's hand was set firm upon the plough. On an 
 island over against the relic of Magellan the block was 
 placed, and beside it an altar where side by side the two 
 friends knelt to receive together the Sacrament in token 
 of forgiveness. Hard by, tables were spread with the 
 
74 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 best the stores provided, and there they all caroused 
 together in a farewell banquet to their comrade. When 
 the feast was ended, with coiirtly jests Doughty drew 
 near the block and the boon companions gathered round. 
 At the last, as one who had lost in a game of hazard, 
 he embraced the friend who had won, and Drake took 
 payment without a flinch. He showed no animus, nor 
 did sentiment sap his purpose one jot. Like everything 
 else, his aflfection had to be sacrificed to the mission. 
 Doughty had stood in the way of the great lesson he 
 meant to teach his country, and he had been honourably 
 removed. That was all. So the sword fell, and Avhen 
 the provost-marshal held up the dripping head, Drake 
 cried out, unmoved, " Lo ! this is the end of traitors." 
 
 What wonder if his heart was hardened'? What 
 wonder if it was said of him afterwards that he was a 
 man hard to reconcile? Such a tragedy might well 
 have poisoned altogether a nature less magnanimous. 
 He would always speak of his friend with love and 
 admiration ; but the memory of his treason never failed 
 to rouse in Drake something that made him terrible to 
 his officers. 
 
 John Doughty he spared wnth a wise clemency ; 
 but the rest had still to be taught the lesson Avhich the 
 dead man had so hardly learnt. As the Avork of cleaning 
 and refitting went on, the tension between the gentlemen 
 and the sailors continued, till Drake could endure it no 
 longer. He was overwrought and desperate with the 
 troubles that beset him. A month went by, and then 
 once more he called the companies ashore. The 
 chaplain thought it was for a sermon, but Drake said he 
 would preach himself that day, and a wholesome sermon 
 
V THE CONSPIRACY STAMPED OUT 75 
 
 it was. He told them the mutinous discords must cease 
 or the voyage Avould be overthrown. " I must have the 
 gentleman to haul and draw with the mariner," he cried, 
 " and the mariner with the gentleman. I would know 
 him that would refuse to set his hand to a rope." He 
 offered the Marygold to any who wished to go back. 
 " But let them take heed," he said, " that they go home- 
 ward. For if I find them in my way I will surely sink 
 them." With one accord they all consented to go on 
 and leave the Avages to him. Then turning to Captain 
 Wynter, Avho stood at his side, he dismissed him his ship, 
 and cashiered every officer in the squadron. They asked 
 him why. " Is there any reason why I should not 1 " he 
 retorted. As he grew more excited he rounded upon 
 the traitors that he knew, and in terror they liumV)led 
 themselves at his feet. So in triumph he told them once 
 more how it Avas the Queen who had sent him out, and 
 how they had come to set the kings of the earth by the 
 ears, and warned them of the fate that awaited them if 
 the voyage turned out a failure. With that, as suddenly 
 as before, he restored every one to the rank of which he 
 had just been deprived, and Avith cheery Avords of hope 
 and kindliness he dismissed them to their duty. 
 
 From that moment his reputation as a disciplinarian 
 Avas unriA'alled. The state of his ships Avas a Avonder to 
 all Avho saw them, and Spaniards themselves considered 
 his men as comparable only to their own Italian legions. 
 No more Avas heard of the quarrels and jealousy. The 
 work went rapidly on : the prize had been broken up to 
 supply the other three ships Avith fireAvood ; and on 
 August 20th, 1578, the three ships that remained hove-to 
 before the Straits of Mairellan. 
 
. CHAPTER VI 
 
 WAKING THE SOUTH SEA 
 
 Lord Burleigh's scheme had failed, and Drake Avas 
 knocking at the golden gates. In the teeth of the 
 astutest Ministers of the time, he was about to blow the 
 blast before which the giant's doors would fly open, 
 and deliberately to goad the giant into open fight. Full 
 of the momentous meaning of his resolve, he paused upon 
 the threshold to do honour to the mistress whose favour 
 he wore. Before the frowning entry he caused his fleet, 
 in homage of their sovereign lady, to strike their top-sails 
 upon the bunt as a token of his willing and glad mind, 
 and to show his dutiful obedience to Her Highness. It 
 was a piece of true Elizabethan chivalry, and like a true 
 Elizabethan knight he accompanied it with a shrewd 
 stroke of policy. Sir Christopher Hatton had now no 
 visible connection with the venture. The vessel named 
 after him had been broken up, and his representative had 
 been beheaded. Drake knew well how flat fell prowess 
 at the Faery Queen's Court if a man had not a friend at 
 her ear. He knew, too, that no reputation was so 
 fashionable just then as that of a patron of discoveries, 
 nor could he be ignorant that all the new favourite's 
 goodwill would be required to save him from Burleigh's 
 power. So on the poop of the little flagship Avas placed 
 
CHAP. VI IN THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN 77 
 
 the crest of the Captain of the Guard, and in his 
 honour the Pelican became the Golden Hind. 
 
 So protected, Drake boldly entered the Straits. Then 
 from the towering snow-cones and threatening glaciers 
 that guarded the entry the tempests swept down upon the 
 daring intruders. Out of the tortuous gulfs that through 
 the bowels of the fabulous Austral continent seemed 
 to lead beyond the confines of the world, rude squalls 
 bufteted them this way and that, and currents, the like 
 of which no man had seen, made as though they would 
 dash them to pieces in the fathomless depths where no 
 cable would reach. Fires lit by natives on the desolate 
 shores as the strangers struggled by, added the terrors 
 of imknown magic. But Drake's fortitude and con- 
 summate seamanship triumphed over all, and in a fort- 
 night he brought his ill-sailing ships in triumph out 
 upon the Pacific, Then, as though maddened to see 
 how the adventurers had braved every effort to destroy 
 them, the whole fury of the fiends that guarded the South 
 Sea's slumber rushed howling upon them. Hardly had 
 the squadron turned northward than a terrific gale 
 struck it and hurled it back. The sky was darkened, 
 and the bowels of the earth seemed to have burst, and 
 for nearly two months they were driven under bare 
 poles to and fro without rest in latitudes where no ship 
 had ever sailed. On the maps the great Austral 
 continent was marked, but they found in its place an 
 enchanted void, where wind and water, and ice and 
 darkness, seemed to make incessant war. After three 
 weeks' strife, the Marygold went down with all hands ; 
 and in another week Wynter lost heart, and finding 
 himself at the mouth of the Straits, went home in 
 
78 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 despair ; while the Golden Hind, ignorant of the deser- 
 tion, was swept once more to the south of Cape Horn. 
 Here, on the fifty-third day of its fury, the storm 
 ceased exhausted, and Drake found himself alone. But 
 it was no moment to repine, for he knew he had made a 
 discovery so brilliant as to deprive even Magellan's of its 
 radiance. He was anchored among islands southward 
 of anything known to geographers, and before him the 
 Atlantic and Pacific rolled together in one great flood. 
 In his exultation he landed on the farthest island, and 
 walkins alone with his instruments to its end, he laid 
 himself down, and with his arms embraced the southern- 
 most point of the known world. ^ 
 
 The spell seemed broken. As when the hero blows 
 the magic trumpet, the dreaded bulwarks had fallen, 
 the brazen gates of the castle had disappeared, and in 
 their place stretched a broad and smiling way into the 
 golden garden. The very forces of Nature that had 
 seemed a part of the enchantment ceased their struggle 
 to stop the man that made such light of their terrors, 
 and let him go in triumph on his path of plunder up the 
 slumbering coast of Chili. 
 
 About a month later, little dreaming what had taken 
 place, the crew of the Grand Captain of the South Avere 
 lazily waiting in Valparaiso harbour for a wind to carry 
 them to Panama with their cargo of gold and Chili Avine. 
 
 ^ Observations of Sir Richard Hmokins, ■^. 224, Hak. Soc. 1878. 
 Drake's discovery first appears on a Dutch silver plaque executed 
 in his honour, apparently, during his visit to Holland in 1586. The 
 Terra Australis entirely disappears (on Drake's authority) in the 
 map attached to Hakhiyt's second edition, 1598. Ortelius, how- 
 ever, continued to join Tierra del Fucgo with the Terra Australis 
 Incognita. 
 
vr SACK OF VALPARAISO 79 
 
 As they lounged over the bulwarks a sail appeared to 
 the northward, and they made read 3^ a pipe of wine to 
 have a merry night with the new-comers. As the 
 stranger anchored they beat her a welcome of their 
 drum, and then watched her boat come alongside. In 
 a moment all was in confusion. A rough old salt was 
 laying about him with his fists, shouting in broken 
 Spanish, " Down, dog, down ! " and the astounded 
 Spaniards were soon tight under hatches. It was Tom 
 Moone at his old work. Hither the Golden Hind had 
 been piloted by a friendly Indian in its search for pro- 
 visions and loot. The little settlement was quickly 
 plundered of all it had worth taking, and Drake's 
 mariners, who for months had been living on salted pen- 
 guin, and many of whom were suffering from wounds re- 
 ceived in an encounter with the islanders of Mocha, were 
 revelling in all the dainties of the Chilian paradise. 
 For three days the mysterious ship, which seemed to 
 have dropped from the skies, lay in the harbour collect- 
 ing provisions, and then, laden with victuals, it sailed 
 away northward with its prize. 
 
 Drake's great anxiety now was to rendezvous his 
 scattered fleet for the sack of Lima and Panama, and 
 assured that Wynter must be ahead he fully expected 
 to find him in 30° north latitude, the point agreed on. 
 After an ineffectual attempt to water at Coquimbo, 
 where he found the Spaniards in arms, he dis- 
 covered a natural harbour a little to the north of it 
 which suited his purpose. In a month his preparations 
 were complete. The men were thoroughly refreshed ; 
 a pinnace had been set up; the Golden Hind refitted 
 from stem to stern, and under the guidance of the pilot 
 
8o SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 of the Grarul Captain he set out to realise the dream of 
 his hfe. Every one, except perhaps poor John Doughty, 
 was in the highest spirits. The return of health and 
 the glorious climate made them reckless of the dangers 
 of their single-handed attempt. Still they trusted to 
 find the Elizabeth, and as they searched the coast for 
 water with the pinnace they never lost hope of hearing 
 of her. Fresh plunder constantly compensated for 
 their continued disappointment. At one point on the 
 coast of Tarapaca they found a Spaniard asleep with 
 thirteen bars of silver beside him. They apologised 
 profusely for disturbing his nap, and politely insisted 
 on making amends by relieving him of his burden. 
 Farther on they met another driving a train of guana- 
 coes laden with some eight hundred pounds of silver, and 
 expressing themselves shocked to see a gentleman turned 
 carrier, they took his place ; but somehow, as they after- 
 wards said, they lost the way to his house and found 
 themselves suddenly just where they had left the pinnace. 
 So they romped along that peaceful coast, startling its 
 luxurious slumbers with shouts of reckless laughter till 
 they came to Arica, the frontier - town of Peru and 
 the point where the fabulous wealth of the Potosi mines 
 was embarked for Panama. It was a place important 
 enough to have tempted the Elizabeth from her tryst. 
 But not only was no trace of her to be found, but so hot 
 was the alarm in front of Drake that two small treasure- 
 barks Avere all there was in the harbour to plunder, and 
 the town was in arms. A few hours ago a galleon had 
 escaped northward, laden with eight hundred bars of 
 silver, all belonging to the King of Spain, and fuming 
 to so narrowly miss his revenge, Drake at once resolved 
 
VI RAID ON CALLAO DE LIMA 8i 
 
 to give chase. Without further care for his consort 
 or any attempt on the town he hurried on with his 
 pinnace and the Valparaiso prize, till at Chuli, the port 
 of Arequipa, they saw the chase at anchor. Her capture 
 Avas Avithout a blow, for not a man was found aboard her 
 — nor a bar of silver either. Two hours ago the whole 
 of it had been heaved overboard to save it from Drake's 
 hands, and in a fury of disappointment he at once set 
 both the slow-sailing prizes adrift out into the ocean. 
 For he was resolved by a dash on Lima to outstrip his 
 notoriety at all costs, and so once more the Golden 
 Hiiul and its pinnace spread their wings northward 
 alone. 
 
 It was on February 15th that, in the dead of night, 
 they quietly entered Callao de Lima. The harbour 
 was full of shipping, and the pilot whom Drake had 
 seized from a vessel outside was made to take him right 
 in among them. A ship from Panama was entering 
 at the same time, and as they anchored side by side, a 
 custom-house boat at once put off and hailed them. 
 Not content to wait till the morning, a sleepy officer 
 boarded the Golden Hind, and before he knew where he 
 was he tumbled right on the top of a big gun. Frightened 
 to death, he was over the side again in a moment, and 
 his boat dashed away crying the alarm. The ship of 
 Panama cut her cables, and Drake slipped into the 
 pinnace to take her; but as she showed fight he left 
 her for the present and turned to ransack the defenceless 
 shipping that lay around him. From ship to ship he 
 went, but not an ounce of treasure could he find. It 
 was all ashore except a vast quantity which had recently 
 been shipped for Panama in a large vessel called Our 
 
 G 
 
82 STR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Lady of the Cnncept'ion, and nicknamed the Spitfire} 
 That was enough for him. He returned to the Golden 
 Hind, left his anchorage, and as he drifted out in the 
 calm which had fallen, he captured the ship of Panama. 
 But then ensued a delay both exasperating and dangerous. 
 For three days there Avas not a breath of wind, and the 
 Viceroy of Peru, marching down from Lima Avith two 
 thousand troops, sent out four vessels to capture or burn 
 the rover as he lay becalmed. All was in vain. Ere 
 they found heart to close with the terrible stranger the 
 breeze sprang up and away he went in hot pui\suit of 
 the treasure-ship. It had fourteen days' start of him, 
 but he did not despair, and while the Viceroy Avas 
 solemnly casting guns to arm vessels to pursue him, 
 Drake was ransacking ship after ship for treasure 
 and news of the chase. She had stopped at Truxillo 
 to load more bullion, and each prize told him he was 
 overhauling her. At Paita he learnt she had sailed 
 but two days before. The scent was now hot indeed. 
 Exasperated to miss his prey so narrowly, the Admiral 
 promised a golden chain to the man Avho first sighted 
 her, and swore she should be his, though he tore 
 her from her moorings at Panama itself. Across the 
 line they raced and still no sight of her, till on March 
 1st off Cape San Francisco young John Drake, his 
 page and nepheAV, claimed the reward. Fearful of 
 alarming his quarry, Drake at once ordered casks to be 
 trailed astern, and so managed to keep hull doAvn till 
 nightfall. Then the Golden Hind was slipped, and in one 
 bound rushed alongside her prey. A single shot brought 
 
 ' See deposition of her master in -S'. P. SjHt.hi, 1580, Imndle xviii, 
 9, b. 
 
VI THE GREAT TREASURE-GALLEON 83 
 
 her to reason, and then side by side the two ships ran 
 westwards for three days into the silent wastes of the 
 Pacific. For three days more they lay together, and 
 when they parted there were added to Drake's treasure 
 thirteen chests of pieces of eight, eighty pounds weight 
 of gold, jewels untold, and the Golden Hind was literally 
 ballasted with silver. 
 
 So huge was the booty that the only thought was 
 home. To attempt Panama single-handed would in 
 anj^ case have been madness, and Drake resolved to 
 return, but not by the way he came. The great 
 discoveries he had already made did not satisfy his 
 greed for renown. He had swept one whole con- 
 tinent from the globe ; by his survey of the coast of Chili 
 he had for the first time determined the shape of 
 another ; and now he was minded to settle for ever the 
 question of the North- West passage. From the Atlantic 
 his rivals were seeking the fabulous Strait of Anian, 
 and by that channel, if it existed, he determined to find 
 his way home. 
 
 His daring resolve completely outwitted the Span- 
 iards. The Viceroy of Peru sent his most brilliant 
 officer, Don Pedro Sarmiente de Gamboa, in pursuit. 
 He sought the rover towards Panama, but he was not 
 there. Still ignorant that it was not the only passage 
 between the two oceans, he turned to bar the way at 
 the Straits of Magellan, and Drake was not there= But 
 far awa}', in his palace at Mexico, Don Martin 
 Enriquez, the perjured Viceroy who eleven years ago 
 had broken his word at Vera Cruz, had news in plenty. 
 Mocking greetings from his unknown enemy disturbed 
 his ease, and he had to read news from the Nicaraguan 
 
84 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 coast that sorted ill -witli a quiet siesta. There a 
 corsair, the like of Avhom no man had seen, had been 
 at work. His prisoners had found him surrounded by 
 a council of the younger sons of the first men in 
 England, who always approached him hat in hand 
 and stood in his presence. He dined in state to 
 the sound of violins, and his crew, whose discipline 
 filled the Spaniards with amazement, adored him. He 
 was a martinet, and took no man's advice, but he heard 
 all alike and had no favourite. He had artificers of 
 every kind, and at the Isle of Cauo had just careened 
 and refitted his ship, God and His saints only knew for 
 what fresh depredations. He had cartographers, who 
 were making charts of the coast as he went, so that 
 whole fleets might follow in his track. And as for 
 catching him, so well armed and so fast was his ship 
 that that was out of the question. The whole coast of 
 New Spain was in a fever of alarm, for they knew it 
 was the same Drake, the cousin of Aquinez, who, five 
 years ago, had raided Nombre de Dios. The Bishop of 
 Guatemala began melting his chimes into guns, shijjs 
 were fitted out and troops moved up and down. In a 
 month they expected to be ready to take the sea, but 
 in a week Drake had done his work. Swooping on 
 the port of Guatulco, he had found the court sitting, 
 carried ofT all the judges bodily to his ship, and 
 then made them send an order for every man to leave 
 the town. This done, he revictualled at his ease from 
 the Spanish storehouses, and next day he was away 
 once more. He had less idea of staying than ever ; for, 
 lurking oflf the coast of Nicaragua, on the track of the 
 China trade, ho had made a capture of greater value 
 
VI SEEKING A WA Y HOME 85 
 
 than all his treasure. It was a vessel on which were 
 sailing two China pilots, and now snug in the cabin 
 of Spain's arch-enemy were the whole of the secret 
 charts by which was conducted the rich Spanish 
 trade across the Pacific. 
 
 For Spain it was a disaster of Avhich no man could 
 see the end, and, hugging his inestimable treasures, 
 Drake sped northward to find his way back into the 
 Atlantic. By the first week in June he had reached 
 close-hauled on the north-east trade as high as the lati- 
 tude of Cape Mendocino; but here he Avas suddenly 
 caught in a storm of extraordinary severity. His 
 rigging was frozen, his crew were half i)aralysed. Still 
 he struggled on, firing his men with his own hot courage. 
 In two days more he reached the latitude of Vancouver, 
 and there he gave up the struggle. The land still 
 trended westward, the weather grew more and more 
 severe, and he made up his mind that if the passage 
 existed it was impracticable. So the great resolve 
 was taken, and running south to find a port to prepare 
 the Golden Hind for her tremendous effort, he put into a 
 natural harbour near San Francisco, where the clifl's 
 Avere Avhite like those at home, and the soil Avas 
 teeming Avith gold. As fort and dockyard rose by 
 their lonely shores the Indians gathered in wonder and 
 would have worshipped the strangers as beings from a 
 better land. The horrified Puritans protested as kindly 
 as they might, and Avhen persuaded Drake Avas human, 
 the simple savages croAvned him in his mistress's name 
 king of NeAV Albion. So at least the old navigators 
 understood the strange ceremonies Avith Avhich the 
 month of their stay Avas occupied ; and the loud lamenta- 
 
86 S/R FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 tions of their friends when they departed filled their 
 imaginations with visions of an empire of Englishmen 
 hardly less grand than the great realitj^ 
 
 It was on July 25th that, with a boldness we can 
 hardly realise, the course was laid direct for the Moluccas. 
 Their instruments for finding latitude were far from 
 perfect ; longitude it was practically impossible for them 
 to determine at all ; their logs were so distrusted that 
 as a rule they preferred to guess the runs ; and the 
 variation of the compass was ascertained with childish 
 crudeness. Yet Drake did not even condescend to fol- 
 low the beaten trade-track of the Spaniards along the 
 ninth parallel. But straight across the Pacific, from 
 Avhere he was to Avhere he wished to be, he pushed his 
 way as it were by inspiration. For sixty-eight days 
 they had no sight of land. By the end of September they 
 found themselves close to the equator, and turning to the 
 northward to avoid the counter-current, on the last day 
 of the month they ran in amongst the Carolines. 
 
 The rest is long to tell; how, getting clear of the pilfering 
 natives, Drake made the Philippines, and coasting along 
 them ran from the southern point of Mindanao through 
 the Talautse group and past Togolando to the Moluccas ; 
 how at Ternate he made an exclusive commercial treaty 
 with the king which, for a century afterwards, was the 
 sheet-anchor of our diplomatists in their quarrels with 
 the Dutch and Portuguese about the East Indian trade ; 
 how he careened again at an island near the Greyhound 
 Strait, and then, after trying to beat northward into the 
 Macassar channel, turned back to pass southward, and 
 was at once entangled in the reef-encumbered seas that 
 wash the eastern coasts of Celebes; and how, after 
 
VI A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE 87 
 
 escaping a thousand dangers in the first days of the 
 year 1580, as they were sailing along the south of Peling 
 Island with a fine topsail breeze, they ran full tilt on a 
 reef. There for twenty hours they lay at the mercy of 
 God. All around was deep sea, where no hold could be 
 got for warping. Every shift was tried, Ixit not an inch 
 would the treasure -laden vessel stir, and death only 
 grew more real befoi-e them. Hopeless and exhausted, 
 they desisted from their efforts, and in solemn prepara- 
 tion for the end, took the Sacrament together. Then in 
 the good old Puritan fashion, to aid the Lord, Drake 
 made jettison of guns and spices worth their weight in 
 silver, till lo ! in the midst of their pious labour the 
 wind changed, and, like the breath of the Saviour in 
 answer to their prayers, gently slid them from the rock. 
 It was the gravest danger of all their voyage, and for 
 nearly two months more, as they groped their way 
 about the Floris Sea and struggled with baffling gales, 
 they hourly expected its recurrence. But every peril 
 was overcome at last, and in March they were well 
 clear of the Archipelago, and Avith thankful hearts 
 refitting, cleaning, and victualling in a southern 
 port of Java. So the great exploit was accomplished, 
 and the prayer uttered so devoutly six years ago upon 
 the giant tree in Darien was more than fulfilled. God 
 had given His supplicant life and leave to sail the South 
 Sea in an English ship, and he had sailed it from side to 
 side. Its secret was England's at last ; and, laden with 
 its wealth, in two months more the triumphant explorer 
 was ploughing his homeward way towards the Cape of 
 Good Hope. 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 
 THE GREAT MISTAKE 
 
 At home, for more than a year, nothing had been heard 
 of Drake beyond a rumour that he had been taken by 
 the Spaniards and hanged. That the Doughty plot had 
 failed, and that the Queen's chief pirate had entered the 
 South Sea, was known to the Government. Wynter had 
 brought the news in the summer of 1579, together with 
 a report of the chaos of storm into Avhich the Golden 
 Hind had disappeared. Burleigh and the party with 
 which he was acting were consoling themselves with the 
 reflection that their bugbear must certainly have gone to 
 the bottom, when one day towards the end of August, 
 Mendoza, the Spanish Ambassador, sprang upon them 
 the astounding news which the Viceroy of Mexico had 
 just had the pleasure of sending home. The peace-party 
 were aghast. Except the vague report of Drake's execu- 
 tion, there seemed nothing between them and war, and 
 Walsinsfham could rub his hands over the success of his 
 scheme. Philip, however, was as slow as Elizabeth was 
 irresolute. Moreover his hands were full of his pre- 
 parations to seize the inheritance of the dying King of 
 Portugal, and Mendoza was instructed to accept the 
 Queen's excuse. She had protested that Drake Avas a 
 private adventurer, and that she had nothing to object 
 
CHAP. VII GALLOWS OR KNIGHTHOOD? 89 
 
 to his alleged execution, and that if he ever came home 
 he would be severely dealt with. So all the warlike 
 ambassador could do was to sit down and watch like a 
 lynx for the pirate's reappearance. 
 
 Such was the welcome that awaited the Golden Hind, 
 as one day about Michaelmas 1580, worm-eaten and 
 weed- clogged, she laboured into Plymouth Sound. ^ 
 Drake, no doubt, was ready, as he always was, to be 
 disowned, and if necessary to disappear ; and no sooner 
 had his anchor plunged triumphantly into the well- 
 known waters than his friends warned him of his peril. 
 With characteristic decision he immediately warped out 
 his priceless burden behind St. Nicholas Island, and 
 making the plague Avhich had been raging in Pl3^mouth 
 his excuse, refused to land. There he lay defiantly while 
 his messenger sped to Court, and amidst the wonder of 
 his friends and the caresses of his wife he resolutely 
 awaited the end. 
 
 In a week came a summons to Court. Drake obeyed 
 at once, but he did not go alone. He had received 
 letters of advice from his great friends, and in his com- 
 pany went a train of pack-horses laden with the cream 
 of his plunder. It was oil to assuage the storm Avhich 
 Metidoza was brewing in the Council. Burleigh and the 
 more earnest of the peace-party refused his gifts with 
 scorn, but still Drake had no cause to lose heart. He 
 reached London in a moment so happy that it would 
 almost seem again as though some fairy godmother had 
 
 ^ So secret was Drake's arrival kept tliat every authoritj' assigns 
 to it a different date, varying from September 16th to ISTovember 
 3rd. Probably he arrived September 26th, and landed October 3rd 
 or "Ith. 
 
90 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 waved her wand to save him. The Council had recently 
 learnt for certain that Philip had seized Portugal almost 
 without a blow, and that Don Antonio, the pretender to 
 the throne, had been hunted from the realm like a 
 wild beast. To the fabulous power and wealth he 
 already possessed, Philip at a stroke had added the vast 
 possessions of Portugal. The whole world seemed 
 stretched at his feet. The great Armada in Cadiz was 
 still unused, and free to strike no one knew where. 
 Fearing the worst, the Council with feverish haste were 
 pushing forward military preparations, when the very 
 week that Drake came home news reached London that 
 a Spanish force had landed in Ireland. England's hour 
 seemed come at last. Half the Council were in despair, 
 and ready to have peace on any terms, Avhen suddenlj' 
 the tone of English diplomacy changed to a ringing note 
 of resistance. For the Queen's little pirate was whisper- 
 ing in her ear, as he walked beside her relating his 
 adventures, that though the whole world were the King 
 of Spain's garden, yet it was hers to pluck the fruit as 
 she Avould. 
 
 Mendoza raged, but nothing could he get save an 
 order to Edmund Tremayne at Plymouth to register the 
 plunder and send it up to London. Tremayne was an 
 old confidant of the Queen's ; and on the heels of the 
 order Drake followed with a private letter under her 
 sign-manual telling the Devon justice to turn his back 
 while her Avell-beloved subject secretly abstracted ten 
 thousand pounds' worth of bullion for himself. It was 
 a sum equal to about eighty thousand pounds of our 
 money, and this was part of his reward. 
 
 Still the Queen would not o})enly recognise him. 
 
VII RECEPTION IN lONDON 91 
 
 Though she refused to see Mendoza Avhile a single 
 Spanish musketeer remained in Ireland, still in her usual 
 way she attempted to allay his anger. An inquiry was 
 held at which the whole of Drake's crew swore that not a 
 single act of cruelty had been committed as the Spaniards 
 alleged, and so much of the plunder as Tremayne chose to 
 see was registered, sent up to the Tower, and a return 
 given to the Ambassador. But each day he grew more 
 furious. Drake came back to town, bringing up the 
 Golden Hind for all the world to stare at. He was the 
 lion of the hour, and every day had long interviews with 
 the Queen, so charmed was she with her little pirate and 
 what he had brought back. In vain Mendoza and his 
 friends tried to frighten the London merchants Avith the 
 prospect of Avar, or an embargo at least. The splendour of 
 Drake's achievement, and the richness of his presents, 
 turned every one's head. Rumour SAvelled the amount 
 of the plunder to a fabulous extraA\agance. His very 
 creAV seemed princes in their splendour. Tavo 3'ears ago, 
 beside Doughty's grave, they had agreed to stand to their 
 Captain's courtesy, and so Avell had he treated them 
 that the people ran out of their houses as they SAvaggered 
 by, to Avonder at their Avealth. So, in spite of all 
 Mendoza could threaten, louder and louder greAV the 
 exultation as the neAvs of the triumphant exploit spread 
 through the realm and waked in the farthest hamlet the 
 old fierce spirit of the Hundred Years' War. 
 
 Still Mendoza, with the support he had in Council, 
 Avas dangerous, and Leicester and his felloAV - share- 
 holders tried to bribe him. The attempt only made 
 his complaints the more indignant, and as month after 
 month of intrigue Avent by, people were still uncertain 
 
92 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 whether, after all, Drake or his treasure would not have 
 to be given up. But Elizabeth never doubted a moment ; 
 she and Walsingham had fresh work for him to do. 
 
 Terceira, one of the Azores, had refused to recognise 
 the Spanish conquest, and Don Antonio, having escaped 
 to Paris with his life and the Braganza jewels, was crying 
 lustily for help to go and support his faithful subjects. 
 Walsingham saw the opportunity. Drake and his 
 contemporaries were lifting naval Avarfare to a new level, 
 and the far-sighted Foreign Minister was the first to learn 
 the lesson their exploits taught. Hitherto the navy had 
 Ijeen the mere handmaid of the military, and had been 
 used by belligerents for nothing more intelligent than raids 
 upon each other's coasts. But now the wisest heads in 
 England began to divine for it a higher function than 
 the paltry cross-ravaging of the Middle Ages, and to see 
 the tremendous weapon a poAverful fleet Avould be in the 
 hands of the power that first used it against an enemy's 
 trade. It is Drake's chief claim to be called a great 
 admiral, that he was the pioneer of this strategic revolu- 
 tion. Above all countries Spain Avas most exposed to 
 such an attack, and he saw that the moment had come. 
 Terceira was on the direct road of the fleets returning 
 both from the East and West Indies, and Drake told 
 the Queen if he might seize it in Antonio's name and 
 act from it as a base, he could so utterly destroy the 
 trade of Spain that she Avould be able to dictate her 
 OAvn terms of reconciliation. Elizabeth seized the bait. 
 Whether or not she grasped the Avhole significance of 
 Drake's proposal, a privateer war in a pretender's name 
 Avas irresistible to her tortuous statecraft. By March 
 it Avas already Avhispered that Mr. Drake Avas going 
 
VII KNIGHTHOOD 93 
 
 on a second voyage, Avell furnished and countenanced. 
 Walsingham was busy working out alternative projects, 
 and in April the Queen threw off all disguise. Drake's 
 Avorm-eaten ship had been hauled ashore at Deptford, 
 and on the 4th of the month the Queen went down, and 
 after a banquet on board publicly knighted the " master- 
 thief of the unknown world." The Golden Hind was 
 ordered to be preserved for ever, as a worthy rival of 
 Magellan's Victoria, and all the world knew at last that 
 the " King of Spain's long legs " were in sore danger. 
 
 In July the expedition was ready to sail. Hawkins 
 and Drake had arranged it together. Courtiers and 
 merchants had freely subscribed the cost, and every 
 adventurous spirit had flocked to their flag. Norreys, 
 Bingham, Carleill, and all the rest were there, and Fenton 
 and Yorke, Frobisher's favourite lieutenants, were each 
 in command of ships. Don Antonio had come over, and 
 after a secret interview with the Queen had pawned his 
 jewels and gone down to Plymouth. Nothing was 
 wanting but the order to sail ; but day after day Avent 
 by and nothing but scolding came from the Queen. As 
 usual Avith her on the eve of doing something heroic, she 
 was losing heart and fretting herself into a state of 
 nervous irritability. She Avas angry because Drake had 
 spent £2000 more than the estimate : she could not 
 get a definite answer from the French king that the 
 contingent he had promised Avas going to sail ; and 
 she was fast persuading herself that by a reneAval of her 
 flirtation with the Due d'Alencon she could frighten 
 Spain into condoning Drake's off'ences. As the days 
 Avent by in inaction Drake lost his temper too. No 
 doubt he Avas not less masterful since his brilliant recep- 
 
94 
 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 tion, and his splendid self-reliance was more than ever 
 impatient of restraint. Pardonably jealous of his sudden 
 predominance, the Irish officers and Frobisher's men found 
 unendurable his habit of listening to every one's advice 
 and always taking his own. Yorke was even suspected 
 of treachery, and by the middle of August, when sailing 
 orders were hourly expected, so acute had the friction 
 grown that they all found it necessary to resign their 
 commissions. 
 
 Drake and Hawkins had triumphed. The whole 
 affair was now in the hands of their own set ; but still 
 no letter came from the King of France, and in a week, 
 afraid to act and afraid to draw back, Elizabeth had hit 
 on one of her disastrous compromises. She resolved to 
 send a little squadron under Norreys and young William 
 Hawkins, and to pay off the rest of the fleet. Don 
 Antonio refused such pitiful patronage, and after vainly 
 trying to recover his jewels, retired to France in a rage. 
 William Boroughs, of Muscovy fame, came down with a 
 commission to break up the expedition, and so ended 
 one of the most brilliant projects that a far-sighted 
 strategy ever hatched.^ 
 
 Drake's deep disappointment is easy to picture \ l)ut 
 the Queen would not hear of either his or Hawkins's 
 leaving the country. Till she had pushed France into 
 the fire she did not mean to provoke Spain further, and 
 till Spain was occupied with a French war she wanted 
 her best men at her side. So in organisation and routine 
 work Drake had plenty to do for his wayward mis- 
 tress. He was chosen Mayor of Plymouth too, and was 
 soon busy with projects for its improvement and defence, 
 ^ Digge's CompUat Ambassador, 379 et scq. 
 
vri DANGER FROM SPAIN 95 
 
 Nor Avas this all. Leicester, bent on saving something 
 from the wreck of the abortive venture in which lie had 
 been deeply engaged, resolved to organise from its ruins 
 an expedition to carry out one of Walsingham's alter- 
 native schemes. It was for a trading and exploring 
 voyage into the East Indies to widen the opening which 
 Drake had begun. Again an attempt was made to 
 combine the two sets, and the command was divided 
 between Fenton and William Hawkins. Drake, like 
 most other people, knew how incapable Fenton was ; 
 but at Leicester's entreaty he loyally did his best both 
 with money and advice to make the thing a success, and 
 Fenton handsomely acknowledged his generosity. So 
 the expedition sailed next year with all the prestige of 
 the great navigator's support ; but Fenton's stupidity, 
 and his jealousy of his brilliant young lieutenant and 
 the rest of Drake's men, proved invincible, and the affair 
 ended in complete disaster. 
 
 Thus it was that as well as he could, surrounded by 
 treachery and jealousy, Drake tried to carry on his life's 
 work. When the Queen had finally refused to give 
 him up, Philip too had recognised the feud. He was 
 keen enough to see in the Puritan corsair an arch-enemy, 
 and diplomacy failing, he stealthily drew his favourite 
 weapon. Knowing well that Drake had enemies, and 
 above all that Doughty's brother was living for revenge, 
 he offered a sum of more than forty thousand pounds 
 of our money to any one who would assassinate or kidnap 
 the renowned corsair. Spanish owners who had suffered 
 from Drake's depredations, with faith unshaken in his 
 clemency to private citizens, were sending over an agent 
 to make terms with him. This man was charged with 
 
96 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap, 
 
 the mission, and he at once approached John Doughty, 
 who had naturally found it impossible to get any redress 
 for his brother's death. For obvious reasons Drake's 
 opponents in the Council dared not call the execution 
 in question. They had even to assent to its procedure 
 being used as a precedent in Fenton's official instructions. 
 Doughty, therefore, eagerly embraced his only chance 
 of revenge. The matter was settled ; and of course 
 Dought}^ began boasting of what he was going to do, 
 just as before he had boasted of his skill in the Black 
 Art, Drake soon heard of his folly, obtained his arrest 
 from the Council, and a spy of the Spanish agent's 
 confessed the whole crime on the rack. So the tragedy 
 ended. Doughtj^ remained in prison, and save for one 
 despairing cry for his release, so far as we know, was 
 never heard of again. ^ 
 
 But so far from its being the end of Philip's projects, 
 he was more than ever bent on revenge for all the stripes 
 he had received. While the year 1583 wore away in 
 ominous quiet, while Drake was mourning the loss of 
 his wife, and as a member of the Navy Commission was 
 arranging a peace-footing for the fleet from which it could 
 be rapidly mobilised, the arch-schemer of the Escurial 
 was piling up his great French plot to crush his island 
 enemy. In November it all came to light, and from 
 Scotland, France, and Spain, a simultaneous invasion was 
 threatening upon a country scored with treason. Then 
 at last the Queen awoke, and while the fleet in three 
 divisions watched for the coming bloAvs, the nation armed. 
 Mendoza was expelled, the seaports fortified, the border 
 
 J S. P. Don. Ellz. cliii. /. 50, and clxiii. TJatficU MSS. Cal. 
 vol. ii. 515, 
 
vn A MOMENTOUS RESOLUTION 97 
 
 strengthened, and Catholics arrested wholesale. The 
 immediate danger passed, but the effect of the shock 
 remained. Burleigh was now all for action, and ere the 
 year was out, hands had been joined with the Prince of 
 Orange. Drake as member for Bossiney was voting 
 supplies and death to traitors at Westminster ; and in 
 his pocket were orders that were destined to mark the 
 point where the tide of Spanish Empire turned. 
 
CHAPTEK VIII 
 
 THE DRAGON LOOSED 
 
 Warned by his disappointment of three years ago, 
 Drake threw himself with all his vigour into the work 
 of organising his force. His parliamentary duties still 
 engaged his attention, and in February, 1585, he was 
 married to Elizabeth Sydenham, the young heiress of 
 a knightly and warlike house in Somersetshire. But 
 nothing was allowed to interfere with his mission. As 
 early as November in the past year Walsingham had 
 summoned his son-in-law. Captain Christopher Carleill, 
 from Ireland to command the troops, and in the early 
 spring things were so far advanced that Philip took 
 alarm. His imagination multiplied the havoc which 
 Drake had made with one ship by the numbers of the 
 gathering squadron, and he trembled for his Indies. 
 His alarm was premature. Once more as Elizabeth felt 
 the hot breath of war upon her cheek she shrank from 
 its horrors like the very woman she was. Drake's work 
 was stopped, and he was left to fret as the weary diplo- 
 matic dance began again. But beneath it all the mill of 
 Philip's purpose went grinding on relentlessly. He 
 used the lull only to invite a large fleet of English corn- 
 ships to the relief of his famine-stricken provinces, and 
 then as they lay unsuspecting in his ports he seized 
 
> ) J, ' ' ' ' 
 
 > > J J > 
 
 >• . J )>>'.', ''.',i' 
 
 . >. ' • >..' '\ ' ? ". 
 
 .,. . ) > 
 
 » »' ) ,' ' ' ,> 
 
 CHAP. VIII THE INDIES VOYAGE '""' ' gg 
 
 them every one. Never once was the growing Armada 
 out of his mind. This atrocious outrage was but to 
 feed his monster, and swift and sharp Avas the retribution 
 it earned. It was in the last days of May, and ere June 
 was out far and near the seas were swarming with 
 English privateers, and El Draque was unchained. 
 
 Fortified with letters of marque to release the 
 embargoed vessels, he hoisted his flag at Plymouth on 
 the Elizabeth Bonaventura, and there, by the end of July, 
 "in all jollity and with all help and furtherance himself 
 could wish," a formidable fleet gathered round him. 
 Frobisher was his vice-admiral, Francis Knollys his rear- 
 admiral, and Thomas Fenner his flag-captain. Chris- 
 topher Carleill was there too as lieutenant-general, with 
 a full staff and ten companies under him. No such 
 privateering squadron had ever been seen before. It 
 consisted of two battle-ships and eighteen cruisers, with 
 their complement of store-ships and pinnaces ; it was 
 manned with a force of soldiers and sailors to the number 
 of two thousand three hundred, and it is not surprising 
 that constant difficulties delayed its departure. Yet delay 
 was dangerous in the extreme. The Spanish party had 
 again taken heart, and were whispering caution in the 
 Queen's ear. Even Burleigh grew nervous that she 
 would repent ; but at last he got sailing-orders sent off, 
 and, with a sigh of relief, entered in his diary that 
 Drake had gone. To his horror came back a letter 
 from the Admiral still dated from Plymouth, instead of 
 from Finisterre, as he had hoped, and he sent down a 
 warning to urge the immediate departure of the fleet. 
 August wore away, and the equipment was still incom- 
 plete, when Drake, who was now in constant dread of a 
 
 ■> > 
 
loo SI2? FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 countermand, was alarmed by Sir Philip Sydney's sud- 
 denly appearing at Plymouth and announcing his inten- 
 tion of accompanying the expedition. Haunted still b}^ 
 the memory of the tragedy he could never forget, and 
 determined to have no more to do with courtiers and 
 amateur soldiers, he secretly sent ofl' a courier to beti'ay 
 the truant's escapade to the Com't. He must even be 
 suspected, in his desperation, of having set men in wait 
 to intercept and destroy any orders that were not to his 
 liking.^ The precaution was unnecessary. Sydney was 
 peremptorily stopped, and ere any letter came to stay 
 Drake too, the wind had shifted northerly, and all 
 unready as he was he cleared for Finisterre. 
 
 There he arrived on September 26th. He was clear 
 away, but that was all. He was short both of water 
 and victuals. There had not even been time to distri- 
 bute the stores he had, or to issue his general orders to 
 the fleet. He smelt foul weather, too ; and, determined 
 to complete somewhere what he had left undone at Ply- 
 mouth, he boldly ran in under the lee of the Bayona 
 Islands in Vigo Bay. The old Queen's officers were 
 aghast. Entirely dominated by the prestige of Spain, 
 they believed that nothing could be done against her 
 except by surprise, and they trembled to see their 
 Admiral thus recklessly fling his cards upon the table. 
 But he knew what he was doing. As with sagacious 
 bravado he had sprung ashore at Santa Marta, and 
 had mocked the Spanish fleet in Cartagena harbour, 
 
 1 Hist. JLSS. Com. Rep. XII. iv. 178, 180. The fantastic com- 
 plexion which Fulke Greville pnt on this incident can only be 
 excused by his infatuation for his friend. His story not only con- 
 tradicts itself, but is at issue with almost every State Paper wliich 
 touches the (question. 
 
VIII SEIZES STORES AT VIGO loi 
 
 so noAv before he stmick he exulted that his unfleshed 
 host should hear him shout en garde ! to the King of 
 Spain ; that they should listen while he cried that Eng- 
 land cared not for spying traitors, for she had nothing 
 to conceal, that her fleets meant to sail when and where 
 they would, and Philip might do his worst. It was a 
 stroke of that divine instinct which marks out a hero 
 from among able captains; — the magic touch of a 
 great leader of men, under which the dead fabric of an 
 army springs into life and feels every fibre tingling with 
 the strong purpose of its heart. 
 
 Two leagues from the town of Bayona the fleet 
 anchored ; and resolved at once to display his whole 
 strength, and exercise his men in their duties, Drake 
 ordered out his pinnaces and boats for a reconnaissance 
 in force. His boldness bore immediate fruit. The 
 Governor sent off" to treat, and by nightfall it was 
 arranged that troops should land, and in the morning be 
 allowed to water and collect what victuals they could. 
 But at midnight the threatened storm rolled up. The 
 troops were hurriedly re-embarked ; and barely in time 
 to escape disaster, the flotilla regained the ships. For 
 three days the gale continued, threatening the whole 
 fleet Avith destruction till it was got safely up above 
 Vigo. There the whole of the boats in which the panic- 
 stricken inhabitants had embarked their property were 
 captured, and though by this time the Governor of 
 Bayona had arrived Avith a considerable force, he Avas 
 compelled to permit Drake to carry out his purpose in 
 peace. 
 
 By October 8th he Avas out in the Bayona road again, 
 Avaiting for a Avind to Avaft liim on his Avay, and it was 
 
I02 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 reported at the Spanish Court that he had gone towards 
 the Indies. The consternation was universal. The 
 Marquis of Santa Cruz, High Admiral of Spain and 
 the most renowned naval officer in Europe, declared that 
 not only the African islands, but the whole Pacific 
 coast, the Spanish Main, and the West Indies, were at 
 the corsair's mercy, and told his master that a fleet of 
 forty sail must be instantly equipped for the pursuit. But 
 though for another fortnight Drake rode defiantly at the 
 Bayona anchorage, not a limb of Philip's inert machinery 
 could be moved against him ; and while the chivalry of 
 Spain chafed under their sovereign's deliberation, the 
 second blow was struck. 
 
 Madeira was passed by and the Canaries spared ; for 
 Palma, which Drake intended should revictual him, 
 showed so bold a front that he would not waste time in 
 trying to reduce it. It was on another point that his 
 implacable glance Avas fixed. 
 
 Five 3'^ears ago at Santiago, the chief town of the Cape 
 Verde Islands, young William Hawkins, a personal 
 adherent of Drake's, had been made the victim of some 
 such treachery as his father and captain had suff"ered 
 together at Vera Cruz. From that hour it was doomed. 
 In the middle of November the fleet arrived in the road, 
 and the troops landed. Threatened by Carleill from 
 the heights above the valley where it lies, and from the 
 sea by Drake, without a blow the town was abandoned 
 to its fate. For ten days the island was scoured for 
 plunder and provisions, and ere the month was out the 
 anchorage was desolate and Santiago a heap of ashes. 
 
 Drake's vengeance was complete, and exulting like 
 Gideon in the devastation that marked his course, he led 
 
VIII DESCENT ON HISPANIOLA 103 
 
 his ships across the Atlantic. Is there a moment in 
 history more tragic than that % For the first time since 
 the ages began, a hostile fleet was passing the ocean — 
 the pioneer of how many more that have gone and are 
 yet to go — the forerunner of how much glory and shame 
 and misery ! What wonder if the curse of God seemed 
 upon it % Hardly had it lost sight of land when it was 
 stricken with sickness. In a few days some three 
 hundred men were dead, and numbers of others prostrate 
 and useless ; but in unshaken faith and with reverent 
 wonder at the inscrutable will of Heaven, Drake never 
 flinched or paused. His only thought was how to check 
 the evil. At Dominica he got fresh provisions from the 
 natives, and refreshed his sick with a few days on shore. 
 At St. Christopher he again halted to spend Christmas 
 and elaborate the details of his next move. The point 
 where Philip was now to feel the weight of his arm Avas 
 the fair city of St. Domingo in Hispaniola. It was by 
 far the most serious operation Drake had yet under- 
 taken. Hitherto his exploits had been against places 
 that were little more than struggling settlements, but 
 St. Domingo was indeed a city, stone-built and walled 
 and flanked with formidable batteries. It was held by 
 a powerful garrison, as Drake learned from a captured 
 frigate, and a naval force had been concentrated in the 
 harbour for its defence. As the oldest town in the 
 Indies, its renown had hitherto secured it from attack, 
 and in Spain it was held the queen-city of the colonial 
 empire. The moral effect of its capture would be pro- 
 found, and besides, from Virginia the governor of 
 Raleigh's new colony had sent home a fabulous report 
 of its wealth. Drake was fully alive to the gravity of 
 
I04 S/R FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 the task before him. His dispositions had never been 
 so elaborate, and they evince at least a touch of that 
 military genius which the strategists of the next century 
 denied him. While the sick were recruiting he sent 
 forward a squadron to reconnoitre, and, if possiljle, to 
 open communications Avith the Maroons who infested 
 the hills. For three days the garrison Avas thus exhausted 
 with constant alarms, and then on January 1st, 1586, the 
 whole fleet appeared in the bay. 
 
 Night fell, and as darkness closed the eyes of the 
 harassed garrison, with the fleet all was activity. In 
 boats and pinnaces the troops were being rapidly em- 
 barked, and soon Drake in person was piloting the 
 flotilla for the surf-beaten shore. At a point within the 
 bay, but some ten miles from the town, a practicable 
 landing-place had been formd. Watch-houses overlooked 
 it, but watchmen there were none. Drake had got touch 
 with the Maroons. By his directions a party of them 
 had stolen down from the hills, and as the sentries came 
 out from the city in the evening, swiftly and silently 
 they had been every one despatched. Thus unseen and 
 unmolested, the troops were successfully landed, and 
 then with pious and cheery farewells to Carleill, Drake 
 returned to the fleet to prepare the ground for the 
 surprise.^ 
 
 In the morning he anchored in the road, ran out his 
 
 ' "Advertisement concerning Sir Fr. Drake," .S". P. Dom. Eliz. 
 clxxxiii. 27, and cf. lb. f. 47. Gates, mIio wrote the only con- 
 nected account of this expedition that has come down to us, was 
 a company officer who never fully appreciated the significance of 
 the movements in which he was engaged. Though a warm admirer 
 of Drake, he practically ignores on every occasion the naval part of 
 the operations. 
 
VI n CAPTURES ST. DOMINGO 105 
 
 guns, and proceeded to threaten a landing at a point 
 close to that side of the town upon which Carleill was 
 stealthily approaching in two parallel columns. As the 
 Spaniards saw the fleet preparing the advance of the 
 boats and pinnaces, the whole of the horse and a large 
 force of foot inarched out of the town to oppose the 
 threatened attack, and took up a position fronting the 
 sea, with their left resting on the town and the other 
 flank exposed in the line of Carleill's advance. It was 
 exactly Avhat had been foreseen, and ere the Spaniards 
 had discovered that the movement from the fleet was 
 merely a feint, the horse which were covering their 
 exposed flank were flying before Carleill's musketeers. 
 The surprise was complete. Taken in flank by Carleill, 
 and threatened in the rear by his second column under 
 Powell, the chief of the staff", the infantry could make 
 no real resistance ; and so rapidly was the English 
 advance pushed home, that the struggling mass of 
 friend and foe entered pell-mell through the open gates 
 of the town. For an hour alarms of drum and trumpet 
 mingling confusedly with the sounds of street-fighting 
 reached the listening fleet, as the two columns forced 
 their way to meet upon the Plaza. But how they fared 
 none could tell, till on a tower a white staff" suddenly 
 appeared, and in another moment the cross of St. George 
 fluttered gaily out upon the breeze. With a roar of 
 triumph the ship's guns saluted the signal of victory. 
 The town was won. 
 
 Though the garrison fled panic-stricken across the river 
 on the far side of the city, and the citadel Avas evacuated 
 in the night, the j^lace was far too large to be occupied 
 by the force at Drake's command. Following therefore 
 
lo6 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chai- 
 
 the same tactics that had been successful at Nombre de 
 Dios, he ordered the troops to intrench themselves in 
 the Plaza, and to occupy the principal batteries. In 
 this way he held the city for a month. The plunder 
 was disappointing. The city was already a hundred 
 years old, and its day was done ; for the reckless 
 native policy of the colonists had almost ruined 
 the island. It remained but to treat for a ransom. 
 The Governor at once declared himself unable to 
 meet the extravagant demands of the English Admiral, 
 and in order to bring him to terms Drake began 
 to burn the town piecemeal. But so well was it 
 built, that little harm could be done, and every day 
 his impatience increased. Once in the course of the 
 negotiation he sent a boy with a flag of truce to the 
 Spanish camp. A Spaniard, meeting the lad, so ill- 
 treated him that he could barely crawl back to die at 
 the Admiral's feet. Then all the fury of Drake's nature 
 burst forth. Two friars who were among the prisoners 
 were immediately sent ashore and hanged by the 
 provost-marshal on the scene of the crime. Another 
 was despatched to the Spanish camp to declare that two 
 more would be executed every morning until the offender 
 was brought down and hanged on the spot by his own 
 authorities. In hasty alarm the demand was complied 
 with, and then the international dinners and the nego- 
 tiations went on more smoothly. Convinced at last 
 of the poverty of the colony, Drake accepted a 
 ransom of twenty-five thousand ducats. The sum, which 
 is equal to about fifty thousand pounds of our money, 
 though little enough to satisfy the shareholders, was 
 very serious for the enemy. For besides this loss the 
 
VIII SAILS FOR THE SPANISH MAIN 107 
 
 town had been stripped of everything worth carrying 
 away by the troops and seamen. Two hundred and forty 
 guns were taken on board the Enghsh ships, and not 
 only were they thoroughly refurnished from the Spanish 
 stores, but for a month the whole expedition had lived 
 in free quarters at the enemy's expense. The entire 
 fleet which lay in the harbour fell into Drake's hands, 
 and with the exception of four of the finest galleons was 
 given to the flames. Besides the vessels which the 
 Spaniards themselves had scuttled, two galleys with 
 their tenders, fifteen frigates, and a galleon were thus 
 destroyed, and hundreds of galley-slaves set free. 
 
 " It was such a cooling to King Philip," said one in 
 
 Europe as the news leaked out, " as never happened to 
 
 him since he was King of Spain." But as yet Drake 
 
 was far from done. In the middle of February, with his 
 
 force recruited by the English prisoners he had freed, 
 
 and with a troop of attendant prizes laden with his spoil, 
 
 in undiminished strength he appeared before Cartagena. 
 
 No city in America was more difficult of approach, but 
 
 the memories of the old hard days were still green, when 
 
 storm-beaten, drenched, and chilled, without food or 
 
 shelter, he had ridden in the harbour day after day in 
 
 despite of all the Spaniards could do, and he knew it all 
 
 like a pilot. The city was built close to the shore 
 
 fronting west, and directly from its southern face an 
 
 inlet of the sea stretched many leagues southward along 
 
 the coast, forming a large lagoon. The long spit of land 
 
 which separated this sheet of water from the sea was 
 
 pierced by two natural channels. At the far end was 
 
 the dangerous Bocca Chica, and some three miles from 
 
 the city was a larger entrance known as the Bocca Gnuide. 
 
lo8 SJA' FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Between this entrance and the town a tongue of land 
 ran out at right angles from the spit to the opposite 
 shore, forming an inner hax'bour and barring all approach 
 to the city from the outer part of the lagoon, except by 
 a narrow channel which lay under the guns of a power- 
 ful fort on the mainland. On its northern and eastern 
 faces the city was encircled by a broad creek, which ran 
 round it from the inner harbour to the sea in such a way 
 as to form a wide natural moat, rendering the city 
 unapproachable from the mainland except by a bridge. 
 This bridge was also commanded by the harbour fort, nor 
 were land operations possible at any other point except 
 from that part of the spit which lay between the city 
 and the Bocca Grande. So finely, however, did this 
 narrow down before the city could be reached, that 
 between the inner harbour and the sea it was but fifty 
 paces wide, and here the Spaniards had had time to 
 prepare defences that looked impregnable. From shore 
 to shore a formidable entrenchment completely barred 
 the way, and not only was its front so staked and 
 encumbered as to render a night attack impossible, but 
 its approaches were swept by the guns and small-arms 
 of a great galleasse and two galleys which lay in the 
 inner harbour. 
 
 To a man so tender as Drake ever was for the lives 
 of his men and the safety of his ships, to attack such a 
 place might well have appeared hopeless ; but the origin- 
 ality of the amphibious corsair at once descried a hole 
 which had escaped all the science of the Spanish 
 martialists. Instead of entering by the Bocca Grande, 
 with consummate skill and daring he piloted the whole 
 iieet through the dangerous channel at the extreme end 
 
viii CAPTURE OF CARTAGENA 109 
 
 of the lagoon. The only impression which so hazardous 
 a movement could create in the minds of the Spaniards 
 was that he was about to repeat his St. Domingo opera- 
 tions, and land his troops there to attack from the main- 
 land. Such an impression must have been confirmed 
 as, moving up the lagoon, he anchored opposite the 
 Bocca Gi-ande and threatened the harbour fort with his 
 boats ; but Drake's project was far different. Instead of 
 being landed on the mainland, Carleill with eight com- 
 panies was quietly slipped ashore in the Bocca Grande, 
 with instructions to make his way diagonally through 
 the woods that covered the spit till he reached the 
 seashore, and then, instead of advancing on the front of 
 the intrenchments, to wade along through the wash of 
 the surf till he was within striking distance of the 
 Spanish position. Meanwhile Frobisher advanced with 
 the flotilla against the harbour fort, and as soon as 
 Carleill was heard in contact with the enemy's pickets he 
 opened fire. The boat-attack was repulsed — indeed, it 
 may only have been intended as what soldiers then 
 called " a hot alarm " — but Carleill was completely suc- 
 cessful. By the march through the surf he had not only 
 evaded the obstacles Avhich the enemy had so carefully 
 prepared, but he had been covered from the fire of the 
 galleys in the harbour, and had never so much as entered 
 the fire-area of the heavily armed intrenchment. After 
 a desperate struggle at push of pike the position was 
 carried by assault, and once more so hotly was the 
 advantage pursued that in one rush the whole town was 
 captured. The garrison fled across the bridge to the 
 hills, and next day when Drake brought up the fleet to 
 bear upon the fort that also was evacuated. 
 
no STR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 No success was ever better earned, and few more 
 richly rewarded. Cartagena was the capital of the 
 Spanish Main, and though much younger than St. 
 Domingo it was far wealthier. It yielded rich loot for 
 the men, and for his shareholders Drake after a long 
 negotiation succeeded in exacting a ransom of a hundred 
 and ten thousand ducats, besides Avhat he got for an 
 adjacent monastery. Though to all this plunder Drake 
 could add the consolation that he had destroyed the 
 galleys and shipping which crowded the port, and blown 
 up the harbour fort which the Spaniards had forgotten 
 to include in the convention, he was still unsatisfied. 
 Well knowing that by an advance up the Chagres river 
 in his boats Panama lay at his mercy, he was resolved 
 with its capture to crown the campaign ; but as he lay 
 in Cartagena the sickness, which had never really ceased, 
 broke ovit again with new virulence, and made such 
 havoc with his force that he had reluctantly to con- 
 fess that Panama must wait. To capture it Avith the 
 crippled means at his command was impossible, and 
 the only question Avas whether Cartagena should be 
 held till he could return with reinforcements. The 
 soldiers declared themselves ready to undertake the 
 task ; but in a full council of war it was finally decided 
 that no strategical advantage would be gained at all 
 proportional to the risk that would be run in further 
 weakening the fleet, and on the last day of March 
 the signal to make sail home was flying from the 
 Elizabeth Bonaventura. So severely, however, did they 
 suffer from the weather and want of water that it was 
 nearly two months before they reached the coast of 
 Florida. Still Drake found time and energy to destroy 
 
vni SACKS ST. AUGUSTINE in 
 
 and plunder the Spanish settlement at St. Angustine, 
 and relieve Raleigh's exhausted colony in Virginia. 
 With the remnants of the settlers on board he weighed 
 for England, and on July 28th, 1586, he was writing 
 from Plymouth to Lord Burleigh laconically reporting 
 his return ; and apologising for having missed the Plate 
 fleet by only twelve hours' sail — " the reason best known 
 to God " — he declared that he and his fleet were ready 
 at once to strike again in any direction the Queen would 
 be pleased to indicate. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 SINGEING THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD 
 
 " There is a very great gap opened," said Drake in his 
 letter to Burleigh, " very little to the liking of the King 
 of Spain." That, with the calm request for orders, was 
 his comment on a feat which changed the destinies of 
 Europe. At its fullest flood he had stemmed the tide of 
 Spanish Empire. It was no less a thing than that. 
 
 A few months ago all Europe had been cowering in 
 confused alarm before the shadow of a new Roman 
 Empire. Ever since the first triumph of Luther the 
 cause of Reformation had been steadily losing ground ; 
 on England and the Low Countries hung its only hope, 
 and with the fall of Antwerp Europe saw itself on the 
 eve of that " last great battle in the west " which must 
 decide its fate for centuries. In despair of the result 
 each trembling Power was trying to hide behind the 
 other : each was thrusting its neighbour forward to 
 break the coming blow; and Philip led the cheating 
 till his hour should come. He Avas bent on crushing 
 Elizabeth ; and then with one foot on the ruins of her 
 kingdom he meant to stamp down his rebellious Nether- 
 lands into the gloomy Catholicism in which his own 
 dark soul was sunk. As the fruit of his splendid 
 deliberation ripened he strove to cheat her into in- 
 
CHAP. IX EFFECTS OF HIS EXPLOITS 113 
 
 activity by a hope that peace might yet be purchased by 
 the betrayal of the Netherlands. She bit the bait and 
 spat it out, and bit again, and all the while squirted 
 round her a cloud of falsehood as black as that with 
 which Philip was covering his spring. Her wisest 
 councillors were in despair at her folly, and confessed 
 to each other that on Francis Drake hung the last hope 
 of Europe. 
 
 Then in laughing gusts came over the Atlantic the 
 rumours of his exploits, till the full gale they heralded 
 swept over Europe, whirling into oblivion a hundred 
 intrigues and bending the prestige of Spain like a reed. 
 The limitless possibilities of the new-born naval warfare 
 had been demonstrated, and the lesson startled Europe 
 like a revelation. An unmeasured force was added to 
 statecraft, and a new power had arisen. The effect was 
 immediate. Men saw the fountain of Spanish trade at 
 England's mercy ; they knew how narrowly the Plate 
 fleet had escaped, and a panic palsied Philip's finance. 
 The Bank of Seville broke ; that of Venice was in 
 despair ; and the King of Spain, pointed at as a bank- 
 rupt, failed to raise a loan of half a million ducats. 
 Parma was appalled. With his brilliant capture of 
 Antwerp he had seen himself on the brink of that great 
 exploit with which he hoped to crown his career ; and 
 now, instead of a host armed at all points for the in- 
 vasion of England, he saw around him a broken army 
 it was impossible to supply. In Germany the Pro- 
 testant princes raised their heads, and seeing dawn at 
 last, began to shake off the lethargy into which despair 
 had i^lunged them. England was wild with joy. Bur- 
 leigh himself was almost startled from his caution, and 
 
114 S/R FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 cried out with half a shudder that Drake was a fearful 
 man to the King of Spain. 
 
 But so tumultuously was the great epic now hurrying 
 to its catastrophe that Drake could not be spared a 
 moment from the scene. In the midst of the ovation 
 with which he was received, the great Babington Plot 
 was disclosed. It Avas known that Philip, by a com- 
 bined operation from Lisbon and the Netherlands, had 
 intended to invade England the moment he heard 
 Elizabeth had been assassinated, and many believed he 
 would persevere in spite of Babington's failure and 
 Drake's triumphant return. The imprisonment of Mary 
 Stuart for her complicity in the plot was followed by 
 a threat of war from France, and no one could tell what 
 Scotland would do. The fleet was mobilised to watch 
 the narrow seas, and so great had been the anxiety of 
 the Government while Drake was away that they had 
 no idea of letting him cross the ocean again till the 
 danger was over. He knew well enough that in attack 
 lay England's best defence. His genius had discovered 
 how a naval power should make war, and he was craving 
 for leave to deal another stroke at Philip's trade. But 
 so far from being permitted to repeat his blow, Elizabeth 
 sought to pacify Philip by a brazen disavowal of his late 
 exploits. This was his reward. Peerages and pen- 
 sions the Faery Qiieen kept for her cai'pet-knights. 
 The fighting men had to rest content with plunder 
 and renown ; and Drake cheerfully accepted a posi- 
 tion for Avhicli his loyalty was fully prepared and which 
 only made him more conspicuously a factor in European 
 politics. 
 
 To the consternation of the whole Catholic world, 
 
IX AflSSION TO HOLLAND 115 
 
 Philip accepted Elizabeth's transparent excuse. Dis- 
 gusted at Babington's failure, he was resolved that 
 nothing should again tempt him from his own line of 
 approach. His method was slow and laborious, but time 
 alone was wanted to make success certain. So the 
 smiles and the lying went on again ; and while Philip 
 and Parma, under cover of dij^lomacj^, resumed the 
 gigantic preparations which Drake had interrupted Avith 
 a i^anic, Elizabeth turned once more to her little pirate. 
 Since his return he had been condemned to the old 
 futile tactics, and with Sir William Wynter had been 
 keeping watch in the narrow seas for the invasion that 
 was hourly expected. But as the autumn waned the 
 immediate danger jDassed ; the Channel squadrons were 
 lirought in to be overhauled, and Drake hurried over to 
 the Low Countries on a secret mission.^ 
 
 A joint expedition with the Dutch against the Spanish 
 Indies had long been urged by the Queen's most far- 
 seeing statesmen and soldiers. They knew it Avould 
 give Spain a wound so deadly that she never could be 
 the same again ; and now the moment seemed arrived. 
 Late in the autumn Drake crossed the seas that he knew 
 so well from the hard days of his boyhood. Wherever 
 he went, the great navigator was received like a 
 prince, and although the States refused him assistance 
 officially, he was authorised to treat privately with the 
 various cities. Men who knew him had no doubt of 
 his success, and all would have gone well could Elizabeth 
 have been for a moment sincere. But the distrust which 
 Leicester's fatuous government had engendered, almost 
 from the moment he had been sent in answer to the 
 
 1 S. P. Dom. Elh. cxciii. 49. 
 
ii6 SI/^ FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 rebels' prayer for a leader, was only deepened by bis 
 Avithdrawal from the scene of his failure. He returned 
 to England in November, and Drake with hopes still 
 high followed him to organise the English contingent 
 for the new enterprise. But whatever the Dutch cities 
 may have intended, all hope of co-operation was at an 
 end when, in January, Deventer and the fort of Zutphen 
 were betrayed to the Spaniards b}' the two English 
 traitors that Leicester had left in command. 
 
 Still, had it been otherAvise, it is certain Drake would 
 not have been allowed to go. Mary Stuart was under 
 sentence of death, and the attitude of France was more 
 menacing than ever. For two years Philip had been at 
 work upon his Armada. His ports were crowded with 
 its details ; his storehouses were bursting with its fur- 
 niture ; and Walsingham at last was able to convince the 
 Queen by a paper stolen from the very closet of the 
 Pope, that it was upon her head the great engine was to 
 crash. Her eyes were opened ; and infected for a 
 moment with the warlike spirit into which her people 
 and her Parliament had lashed themselves, she ordered 
 Drake to the coast of Spain. 
 
 It was no longer as a privateer that he was to act. 
 He held the rank of Her Majesty's Admiral-at-the-Seas, 
 and William Borough, the Comptroller of the Navy, was 
 his vice-admiral. Four of the Queen's largest battle-ships 
 and two of her pinnaces were under his command, and 
 the London merchants committed to his flag ten fine 
 cruisers, with the famous Merchant Boyal at their head. 
 Besides these he had six hundred tons of his own ship- 
 ping, as well as some of the Lord Admiral's. In all, 
 exclusive of tendei's, there were twenty-three sail — five 
 
IX AD VANCE IN NA VAL STRA TEGY 117 
 
 battle-ships, two first-class cruisers, seven of the second 
 class, and nine gunboats large and small. With this 
 fine force he was instructed to proceed to Cape St. Vin- 
 cent, and by every means in his power to prevent the 
 concentration of the several divisions of the Armada, by 
 cutting oft* their victuallers and even destroying them 
 in the ports where they lay. If the enemy sailed for 
 England or Ireland, he was to hang on their skirts, cut 
 off stragglers, and prevent a landing; and, finally, he 
 was given a free hand to act against the East and West 
 India convoys. 
 
 Elizabeth was in a resolute mood. Drake's ideas of 
 naval warfare were developing a step further, and the 
 Queen for the moment listened. He was beginning 
 dimly to grasp that the command of the sea was the first 
 object for a naval power to aim at. It was because he 
 had not command of the seas that he had been unable to 
 retain his hold of Cartagena, for the troops which should 
 have formed its garrison Avere wanted to defend his fleet. 
 Wiser for the lesson, his aim was now to crush the Spanish 
 navy, and then in undisputed control of the sea to gather 
 in his harvest. The opposition were thoroughly alarmed, 
 and while Drake in hot haste was driving on his prepara- 
 tions, they left no stone unturned to get his orders 
 modified. They tampered with his men, they whis- 
 pered slanders in his mistress's ear, they frightened her 
 with threats from abroad, they tempted her with ofiers 
 of peace from Parma on the old disgraceful terms. For 
 Walsingham, who, through thick and thin, was always 
 at Drake's back, it was an unequal fight ; Avith the 
 staunchest of his party in disgrace for JNIary's prema- 
 ture execution, he was single-handed against a host, 
 
ii8 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 and at last the friends of Spain prevailed. Early in 
 April a messenger sped down to Plymouth with orders 
 that operations were to be confined to the high seas. As 
 Phili})'s ships were all snug in port, and could well 
 remain there as long as Drake's stores allowed him to 
 keep the sea, it was a complete triumph for Spain. But 
 when the messenger dashed into Plymouth with the fatal 
 packet he found the roadstead empty. Drake was gone. 
 
 In vain at the last moment a number of his sailors 
 had been induced to desert; he had filled their places 
 with soldiers. In vain a swift pinnace was despatched 
 in pursuit ; Drake had taken care no orders should 
 catch him, and with his squadron increased by two war- 
 ships from Lyme, was already off Finisterre, battling 
 with a gale which drove the pinnace home. For seven 
 days it raged and forced the fleet far out to sea. Still 
 Drake held on in its teeth, and so well had he his ships 
 in hand, that on the 16th, within twenty-four hours 
 after the gale had blown itself out, the whole fleet in 
 perfect order Avas sailing gaily eastwards past Cape St. 
 Vincent. 
 
 Eastwards — for he had intelligence that Cadiz harbour 
 was full of transports and store-ships, and on the after- 
 noon of the 19th as he entered the bay he saw a forest 
 of masts in the road behind the city. A council of war 
 was summoned at once, and without asking their opinion 
 he quietly told them he was going to attack. It was his 
 usual manner of holding a council, but it took Borough's 
 breath away. It shocked the old Queen's officer, and out- 
 raged his sense of what was due to his own reputation and 
 experience, and the time-honoured customs of war. He 
 wanted to talk about it, and think about it, and find out 
 
IX AT CADIZ 119 
 
 first whether it was too dangerous. And there was 
 certainly some excuse for his caution. Cadiz stands on 
 a precipitous rock at the end of a low and narrow neck 
 of land, some five miles in length, running parallel to 
 the coast. Within this natural breakwater are enclosed 
 an outer and an inner port, and so cumbered with shoals 
 and rocks was the entrance from the sea that no ship could 
 get in without passing under the guns of the town 
 batteries, while access from the outer to the inner port 
 was only to be gained by the Puntal passage half a mile 
 wide. Opposite Cadiz, on the other side of the outer 
 harbour, was Port St. Mary, and within the Puntal 
 channel, at the extreme end of the inlet, stood Port 
 Eoyal. Both places, however, were so protected by 
 shoals as to be unapproachable except to the port pilots. 
 It was an ideal scene of action for galleys to develop 
 their full capabilities. Two had already appeared to 
 reconnoitre, and how many more there were no one 
 could tell. Galleys, it must be remembered, were then 
 considered the most formidable warships afloat and 
 quite invincible in confined waters or calms. By all 
 the rules of Avar, on which Borough was the first 
 authority in the service, to attack was suicide ; but 
 Drake had spent his life in breaking rules. He did not 
 care. The enemy was there, his authority was in his 
 pocket, the wind was fair, his officers believed in him, 
 and as the sun sank low behind them the fleet went in. 
 
 A scene of terror and confusion followed. Every 
 ship in the harbour cut its cables and sought safety in 
 flight, some to sea, some across the bay to St. Mary's, 
 some through the Puntal passage to the inner harbour 
 and Port Eoyal. To cover the stampede ten galleys 
 
I20 SIR FRANC rS DRAKE chap. 
 
 came confidently out from under the Cadiz batteries. 
 All was useless. While the chartered cruisers swooped 
 on the fugitives, the Queen's ships stood in to head 
 off the advancing galleys as coolly as though they 
 had fought them a hundred times before. In a few 
 minutes the English Admiral had taught the world 
 a new lesson in tactics. Galleys could only fire straight 
 ahead ; and as they came on line abreast, Drake, passing 
 with the Queen's four battle-ships athwart their course, 
 poured in his heavy broadsides. Never before had such 
 gunnery been seen. Ere the galleys were within eff'ect- 
 ive range for their own ordnance they were raked and 
 riddled and confounded, and to the consternation of the 
 Spaniards they broke for the cover of the batteries. 
 Two had to be hauled up to prevent their sinking, the 
 rest were a shambles, and nothing was now thought of 
 but how to protect the city from the assault which 
 seemed inevitable. Hardly any troops were there : a 
 panic seized the population ; and Drake was left alone 
 to do the work for which he had come. 
 
 Beyond the batteries the fleet anchored with its 
 prizes, plundering and scuttling with all its might, till 
 the flood came in again. Then all that remained were 
 fired, and by the flare of the blazing hulks as they 
 drifted clear with the tide, Drake moved the fleet into 
 the mouth of the Puntal channel out of range of the 
 batteries. He himself took up a position seawards of 
 the new anchorage, to engage the guns which the 
 Spaniards were bringing down from the town and to 
 keep off" the galleys ; for as yet the work was but half 
 done. In the inner harbour lay the splendid galleon of 
 the Marquis de Santa Cruz and a crowd of great ships 
 
IX DESTRUCTION OF THE SHIPPING 121 
 
 too big to seek the refuge of the shoals about Port 
 Royal, and at daylight the Merchant Royal went boldly 
 in with all the tenders in company. Then, in spite of 
 the labours of the past night, the plundering, scuttling, 
 and burning began again. Outside, the galleys were 
 making half-hearted demonstrations against the English 
 anchorage, but they Avere easily kept at bay. By noon 
 it was all over, and Drake attempted to make sail. In 
 the past thirty-six hours he had entirely revictualled his 
 fleet with wine, oil, biscuit, and dried fruits. He had 
 destroyed some twelve thousand tons of shipping, in- 
 cluding some of the finest vessels afloat, and four ships 
 laden with provisions were in possession of his prize 
 crews. ^ It was enough and more than enough. But 
 the wind would not serve, and all day long he lay where 
 he was, in sight of the troops that were now pouring 
 along the isthmus into Cadiz. Again and again the 
 galleys attempted to approach, and every time Drake's 
 broadsides swept them back before they reached their 
 effective range. Vainly too the Spaniards strove to post 
 guns near enough to annoy the fleet. Nor did the 
 struggle cease till at midnight a land-wind sprang up, 
 and brushing from his path the galleys that sought to 
 block the way, Drake made sail. By two o'clock he 
 had cleared the batteries and was safe outside without 
 losing a single man. Boldly enough then the galleys 
 gave chase, but, unfortunately, the -wind suddenly 
 shifted completely round. Drake at once went about, and 
 
 ^ In the official report the Spaniards admit the loss of twentj'- 
 four ships valued at 172,000 ducats. This, it would seem, was all 
 they dared tell the King. Duro, Armada, i. 334, where the report 
 is printed. 
 
122 
 
 S/F FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 the galleys fled in most undignified haste, leaving the 
 English fleet to complete its triumph by anchoring 
 unmolested in full view of the town.^ 
 
 * Such an exploit was without precedent. The 
 chivalry of Spain was as enthusiastic in its admiration 
 of Drake's feat of arms as it was disgusted at the 
 cumbrous organisation which condemned it to in- 
 activity. A whole day Drake waited where he was 
 to try and exchange his prisoners for English galley- 
 slaves, but getting nothing but high compliments and 
 dilatory answers for his pains, on the morrow he sailed. 
 There was no time to lose. By his captures he had 
 discovered the whole of Philip's plan. Out of the 
 Mediterranean the divisions of Italy, Sicily, and 
 Andalusia were to come and join the headquarters at 
 Lisbon, where the Grand Admiral of Spain, the 
 Marquis de Santa Cruz, was busy with the bulk of the 
 Armada. At Cape St. Vincent was the road where 
 ships coming out of the Straits waited for a wind to 
 carry them North, and there he had resolved to take 
 his stand, and fight everything that attempted to join 
 Santa Cruz's flag in the Tagus. 
 
 * Such light airs prevailed that it was not till the end 
 of the month that the fleet reached the road. By that 
 time its water was exhausted, and as every headland was 
 crowned with works commanding the anchorage and the 
 watering-places, Drake at once saw he must take them. 
 In his usual off-hand way he summoned his council, 
 and told them over the dinner-table what he was going 
 
 ^ For the whole action cf. the authorities coUectecl in Camden 
 Soc. 3fcsc. vol. v., with the plan put in by Borough at his court- 
 martial, .'j. P. Dum. ceii. 14. i. 
 
IX BOROUGH CASHIERED 123 
 
 to do. It was more than the vice-admiral's dignity and 
 caution could endure. In higli dudgeon he returned to 
 his ship, and in the midst of a gale which suddenly 
 arose and drove the fleet to the north of the Cape, he 
 indicted a long and solemn protest, not only against 
 the contemplated operation, but against the unpre- 
 cedented despotism with Avhich Drake was conducting 
 the whole expedition. Borough, though no doubt 
 jealous of Drake, certainly believed he was doing 
 nothing beyond his right and duty. He felt he had 
 been attached to the expedition as the most complete 
 sailor in the Idngdom, and he valued and deserved his 
 reputation. In the scientific knowledge of his art he 
 was unrivalled, and he was the only officer in the service 
 who had fought and won a purely naval action. No 
 one, therefore, can fairly blame him for resenting the 
 revolutionary manner in which his commander Avas 
 ignoring him in contempt of the time-honoured privileges 
 of the council of war. Drake in his hot self-confidence 
 thought otherwise. As he rode out the gale under the 
 lee of St. Vincent, and the tempest howled through his 
 rigging, once more there fell upon him the shadow of 
 the tragedy Avhich could never cease to darken his 
 judgment. Already, in Cadiz harbour, he had thought 
 his vice-admiral too careful of his ship when the shot 
 were flying ; and now he saw in him another Doughty 
 sent by the friends of Spain to hang on his arm. " In 
 persisting," he told Lord Burleigh, "he committed a 
 double oftence, not only against me, but it toucheth 
 further." To his embittered sense the querulous 
 protest Avas a treasonable attack on his oAvn authority, 
 and in his fury he brutally dismissed the old admiral 
 
124 S//? FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 from his command, and placed him under arrest on his 
 flagship. In vain the astonished veteran protested his 
 innocence, apologised, and made submission. Drake 
 would not listen. The ring of the headsman's sword 
 upon the desolate shores of Patagonia had deafened his 
 ears to such entreaties for ever. 
 
 Two days later he was back in Lagos Bay, landing 
 a thousand men for an attemjjt upon the town, but in the 
 evening, after vainly endeavouring to induce the bodies 
 of cavalry which hovered on their line of march to come 
 within reach, the troops re -embarked, reporting the 
 place too strong to be taken by assault. Such reports 
 were not to Drake's liking. It was no mere cross- 
 raiding on which he was bent, but a sagacious stroke 
 that was essential to the development of his new ideas. 
 To get the command of the seas it was necessary that 
 he should be able to keep the seas, and for this a 
 safe anchorage and watering-places were necessary. In 
 default of Lagos, strategy and convenience both indicated 
 St. Vincent road for his purpose. It was commanded 
 by forts, but that did not deter him ; and resolved to 
 have his way he next day landed in person near Cape 
 Sagres. On the summit of the headland was a castle 
 accessible on two sides only. The English military 
 officers declared that a hundred determined men could 
 hold it against the whole of Drake's force. But he 
 would not listen ; it commanded the watering-place, and 
 he meant to have it. Detaching part of his force against 
 a neighbouring fort, which was at once evacuated, he 
 himself advanced against the castle, and at the 
 summit of the cliff found himself confronted with walls 
 thirty feet high, bristling with brass guns and crowded 
 
IX STORM OF S ACRES CASTLE 125 
 
 with soldiers. The garrison had just been reinforced 
 by that of the evacuated fort, and to every one but 
 the Admiral the affair was hopeless. He attacked Avith 
 his musketeers, and when they had exhausted their 
 ammunition, in the name of his Queen and mistress 
 he summoned the place to surrender. In the name 
 of his lord and master the Spanish captain laughed 
 at him. Whereupon Drake, more obstinate than ever, 
 sent down to the fleet for faggots, and began piling 
 them against the outer gate to fire it. So desperate 
 was the resistance that again and again the attempt 
 failed. For two houi^s the struggle lasted. As fast as 
 the defenders threw down the fire, the English piled 
 it up again; and in the midst of the smoke and the 
 bullets the Admiral toiled like a common seaman, with 
 his arms full of faggots and his face black with soot. 
 How long his obstinacy would have continued it is 
 impossible to say, but at the end of the two hours the 
 Spanish commandant sank under his wounds, and the 
 garrison surrendered. Daunted by a feat which every 
 one regarded as little short of a miracle, the castle and 
 monastery of St. Vincent, together with another fort 
 near it, capitulated at the magician's first summons, and 
 left him in complete possession of the anchorage to 
 water the fleet undisturbed. 
 
 Having fired the captured strongholds, and tumbled 
 their guns over the cliffs into the sea, Drake returned 
 to the fleet to find the sailors had not been idle. 
 Between St. Vincent and a village some nine miles to 
 the eastward which they had been ordered to burn, 
 they had taken fortj^-seven barks and caravels laden 
 with stores for the Armada, and destroyed between 
 
126 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 fifty and sixty fishing -boats with miles of nets. The 
 tunny fishery, on which the whole of the adjacent 
 country chiefly depended for its subsistence, was 
 annihilated. For the time Drake's Avork on the 
 Algarve coast was done, and having watered the fleet 
 and fished up the captured guns, he sailed for Lisbon. 
 
 His own idea had been to land there and smite 
 Philip's preparation at its heart, but this the Govern- 
 ment had expressly forbidden.^ Still he hoped that the 
 havoc he had made and the insults he had put on the 
 Spanish coasts might goad Santa Cruz to come out and 
 fight him. For three days he lay off Cascaes in sight of 
 Lisbon, threatening an attack and sending polished taunts 
 to the Spanish admiral. He offered to convoy him to 
 England if his course lay that way ; he took prizes under 
 his very nose ; with his fleet in loose order he sailed up 
 to the very entrance of the harbour ; but though seven 
 galleys lay on their oars watching him from the mouth 
 of the Tagus, Santa Cruz would not move, and Drake 
 learned at last how deep was the wound he had in- 
 flicted. Philip's organisation was completely dislocated. 
 The fleet at Lisbon was unmanned. Its crews had been 
 shattered in Cadiz harbour, and the troops that Avere 
 intended for it had been thrown into the defenceless city 
 under the Duke of Medina -Sidonia Avith orders that 
 Avhile Drake Avas on the coast not a man Avas to be moved. 
 All thought of an attack on England Avas given up. 
 It was even doubted Avhether by straining every nerve 
 it Avould be possible to save the homcAvard-bound fleets 
 from the Indies. The Italian squadrons Avere ordered to 
 
 1 Drake to Walsingliain, June 2nd, 1587. S. P. Dom. Ellz. 
 ccii. 7. 
 
IX IN COMMAND OF THE SEA 127 
 
 land their troops at Cartagena, and Philip hoped that 
 by forced marches across the peninsula they might 
 possibly arrive in time for Santa Cruz to sail before it 
 was too late. Every one else looked on the convoys 
 as doomed. For Drake, having assured himself that 
 Santa Cruz could not stir, and that England was safe 
 for a year at least, resolved to make for the Azores and 
 wait for the prey that had so narrowly escaped him the 
 year before. On the thii'd day of his stay off the Tagus 
 he took advantage of a northerly gale to run for the 
 anchorage at St. Vincent, which he had made his own 
 and where he intended to water and refresh for the 
 voyage. There, huddled under the lee of the Cape, 
 was found a fresh crowd of store-ships Avhich he 
 seized. For nine days he lay there rummaging the 
 ships, taking in water, and sending the men ashore 
 in batches to shake off the sickness with which, as usual, 
 the fleet was attacked. Every day new prizes fell into 
 his hands, and ere he sailed he had taken and destroyed 
 forty more vessels and a hundred small craft. On May 
 22nd he put to sea, and as the news spread a panic 
 seized every commercial centre in the Spanish dominions. 
 Half the merchants in Philip's empire saw ruin before 
 them : the whole year's produce both of the East and West 
 Indian trade was at Drake's mercy; and no one knew how 
 Spain with its resources already strained to the utmost 
 would survive the shock. 
 
 "Whatever might have been the result had these 
 fears been realised, destiny seemed to have decided 
 that in the Channel should be played the last 
 great scene. Drake had not been two days out 
 when a storm struck his fleet and scattered it over the 
 
128 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 face of the sea. For three days it raged with extra- 
 ordinary fury. Drake's own flagship was in dire peril, 
 and when the heavens cleared only three of the battle- 
 ships and half a dozen smaller craft were together. Not 
 a single merchant-ship was to be seen, and the Lion, 
 Borough's flagship, on which he was still a prisoner, was 
 missing too. Before leaving St. Vincent, Drake had told 
 AValsingham that he ought to have at least six more 
 cruisers to do his work properly, and now two-thirds of 
 what he had before were gone. Still he held on, hoping 
 to find some of the missing ships at the rendezvous in 
 the Azores. On the morning of June 8th St. Michael's 
 was sighted, but not a sail had rejoined the flag except 
 the Spy, one of the Queen's gunboats, with the captain and 
 master of the Lion on board, and they reported that the 
 crew of Borough's ship had mutinied and carried him 
 home. Then in the depth of his disappointment Drake's 
 fury blazed out anew. His fierce self-reliance and fanatic 
 patriotism had taught him to see a traitor in every man 
 that opposed him, and the bitter experience of his life- 
 long struggle against the enemies of his country and 
 his creed could bring him but to one conclusion — ■ 
 Borough was the traitor who had ruined the greatest 
 chance of his career ! A jury was empanelled, the 
 deserter tried for his life, found guilty, and condemned to 
 death. 
 
 It was little good except to relieve the Admiral's 
 anger. The splendid opportunity was gone : the fruit of 
 his brilliant exploit was snatched from his lips ; for even 
 had the remnant of his fleet been less shattered than it 
 was, the great convoys were beyond its strength. The 
 only hope was to hurry back to England and beg for 
 
IX THE GREAT CARACK 129 
 
 reinforcements to fight Santa Cruz for the life-blood of 
 Spain. 
 
 Yet ere he sailed there was a consolation at hand. 
 As he lay waiting for his shattered squadron to close up, 
 fuming at traitors, and marvelling at the inscrutable will 
 of Heaven, the dawn of June 9th lit up the gray sea and 
 showed him a huge carack in the offing. On a smart 
 breeze he gave chase. The carack kept her course, 
 but as Drake drew near began displaying her colours 
 nervously. Drake made not a sign in reply, but held on 
 till he was within range. Then on a sudden, with a 
 blaze of her ensigns and her broadside, the Elisabeth 
 Bonaventura told the stranger what she was. Two of 
 Drake's squadron threw themselves resolutely athwart- 
 hawse of the enemy, and the rest, plying her hard with 
 shot, prepared to run aboard her towering hull. But 
 ere they closed, her flag fluttered sadly down, and the 
 famous San Filippe, the King of Spain's own East- 
 Indiaman, the largest merchantman afloat, was a prize 
 in Drake's hands. Well might he wonder now at God's 
 providence, as with lightened heart he sailed homeward 
 with his prize. For not only Avas it the richest ever 
 seen in England before or since, not only was its cargo 
 valued at over a million of our money, but in it were 
 papers which disclosed to our merchants all the mysteries 
 and richness of the East India trade. It was a revela- 
 tion to English commerce. It intoxicated the soberest 
 capitalists ; and they knew no rest till they had formed 
 the great East India Company, to widen the gap which 
 Drake had opened and to lay the foundation of our Indian 
 Empire. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 IN QUEST OF THE SPANISH ARMADA 
 
 Still burning for action, on June 26th Drake reached 
 Plymouth with his splendid prize, and after a fortnight 
 was spent in getting her up to Saltash and overhauling 
 the priceless cargo, with a chest full of jewels and the 
 bill of lading he hurried to Court hoping to dazzle the 
 Queen into giving him the orders he so ardently desired. 
 But all was in vain. Not all Drake's temptation, nor all 
 that Burleigh and Walsingham could urge, availed to stir 
 the obstinate mood into which Mary Stuart's execution 
 had plunged her. She would attend to nothing but the 
 funeral. Burleigh and all the war-party were still in dis- 
 grace for having stolen the serpent from her bosom, and 
 she stubbornly shut her ear to all who did not speak 
 of peace. Drake's exploits promised to wreck the whole 
 negotiations, and he was pitilessly reprimanded. So far 
 from being allowed to assist him, Burleigh was set to 
 write despatches assuring Parma that the Admiral had 
 exceeded his instructions and was in disgrace. Orders 
 were sent down to pay off his ships, and the hunger 
 Avhich his small beginning, as he called it, had only 
 whetted, had to go unappeased. 
 
 Still he misiht have been content, for the actual havoc 
 he had made was but a little thing beside its moral 
 
CHAP. X THE DEMON-ADMIRAL 131 
 
 effect. Not only had he taught English seamen to 
 despise the dreaded galleys, but in the rank and file of 
 Philip's host he had planted a terror against which it 
 was vain to struggle. That a Lutheran heretic could so 
 prevail against the army of God could admit, as men 
 thought then, of but one explanation, and that the 
 Church made haste to foster. Drake was a magician. 
 He had sold his soul to Satan for a familiar by whose 
 aid he worked. In his cabin was a glass in which was 
 shown him the fleets of his enemies and all that passed 
 on board : he could count their crews and watch their 
 movements ; and like the Norse witches of old, by some 
 dark bargain he had bought the power to garner the 
 winds and loose or bind them at his will.^ 
 
 Let no one underrate what all this meant. He 
 cannot read aright the history of that time, who fails to 
 grasp how such a personality could oppress the imagina- 
 tion. Sorceiy was then as real as sin, and men moved 
 and breathed and thought in an atmosphere charged 
 with magic. Nor was this all. If the superstitious 
 fishermen that manned Philip's ships shuddered l^efore a 
 new devil, the romantic chivalry of Castile had found 
 another Koland. For the crews, to fight Avas madness ; 
 for the captains, surrender was no shame. To the King 
 his name was a torment. The grandees looked cold 
 disdain when it was uttered. The Pope mocked at him, 
 and said Elizabeth's distaff was keener than Philip's 
 sword. He invited a lady to go upon the water, and 
 she protested she dare not for fear the Dragon should 
 come and take her from her sovereign's arms. Philip 
 
 1 Navarrete, Docunwntos Ineditvs, torn. 81, p. 245. Hist. MSS. 
 Com. Ecp. XII. iv. 252. 
 
132 S/J? FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 banished her from the Court, and smarting under the 
 scourge redoubled his activity. But still he had to feel 
 what foreign critics were saying openly, that in England 
 was a man before whom his Armada mitrht be not in- 
 vincible and his crusade a disgrace. 
 
 Yet he relaxed no fibre; nor did Drake. For- 
 bidden to strike Philip abroad, he turned his animosity 
 against the traitor he saw at home. Though the Govern- 
 ment refused to carry out the sentence of death. Borough 
 was bx'ought before a court-martial. Charge upon 
 charge Drake heaped implacably on his head, and con- 
 founded him with crowds of witnesses too eager to win 
 the great Admiral's favour. Yet to his indignation and 
 astonishment the Court refused to convict the prisoner 
 of treason. More they could not do. It was impossible 
 for them not to find that the veteran who seventeen 
 years ago had so brilliantly defeated the Baltic pirates 
 had lost his nerve; and so with clouded reputation 
 in administrative employ, and once in command of a 
 despatch- vessel, he fades from history moaning hope- 
 lessly over the charges which had broken his heart. 
 
 But to crush the man who, as he believed, had ruined 
 his enterprise was not enough for Drake's energ}^ For 
 twenty years he had never ceased a day to do and dare 
 against Spain, and he was not likely to be still at such 
 an hour as this. If the Queen would not make war he 
 was determined to do it on his own account. As he 
 looked round him for the best method of pursuing his 
 life -long quest, his eyes could not but turn on the 
 abortive project of five years ago. It had been in his 
 mind some time. As he lay oft' Lisbon in May he had 
 ascertained that the Portuguese were expecting him to 
 
DON ANTONIO AGAIN 133 
 
 land with Don Antonio in his company, and for the rest 
 of the time he was on the coast he had been carefully 
 preparing his ground by conciliating them in every way 
 he could. Don Antonio, over head and ears in debt, was 
 still hanging about the capital ready for anything that 
 would release him from the clutches of his creditors. 
 Black John Norreys, Drake's old brother-in-arms, was 
 there too, out of employ and in disgrace for presuming 
 to try and save the English arms in the Low Countries 
 from Leicester's incompetence. The capture of the 
 great carack had set the merchants' mouths watering 
 for the Indian fleet, and everything seemed ripe for a 
 repetition of the great king-making project. The only 
 difficulty was the Queen. But Drake had every groiuid 
 for a comfortable faith in her love of tortuous political 
 moves. He knew too at what value to set her reprimands, 
 and, moreover, he had at Court a new friend more 
 powerful and eager than Hatton -himself. The young 
 Earl of Essex, the son of his old patron, was just now in 
 the first flush of his favour and his passion for adventure. 
 He had just been caught in an attempt to escape to the 
 seat of war in the Low Countries, and brought back to 
 play games with his fond and lonely mistress. Smelling 
 traitors now Avith every breath, Drake pursued his in- 
 trigue in such deep mystery that only here and there 
 his workings showed on the surface. Still there can be 
 no doubt that he suggested to the forlorn young truant 
 a new way of escape. The coaxing of her favourite and 
 the temptations of her little pirate Avere always hard for 
 the Queen to resist ; and as she found her apologies to 
 Spain accepted and the negotiations for peace going 
 smoothly once more, opposition in high quarters seemed 
 
134 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 to disappear. Don Antonio received a thousand pounds 
 to pay his more pressing debts ; ships began to collect 
 at Plymouth ; the carack was ordered to be sold, that 
 the merchants interested might refit their vessels ; and 
 by the end of October Drake had formed a syndicate to 
 provide the fifty thousand pounds which was required 
 of him as a privateer by way of caution-money. Every- 
 thing promised well for his new war under Don Antonio's 
 flag, when all at once Elizabeth was confronted with the 
 fruit of her folly in not having permitted Drake to 
 return at once and complete his work. Walsingham's 
 Ijrilliant financial operations by which he had got the 
 King of Spain's bills protested at Genoa were in vain, 
 for the safe arrival of the great convoys had restored 
 Spanish credit, and stung at last from his patience Philip 
 found himself rich enough to indulge in an outburst of 
 energy that surprised both friends and foes. Eegardless 
 of the season the Annada was to sail ere the year was 
 out, and England, after the years of warning, was taken 
 by surprise. Once more the country was tossing in a 
 fever of warlike preparation. The navy was to be put 
 on its war-footing, and Drake was summoned to head- 
 quarters to take counsel for the safety of the realm. 
 
 In endeavouring to appreciate the strategy of this 
 time, for which Drake and Sir John Norreys must be 
 held responsible as respectively the naval and military 
 chiefs of the staff, it must be remembered that Ene;land 
 was threatened by three separate invasions at the same 
 moment. In Spain was the Armada ; in Flanders was 
 Parma with an army of thirty thousand of the finest 
 soldiers in Europe, with adequate transport and a small 
 fleet to convoy them; while the Border was in peril 
 
X THE LORD ADMIRAL'S LIEUTENANT 135 
 
 from the Scots. Any two of these dangers, or even all 
 three, might combine ; but the best intelligence led to the 
 belief that Parma meant to join the Scots, while the 
 Armada seized Ireland or the Isle of Wight as a base of 
 operations against the west or south. In view of this 
 information and the fact that the Queen, still obstinately 
 clinging to her hope of peace, would only openly sanction 
 a defensive war, there is little fault to be found with the 
 English naval dispositions. A fleet under Lord Henry 
 Seymour, with Sir William Wynter and Sir Henry 
 Palmer as flag-officers, was to watch Parma in the 
 narrow seas and to act in concert with the Dutch, Avho 
 were blockading the Spanish Netherland ports. To 
 command in chief Lord Howard of Effingham was com- 
 missioned Lord High Admiral, with authority to invade 
 the Spanish dominions. For this purpose he was to 
 be in command of the main fleet, with John Hawkins 
 and Martin Frobisher for his flag-officers. For Drake 
 
 "& 
 
 was reserved the high rank of Lieutenant to the Lord 
 High Admiral, an office which seemed designed to give 
 him as full a control over the war at sea as the lingering 
 feudality of the constitution would allow to a com- 
 moner, however great his professional cajjacity. By 
 virtue of the office he became President of the Naval 
 Council of War, and as the Lord Admiral's deputy, could 
 exercise all the powers of that officer's commission at the 
 head of, an independent command. With this in view 
 his little fleet of privateers was reinforced from the 
 Thames and Portsmouth dockyards with four battle-ships, 
 a cruiser, and a couple of smart gunboats. His division 
 was thus raised to thirty sail, and the plan of action 
 seems to have been that Avhile Howard guarded the 
 
136 ■ SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Channel, Drake was to inflict a counter-blow somewhere. 
 It was given out that he was once more bound for the 
 Spanish Main, and volunteers flocked to his flag. His 
 real destination was kept a profound secret, but we 
 cannot doubt what it was. For at Christmas time a 
 spy was reporting to Burleigh that Don Antonio might 
 easily be restored to his throne ; and in January the 
 instructions of the commissioners, who were going over to 
 Flanders to treat for an armistice, were modified so as to 
 forbid Portugal or Don Antonio being included in the 
 negotiations. In the light of this extraordinary piece 
 of statecraft, Elizal)eth appears hardly so single-hearted 
 in her struggle to keep the peace as some have thought 
 her ; but she was at least consistent. Her darling policy 
 had been all along to do her bi'other-in-law grievous 
 bodily harm without committing a breach of the peace, 
 and Drake had ever been the weapon that most nicely 
 fitted her hand. She could not believe that Philip's 
 patience was at last exhausted ; and under Don Antonio's 
 flag she thought, like Celia in the play, to make herself 
 invisible and " catch the strong fellow by the leg." 
 
 Such was Drake's mission, as on January 3rd he went 
 down to Plymouth to hoist his flag. It was fitly borne 
 by the immortal Revenge, than which no ship was ever 
 more gilded with the romance of war. His old friend, 
 Thomas Fenner, was his vice-admiral in the Nonpareil. His 
 rear-admiral Avas Captain Cross in the Hope. EdAvard Fen- 
 ner commanded the Swiftsure, his fourth battle-ship ; and 
 Will Fenner's flag flew over his cruiser the Aid. Beside the 
 royal ships rode five splendid merchantmen of London, 
 perfectly fount!, as the Londoners always were. The 
 rest were west-country craft belonging to In'mself and 
 
X EQUIPS AN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 137 
 
 to his own and his wife's relations and friends. All 
 outward-bound vessels had been stayed, and Drake could 
 pick his crews from the flower of the English marine, who 
 flocked to his flag in numbers, it was said, sufficient to 
 man two hundred sail. True, half-crews only had been 
 sanctioned, but to this foolish piece of economy Drake 
 paid no attention. Regardless of all but his end, he 
 manned his fleet with its full complement, and when the 
 time came sent in the bill without a word. 
 
 While Drake was thus busy with his expeditionary 
 force Howard covered Plymouth, and watched for the 
 Armada off the Land's End. But he watched in vain. 
 The seas were still free : the winter campaign seemed a 
 false alarm ; and Howard, about the middle of January, 
 was recalled to the Thames, where, in spite of his pro- 
 tests, half his crews were paid off. Early in February 
 came a new alarm, and Howard was once more ordered 
 to man his ships and put to sea. But while the Lord 
 Admiral and Seymour were thus distracted with orders 
 that changed with every new report from Spain and 
 every new turn of the negotiations, Drake, except when 
 he practised too hard with his big guns, was not meddled 
 with. Men said he would still sail ; and Philip, trembling 
 for his reconstructed fleet, left no stone unturned to get 
 him stopped. Crofts, his pensioner in the English 
 Council, even went so far as to tempt the Queen's cupidity 
 with a scheme for his disgrace and the confiscation of 
 his wealth. '^ Essex, too, was made to suspect that the 
 Admiral meant to play him false and treat him as he had 
 treated Sydney ; and as his preparations approached com- 
 pletion, Drake grew more and more anxious. Nor was 
 1 Crofts to tlie Queen, Feb. 21st, 1588. ,S'. P. SjKiin, xxii. 33. 
 
138 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 it without cause. For ere the month was out Crofts 
 had prevailed, the commissioners for peace went over 
 to Ostend, and the Plymouth fleet was stopped. 
 
 From Howard downwards the sailors were in despair. 
 All through March he and Seymour were compelled to waste 
 their resources with a naval demonstration off Ostend, in 
 support of negotiations which they knew instinctively 
 were but a trick. Drake was kept idle at Plymouth, 
 and it was thought that when the moment came he 
 could not possibly be ready. We can see him fuming 
 up and down the Plymouth Hoe as he looked down on 
 his half-dismantled ships, growing fouler and fouler as 
 they chafed at their moorings. We hear him swearing 
 and praying by turns as he gazes seawards for a trace of 
 the sunboats he has sent to Finisterre for intelligence 
 that will convince his mistress that the peace-negotiation 
 is only a trick to disarm her. Still the weeks went by, 
 and nothing was done till, at the end of the month, he 
 received orders to get ready for sea. Then from the 
 depth of his disgust he poured out one last appeal to the 
 Council. During his impatient striding up and down 
 the Hoe, the true theory of naval warfare, of Avhich he 
 had already a dim perception, had been growing clearer 
 in his teeming mind, and in his acknowledgment of the 
 fresh orders he, for the first time, distinctly formulates 
 the idea of getting command of the sea. He fully grasped 
 that the invasion was to come from Parma in the Nether- 
 lands ; but no less perfectly he perceived that its feasi- 
 bility hung upon the possession of the four seas. 
 
 " If Her Majesty," he wrote, "and your Lordships think 
 tliat the King of Spain meaneth any invasion in England, 
 then doubtless his force is and will be great in Spain, 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF HIS IDEAS 139 
 
 and therein he will make his groundwork or foundation 
 whereby the Prince of Parma may have the better 
 entrance, which in mine own judgment is most to be 
 feared. But if there may be such a stay or stop made, 
 by any means of this fleet, in Spain, that they may not 
 come through the seas as conquerors (which I assure 
 myself they think to do), then shall the Prince of Parma 
 have such a check thereby as were meet." With deep 
 apologies he urged the folly of keeping so large a fleet 
 blockading Parma, and craved that his own division 
 might be strengthened, that he might go and seek the 
 enemies of God and Her Majesty wherever they were to 
 be found. Still struggling to give clear utterance to the 
 idea with which his genius was in travail, he went on only 
 to confuse it with the moral effect of offensive operations 
 till his passion altogether overcame his argument, and he 
 told how three hundred English flags with the red cross 
 had been made in Lisbon. "Which is," he bursts out, 
 " a great presumption, proceeding from the haughtiness 
 and pride of the Spaniard, and not to be tolerated by 
 any true natural English heart." 
 
 His appeal had some effect, for on its heels came a 
 despatch from the commissioners at Ostend, telling how 
 Parma had admitted that warlike preparations were still 
 going on in Spain, though he vowed they were only 
 against Drake. So an order came down that he was to 
 write to the Queen direct and tell her how strong her 
 fleet ought to be to carry out his ideas, and how he 
 proposed to distress the fleet which was asseml^ling at 
 Lisbon. To the second question he would give no direct 
 reply. Traitors were too thick about the Queen ; and he 
 told her it depended upon the intelligence he got on the 
 
I40 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 way, and the temper of his force when he got it to sea. 
 "The last insample at Cadiz," he growled in the bitter- 
 ness of his anger, " is not of divers yet forgotten, for one 
 such flying now as Borough did then will put the whole 
 in peril." As to the strength of her fleet, "God increase 
 your most excellent Majesty's forces daily," said he ; 
 but with four more navy ships and sixteen merchantmen 
 that were fitting out at London, he declared himself 
 ready through the goodness of his merciful God to 
 answer for the Armada — or even, as the advantage of 
 time and place in all martial actions Avas half the victory, 
 he ofTered to sail as he was, and let the reinforcements 
 follow. Surly as was the tone of his answer, the Queen 
 was delighted and sang his praises everywhere. But still 
 she could not make up her mind to loose her growling 
 dog. A fortnight later one of the gunboats came in 
 with intelligence that showed the Armada was on the 
 eve of sailing, and Drake, in an agony of impatience, 
 hurried the captain up to Court, urging again as a 
 matter of life and death that he should be allowed to go. 
 The answer was a summons to town. Elizabeth was 
 now thoroughly alarmed, and no sooner was the sailor's 
 rough eloquence heard ringing in the Council-chamber 
 than the Queen's purpose was at last made firm ; the 
 eyes of the Government were opened to the great idea, 
 and Howard with every ship that had three months' 
 victuals was ordered to join Drake in the west. 
 
 Golden weeks had been wasted. How grave the 
 peril was, those only grasped Avho had to face it ; and 
 Drake knew that if the Armada was once allowed to 
 sail, the England he loved so well was at the mercy of 
 God. It was not till May 23rd that Howard reached 
 
X SAILS AGAINST THE ARMADA 141 
 
 Plymouth. Drake was already there. In the morning 
 light at the head of sixty sail he put out to greet the 
 Lord Admiral, and then, as they met, Avent about with 
 his whole division and escorted his delighted chief into 
 port. There the combined fleet watered, and on May 
 30th, as an easterly breeze sprang up, the two Admirals 
 put to sea in loyal concert, to try if there yet were time 
 to strike the weapon from the hand that threatened 
 their country's life. 
 
 It was no easy task that was before them. Over 
 the sea came uncertain sounds of preparations so vast 
 that no one could doubt any longer where Philip's right 
 arm was. But where and how it would strike was still un- 
 certain. It might be destined for Ireland or for Scotland. 
 It might be meant to seize some English port. It might 
 be under orders to join Parma, or to act with the 
 Guises from France. It might come north about by the 
 Orkneys or directly up the Channel, and to watch one 
 route was to leave the other open. Even if the Armada's 
 course were divined aright, the wind which brought it 
 must throw the English to leeward ; and to reap the 
 advantage of our superior gunnery, on which the only 
 hope of victory lay, the weather -gage was essential. 
 For the defending force it was a situation as difficult as 
 that which outwitted Nelson himself, and one well 
 desisrncd to force home Drake's idea of the command 
 of the seas. From the first Drake had seen the 
 strategic and tactical disadvantages of attempting to 
 cover any of the threatened points. To prevent those 
 threats ever being developed was his plan ; and to effect 
 this he saw he must go boldly out and lie to windward 
 of the enemy's port of departure. Once there he felt 
 
142 SII? FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 that even if they dared come out he could so handle 
 them as they put to sea, and so harass their advance, 
 that nothing but a broken remnant would ever reach the 
 British coasts. As far as men could see it was the only 
 chance ; and hoping against hope that there might yet 
 be time, the Admirals lay the course for Finisterre. 
 But their cup was not yet full. Ere they were clear of 
 the Channel the wind veered to south, and began to 
 freshen to a gale in their very teeth. With it came 
 over the deserted seas a solitary merchantman, which 
 announced that ten days ago she had seen the whole 
 Armada stretching westerly from horizon to horizon on 
 a northerly wiud. It was too late. The wind which 
 had stopped the English fleet would bring the enemy, 
 and there was nothing to do but to stand off and on 
 where they were. For six days the gale continued, 
 veering slowly, but in spite of it the fleet held its ground. 
 On the seventh day it was blowing harder than ever 
 straight from the west, and then fearing to be driven so 
 far to the leeward as to uncover Plymouth, the discom- 
 fited Admirals put back. 
 
 The disastrous situation which for months had been 
 haunting Drake's dreams was at last waking truth. Still 
 the Spaniards came not ; and a ray of hope brightened 
 the gloom as Drake, with the instinct of a born strategist, 
 divined what had happened behind the waste of storm. 
 He felt that what had been seen was only a move to a 
 rendezvous at Corunna. There was still time to strike. 
 Tlie conditions were indeed more favourable than ever. 
 After the gale the Armada must take time for a final 
 concentration, and backed by Hawkins, Frobisher, and 
 Feuner, he persuaded Howard to try again. Their 
 
X THE QUEEN FRUSTRATES HIS PLANS 143 
 
 determination was at once announced to the Council. 
 But day after day the westerly gale continued to rage. 
 Such a summer had never been seen. Every attempt to 
 get to sea failed, and ere the fleet got free, to Drake's 
 utter dismay there came a peremptory order from the 
 Queen absolutely forbidding the manoeuvre. In Drake's 
 absence some one had frightened her back into the 
 old and futile methods; and yn\h a sharp reprimand 
 for rashness, Howard was directed to cruise between 
 Spain and England, and to water nowhere but on his 
 own coasts. 
 
 Had the Queen in her perverseness wished to destroy 
 her fleet as well as paralyse it she could hardly have 
 given more fitting orders. With a sullen growl the 
 Admirals obeyed. It was June 19th before they could 
 get out, and in three days they had to put back for 
 want of victuals. It was not till the next evening that 
 the provision -ships arrived, and it was fortunate they 
 did. For the same night came news that eighteen 
 Spanish ships had been sighted off Scilly. Without a 
 moment's hesitation a few stores were flung on board 
 the fleet, and leaving the victuallers to follow, it pushed 
 out to sea again on a fresh north-easterly breeze to cut 
 off the straggling squadron. But again, ere they were 
 out of the Channel, the wind chopped round to 
 south-west and stopped further progress. It was the 
 wind to bring the Armada; at any moment its sails 
 might appear ; so while Howard stood off and on in mid- 
 channel, Drake, with ten ships and four or five gunboats, 
 made a sweep down to the Bay to feel for the enemy 
 there, and to retard their advance if he found them steal- 
 ing up the French coast. Howard had a fixed idea that 
 
144 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 the first intention of the Armada was to join hands with 
 the Guises in some French port ; but though Drake 
 bowed to the Lord Admiral's superior political informa- 
 tion, from the first his instinct told him the move- 
 ment was only exhausting the fleet to no purpose. By 
 this time it was known that two more stray Spanish 
 squadrons had been hovering about Scilly. But for 
 days no sign of them had appeared. One of them had 
 even been sighted bearing for Spain, and Drake divined 
 the rest. As though he had indeed been shown the 
 truth in a magic mirror, he knew that the late gales had 
 broken up the Armada and that it must be painfully 
 reassembling in the ports about Finisterre. As he paced 
 impatiently the deck of the Revenge, gazing out over the 
 still desolate sea, he saw in Vigo, and Bayona, and Corunna 
 a confusion of shattered rigging, and heard the muttering 
 of landsmen sickened of the sea and raw crews demoralised 
 with failure. Into the midst he pictured himself bursting 
 like a thunder-clap, and in a storm of fire and iron 
 completing the ruin which Heaven had begun. In a 
 week he could endure it no longer. Victuals were 
 running out : the crews, on half rations, wei'e falling sick ; 
 and as every day some poor fellow was flung overboard 
 they began to lose heart. June came to an end ; and 
 then Drake rejoined the Lord Admiral to try and prove 
 to him with all the force of his eloquence how the Lord 
 had once more in His mercy delivered the enemy into 
 their hand. 
 
 All was in vain. Howard, loyal to his fatal instruc- 
 tions, would do nothing but stretch out his fleet like a 
 net* across the mouth of the Channel, and patrol his 
 front and flanks with gunboats. In desperation Drake 
 
X LAST ATTEMPT AT A BLOCKADE 145 
 
 reduced his reasons to writing and sent them home, 
 imploring to be allowed to go at least a little nearer to 
 Spain, in order that, even if he were wrong, and the 
 Spaniards were already on their way, he might still 
 have some chance of getting to windward of tliem 
 before they entered the Channel. Shaken at length by 
 his lieutenant's vehemence Howard ventured to stretch 
 his scruples so far as to advance the line outside the 
 Channel ; and there on the afternoon of the 7th a 
 fresh northerly breeze came up behind them. To 
 Drake it was the very breath of the Lord, and before 
 his passionate conviction Howard at last gave way. 
 Half the fleet had but a few days' provisions, but, as 
 Drake pointed out, if they returned for more the other 
 half would be just as bad, so without more ado away 
 they went for Finisterre. Long and low the tempter 
 must have laughed to himself as they flew before the 
 wind. If it only held, orders or no orders, for bare 
 life's sake his scrupulous commander would be com- 
 pelled to revictual from Philip's storeships. No man 
 ever watched the wind more anxiously as next day sails 
 began to shake ominously. Yards were braced round, 
 bowlines were strained more and more, yet league by 
 league they neared the goal. On the 9th Ushant was 
 eighty leagues behind, but their labour was in vain — a 
 south-wester Avas blowing in their teeth. To proceed 
 was impossible, to stay was starvation, and in open 
 wonder that God should have sent a south-wester, Drake 
 confessed that retreat was the only course. So for the 
 third time the great Armada escaped. Helpless and 
 wind-bound it had been lying in Corunna Bay, at the 
 mercy of the fireships and great guns of a fleet to wind- 
 
 L 
 
146 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 ward. But now the wished-for wind had come to release 
 it, and on the 12th, as Howard's exhausted fleet re- 
 appeared off Plymouth, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, 
 in the fulness of his strength, put out to sea un- 
 touched.^ 
 
 Not an English sail was there to see or hinder, and 
 ignorant of the jeopardy in which they stood, Howard 
 and Drake set every hand to work that their fleets 
 might be ready to renew the attempt together the 
 moment the Avind was fair. A messenger sped to Court 
 for permission, and this time, so convincing had Drake's 
 memorandum proved, it was not refused. By the 
 19th they were almost ready — sick had been landed, 
 crews were reinforced, the scanty stores allowed were 
 on board — when suddenly they were astounded with the 
 news that the Armada was off the Lizard. The tables 
 were completely turned. By the south-west wind on 
 which Medina-Sidonia was advancing, the English 
 were shut in port and caught in the very same trap 
 which Drake had meant to be the destruction of the 
 enemy. Clever as he was he had not guessed the whole 
 truth. He could not tell that the wandering squadrons 
 were merely some stray ships that had kept on bravely 
 in spite of the gales to the rendezvous at Scilly ; he could 
 not tell that the bulk of the Armada, more faint-hearted, 
 had never passed Finisterre, but had taken shelter 
 
 ^ For this forgotten movenient see S. P. Bom. Eliz. ccxii. f. 9. 
 Reasons offered by Sir Fr. Drake, etc., f. 10. Considerations pro- 
 jwsed by Mr. Thus. Feniter, etc. (wrongly dated July 4th), f. 57. 
 Thos. Cely to Lord Burleigh, f. 80. Howard to AValsingham 
 (postscript), f. 82. Relacion do . . , Pablo dc Araaibur que 
 . . . fue con dos zabras en segiUmiento del Armada inglesa, Duro, 
 ii. '213. 
 
X OUT-MANCEUVRED 147 
 
 weeks ago ere irreparable damage was done. After 
 all his scheming and strife with friend and foe he 
 was taken by surprise at last, and the Armada had 
 reached the Channel without one English gun to say 
 it nay. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE BATTLE OF GRAVELINES 
 
 The old story goes that the fatal tidings found Drake 
 on Plymouth Hoe playing bowls with the great officers 
 of the fleet. He was out-manreuvred, the surprise was 
 complete, but he did not stir or start. Of all that gallant 
 companj^ none knew so well as he all that the tidings 
 meant. But in the jovial face, ruddy and clear-eyed as 
 ever, there was no sign of the anxiety beneath. His 
 fleet lay huddled in port, at the mercy of the Spanish 
 fireships : there was not a moment to lose ; but huiTy 
 would spoil all, and he would not budge. There was 
 time, he said, to jilay the game and beat the Spaniards 
 too. Born leader of men that he was, his genius for a 
 timely bravado taught him the value of such a speech to 
 quiet panic for the tremendous eflTort he saw at hand. 
 For there was but one thing that could save the fleet. 
 It must be got out of harbour before the morning, and 
 then the almost hopeless struggle would begin. Well- 
 nigh incredible as the feat may seem, it was accom- 
 plished. During the night, in the teeth of the wind, 
 nearly all the fleet was warped out. With the utmost 
 difliculty and consummate seamanship, on Saturday 
 morning Rame Head was weathered, and in rain and 
 mist the fleet began beating to the westward close 
 
CHAP. XI EXTRICATES THE FLEET 149 
 
 along the coast to try and steal the wind from the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 So thick was the weather that it was not till the after- 
 noon that the fleets had sight of one another. Then to the 
 masthead of the great San Martin the Captain-General of 
 the Ocean Sea raised the blessed standard of the Crnsade. 
 On one side was the crucified Redeemer, on the other 
 the Holy Mother. Three solemn guns boomed out, and 
 as the sound rolled through the great Armada every 
 man fell down and prayed to Christ for victory against 
 the enemies of His Holy Faith. Then, too, along the 
 misty shore where Drake's men toiled were muttered 
 unrecorded orisons withoiit ceremony and without pro- 
 stration. They were crusaders too. Their faith Avas as 
 deep, their worship as devout ; but the Puritans hauled 
 on their bowlines as they prayed. There was need for 
 them to aid the Lord. The Armada was edging inshore 
 very close ; but closer still the arch-enemy of the Holy 
 Faith crept on in the wet mists to complete his manoeuvre. 
 Fainter and fainter sank the wind and heavier fell the 
 rain, as Drake wrestled with the weather. The chance 
 of success was desperate indeed. In those days the 
 best of ships could not sail within six points of the wind, 
 and at every tack the countless sails on the horizon 
 loomed clearer and closer as they crept on before the 
 dying breeze. Yet on the completion of the movement 
 before the dawn, he saw the fate of England hang. 
 On the morrow Plymouth would be at the Spaniards' 
 mercy, unless the English by getting the wind could 
 fall upon their rear and force them to leeward of the 
 threatened port. Night fell with the work still far 
 from done, and hour after hour in the darkness were 
 
I50 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 heard the cries of the boatswains and the wail of the 
 rigging as the ships went about continually. But Avhen 
 the curtain of the night was lifted it was upon a glorious 
 scene for England. A little west of Looe Avas the great 
 Armada lazily advancing still, and seawards right in the 
 wind of it were forming the two divisions of the English 
 fleet. Out of Plymouth was sailing another squadron, 
 which, as it passed boldly across the Spaniards' front, 
 fired on the leading ships, and then going about joined 
 the bulk of the fleet to windward. Then in loose 
 order Howard and Drake bore down. Anticipating that 
 Sidonia with his superior numbers and tonnage Avould 
 take the offensive, they had resolved to attempt nothing 
 but to harass his advance and cut off stragglers. But 
 no sooner Avere they within range, than they recognised 
 how hard was the task before them. Far from 
 attempting Plymouth the Armada received them in 
 the crescent formation, and continued its way up 
 channel unmoved by their fire. So well were the 
 Spaniards disposed, and such splendid order did they 
 keep, that it was impossible for the English to come to 
 close quarters v/ithout danger of losing the wind. Com- 
 pelled to fight at long range it Avas in vain that they 
 directed the Avhole weight of their metal upon the port 
 division of the Spaniards' line, and tried by croAvding it 
 upon the centre to In-eak up their unassailable formation. 
 Sidonia's best advisers knoAv Avell their Aveakness, and 
 Drake, too, saAv it at a glance. "The Fleet of Spaniards," 
 be hurriedly scraAvled on the despatch that Avas sent to 
 Avai-n Seymour, "are somewhat above a hundred sails, 
 many great sliii)S ; but trul.y, I think, not half of them 
 men of Avar." He Avas right. The Armada was not a 
 
XI ENGA CEMENT OFF PL YMO UTH 1 5 1 
 
 fleet of warships free to take the offensive as it would. 
 Philip, still less than Elizabeth, had grasped the import- 
 ance of commanding the sea. Instead of being a fighting 
 machine of overwhelming power, his great Armada was 
 in realitj" the convoy of an unwieldy mass of transports 
 and storeships ; and Sidonia's orders were to escort it 
 straight to Margate, and not to risk an action with the 
 combined English fleet till he was safely at his destin- 
 ation. 
 
 But though nothing could tempt Sidonia from his 
 defensive attitude, most of his flag-officers were all on 
 fire to fight. Their chivalry was sIoav to learn the 
 lesson Avhich Drake so suddenly had taught both king 
 and subject. They could not believe that their long 
 unquestioned supremacy at sea was gone ; and at last 
 Don Juan Martinez de Recalde in the Santa Anna, 
 who commanded the port division, as he felt himself 
 being forced into the centre, was galled into turning on 
 his foes. In a moment he was surrounded by the van 
 of Drake's division. The Revenge herself was there, 
 conspicuous with an extravagant pennant and a banner 
 on her mizzen, and fighting almost at grappling distance. 
 Only one vessel could get to Recalde's support, for 
 as his flag-officers bore up to relieve him, they were 
 received by an overwhelming fire from Howard. So 
 hot grew the fight, and so smartly was ship after ship 
 brought to bear on the isolated Spaniards, that at last 
 Sidonia himself was compelled to come up into the 
 wind to save them. Howard signalled to sheer off"; 
 and for the rest of the day, in order to cover Recalde 
 while he refitted his shattered flagship, Sidonia kept 
 the English busy with manoeuvres for the wind. 
 
152 STJi FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 So ended the memorable Sunday. Little enough 
 had been done except to show the superior activity of 
 the English ships, and the greater rapidity of their fire. 
 They found that under courses only they could outsail 
 the Spanish galleons, and could easily pou^r in three 
 broadsides to the enemy's one. Still the Armada was 
 almost untouched. At niglitfall Sidonia, having re- 
 formed his battle-ships, was pursuing his way up channel 
 after the storeships and transports as majestically as 
 ever, and the seamen were grumbling that the onset 
 had been more coldly done than became the credit of 
 the English navy. Drake saw that the tactics of the 
 past day Avould never do. It was clear that Sidonia 
 meant to avoid an action, and act purely on the defen- 
 sive till he had joined hands with Parma. Had the 
 contest begun off the Spanish coast, as Drake had 
 desired, a series of harassing engagements might have 
 succeeded ; but now there was no time. The two 
 Spanish forces were but a few days asunder, and at all 
 hazards they must not be jiermitted to unite. Ere the 
 light faded, therefore, the flag of council Avas flying on 
 the Revenge, and when the flag-officers were assemljled, 
 Drake, and those who supported him, urged that a great 
 effort should be made without a moment's delay. But, 
 right or wrong, Howard lacked the daring of the 
 seamen. He could not bring himself to risk the fleet, 
 — the only hope of his unready country ; and indeed 
 the risk was great. Every shijj grappled by a Spaniard 
 was doomed ; and lacking the old hands' implicit faith 
 in the power of English seamanship to elude tlie danger, 
 Howard would not give way. AVith a discretion for 
 which he cannot be blamed, he resolved to continue 
 
XI A STRANGE MANCEUVRE 153 
 
 the tactics of the past day. Until his whole force was 
 concentrated by a junction with Seymour and "VVynter 
 in the Straits of Dover, and by the arrival of the 
 reinforcements he expected, he was determined not to 
 fight a general action, but to rest content with retarding 
 the Spanish advance till the gales returned for their 
 discomfiture. 
 
 Still bent, however, as we may well believe, on having 
 his own way, Drake could console himself that as vice- 
 admiral of the combined fleet the van of the pursuit 
 was his. The captains had orders to follow his cresset 
 light, and with the wind freshening and veering to west- 
 north-west he led the chase of the Spanish stern-lanterns. 
 Under easy sail he clung upon their heels, till in the 
 middle of the night he was aware of some strange 
 sails near him, which were bearing a different course, 
 and impressed as he was with the way the Spanish 
 fleet had been handled during the day, he was suddenly 
 seized with the idea that they were weathering him in 
 the dark. Something at any rate was wrong, and Avith 
 characteristic decision he felt he must get to the bottom 
 of it. In accordance, therefore, with the naval practice 
 of the time in such cases, and nothing loath perhaps 
 to mislead the commander he could not direct, he im- 
 mediately extinguished his light, and accompanied only 
 by his tender, stood with the strangers. Having 
 satisfied himself they were but a few German merchant- 
 men seeking convoy, Drake at once gave up the chase 
 and let them go. Meanwhile, however, his manoeuvre 
 had thrown the English fleet into confusion. Howard, 
 taking the Spanish light for Drake's, held on his 
 course. Four or five of his division did the same. 
 
154 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 The rest, at a loss what to do, struck sail, and when 
 day broke the Eeve^ir/e found herself alone, save for 
 a huge galleon drifting within a few cables' length 
 of her. It was none other than Nuestra Senora del 
 Bosario, the flagship of Don Pedro de Valdes, captain- 
 general of the Andalusian squadron, and one of 
 the finest officers in the fleet. In trj'ing to assist 
 Recalde he had fallen a victim to Sidonia's rigid forma- 
 tion, which, though well enough before the wind, too 
 often led to collisions if any manoeuvre was attempted. 
 Drake at once summoned her to surrender, but though 
 she had lost her bowsprit and foremast, she had hitherto 
 beaten off" every assailant, and honourable conditions 
 were demanded. The English Admiral was in a hurry ; 
 he Avanted to overtake his division ; he was Drake, 
 he said, and had no time to parley ; and at the 
 sound of the great name Valdes struck without 
 another word. He and forty of his officers were 
 taken on board the Revenge, where they ransacked 
 mythology to find adequate compliments for their 
 captor's prowess and generositj^. Proud of his reputa- 
 tion, Drake loaded them with a princely hospitalitj", 
 while his oflicers took possession of their treasure of 
 some fifty thousand ducats. Then sending the galleon 
 with a prize crew into Dartmouth, he went on his way 
 with his prisoners to overtake the Lord Admiral. 
 
 By this time Howard was far ahead. So closely 
 indeed had he followed the liiihts which he took for his 
 lieutenant's, that at break of day he had found himself 
 amongst the rearmost ships of the Spaniards. Knowing 
 as we do Drake's persistent methods of getting his way 
 when persuasion failed, it is impossible not to suspect 
 
XI SIDONIA CHANGES HIS FORMATION 155 
 
 him of a hope, if not of an intention, of entrapping 
 Howard into a general action by his wayward mano3Uvre. 
 But in that case he was disappointed, for so light was 
 the Avind, and so scattered the fleet, that it was four 
 in the afternoon before the ships had closed up, and by 
 the time Drake arrived on the scene the Lord Admiral 
 had extricated himself without fighting, and an attack 
 was no longer possible. All that Howard and Hawkins 
 had been able to do was to take possession of the 
 flagship of the Guipuzcoan squadron, which had been 
 shattered by an explosion in its powder-magazine and 
 abandoned. Otherwise the Armada was as strong as 
 ever; and to make matters worse, Sidonia had taken 
 advantage of the respite to reorganise his force. Taught 
 by yesterday's experience the weakness of the crescent 
 formation in face of so nimble an enemy, he united and 
 reinforced his two wings, and formed them into a rear- 
 guard, while he himself, with the galleasses and the 
 transports and storeships, formed a van division. In 
 this formation, as Monday drew to an end, the 
 Armada was lying iDecalmed off Portland. Towards 
 svxnset the Avind had died away entirely, and thus 
 another precious day was gone and nothing done. 
 
 The moon rose clear and bright, and, mirrored on 
 the glassy sea, the two fleets lay facing each other 
 scarce a cannon-shot apart. The English were spread 
 motionless in a long broken line at the mercy of the 
 enemy's oared ships. It was the hour for the galleasses, 
 and from the extreme right of the Armada where 
 they lay, in all the pomp of their swinging oars they 
 came striding over the moonlit watei'S upon an isolated 
 vessel of the English. But at that moment troubled 
 
156 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 patches began to darken the shining surface of the sea : 
 sails began to shake themselves for the coming work ; 
 and in a few minutes a smart breeze had robbed the 
 galleasses of their prey. The doomed ship was saved ; 
 but the wind was coming from the north-east and the 
 Spaniards had the weather-gage. The English at once 
 led off with a dash straight inshore to try and get round 
 the enemy's right. Sidouia, to parry the movement, 
 stood in too with his motley division trailing after him, 
 and signalled to the rearguard to follow. But no sooner 
 was the Admiral's move taken up than the English fleet 
 was round again and standing to the eastward on the 
 opposite tack threatening to turn the Spaniards' left. 
 By the change of direction Drake, with the starboard 
 division, was now leading, closely followed by the Lord 
 Admiral, and as they strove to pass to windward, the 
 fighting rearguard of the Armada, which by Sidonia's 
 inshore movement was now on its left, tux'ned suddenly 
 upon them. A hot action was the immediate result, 
 and at a distance so close that the English ships were in 
 constant danger of being boarded. One Avas only saved 
 by the Lord Admiral boldly off"ering its assailant a 
 chance of boarding his flagship, and he himself Avas in 
 imminent danger till he Avas rescued by Drake's vice- 
 admiral. To abide such an attack from the windward 
 Avas rank heresy to the neAV tactics of Drake's school, 
 and nimbly disengaging, the Avhole English fleet sprang 
 its luff" and ran large out to sea, to dei)rive the enemy of 
 his chance of boarding. After it the Spaniards' rear- 
 guard laboured, straggling more and more every length 
 it advanced. Ear from being defeated, as the Spaniards 
 thought, the English Avere fast doing what had seemed 
 
XI ACTION OFF PORTLAND 157 
 
 almost hopeless. Sidonia's attempt to follow their rapid 
 doubling had broken his solid phalanx to pieces. Far away 
 to windward was his flagship toiling after his chasing 
 rearguard : farther still behind him were the galleasses 
 vainly struggling with the current in the Portland Eace 
 to keep their positions in his Avake ; and scattered con- 
 fusedly over the sea were groups of transports and 
 victuallers trying to regain the shelter of the battle- 
 ships. As the day advanced every hour improved the 
 English prospects, for the wind was going sloAvly round 
 with the sun. For a time they contented themselves by 
 luffing up continually to deliver broadsides on their 
 pursuers and tempt them to straggle farther; but at 
 last the wind had veered far enough to give them the 
 weather-gage, and with one accord they swept re- 
 lentlessly upon Eecalde's flagship. Aware that it was 
 still trying to recover from the pimishment its boldness 
 had met with on Simday, the whole Spanish rearguard 
 bore up one by one to the rescue, and that with the greatest 
 devotion, for each ship as it came into action was the 
 victim of a concentrated fire. Sidonia in like manner was 
 bearing up with his squadron too when his flag-captain 
 pointed out to him that away to leeward the transports 
 and storeships were in sore troul)le. The galleasses, it 
 was evident, could not protect them. They had given 
 up the attempt to follow their leader's flag, but their 
 attention was fully engaged by the Triumph, the finest 
 vessel in the English navy and the flagship of Frobisher. 
 He had got left to leeward too, but Avas now bravely 
 entertaining the galleasses, while Edward Fenton, in the 
 Mary Rose, and several chartered ships of Drake's and 
 the London squadrons were improving the occasion 
 
158 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 around him. Seeing the clanger the Duke signalled to 
 his immediate following to keep on to where the fight 
 raged round the crippled Santa Anna, while he himself 
 went about and bore doAvn to support the galleasses and 
 protect his more defenceless chai'ges. The Triumiih was 
 now in serious danger ; nor could the English seamen, 
 having once exposed the Armada's vulnerable ])oint, 
 permit it to be covered again without a blow. More- 
 over, the continual closing up of the scattered S})anish 
 rearguard had rendered the struggle round Eecalde too 
 equal to suit Drake's ideas. Once more he and his 
 fellows disengaged, and Sidonia suddenly found himself 
 alone betAveen the transports and his rearguard, with 
 all the English battle-ships bearing down upon him. 
 Having reduced the Santa Anna to such a wreck that 
 Recalde was compelled to transfer his flag, they were 
 bent on treating as hardly the Captain -General of the 
 Ocean Sea. AVith all the old-world chivalry of Spain 
 the Duke shortened sail to await the attack, and for an 
 hour endured alone the whole fire of his enemy, as ship 
 by ship passed by and plunged its broadside into the 
 great San Martin. From its fortress of the poop, from 
 its castle of the prow, from its plaza de annas in the 
 waist, the splinters shivered and split till the water 
 poured in through the shot-holes, the rigging hung in 
 ruin, and the holy standard of the Crusade was rent in 
 twain. So they left him and passed on to support 
 Frubisher, and gather the fruit of Drake's bewildering 
 tactics. Under all sail the Spanish battle-ships toiled to 
 the rescue, but when, as the sun sank low, Sidonia had 
 once more gathered up his flock into a roundel, there 
 were many that laboured sorely, and three were gone. 
 
XI REORGANISES THE FLEET 159 
 
 It was a poor enougli result for a hard-fought action. 
 The English powder was spent, another day Avas gone, 
 and still the Armada looked almost as formidable as ever. 
 Yet the effect was deeper than it seemed. "With no little 
 alarm the Spanish officers had been shown the mobility 
 of a fleet formed line-ahead, and its power of concentra- 
 tion on weak points. It was the first dawn of those 
 modern tactics which Blake and Monk were to develop 
 and Nelson to perfect, and both sides recognised the great 
 fact. The Spaniards' hearts sank as they saw how ill 
 adapted were their floating fortresses for the new situa- 
 tion, and a bolder purpose inspired Lord Howard. On 
 the morrow, though active operations were confined to 
 twice comi)elling the Armada to stop its advance and 
 form line of battle to its rear, a most important step was 
 taken. After the morning cannonade had ceased, for 
 some hours the English ships were seen tacking hither 
 and thither in strange disorder ; but at last, out of the 
 confusion, four distinct lines developed themselves and 
 bore down on the wondering Spaniards to compel them 
 once more to shorten sail and haul to the wind. Yet 
 not a shot was fired ; and no sooner was the Spanish 
 battle - array completely formed than the four lines 
 twisted back like snakes and left it untouched. Vexed 
 to be so fooled, and convinced that the English meant only 
 to delay him till the fine Aveather should break, Sidonia 
 resolved to turn no more till the spires of Calais rose 
 in sight. But he was wrong. Reinforced and supplied 
 anew with poAvder, HoAvard at last felt justified in push- 
 ing home an attack. Three days had passed since the 
 fleets first engaged ; three days more Avould bring the 
 Armada to its goal, and although its advance had been 
 
i6o SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 well delayed there was still no sign of a return of the 
 tempestuous weather. It would no longer do to watch 
 the face of the skies. If the Armada's power was to he 
 broken it must be by the hand of man. 
 
 By this time they were abreast of the Isle of Wight, 
 and its proximity emphasized the necessity for prompt 
 offensive action. From his exalted prisoner Drake 
 had been able to learn that in certain contingencies the 
 island was to be occupied in order to provide a harbour 
 of refuge for the Armada, and it was clear the great effort 
 could no longer be delayed. Nor could a lietter battle- 
 field be wished for than the spot the two fleets had now 
 reached. As they lay off Sandown Bay between the 
 Island and Selsea Bill, the Armada had in its lee a 
 whole network of shoals stretching from the Owers to 
 Spithead, and a vigorous attack from windward promised 
 either to press it in confusion amongst the intricate 
 channels off Portsmouth, or if it attempted to weather 
 the Bill and so regain the open sea, to drive it on the 
 Ower bank. Such at least would seem to have been 
 Drake's idea ; and it was probably to increase the energy 
 of the attack that Howard had consented to divide 
 the fleet into four divisions. He himself commanded 
 the first and Drake retained his own as the second, 
 while the third and fourth Avere given respectively 
 to Howard's two flag-officers, Hawkins and Frobisher. 
 To attack Sidonia's serried ranks as they were was but 
 to court defeat; and in council of war it had been resolved 
 that durintr the nisfht six merchantmen from each 
 division, l)y engaging at four iliflerent points, were to 
 loosen the Spaniards' foi'mation and prepare it for the 
 attack of the battle-ships. 
 
XI ACTION OFF THE ISLE OF WIGHT i6i 
 
 So Drake meant to wrestle his great fall with the 
 Spanish power. It was a well-laid scheme, and had 
 the wind held, the Armada might never have sailed 
 another league to the east ; but as it chanced, the wind 
 fell so light that the detailed merchantmen were unable 
 to carry out their orders, and as the morning of the 
 fourth day broke serene and calm, the only sign of 
 movement was where some of Hawkins's vessels were 
 seen trying to tow themselves alongside the Sania 
 Anna, and another crippled Spaniard. Well-nigh 
 helpless with their wounds, they had drifted from the 
 ranks and seemed an easy prey. Three galleasses came 
 sweeping to the rescue in all their majesty of oar and 
 sail ; but it was not to victory. With dogged courage 
 the leading ships of Howard's and Frobisher's divisions 
 were towed by their boats to meet the floating castles, 
 and were soon tearing and shattering them with chain- 
 shot and a hail of balls. The boldest of the Spanish 
 rearguard struggled in to support, and at last Sidonia 
 signalled for a general action. It was the feast of San 
 Domingo, his patron saint ; a light breeze had sprung 
 up in his favour, and with banners flying and trumpets 
 braying, convinced at last that its hour of victory had 
 come, the Armada formed in line of battle. The holy 
 standard rose aloft and the tide of battle turned. The 
 disabled galleasses were got out of action, and Frobisher 
 and Howard, cut off and surrounded, seemed doomed to 
 meet no better fate. The rest of the fleet were standing 
 away as though to save themselves and desert their 
 comrades, and the Spaniards felt certain of their prey. 
 Still, like the heroes of some Homeric fight, the iso- 
 lated admirals fought on, dealing destruction around and 
 
 M 
 
i62 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 clearing themselves with their boats from every ship that 
 attempted to lay them aboard. In wonder and admira- 
 tion the Spaniards still pressed closer till the wind began 
 to freshen. Then at last they learnt the meaning of the 
 strange tactics of the enemy's two starboard divisions. 
 While Howard and Frobisher were holding the Spaniards 
 over the brink of the pit, Drake and Hawkins had 
 laboriously secured a vantage-ground from which to 
 thrust them down ; and ere Sidonia had well grasped 
 the sudden jeopardy in which his whole fleet was 
 placed, the two kinsmen, with half a gale of wind in 
 their swelling sails, crashed in upon his left. The charge 
 was irresistible. The amazed weather squadrons gave 
 way, crowding in upon the centre, and forcing the whole 
 Armada to leeward. In vain did Frobisher's jjersecutors 
 turn. Howard was free now, and added the weight of 
 his consorts to the confusion Avith a new attack. The 
 mouth of Portsmouth roads yawned on Sidonia's lee, as 
 though to engulf his Armada ; doAvn came the holy 
 standard of his crusading king; in its place flew the 
 signal to close up in a roimdel ; and so, to the indigna- 
 tion of his fighting admirals, he hastened to make his 
 escape, and inclining away to the coast of France, saved 
 his fleet from the Ower banks. 
 
 "A hot fray," wrote Hawkins, "wherein some store 
 of powder was spent, and, after all, little done." The 
 change of wind had saved Sidonia. Drake and his kins- 
 man knew their movement had failed, but Howard cele- 
 brated it as a victory. As the two fleets lay becalmed 
 next day, some two miles apaj't, on the poop of the Arh 
 Royal he knighted Frobisher and three noble kinsmen 
 of his own who had fought their ships at his side. 
 
xr THE CHASE CONTINUED 163 
 
 They were the heroes the poets sang, and well they 
 deserved the praise. But thoiigh Hawkins was made 
 Sir John Avith the rest, for the cool head that had planned 
 the fight and so nearly destroyed the enemy with strange 
 tactics, in which bards could see no meaning, there was 
 no reward. Frobisher, the intrepid explorer, who knew 
 nothing of naval warfare, even accused the rival who 
 had eclipsed his fame of cowardice. When he heard 
 Drake had taken Don Pedro de Valdes and his great 
 galleon, he swore the man that had brought England to 
 all her trouble had deliberately lagged behind to reap 
 the reward of his comrades' courage. The story is sad 
 to tell, but let it be the glory of Elizabeth's captains 
 that in the heat of their jealousy and quarrels they 
 never forgot the sacred cause she personified. 
 
 The last chance of destroying the Armada before it 
 reached its destination Avas now gone. All Friday the 
 tAvo fleets lay within sight of each other, till in the 
 evening the breeze got up from the south-west, and the 
 Armada began the last stage of its adventurous voyage. 
 So splendid was the order it kept before the wind, that 
 though the English still dogged its heels, no attack was 
 attempted ; and ashore spurs pressed deep and beacons 
 flamed, faint hearts sank and brave men trooped to- 
 gether, as almost untouched the great host drew to its 
 goal. On Saturday afternoon it was passing Calais — six 
 leagues more and it would reach Dunkirk — when sud- 
 denly it came to anchor. Completely surprised, the 
 English so nearly overran the enemy that they only 
 saved the weather -gage by boldly anchoring within 
 e;un-shot to windward. 
 
 It was a solemn hour, as Seymour and Wynter 
 
l64 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE CHAP. 
 
 from the Channel fleet joined with the rest on 
 Howard's flagship in momentous council. As the great 
 German historian has said, the fortune of mankind 
 hung on the balance. When we consider the difficulties 
 of the navigation even for a single ship, the projecting 
 headlands of the Channel, the intricate currents, the 
 precarious winds, it is impossible not to admire the 
 brilliant manner in which the great Armada had been 
 brought to its destination. In spite of the greatest sea- 
 men of the age, in spite of the incubus of a cumbrous 
 convoy, it had reached within arm's-length of its goal, 
 and amid the hurried tramp of the gathering levies 
 arose loud railing at the English captains for their 
 failure. The Spaniards themselves could hardly credit 
 their success. They were dispirited with their losses : 
 to leeward lay the unknown terrors of the North Sea ; 
 to windAvard was a horror worse than all. For there 
 they knew was El Draque, busy brewing in his ships, as 
 they rode so peacefully at their anchors, the devilry for 
 which he had let them come so far. Such thoughts at 
 least the terror of that name conjured as the night fell. 
 Nor were they very wrong. Who first thought of it, 
 none can tell. Indeed it matters little. Since that ter- 
 rible night in Vera Cruz harbour twenty years ago, and 
 later, when the devil-ship blew Parma's legions to atoms 
 on the Antwerp boom, the device was in every man's 
 mind. It was a remedy hardly fit for Christian men to 
 use. Yet, at all hazards, the Armada must be dis- 
 lodged. The Dutch fleet, which had been blockading 
 Dunkirk, had been compelled by its necessities to 
 retire and leave Parma free to come out. At any 
 moment the weather might serve, and in a few hours the 
 
XI THE FIRESHIPS 165 
 
 great army might have passed the Channel. It was on 
 Sunday the council of war met, and ere it separated the 
 grim resolve was taken. That night the tide would serve, 
 and Sir Henry Palmer sped to Dover for the means 
 which, for this supreme moment, had been collected 
 there ; but no sooner was he gone than there were some 
 that grew impatient and saw that he could not return in 
 time to catch the tide. It would not do to risk the loss 
 of another day ; there were ships in plenty with the 
 fleet. Drake offered one of his own for the sacrifice,^ 
 and seven more were quickly chosen. As the night 
 closed in dark and moonless, a presentiment of im- 
 pending doom disquieted the great host to leeward. 
 The awful tragedy of Antwerp Avas in every mind, and 
 hither and thither flitted launches patrolling to Avind- 
 ward of the S})anish anchorage in nervous expectation. 
 Midnight had passed, the night was at its blackest, and 
 the rushing tide swirled dark and angry through the 
 croAvded galleons as they la}^ labouring, each with two 
 anchors out. In tlie depth of the gloom Avhence the 
 flood was SAveeping Avith the Avind, the English lights 
 were tAA^inkling peacefully, till a sudden flare obscured 
 their brightness. Then another and another burst out, 
 and glowed and grew till eight flaming masses reddened 
 the night, and sped forward Avith wind and tide upon 
 the terror-stricken Armada. Such a sight man's eyes 
 had never seen. What Avonder if a panic seized the 
 Spanish fleet ■? There was no time to Aveigh. In reckless 
 haste cables Avere slipped and cut, and like a herd of 
 stampeding cattle, in mad confusion the tide SAvept the 
 
 ^ See a MS. account of Drake's claims against the Government, 
 preserved at Nutwell Court, 
 
i66 S/J^ FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 great fleet away, crashing ship on ship through a tangle 
 of writhing cables. 
 
 What had happened could not be seen from the 
 English decks. As the fireships passed over the enemy's 
 anchorage other fires seemed to rise ; but it was not till 
 the gray dawn broke that they knew not a single Spanish 
 ship had caught fire. In its chief object the terrible 
 stroke had failed, but in its lesser aim it had succeeded 
 entirely. The Armada was dislodged, and the bulk of 
 it was seen still flying in disorder to the north-north- 
 east. The Safn, Martin had hove-to, and with a little 
 group of galleons about her was firing guns and signalling 
 to recall her panic-stricken flock. Nearer still the most 
 splendid of the four galleasses was seen, shattered with 
 a collision, struggling with oars and foresail to get under 
 the guns of Calais Castle. Then Howard weighed. 
 Every arrangement had been made for completing the 
 work the fireships had left undone, and the whole 
 fleet was ready to fling itself into the confusion in 
 one last cast to fight till it could fight no more. The 
 Lord Admiral was to lead, Drake Avas to follow, 
 and Seymour to come last. But there was more 
 need for rapid action than any one had dreamed, for no 
 one expected that the whole eight fircshijis could have 
 missed. All sail was crowded on. Seeing her signal 
 disregarded, the San Martin was making for the flying 
 Armada, and trying to rally it off Gravelines lest it 
 should be swept to leeward of Dunkirk, and already 
 the finest shijjs were going about to form upon her in 
 the old unassailable order. The rest were luffing more 
 and more to clear the Flemish sands, and perhaps, nn<ler 
 cover of the gathering rearguard, to tack and return 
 
XI BATTLE OF GRAVELINES 167 
 
 with the tide to their anchors. Everything hung on 
 whether the attack could he pushed home before the 
 enemy had formed. It Avas a question almost of minutes, 
 and in that supreme moment the Lord Admiral was 
 found wanting. For him the magnificence of the labour- 
 ing galleasse was too tempting a lure. Unable for all his 
 courage to comprehend the new tactics, his only idea 
 was to pluck his enemy feather by feather, and as he 
 came athwart Calais he turned aside. For the' sake of 
 capturing a vessel already out of action he risked the 
 last chance of destroying the whole Armada. One 
 tremor of irresolution and all might have been lost. 
 But there was none. It was the hour for which Francis 
 Drake had been born, and without a glance at his 
 commander, in all his heroic directness of- purpose he 
 led the fleet onward. 
 
 Nearly the whole of the captains obeyed his lead, 
 as in grim silence the Revenge bore down straight 
 for the group in which the San Martin towered. Not 
 a shot was fired till almost within pistol -range her 
 bow -guns were let fly at Sidonia. Luffing im- 
 mediately she next plunged in her broadside at point- 
 blank range, and with that deadly salute passed on 
 enveloped in smoke. Close at Drake's heels were 
 Frobisher in the Triumph and Hawkins in the Victory, 
 and others, enough to deal with the San Martin and her 
 friends ; beyond was another group of giants trying to 
 form on Sidonia's flank ; on these Drake fell, and was 
 lost again in a fiery cloud. Away to the starboard arose 
 the roar of Wynter's guns and Seymour's, as in like 
 manner they dealt with other knots of the disordered 
 rearguard. On every side the last great battle in the west 
 
1 68 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 was raging with fury unexampled. After three hours 
 Howard with the lingerers came up, and as he plunged 
 into the heart of it with timely aid the fury of the 
 fight grew fiercer still. Eyes had never seen the like. 
 Old hands who had fought at Lepanto swore it was 
 child's play to this. There was no thought of prize 
 or quarter. As each galleon's fire ceased and she was 
 seen to settle, another was taken in hand. Nor were 
 the Spaniards less determined. Though the English 
 gunners plied them three and four to one, though beside 
 their nimble enemy they moved like logs, they would not 
 hear of surrender. Tlie commander of one galleon stabbed 
 a man who Avas in the act of hauling down his colours. 
 Drake's rear-admiral, Cross, sank another at his side with 
 its flag still flying and its captain's defiance ringing in his 
 ears. They were as short of ammunition as the English, 
 but when their cannon-shot were spent they defended 
 their splintered and leaking vessels with musketry, 
 till frantic with the carnage mariners leapt overboard 
 by scores to be picked up by the busy pinnaces of the 
 English. Let the roll of those who for the livelong day 
 endured the storm to save the rest from the sands be 
 remembered by the conquerors. Ley va, Recalde, Oquendo, 
 Pimental, Enriquez, and Francisco de Toledo, all were 
 there and many more, the flower of Spanish chivalry, 
 fighting to the last almost without poAver of resistance 
 as the water rushed in beneath their feet. Drake's 
 decision at the critical moment had had its effect. They 
 had never been able to more than half form, but back 
 to back, as it were, in little groups, they had to endure 
 the resolute charges of the English Avho surrounded 
 them, and for six hours the battle had continued. 
 
XI THE HOUR OF TRIUMPH 169 
 
 Shuffled together, and almost unmanageable, the 
 Spanish ships had by this time lost all semblance of the 
 crescent formation. Of the forty vessels that had been 
 cut off from the rest of the Armada, only sixteen were 
 left at the last. Some had fled, one had sunk, another 
 was sinking, and a third was derelict. About three 
 o'clock it began to rain heavily, and the fire of necessity 
 slackened. But for three hours more a desultory fight con- 
 tinued, as Sidonia took advantage of the lull to gather 
 the shattered battle-ships together for retreat. No one 
 cared to press them hard. The bulk of the Armada 
 was already to leeward of Dunkirk. The English 
 powder was almost exhausted, and the breath of the Lord 
 of Hosts was now sweeping the Spaniards to utter 
 destruction. With the rain the wind had changed and 
 freshened. It was blowing dead on the treacherous 
 coast of the Netherlands : the sea was getting up and 
 breaking over the decks of the labouring galleons ; and 
 Drake, himself riddled with shot, was content to hang 
 upon the skirts of the flying enemy till he should see them, 
 one by one, engulfed in the sands on their lee. 
 
 All through the dark and blustering night he clung 
 upon them and watched. With his triumphant fleet on 
 their weather quarter, he knew that half of them dare 
 not tack, and the rest could not for their wounds. Yet 
 inch by inch the squally north-west wind drifted them 
 nearer their doom. For such an hour Drake's whole life 
 had been lived — the life he had lived for vengeance 
 on the idolaters and England's enemy. His life had 
 been one long tragedy, and now, as he gazed over the 
 lee-bow of the Revenge, in grim exhilaration he waited 
 for the terrible catastrophe. The night gave Avay to day, 
 
I70 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 and still the Armada was striving fruitlessly with a 
 wind as relentless as the demon at its heels. All day 
 the agony was prolonged, and as the last hour approached 
 with the waning light, once more the Spanish crews 
 fell down in prayer — but now it was not for victory. 
 Six fathoms had been sounded, then five, and God alone, 
 the pilots said, could save the fleet. And then it was 
 at the eleventh hour that Drake had to own that 
 vengeance was the Lord's. Suddenly the wind dropped, 
 and then sprang up from the south. With a cry of 
 thanksgiving, the Spanish helms Avere thrust down : in 
 a few minutes the Armada was standing northward out 
 to sea ; and once more by the act of God, at the very 
 moment when his vengeance seemed accomplished, the 
 enemy had been wrested from Drake's grip. 
 
 " We have the army of Spain before us," he wrote 
 to Walsingham on the following night, "and mind, 
 with the grace of God, to wrestle a fall with them. 
 There was never anything pleased me better than the 
 seeing the enemy flying with a southerly wind to the 
 northward. God grant you have a good eye to the 
 Duke of Parma, for, with the grace of God, if we live 
 I doubt not but ere it be long so to handle the matter 
 with the Duke of Sidonia, as he shall wish himself at 
 Saint Marie Port among his orange trees. God give us 
 grace to depend upon Him, so Ave shall not doubt victory, 
 for our cause is good." So on the heels of the flying 
 Armada he cheerily announced its escape, and the grim 
 resignation of the last words alone betray how sorely 
 the Puritan's faith was tried. It was the last day 
 of July. Yesterday Wynter and Seymour had been 
 sent back to their old station in the Channel to watch 
 
XI FLIGHT OF THE ARMADA 171 
 
 Dunkirk, and Drake, under peremptory orders from 
 Court, had just sent his prisoners ashore. He was 
 short of ammunition, he was weary watching, the long- 
 struggle seemed about to begin all over again, and yet 
 no note was coming from him but hope and cheerful 
 endeavour. For two days he and Howard with the rest 
 continued the chase, but they were not destined to 
 wrestle a fall. To the northward of the Dogger Bank 
 the long-expected tempest came rolling up out of the 
 west, and Drake knew, for a while at least, that the 
 country was safe. Constantly threatened with attack, 
 the Spaniards were holding resolutely to their old forma- 
 tion; and thus, as he had first caught sight of it, in 
 the gathering darkness, with the wild storm-rack flying 
 over it, Drake bid the Armada farewell, and through 
 the rising sea ran for the coast of Scotland, to save 
 himself from the wrath to come. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 drake's armada 
 
 Drake was at the zenith of his fame. Though the 
 battle of Gravelines, by some strange freak of destiny, 
 is hardly known to the bulk of Englishmen, it was at 
 least as momentous as AVaterloo or Trafalgar, and the 
 honour belongs to Drake no less rightly than the laurels 
 of Copenhagen are Nelson's. Parma knew it well ; and 
 when Drake, leaving the Armada to the mercies of the 
 westerly gales, struggled back through the tempest to 
 face him ere the fine weather returned, he broke up 
 his camp at Dunkirk and abandoned the enterprise. 
 Howard knew it too ; and when on his return from the 
 chase he was suddenly summoned to Court, he was 
 careful to furnish himself with a testimonial from Drake 
 that he had behaved Avell to his lieutenant and taken 
 his advice throughout. It Avas one of Drake's captains 
 who was sent up with the trophies, and it was Drake's 
 name with which Europe rang as the news of the victory 
 spread. The remnants of the Spanish crews who 
 escaped the rocks of the Orkneys and the iron cliffs of 
 Connaught, came home to swear anew he was a devil 
 and no man; and Medina-Sidonia slunk away to his home, 
 to be tormented by urchins who cried under his Avindows, 
 "Drake is coniing, Drake is coming." It was only 
 
CHAP. XII QUARRELS AND JEALOUSY 173 
 
 amongst the other captains that there was any disposi- 
 tion to deny him the glory. Frobisher's jealousy was 
 made a focus of opposition by the friends of Spain ; and 
 Lord Henry Seymour, furious at having been ordered 
 back to his blockade, begged to be relieved of his 
 command if the Lord Admiral's lieutenant were going 
 to serve in the narrow seas. Faithful and generous as 
 Drake was to his followers, it is certain that in his 
 masterful temperament there was something unbearable 
 to those who were not content to Avalk in his train. 
 While to his friends he Avas self-reliant, impetuous, and 
 enthusiastic, to those whom his strong personality re- 
 pelled he was egotistical, headstrong, and a braggart. 
 Although it was never admitted, every one knew that his 
 fortune had been founded in plunder ; and in spite of 
 his lavishness and his stern destruction of prizes when- 
 ever the interests of his country demanded the sacrifice, 
 he was credited with avarice, and accused of dragging 
 England into war to fill his pockets. Yet in truth he 
 was greedy for nothing but vengeance and renown, — 
 the renown of being hailed as the saviour of his country, 
 the vengeance that was his religion. 
 
 He was noAV to give his ambition rein. As August 
 passed and the fate of the Armada was known, scheme 
 after scheme for the prosecution of the campaign was 
 abandoned. The fleet was lying foul and idle in the 
 narrow seas ; the officers were quarrelling and splitting 
 into factions ; the sick and wounded were dying unpaid 
 and uncared for in the streets of the seaport towns. 
 The admirals did their best. Drake and HaAvkins 
 together founded the " Chatham Chest " for disabled 
 seamen, but the Government, under the Queen's 
 
174 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 irresolution and parsimony, sank into apathy once 
 more, and the country looked to Drake to say the next 
 word. 
 
 It was with no uncertain voice that he spoke. It 
 was imperative that something should be done before 
 Spain ceased to reel under the blow she had received, 
 yet nothing Avould the Government do. Drake went to 
 Norreys. By the middle of Sej^tember their plans were 
 ripe, and those tAvo knights whose brotherhood-in-arms 
 had begun so darkly at the massacre of Eathlin, sent up 
 to the Council a proposal that is fairly astounding. 
 However much we may rub our eyes to see such a 
 thing at a period that we are accustomed to look upon as 
 one of the most glorious in our history, the fact is not 
 to be denied. These two adventurous spirits, in the 
 Queen's default, offered to form a great war syndicate to 
 prosecute the struggle on which the national existence 
 seemed to hang, and what is even stranger, their offer 
 was accepted. All they asked of the Queen, or at least 
 all they were granted, was a subscription of £20,000 to 
 the syndicate, and the loan of six battle-ships. It was 
 of course understood that the Government was in every 
 way to facilitate their operations, and they were 
 given power to press men and make requisition of 
 provisions. A siege-train was also to be furnished out 
 of the royal arsenals, and they were to be permitted to 
 take into their pay thirteen veteran foot companies 
 and six hundred horse from the English legion in the 
 Low Countries. Norreys further received authority to 
 pass into Holland, in order to negotiate for the co- 
 operation of tlie Dutch. A joint expedition of the 
 two great Protestant belligerents had been for years the 
 
xir THE GREAT WAR SYNDICATE 175 
 
 dream of the English soldiers, and Norreys was so far 
 successful that he procured the promise of ten com- 
 panies and six Avarships. In England the idea was 
 taken up with enthusiasm, and in Norreys's absence Drake 
 was able to secure the support of most of the great 
 seaport towns. Court and commerce came forwaixl 
 freely with money, and everything promised a triumph- 
 ant success. 
 
 The general idea was a revival of the project for 
 the liberation of Portugal in Don Antonio's name, but it 
 was no longer on the modest scale of former years. 
 Through all his life of stress and storm Drake had been 
 the prophet of English nationality. His mission Avas to 
 preach and demonstrate its innate strength, and now 
 his victory had swelled his idea to its full development. 
 It was no filibustering raid he had in his mind, but an 
 imperial Armada as great as the one he had crushed, 
 bent on conquest, and fit to show Europe that all that 
 Spain could do was within the might of England. 
 
 Everything was to be ready by February 1st, and all 
 the winter the reawakened war-spirit which Elizabeth 
 had so long pent up surged round the two commanders. 
 All that was warlike and adventurous in the country 
 crowded tumultuously to their standard, and Drake 
 renewed his relations of the Irish wars. The brothers of 
 Norreys were there, those Chickens of Mars who Avere 
 regarded as the patterns of soldiership. There too came 
 the truculent man of Monmouth, Sir Roger Williams, in 
 his gilt morion and great plume of feathers, Avith all the 
 crabbed pedantry and cool valour Avhich seem to have 
 given to Shakespeare the character of Captain Fluellen ; 
 and a host more besides whose reputations are long since 
 
176 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 dead, but whom under other names we may see to-day 
 as clearly as when they lived quarrelling, fighting, and 
 dying through pages of the Elizabethan dramatists. 
 Nor was chivalry behind. At its head was the Earl of 
 Northumberland, and Essex too had from Drake a 
 renewal of his promise of a place, if at the last moment 
 he could escape from Court. 
 
 The living force of England was loose at last, and 
 fed by Drake's stupendous notions it began to develop 
 an energy so formidable, that as it would seem the 
 Government took alarm. The Queen began to assume 
 more and more control over the preparations, and 
 obstacles of all kinds arose. There Avere difficulties 
 about the Low Country troops, and the Dutch too grew 
 cold. Elizabeth would not sign the commissions ; 
 and when she did could not make up her mind to 
 let them pass the seal. Courtiers tuning to her note 
 began to back out and would not pay their calls, while 
 the Earl of Northumberland was ordered to withdraw 
 both his person and his subscription. Still the two 
 knights persevered ; but so straitened were they hy 
 the defaulters, and so protracted had been the prepara- 
 tions by the conduct of the Queen, that at last they had 
 to apply to her for further assistance. She flew into 
 a passion as a matter of course and tried to induce 
 Lord Willoughby to take over the command. He 
 had succeeded Leicester in the Low Countries, but 
 though " he would not budge a single inch for all the 
 devils in Hell " the Queen herself had managed to worry 
 the heart out of him, and he begged to be excused from 
 the service of so exasperating a mistress. 
 
 Perhaps there was something in the melancholy 
 
xii AN EXTRA ORDINA R V COINCIDENCE 1 7 7 
 
 dignity of the broken-hearted soldier's refusal that 
 brought the Queen a touch of remorse ; at any rate, in 
 a fortnight the two knights were able to go down to 
 Dover to hoist their flags. Still the forces they were to 
 command were seriously below Drake's standard. They 
 were already well into March, and the long delays had 
 entailed a large expenditure in pay and freight to no 
 purpose. Moreover, the siege-train had not been forth- 
 coming, and there were also wanting the six Dutch men- 
 of-war, seven companies of the English veterans, four of 
 the Dutch, and all the cavalry, nor had they transports 
 for more than twelve thousand men. But Drake was 
 not to be beaten. He had set his heart on commanding 
 a fleet as great as the Invincible Armada, and once free 
 of the trammels of the Court he set about getting Avhat 
 he wanted in his own peculiar way. Till March 16th 
 he waited at Dover, when there came sailing by a fleet 
 of sixty-five Dutch vessels bound for Spain under passes 
 from Parma. On these Drake pounced, captured them 
 every one and carried them off to Plymouth, where the 
 chartered cruisers were assembling. It was an extra- 
 ordinary coincidence, as he told AValsingham with his 
 tongue in his cheek, that the Dutchmen should have 
 been passing the very day he sailed, especially as they 
 happened to be exactly the class of vessels he wanted 
 for transports ; 1)ut be that as it may, the eff"ect was 
 electrical and volunteers flocked to Plymouth. His force 
 was soon doul^led, but as ill-luck would have it that only 
 added to the generals' troubles. For a whole month they 
 lay wind-bound, consuming their scanty store of victuals 
 till they had barely a month's provisions left. It was 
 not till April Gth tliat the wind was fair, and even then 
 
 N 
 
178 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 no sooner had they put to sea than they were im- 
 mediately driven back. The case was getting desperate. 
 To request a further supply was useless they knew, 
 but they had still a strong card to play. Where entreaty 
 failed a threat might yet succeed ; so quietly pointing 
 out to the Council that it was madness to sail with their 
 existing resources, they bluntly announced that unless a 
 reserve of stores was at once made ready to follow them, 
 they would have to turn their army of twenty thousand 
 men loose upon the country without a penny to pay 
 them. 
 
 The letter found the Queen in a fine Tudor rage. 
 Essex had suddenly disappeared from Court, Sir Roger 
 Williams had not put back to Plymouth since the gale, 
 and to her vexation in having to sanction a new requisi- 
 tion was added the conviction that the generals had 
 connived at her truant pet's escape. Courtiers and 
 messengers came spurring down the great western road, 
 and pinnaces were fitted out to find the Smftsure Avith 
 Avhich Sir Roger Williams had disappeared. With an 
 edifying display of zeal for the fugitives' arrest the 
 generals protested their innocence ; but nevertheless on 
 the 18th the fleet sailed without a trace having been 
 discovered of Essex or Williams or the Siviftsure. 
 
 Drake's dream was realised at last. He had got Don 
 Antonio snugly under his wing, and at the head of a fleet 
 of one hundred and eighty sail he was boiuid for the 
 coast of Spain. Not only is the armament noteworthy 
 as being the most poAverful that had ever left the 
 English shores, but its organisation is of special interest 
 as marking an attempt to introduce order into a naval 
 force on military lines. Drake's admiration for the dis- 
 
xir ORGANISATION OF THE FLEET 179 
 
 cipline and methods of soldiers no less than the example 
 of the Armada was no doubt not Avithout its Aveight. 
 The fleet was divided into five squadrons, each of some 
 seventeen ships and fifteen transports, and each under a 
 colonel. These "colonels of squadrons " were the tAvo 
 generals-in-chief. Captain Thomas Fenner the vice- 
 admiral, Sir Eoger Williams, colonel -general of the 
 foot, and Sir Edward Norreys, general of the artillery. 
 At the head of each squadron was one of the Queen's 
 ])attle-ships, and each squadron-colonel had on his staff" 
 a lieutenant -colonel, a "corporal of the squadron" or 
 aide-de-camp, and a captain corresponding to the regi- 
 mental captain -lieutenant. In the sixth Queen's ship 
 sailed the rear-admiral Captain William Fenner un- 
 attached, as " marshal-general of the fleet." Associated 
 with the two generals there was also a full military staff, 
 including an intelligence department under a " master of 
 the discoveries" with the rank of "lieutenant-colonel of 
 the pinnaces." When all was over, the system was con- 
 sidered to have failed, but in truth it neA^er had a fair 
 trial, for so foul Avas the weather, and so hurried the 
 Avhole affair from shortness of supplies, that the fleet 
 Avas never once exercised at sea upon the new system. 
 
 Indeed so contrary fell the Avind that a number of 
 transports containing tAventy-five companies of foot 
 never Aveathered Ushant at all, and the generals had to 
 continue the voyage in sadly crippled strength. Their 
 instructions — for unhappily they Avere hampered with 
 instructions — Avere first to destroy the remnants of the 
 old Armada and the beginnings of the neAV one Avhich 
 were said to l)e lying in Santander and other ports on 
 the north coast of Spain ; then, if it could be done 
 
i8o S/7? FRANCIS DRAKE <^hap. 
 
 without too seriously com})romising the Queen, they 
 were to proceed to Lisbon and set Don Antonio on the 
 throne which was supposed to be only waiting for him 
 to take possession, and the whole was to be wound up, if 
 Don Antonio consented, Avith an attack on the Azores 
 and the capture of Philip's Indian and American fleets. 
 Drake, however, had every reason for preferring his 
 own intelligence to that of the Government, and his 
 "discovery" department had reported that some two 
 hundred sail had recently put into Corunna. Assured 
 that it was the first-fruits of the new Armada, he made 
 the foul weather an excuse for opening operations with 
 a descent on that port. On April 24th the generals 
 arrived in the road, and the same night by a skilfully 
 combined naval and military operation seized the harbour 
 and lower town almost without a blow. But little 
 shipping was found. Four large galleons, hoAvever, 
 including the San Juan, the flagship of Leyva, the vice- 
 admiral of the Armada, were made prizes or burnt, and 
 a vast quantity of stores found in the warehouses was 
 taken and destroyed. But in spite of its success the 
 expedition was in no pleasant plight. Though it was 
 in full possession of the Lower Town and the surround- 
 ing country, the roadstead in which the fleet lay was 
 still commanded by the guns of the Upper Town into 
 which the Spanish garrison had retired, and to leave the 
 anchorage in face of the prevailing foul weather was as 
 desperate as to reduce the fortress without a siege-train. 
 In backing out of her promise the Queen had no doubt 
 intended that the expedition should be thus crippled, 
 for in her womanly craving for peace she was still 
 clinging to her fiction of a defensive war and did not 
 
xn AT CORUNNA iSi 
 
 wish her hopes to be compromised by offensive opera- 
 tions against Philip's territory. Still between attack 
 and retreat the choice lay, and for men like Drake and 
 Norreys such a choice is soon made. As a matter of 
 course the more palatable cup was swallowed ; and in 
 order to divert the attention of the garrison from the 
 fleet a siege was immediately ordered, and Avhile his 
 officers with great success raided the country round for 
 cattle and such provisions as the warehouses did not 
 provide, Norreys proceeded to do his best with mining 
 and four insufficient guns. Till May 3rd under every 
 difficulty the siege operations were continued, and then 
 while Drake made a diversion with his boats in the 
 harbour, with fierce impatience an assault was delivered. 
 It was a mad attempt. So inadequate were the means 
 at the generals' command that the breaches were found 
 wholly impracticable, the storming parties were repulsed 
 with heavy loss, nor had Drake with his flotilla any 
 better success. 
 
 By this time, however, the weather Avas abating, 
 and fearing to waste more time, the two generals 
 determined to re-embark. But that was not so easy. 
 Hardly was the resolution taken than the scouts re- 
 ported that a force of some eight or nine thousand men 
 having passed the bridge over the Mero River had 
 occupied El Burgo and were intrenching themselves 
 there in rear of the English lines. Thus findintr 
 themselves in the same position that Sir John Moore 
 was to immortalise tAvo centuries later, like him they 
 resolved to give battle, and while Drake with five 
 regiments held the trenches and siege-works, Norreys 
 advanced with the remaining nine over the ground 
 
i82 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 where Sir John Moore fell. Though in numbers inferior 
 to the enemy, with such fury did he fling himself upon 
 them that the intrenchments at El Burgo were swept 
 with a rush ; the bridge, which was only wide enough 
 for three abreast, carried at push of pike ; and in the 
 evening Sir John Norreys, who, in doublet and hose, had 
 been fighting all day beside his brothers pike in hand, 
 marched back to Drake in triumph with the royal 
 banner of Spain borne before him. The victory was 
 complete and signal. The enemy had been pursued in 
 open rout beyond the Mero, their loss had been A^ery 
 severe, the country for miles round was driven and 
 ravaged, and on the 8th, having fired the LoAver Town, 
 the English re-embarked without hindrance by the light 
 of the conflagration. 
 
 In spite of an alarming sickness which had broken 
 out in the ranks, Drake as he led the fleet on its way 
 was in excellent spirits. " We have done the King of 
 Spain many pretty services at this place," he told Wal- 
 singham, " and yet I believe he Avill not thank us." 
 Indeed the loss to the Spaniards in stores alone had 
 been very great, Avhile the idea of defeating in open 
 fight a superior Spanish force intrenched on its OAvn 
 ground so intoxicated the commanders that, orders or 
 no orders, they had no longer stomach for anything less 
 than the invasion of Portugal. They had made up their 
 minds that the Spaniards were so hard hit by the 
 defeat of the Armada that it would be a mere prom- 
 enade, and flinging to the winds the Queen's instructions 
 about the north coast ports, they sailed for Peniclie, a 
 poi't under Cape Carvoeira some fifty miles noith of 
 Lisbon. The weather continued as bad as could Ije, and 
 
XII INVASION OF PORTUGAL 183 
 
 as the fleet toiled slowly southward sickness spread havoc 
 through the crowded ships. On the fourth day out, 
 however, they were gladdened by the sight of the long- 
 lost Hidjtmre. Essex and Williams had been down as 
 far as Cadiz in search of Drake, and were now retracing 
 their steps with a train of five prizes which they had 
 picked up in Drake's old hunting-ground at Cape St. 
 Vincent. The generals had stringent orders to send 
 home Essex and put the Welsh captain under arrest as 
 soon as they met, but stupid orders always sat lightly 
 on both of them, and smoothing their conscience with 
 the consideration that they could neither spare the 
 Swiftsxire nor Sir Eoger Williams, who had been named 
 as Norreys's successor in case of accident, they received 
 the truants with open arms. 
 
 It was not until the 16th that they were able to 
 anchor at Peniche. The sea was still running high, an 
 ugly surf was breaking on the beach, but not a moment 
 was lost. The boats were lowered away, and as they 
 came under the fire of the castle the landing - parties 
 with Essex at their head plunged into the sea and 
 waded waist-deep to shore through the surf. The 
 garrison sallied to resist them, but by a scientific flank 
 movement from Sir Roger Williams they were compelled 
 to fall back and suffer the rest to land without opposition. 
 The town was carried by assault, and so rapid and complete 
 was the success that the same night the castle opened 
 its gates to Don Antonio. It was an encouraging omen, 
 for the co-operation of the Pretender's partisans was, of 
 course, an integral part of the general idea. Don Antonio 
 had every assurance that the people would rise in his 
 support, and that the appearance of the English before 
 
i84 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Lisbon Avas to be the signal for its gates to be opened. 
 The rest depended upon the rapidity with which the 
 English commanders could anticipate the counter-move- 
 ments of the Spaniards. Already much time had been 
 lost, and the crippled force which had reached Corunna 
 was decimated by casualties and disease. Waiting but a 
 single day to land the handful of horse and refresh the 
 men, they rapidly organised a flying column and Norreys 
 on the IStli began to move on Lisbon. In the early morn- 
 ing light Drake took his stand upon some rising ground to 
 bid God-speed to the little column, as in all their bravery 
 of corselet and morion and the ensigns of their captains, 
 pikemen and musketeers defiled before him. They 
 Avere but fourteen weak battalions of recruits and one 
 poor troop of horse ; they had neither transport nor 
 artillery ; they hardly deserve the name of army, yet 
 when we think of them with arms arust and breeches 
 stained by the sea, tramping by to salute the Admiral, 
 let it never be forgotten how grave a legacy they left to 
 British arms, or of how long and glorious a procession 
 they were the humble pioneers. 
 
 Having taken leave of the troops and left the sick 
 and wounded in charge of a small force at Peniche, Drake 
 himself went round to the mouth of the Tagus, where it 
 had been arranged he was if possible to join hands again 
 with Norreys, and support his attack on Lisbon with the 
 fleet. Picking up a score or so of prizes by the way, 
 on the 22nd he appeared in the Cascaes road. The 
 inhabitants fled to the mountains at his approach, but 
 on his sending ashore two of his Portuguese pilots to 
 assure them that he was there in Don Antonio's name 
 they returned, and although the Spanish garrison refused 
 
XII 
 
 FAILURE 1S5 
 
 to surrender the castle, he took peaceable possession of 
 the town. 
 
 Having thus strangely anticii)ated Wellington in 
 seciiring a point for the re-embarkation of the army in 
 case of accident, Drake sent out scouts to feel for 
 Norreys. They returned with the startling intelligence 
 that he was already quartered in the suburbs of the 
 capital, and the Admiral at once set about fulfilling his 
 promise. It was an operation of the gravest difficulty 
 and danger. The Tagus from St. Julian to Lisbon bristled 
 with forts, it was full of galleys, the navigation was 
 hazardous, half the English crews were sick, and the 
 masters declared solemnly in council of war that the 
 attempt was madness. But Drake was deaf to their 
 prudence. He had promised to meet his brother-in-arms 
 at Lisbon, and formidable as he knew the batteries to be, 
 with a good wind he believed he could run the gauntlet ; 
 while as for the galleys he could treat them as he had 
 treated them before. In spite, therefore, of every protest 
 two-thirds of the war-ships were told off for the service, 
 and having equipped and armed them to the best of his 
 ability he waited for a wind. The very next evening it 
 beaian to change and Drake issued orders that the fleet 
 was to weigh with the morning tide. But it was not to 
 be. Ere the desperate signal was floating over the 
 Eevencje a messenger Avas standing before Drake an- 
 nouncing that Norreys was in full retreat on Cascaes.^ 
 
 The expedition from which Elizabeth's soldiers had 
 hoped so much had failed. The first of a long procession 
 of exasperated officers, thej^ had had to learn what good 
 allies of the enemy were the apathy and suspicion of 
 
 ^ Drake's answer to the charges, S. P. D. Eliz. ccxxvii. f. 35. 
 
1 86 SI/^ FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 the Portuguese. Though they had marched triumi^hantly 
 through Torres Vedras to the gates of Lisbon, with 
 everything f alhng back before them ; though for three 
 days they had occupied the suburbs of the capital in 
 spite of every attempt of the garrison and the galleys to 
 dislodge them ; though at the entreaty of Don Antonio 
 they had not stolen so much as a groat or a kiss, not a 
 man had come to the Pretender's standard. Lisbon had 
 refused to open its gates, Drake had not come with the 
 guns and stores, the heat Avas making havoc in the 
 disease-stricken ranks, and Norreys had resolved in deep 
 disgust to pass on to the third part of the enterprise. 
 As far as St. Jiilian's he was followed by a strong 
 Spanish force proclaiming loudly, but at a respectful 
 distance, that they had driven the English from the 
 walls of Lisbon. Then all the knight-errantry of these 
 old-world soldiers burst out in chivalrous excess. " Black 
 John " sent a trumpet on the spot to the Spanish com- 
 mander giving him the lie direct and challenging him 
 to fight, army to army ; the passionate Essex defied him 
 to single combat or a party of ten to ten ; and on the 
 morrow at daybreak to make good their words they 
 marched their broken forces back to the gi-ound they had 
 named, — to find nothing more valorous than a hastily- 
 deserted camp. 
 
 Meanwhile Drake was garnering a harvest of prizes. 
 In less than a Aveek he had captiired sixty sail of fine 
 Scandinavian vessels which in S})ite of Elizabeth's warning 
 were carrying contraband of war to Lisbon. On these 
 all that disease and Avounds had left of the army were 
 embarked, and the Dutch shippers dismissed with an 
 off'er of corn for their pains. Now, too, arrived the 
 
XII DISPERSION OF THE FLEET 187 
 
 reserve of victuals which the two generals had wrung 
 from Elizabeth, and with it, to temper their satisfaction, a 
 royal letter breathing such fury at their departure from 
 her absurd instructions, and such peremptory resentment 
 against Essex and Williams that it was thought wise to 
 send the truants home before the voyage to the Azores 
 was commenced. 
 
 On June 8th the fleet sailed to play its last card. 
 The weather M'as still so unsettled that alternative in- 
 structions had to be issued fixing the rendezvous at Vigo 
 or the Azores according as the wind fell south or north. 
 On the second day out the wind dropped altogether and 
 the fleet found itself becalmed off Cape de Espichel. 
 Some twenty galleys which had come out of the Tagus 
 to watch the retreat now plucked up heart to attack, 
 and before the battle - ships could be towed to the 
 rescue they had cut off four stragglers. Although they 
 attempted nothing more it was but the first-fruit of dis- 
 aster. For no sooner did the wind spring up than it 
 rapidly developed into a southerly gale and scattered 
 the fleet beyond hope. Having endured its fury for a 
 whole week Drake, Avitli some three squadrons which he 
 had managed to collect, put into Bayona road. Finding 
 no one there, he sailed at once for the Azores in search 
 of his lost sheep ; but hearing next day that Henry 
 Norreys with his squadron had put into Vigo he re- 
 turned. Still no tidings could be got of Edward 
 Norreys and the rest, but, as it were to keep their hands 
 in while they waited, Drake and Sir John Norreys took 
 and burnt Vigo. But now so shattered were the ships 
 and so reduced the crews — for the epidemic had never 
 ceased its virulence — that it was clear a new resolution 
 
1 88 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap, xii 
 
 must be taken. As it was, the expedition was no longer 
 fit for service, but unwilling, now that he was in complete 
 command of the sea, to abandon the chance of a great 
 blow at the Spanish trade, Drake proposed with a score 
 of the best ships and the pick of the men to organise 
 a cruising squadron and proceed to the Azores while 
 Norreys took the rest home. The idea finding favour, 
 instructions were given accordingly to weigh at once for 
 the Bayona road in order to carry out the reorganisation, 
 but hardly were the anchors up than a westerly gale of 
 extraordinary fury caught the fleet and threatened it 
 with destruction. Though by a magnificent display 
 of seamanship Drake managed to get the bulk of it 
 out to sea, the damage done AVas ci'ushing, and in 
 despair he held on with his storm-torn flock to Plymoiath. 
 On July 1st he staggered into the Sound, and on the 
 morrow came Xorreys in as evil a case as himself. As 
 for the lost squadron it was not heard of for weeks 
 afterwards. But Thomas Fenner was with it and others 
 of Drake's men. So when it did come back no one was 
 surprised to hear that it had reached the Madeira Islands 
 and plundered Porto Santo. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE LAST TREASURE -HUNT 
 
 The Portugal Voyage marks the decline of Drake's 
 star, and yet, when the eftect of his Armada is compared 
 Avith that of Philip's, it must seem a little strange that 
 most of his contemporaries should have considered it so 
 great a failure. The Spaniards, as the seamen boasted, 
 "did not in all their sailing round about England so 
 much as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock- 
 boat of ours, or even burn so much as one sheepcote on 
 this land." Drake and Norreys had failed in their 
 object too : the mortality amongst their men had been 
 appalling ; l:)ut when all Avas said and done they could 
 point Avith pride to an exploit which, ere they had 
 taught Europe the rising strength of England, men 
 Avould have called incredible. -In the ten Aveeks of their 
 adventure they had not only destroyed the nucleus of a 
 neAv Armada, but they had taken and burnt tAvo Spanish 
 ports ; they had beaten one army of the King of Spain in 
 the field and had made another run ; they had marched 
 a Aveek through the heart of his territory ; for three 
 days they had insulted the gates of his second capital ; 
 they had captured nearly a hundred sail in his Avaters ; 
 and all this in spite of Aveather, sickness, and politics 
 enough to ruin three such expeditions. Sir Roger 
 
190 S//^ FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Williams told the Queen the expedition had done the 
 King of Spain more harm and England more honour, 
 service, and safety than all her expenditure in the 
 Netherlands. But though at first she sent down to her 
 two knights a glowing letter of thanks, and told them 
 they had done all that valour and generalship could 
 yield, yet she could not forgive them for not having 
 wasted more time than they did in the north of Si)ain. 
 Had they been less loyal than they were to her instruc- 
 tions, there is little doubt, so paralysed was the Spanish 
 power, that the partisans of Don Antonio would have 
 been able to deliver Lisbon into his hands. Neverthe- 
 less both generals had to submit to a court-martial, and 
 though they cleared themselves Drake's opponents at 
 Court who had gained the Queen's ear condemned him 
 to inactivity. In vain she was urged to loose him on 
 the Indies or suffer him to attack Cadiz so soon as the 
 galleys were laid up for the ^vinter. She would not 
 listen, and the fruit of his splendid victory at Gravelines 
 was allowed to rot away unplucked. 
 
 For the rest of the year Drake was busy winding up 
 the accounts of the voyage and fighting his battle at 
 Court. The inevitable result Avas that Philip's untiring 
 persistence began again to be felt, and in the spring 
 came fresh rumours of a great fleet gathering at Ferrol. 
 The country grew alarmed, aud so serious a panic seized 
 Plymouth that the inhabitants began to abandon their 
 homes. Drake at once hurried to his house in the town. 
 There with his wife and household he quietly took up his 
 residence and the panic was instantly allayed.^ On the 
 top of this new proof of the great admiral's poAver the 
 
 1 Lairds, MSS. kv. 12. 
 
xin IN DISGRACE 191 
 
 Government received information that the King of Spain, 
 having heard how Drake was in disgrace, was making 
 overtures to him to enter his service. The intelligence 
 came through ]\Ir. Richard Drake of Esher, a kinsman 
 and warm friend of Sir Francis, and thus may have been 
 merely an invention to alarm the Government, so limit- 
 less was the Elizabethan capacity for intrigue. Still it 
 had the desired eft'ect. Richard Drake was an equerry 
 in high favour, some of his kinsman's Spanish prisoners 
 were in his custody, Philip had certainly attempted a 
 similar stroke before, and Sir Francis was promptly 
 given the command at Plymouth with orders to place 
 the town in a state of defence and prepare with fireships 
 and otherwise to resist any attempt by the Spaniards to 
 retaliate on the western ports. ^ 
 
 It was but little consolation ; a great expedition 
 against Panama was in contemplation and Raleigh had 
 obtained the command of it for himself. It was Drake's 
 l)y right ; it had been the dream of his life, and it was 
 in the deepest mortification that he took up his small 
 command. But even then his proud spirit had not felt 
 the depth of its abasement. As it became known that 
 the Spanish fleet was destined for Brittan}^ Drake asked 
 to be allowed to attack it as it passed to the eastward, 
 with the little squadron attached to his command. Even 
 that was denied him. For since by the assassination of 
 Henry the Third and the succession of the Huguenot 
 king the centre of the great struggle had been shifted 
 to France, the Queen was content to foster the Protestant 
 cause by sending money and troops to the assistance of 
 
 1 ,S'. P. Bom. Eliz. ccxxxi. 94, April 1590; Coke MSS., H. M. C. 
 Rep. XII. i. 13 aud 14. 
 
192 Sm FA'ANC/S DRAKE chap. 
 
 Henry of Navarre. Her navy was not permitted to 
 complete its conquest of the seas, and all she would 
 sanction was that a squadron should be maintained in 
 the Atlantic to cruise for the Indian treasure -ships. 
 At the last moment Raleigh's commission was revoked, 
 his fleet was committed to Hawkins and Frobisher, and 
 Drake had the last mortification of seeing it depart with 
 his rival's flag floating over the Revenge. 
 
 That his self-esteem was deeply and even dangerously 
 wounded is certain. For a while he permitted himself 
 to contemplate an extravagant project for conquering 
 the kingdom of Brazil for himself and Don Antonio, 
 but the idea perished almost as soon as it was born.' 
 Impatient and masterful as he had grown, his natui'e was 
 too great and loyal to revolt or even to sulk under 
 royal froAvns. In all the ardour with which he had 
 plundered and destroyed, he threw himself into the 
 work of making Plymouth the strong naval port of his 
 ideal. Not only did he carry out the works sanctioned 
 by the Government, but almost entirely at his own ex- 
 pense he brought pure water into the town by a conduit 
 many miles long and constructed flour-mills to provide 
 the fleets with wholesome and sufficient biscuit, works 
 for which his memory is honoured to this day by a 
 yearly ceremony. 
 
 If Drake's princely gift to Plymouth had any other 
 motive than a far-sighted patriotism, it was certainly 
 nothing less noble than a desire to regain the favour of 
 his capricious mistress. But he was not yet to be forgiven. 
 When the Atlantic squadron came back from a suc- 
 cessful but barren blockade of the Spanish trade-routes, 
 
 ^ S. P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxi. 94. 
 
xiir LOSS OF THE 'REVENGE' 193 
 
 Hawkins resigned and Frobisher was transferred to the 
 narrow seas, but it was not Drake who took their place. 
 The restless energy for which his work of coast-defence 
 was not enough, he had to expend upon fitting out a 
 privateer squadron and promoting a syndicate to assist 
 him with funds. The command, as his favourite captain 
 Fenner fell sick, he committed to the adventurous Earl of 
 Cumberland with instructions to cruise off the Spanish 
 coast on an inner line of blockade, and to intercept 
 whatever escaped the Queen's ships at the Azores. 
 For the Atlantic squadron, with Lord Thomas 
 Howard in command, was again under orders for 
 the Western Isles, and this was the immortal cruise 
 when the Revenge was entrusted to Sir Eichard 
 Grenville. Who does not know the tale, and whose 
 heart will not be moved when he tries to picture 
 the injured Admiral as he heard how the ship he loved 
 so well had fared? While he was eating out his 
 heart between Plymouth and the great country-house 
 at Buckland Abbey which Sir Eichard Grenville had 
 sold him, the pride of his hfe — the very embodiment 
 as it seemed of his savage creed — had perished in the 
 midst of the Spanish fleet fighting for a day and a night 
 alone against a navy and dealing destruction around her 
 to the last. Of the fifty-three sail she fought, four she 
 sank, and in the end did not surrender till not a stick 
 was standing, till every man, every pike, every barrel of 
 powder was spent, and Sir Eichard lay gasping out his 
 life in impotent defiance. Even then she was not con- 
 quered. For true to her name, which to those old 
 mariners meant so much, she went down with her prize- 
 crew before she could be carried into port. A terrific 
 
 O 
 
194 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 storm the like of which no living man had seen was 
 her knell, and about her grave were strewed along the 
 shores of the Western Isles the wreckage of a hundred 
 Spanish ships and three thousand Spanish corpses. " So 
 it pleased them," Sir Walter Raleigh wrote, " to honour 
 the burial of that renowned ship the Revenge, not suifering 
 her to perish alone for the great honour she achieved in 
 her lifetime." 
 
 It was a loss to Spain hardly less than that which 
 the destruction of the Armada inflicted, but the tragedy 
 was not yet at an end. For as the Revenge went down 
 she seemed to summon Drake to his doom. There was 
 felt to be something ominous in her loss. For so great 
 a name had Drake won for her that she had been chosen 
 as the model for the new ships that had been ordered 
 after the defeat of the Armada, and this the most 
 renowned of all her navy was the only vessel the Queen 
 had lost in all the war. By her the shock was deeply 
 felt, and ere she had time to recover from it there fell 
 upon her the shadow of a danger greater than any she 
 had yet encountered. The old Armada had failed partly 
 because the invasion was attempted from a coast so 
 dangerous and so hard to reach as that of Flanders, 
 and partly from the faulty design of the unwieldy 
 Spanish ships. But now Philip with splendid patience 
 was constructing a new navy on French and English 
 lines, and in Brittany he had secured against his enemy 
 an advanced base which was untainted with any of the 
 vices of Dunkirk. The danger Avas plain, great, and 
 imminent, and in the hour of her trouble the Queen 
 remembered the man who liad so often filled her purse, 
 and had never lost her a ship. For all his long disgrace 
 
XIII DRAKE RECALLED TO COMMAND 195 
 
 he was the one figure that stood out in proportions large 
 enough to grapple with the peril ; and as the summer 
 wore away the merchants of Cadiz began to whisper 
 in alarm that the Dragon was to be unchained once 
 more.^ 
 
 In the autumn Drake was summoned to Court, and 
 once there he carried all before him. Raleigh was 
 in disgrace, Frobisher and Lord Thomas Howard paled 
 again beside the new-risen sun, and ere long the realm 
 was all astir with the growth of a kingly project. In 
 February Parliament was summoned. As soon as it 
 met it was asked for a grant of two hundred thousand 
 pounds, and told that if it were voted the Queen 
 was resolved to send Drake to sea to encounter the 
 Spaniards with a great navy. So unprecedented was 
 the sum, however, that the bill met with serious opposi- 
 tion. The Admiral, who worthily sat for King Arthur's 
 Castle of Tintagell, supported the Government with 
 all the weight of his influence and eloquence. He served 
 on all the public committees except that to which the 
 bill for the suppression of the Puritans was referred, 
 and on all others where he had a special or local know- 
 ledge. For the subsidy bill he did his best with a 
 speech in which he graphically depicted the horrors of a 
 Spanish conquest, and after debates which lasted eleven 
 days — a very lengthy discussion as things Avent then — the 
 bill was passed and Drake was at once plunged into a 
 mass of business relating to naval affairs and coast- 
 
 1 S. P. Irelatid, "Advice from Spain," June 16th, 1592. H. 
 M. G. Rep. vii. 524a, Ph. Gawdy to his brother, December 8th, 
 no year, but certainly 1592 from internal evidence. Cf. Birch, 
 Memoirs, i. 90. 
 
196 S//^ FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 defence. But it was all too little to allay the pent-up 
 impatience of his long disgrace. He could not wait a 
 year, perhaps two, till Elizabeth and Philip had fully 
 armed. He Avas burning to act. Panama, the virgin 
 treasure-house of his desire, was still unsacked. Ealeigh 
 had nearly supplanted him, and from the first moment 
 he came to Court he began tempting his mistress again. 
 In January, 1593, he presented her with an account of 
 his first romantic voyage, when from the little grove 
 beside Pizarro's road he had seen and desired. But as 
 though some presentiment of the end hung over her she 
 could not bring herself to let him leave her side, nor 
 was it till the summer of 1594 that he prevailed. 
 
 Then at last, so magnificent was Philip's deliberation, 
 Drake persuaded Elizabeth how easy it would be to 
 make a dash over the Atlantic for Nombre de Dios, 
 throw a few troops across the Isthmus to sack Panama, 
 and be home again with all the wealth of Peru before 
 the new Armada could sail. It was of course to be 
 quite a private adventure, but the Queen was to 
 provide two-thirds of the capital. The rest was to be 
 underwritten by Drake and Hawkins. She was also 
 to lend six ships to escort the transports, and as the 
 success of the undertaking depended chiefly upon the 
 land forces, Drake was authorised to proceed to Holland 
 and seek the consent of the States to the recall of the 
 English veterans in their service.^ 
 
 His mission was a failure, and it was but the first of 
 a succession of disappointments. Voice after voice 
 
 1 Umpton's despatch, Ilurdin, 733, March 20th, 1596. 
 Burleigh to Sir Robert Cecil, S. P. IJom. Eliz., July 21st, 1594, 
 seems also to refer to this visit. 
 
XIII THE PANIC IN SPAIN 197 
 
 seemed to warn him of his doom, but nothing could 
 shake his self-confidence. All the winter, from his great 
 house by the Dowgate, which had sheltered so many of 
 the most famous of English warriors, he struggled with 
 the difficulties that beset his preparations, and as the 
 ring of his toil echoed in the ears of Philip's recruits, 
 they deserted by hundreds, for very terror of his coming. 
 Lisbon itself was almost stripped of inhabitants. Ten 
 thousand householders fled with their families in a 
 panic, and those that remained sent away their wives 
 and goods. The English spies declared that Drake's 
 name was more feared in Spain than ever was Talbot's 
 in France, and from the highest to the lowest there was 
 no talk but of the coming of Drake. ^ At home the 
 magic of his name had no less power. Volunteers flocked 
 to his flag in such numbers that he hardly had to press 
 a man, but for all their eagerness they were a sorry 
 substitute for the tried campaigners of the Low Countries. 
 Nor had he a Norreys to command and discipline. 
 The Chickens of Mars had quarrelled with him as 
 they quarrelled with every one else, and Drake was a 
 man even harder to reconcile than those turbulent 
 knights. Another family, only a degree less renowned, 
 supplied their place. The commission of colonel-general 
 was given to Sir Thomas Baskerville, the hero of Sluys 
 and Bergen-op-Zoom. The first of the famous captains 
 that make a halo for the name of Sir Francis Vere, 
 at the head of but one hundred men he already had 
 taught eight companies of the Spanish Old Legion 
 that they were no longer the finest infantry in the 
 
 1 Report from Spain, S. P. D. Cal, June 9t]i, 1595. Halliday 
 to Burleigh, S. P. Spain, xxx. 5a, March 16th, 1595. 
 
198 S/J^ FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 world, and during a truce Parma himself had embraced 
 him, proclaiming that no braver soldier served a 
 Christian prince. On his staff were his brothers 
 Arnold and Nicholas, and Sir Nicholas Clifford was his 
 lieutenant — a band worthy to serve under the flag of 
 Drake. But as the enterprise grew ripe, the Queen, 
 always half frightened at the ungovernable energy of 
 her favourite engine, again lost heart, and not content 
 with having set the caution of Hawkins to drag upon it, 
 in May she refused to let them go at all. The old fatal 
 hesitation had once more seized her. For two months 
 they were compelled to lie idle consuming their resources 
 and losing their men, till early in July she had again 
 plucked up heart, and they were again told they might 
 go. "With twelve chartered merchantmen and the six 
 navy ships they at once hurried out of the Thames to 
 join the rest of their squadron at Plymouth, and while 
 Hawkins toiled to complete the ships for sea, Drake 
 scoured the West Country for supplies to set the force 
 on its legs again. By the end of the month they hoped 
 to be ready, when into the midst of their final prepara- 
 tions broke the news that Penzance was in flames. 
 Four Spanish galleys, supported by a fleet of forty sail, 
 had suddenly slipped across from Brest to retaliate for 
 Drake's insults to the Spanish coast, and while Basker- 
 ville flew westward to rally the county levies, Drake 
 in a fury dashed out of Plymouth with the ships 
 that were ready. It was too late. The Spaniards had 
 heard their terror was at hand, and having destroyed 
 a few fishing villages, hurried off faster than they came. 
 Stung by the blow the Spaniards had so smartly 
 given in their very faces, the admirals were now more 
 
XIII THE LAST VOYAGE 199 
 
 eager than ever for their sailing orders. It was the 
 11th before the expected packet came, and when they 
 opened it, it was to be astounded with an entire change 
 of plan. Instead of making a sudden invasion of the 
 Darien province, they were ordered first to cruise oft* 
 the Spanish coast for intelligence, then to capture the 
 Plate fleet, and finally, before receiving their route, they 
 were told they must promise to be back in six months, 
 in order to serve against the new Armada. In despair 
 the admirals protested that they could not go cruising 
 or fight a naval action with a fleet of transports, and 
 as for promising to be back by a certain day, it was 
 but tempting Providence. They were ready to obey 
 the Queen's orders, they said, but they must have time 
 to disband the troops and reorganise the expedition. 
 Elizabeth was furious at their perverseness and dis- 
 loyalty, as she was pleased to consider it; nor is it 
 possible to say how long the d-ead-lock would have 
 continued had not news of a disabled treasure-ship of 
 enormous value lying at Puerto Eico suddenly tempted 
 the Queen into reason. 
 
 It was already the end of the month. There was no 
 time to do all that had been undone, and with but 
 twenty-seven sail and only two thousand five hundred 
 men they started on the ill-omened voyage. A Spanish 
 fleet was known to be out, and so nervous was the 
 Government about Ireland, that Drake in spite of his 
 protests had to open his campaign with a reconnaissance 
 on the coast of Spain. On his way he was chased 
 by twenty strange sail, but he showed them a clean 
 pair of heels, and a few days later, having ascertained 
 from a frigate of the Earl of Cumberland's that the 
 
200 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 Spanish fleet was going home, he continued his 
 voyage for the Canaries. Drake and Baskerville, in 
 consequence of the course forced upon them by the 
 Queen's instructions, had found that it would be necessary 
 to land there to water and refresh the soldiers. Hawkins, 
 who less understood the necessities of a military expedi- 
 tion, violently opposed Drake's proposal, and the result 
 was a painful scene between the two old friends at the 
 council table. The soldiers, however, persuaded them 
 to dine together on Hawkins's flagship next day, and the 
 old admiral was brought round to his kinsman's view. 
 Four weeks out, therefore, the fleet anchored under the 
 guns of Las Palmas in the Grand Canar}', but it was only 
 for Drake to get his first hint that the days for his 
 daring raids were over. Ever since it had been known 
 in Spain that he was again in favour, Philip had been 
 busy reinforcing and fortifying his colonial ports, and 
 Las Palmas had not been forgotten. To surprise it 
 there and then might have been possible ; but Drake 
 found the surf too high for a landing and drew off" after 
 a three hours' search in his barge for a practicable beach. 
 Baskerville off"ered to take the place in four days by a 
 regular operation, but Drake would not wait. Too 
 much time had already been lost, and having watered at 
 another part of the island the voyage was next day 
 continued across the Atlantic. 
 
 Two days from their rendezvous at Guadeloupe a 
 gale broke up the fleet, but in spite of it Drake 
 managed to get all his squadron safely anchored 
 behind Ste. Marie Galante. Thence he proceeded to his 
 well-known anchorage, and there next day Hawkins 
 joined him prostrate with misfortune. A small ship of 
 
xiii AN OMINOUS MISFORTUNE 201 
 
 his squadi'on had been captured by five Spanish frigates 
 bearing for San Juan de Puerto Eico. The whole gravity 
 of the disaster at once flashed on Drake. He divined 
 immediately that the enemy's squadron must be the 
 ships which had been sent to embark the treasure from 
 the disabled galleon, and but for the unfortunate straying 
 of the lost tender he knew the whole of them must have 
 fallen into his lap. Now not only had they escaped, but 
 from their prisoners the Spaniards would torture the 
 secret of his destination. He was for weighing on the 
 spot in pursuit, but his colleague had lost his nerve. 
 The old admiral was ill and anxious, and querulously 
 insisted on first cleaning the ships and getting the big 
 guns up from the holds into their places, that the fleet 
 might be ready for anything. Then in pity for his old 
 friend's condition Drake did what he is never recorded 
 to have done before, — he gave way. 
 
 Four days they lay getting the fleet into fighting trim, 
 and, when at last they sailed, from Guadeloupe to Tortola 
 not a trace of the enemy could be seen. It was clear 
 they had reached San Juan to reinforce and warn the 
 garrison, and unless it could be thrown off" its guard again 
 Drake knew that success was almost impossible. Then 
 in the hour of need the spirit of his youth came once 
 more strong upon him ; the fleet seemed to grow no more 
 cumbrous in his hand than a privateer schooner ; and 
 falling back on the bewildering tactics of his buccaneering 
 days he made it disappear from the seas. In vain the 
 Spaniards watched for his coming. Just as twenty years 
 ago his two tiny craft lay lost in the creeks of the 
 Darien Gulf, so now into the still recesses of the Virgin 
 Islands in roadsteads unknown he had led his whole fleet 
 
202 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 where none could guess of its existence, and there for some 
 days they lay drilling the soldiers and refreshing them 
 ashore, while Drake in his barge surveyed for an outlet. 
 
 But for old John Hawkins the change brought no 
 relief. Grieving over his misfortune he was falling 
 deeper and deeper into the clutch of his sickness. He 
 was sinking fast when Drake having discovered a secret 
 channel to the southward sallied out from his hiding- 
 place, and slipping in behind the Spanish scouts appeared 
 unannounced before Puerto Rico. 
 
 Sounding as he went, he brought up the fleet to the 
 astonishment of the Spaniards in a road where no ships 
 had ever been seen to anchor, and there the dying 
 admiral breathed his last. His death Avas perhaps no 
 loss to the expedition. It had suffered already severely 
 from the caution which grew upon him with age and 
 failing health. But if as a fighting admiral his reputation 
 was lower than that of others, yet no one could forget that 
 it was to him that England owed all that was good in 
 her navy, and the gloom which the fine old seaman's 
 death cast over the fleet was still to be deepened. 
 As Drake sat at supper that evening on board his flag- 
 ship the Defiance discussing the forthcoming attack with 
 his officers, a round shot crashed through the cabin. 
 Drake's chair was smashed under him ; Sir Nicholas 
 Clifford, who alone had supported Hawkins in his fatal 
 counsel, was killed on the spot ; and a young officer named 
 Brute Brown, to whom Drake was particularly attached, 
 was mortally wounded. It is no wonder that under 
 the shadow of these losses the fleet was removed out of 
 range, and that nothing further was attempted that 
 night. On the morrow, however, Drake again astounded 
 
xiii SAN JUAN DE PUERTO RICO 203 
 
 the Spaniards by bringing up his fleet in another un- 
 known anchorage close to the town and yet masked 
 from its guns. He spent the day in his barge 
 seeking a weak point to attack, but the result of his 
 reconnaissance was only to show how hard a task he 
 had before him, and he resolved that night to burn the 
 frigates which had come for the ti'easure, that it might 
 not escape him while the town was being reduced. In 
 person he led the boats to the mouth of the harbour, 
 and having shown each its station he retired. A 
 desperate fight ensued. Again and again the vessels 
 were fired, and as often they were extinguished. At 
 last one was fairly in flames, but by its light the garrison, 
 reinforced by the newly arrived crews, poured in such a 
 murderous fire from the shore that the English were 
 compelled to retire with heavy loss. The failure was 
 disastrous ; but so far from discouraging Drake, it stung 
 him into perhaps the most daring resolution of his 
 adventurous life. Where the boats had failed he knew 
 the ships could succeed, and determined to wipe out 
 his defeat he made up his mind to carry the whole of 
 his warships right inside the port, and crush the enemy 
 with an overwhelming fire. To carry out this un- 
 precedented stroke, during the following morning he 
 Avorked the fleet to windward and in the afternoon ran 
 down free for the mouth of the harbour. Already it 
 had been partially blocked by sinking the great treasure- 
 galleon, and as the English approached, the Spaniards 
 were seen to scuttle three more vessels at her side. To 
 continue his course was to wreck the whole fleet, and 
 Drake was compelled to abandon his splendid attack and 
 bear up again for his anchorage. Unwilling, however. 
 
204 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 to abandon the enterprise altogether, on the morrow 
 he made a new reconnaissance ; but so greatly had the 
 Spaniards been able to strengthen the fortifications since 
 the arrival of the frigates, that he was convinced the 
 capture of the place by land operations was beyond the 
 power of his Aveakened force. In vain some of the 
 soldiers urged a new attempt. Bold as Drake was, none 
 knew so well as he when daring merged into folly. In 
 his gasconading way he told them he could bring them 
 to a score of places richer and more easy to take, and 
 years ago before irresolution had ruined England's 
 chance he could have made good his boast. The soldiers 
 still believed he could perform his promises. And so as 
 the evening closed in Hawkins and Clifford were solemnly 
 committed to the sea, and under cover of the night, for 
 the first time in his life, Drake bore away beaten. 
 
 Perhaps it had been better if he had stayed and 
 fought it out. But as his end drew neai^, the scenes of 
 his youth seemed to call him with an irresistible voice. 
 As he made his boast to the soldiers there was in his 
 mind a day long ago, Avhen he had had his first sight of 
 the fabled Indies and under Captain Lovell had lost 
 his all. His life was waning : that day was still un- 
 avenged ; and across the Caribbean Sea Drake led his 
 squadron to La Hacha. This time he did not even 
 permit the fleet to appear in sight of the threatened 
 port. The only eff"ect of his failure seemed to be to 
 produce a distrust of all but the daring shifts on which his 
 reputation had been founded ; and as in his first great 
 exploit he had crept with his three boats into Nombre de 
 Dios, so now from Cape de la Vela he sent his flotilla to 
 steal along the coast and surprise La Hacha. But it was 
 
XIII FAREWELL TO THE SPANISH MAIN 205 
 
 no case for surprise. On his arrival the following day 
 with the fleet, he found his troops in unopposed posses- 
 sion of a town deserted and stripped bare. He seized 
 the neighbouring pearl-fishery, but that Avas bare too, 
 and for a week no offer of ransom came. At last he 
 agreed to accept thirty thousand ducats, but when at 
 the end of another week the pearls in which payment 
 was to be made arrived, they were found to be un- 
 conscionably over-valued. With a magnanimity almost 
 quixotic, Drake refused to touch a pebble, and instead 
 of keeping what he had got and demanding more, he 
 chivalrously gave the envoys four hours to clear them- 
 selves and their treasure. Not another ducat did he get. 
 He had yet to learn a new lesson, and find how little a 
 roving force like his can do against a great empire 
 resolute not to ransom open towms. The governor 
 had arrived, and refused so much as to discuss the 
 question. On the morroAv Baskerville burnt an inland 
 village. It had no effect, and next day Drake fired the 
 town, as well as the rancheria of the pearl-fishers and 
 all their boats. Thus he took his long-deferred revenge 
 upon La Hacha ; but, true to his simple creed, he would 
 not suffer a hand to be laid upon the church, and with 
 a touch of that gentleness that gilds with knightly grace 
 his most savage devastations, he spared from the flames 
 the house of a lady who begged his mercy. At Santa 
 Marta, farther to the westward, the same scene was 
 played ; and on Christmas Day, with the smoke of the 
 burning settlement rising behind him, he bore away 
 for Nombre de Dios. 
 
 Here, too, the town was found deserted by its in- 
 habitants, and was occupied almost without resistance. 
 
2o6 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 At the first sign of their aiDproach the governor had 
 fallen hack to Panama, and ^vithout losing an hour 
 Baskerville started in pursuit with seven hundred and 
 fifty men. It was all that sickness and casualties had 
 left available for the service, for it would seem to have 
 been Drake's intention to ascend the Chagres river with 
 another column. For three days, however, he remained 
 where he was, to search for buried treasure and to fire 
 the town. This done he prepared to weigh, but ere 
 the anchors were up there came flying through the 
 blackened ruins of the Panama gate a message of 
 disaster. Baskerville was in full retreat on the ships, 
 hurled back from impassable intrenchments. 
 
 Then it was that the undaunted heart began to wax 
 cold. The jovial face grew sombre. The cheery smile, 
 to which his men had ever been accustomed to look ^or 
 light in the darkest hours, had faded, and failure began 
 to haunt him, as he recognised how the terror of his 
 name had changed the Indies. The seas were deserted, 
 the ports bristled with guns, and feverish wakefulness had 
 supplanted the old dreamy security. Yet not a word of 
 doubt was suffered to pass his lips. " It matters not, 
 man," he would cry to any croaker that repined, "God 
 hath many things in store for us ; and I know many 
 means to do Her Majesty good service, and to make us 
 rich : for we must have gold before we see England." 
 He called his council of war together, and showed them 
 on the map Truxillo, the famous port of Honduras, and 
 the El Dorado, where the golden towns lay clustered 
 around the Lake of Nicaragua. He asked which they 
 would have, and stout-hearted Sir Thomas Baskerville 
 cried "Both!" So it was resolved without more ado. 
 
XIII THE SHIELD OF VERAGUA 207 
 
 All the Spanish shipping in the port was given to the 
 flames, and thus, still marking with fire the road to his 
 grave, and abandoning himself to the old adventurous 
 dreams of his boyhood, he led his desperate treasure- 
 seekers across the Mosquito Gulf. 
 
 It was a quest as wild as any his buoyant youth had 
 dared. He knew no more of what lay before him than 
 what the ill-drawn maps revealed, nor had he now the 
 high spirits that were wont to make a sport of danger. 
 Damped with failure, and in cold blood, he was bent on 
 saving his reputation or dying with it. The very hand 
 of God seemed to wave him back as he struggled westward 
 against contrary winds, until so foul and boisterous grew 
 the weather that, driven at last into the depth of the 
 Gulf, he had to take shelter behind a desert island called 
 Escudo de Veragua. In all the Indies no spot displayed 
 in fouler guise the black side of the Avestern paradise. 
 The radiant tropic growth of flower and palm invited 
 the sick to seek recovery upon the putrid soil beneath, 
 and as the boats bore them into the fairy creeks loath- 
 some reptiles started from a slime that reeked of death. 
 But Drake would not give way. Day after day he 
 clung under the lee of the deadly shore hoping each 
 hour for a wind to carry him on. With his eyes still 
 1)ent forward he kept the men busy setting up the pinnaces 
 which would be required to ascend the San Juan river, 
 that the delay might not be lost time. But day after 
 day the wind continued foul, and with each returning 
 dawn new victims sank in the poisonous air. Drake 
 himself was stricken with dysentery, but still he strove 
 against his fate till he had no strength to leave his 
 cabin. Nor was it till his sickness had imprisoned him a 
 
2o8 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE chap. 
 
 week that he consented to weigh and let God take him 
 where He would. But it was now too late. He had 
 drunk too deep of the island's breath. He had 
 defied his fate too long. As the fleet sped back east- 
 ward the pestilence ran riot through the ships, and the 
 Admiral lay still and conquered in his bed. Broken in 
 spirit he could not shake off the disease, and when, after 
 a week's tempestuous voyage, the fleet anchored off" Puerto 
 Bello, he was lying speechless at death's door. But 
 it was not thus a soul so stubborn could pass away. 
 It was the 28th of January 1596, and as the dawn of 
 his last day broke a delirium seized him. He rose from 
 his bed and clothed himself, calling like a dying Viking 
 for his arms, and raving in words none cared to record. 
 Yet we can hear him railing at traitors who had stolen 
 his life with poison, and see in his last frenzy the origin 
 of those envenomed rumours that whispered of foul play. 
 His fury past they led him back to bed, and there at last 
 as quiet as a sleeping child the sea-king died. 
 
 In the fine roadstead of the newly-founded port the 
 fleet cast anchor, and as the news spread from ship to 
 ship the first desire of all was to hurry home as best 
 they could like sheep that have lost their shepherd. Of 
 continuing the venture there was not a thought, save to 
 seize the half-built settlement for a burnt sacrifice to 
 grace the burial of the dead commander. On the morroAv 
 the last rites were performed. Enclosed in a leaden coflin 
 the body was carried a league to sea, and there in sight 
 of the spot where his first victory had been celebrated, 
 amidst a lament of trumpets and the thunder of cannon, 
 the sea received her own again. At his side were sunk 
 two of his ships for Avhich there was no longer need and 
 
XIII A SEA-KING'S GRAVE 209 
 
 all his last-taken prizes, and for a pall he had the smoke 
 of the latest fort Avhich his life-long enemy had raised 
 against him. So the fleet went its way, and left him 
 lying like a Viking dead and alone amidst his trophies 
 on the scene of his earliest triumph and his last defeat. 
 
 At home, while the weed waved over that silent resting- 
 place, every dockyard was noisy with hum and clatter 
 of shipwrights as the great fleet grew and gathered, and 
 while the Spanish Indies made high holiday over the 
 Dragon's fall, England in busy anticipation watched 
 vainly westward. The arm for which she was forging 
 the mighty weapon was never to wield it. To such a 
 supreme eff"ort Drake had toiled to spur her through 
 long years of labour with his life in his hand, too often 
 with a rope round his neck ; and now on the eve of 
 accomplishing his life's work he was dead like a sick girl 
 of an inglorious death. Others were to reap where he 
 had sowed, and hands unfit were to prove the hero's 
 sword. In their eager grip it bit deep and hard, the 
 giant reeled with a gaping wound in his side, but then 
 the sinews of his assailants failed and he arose again 
 dogged and huge and terrible still. 
 
 THE END 
 
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