shallops : it was feared that they were designed for the
South Sea ; and the mischief which they might effect upon
the way was forecast by the Marquis of Santa Cruz. In
eighteen days from Bayona, at this season, Drake might sack
Madeira, the Canaries, and the Cape de Verds ; forty days
more might carry him to Rio Janeiro : he might take pos-
session of the mouth of that fine harbour, which commands
the entrance, fortify it, and maintain it by leaving a garrison
of 500 men there : he might then pass the strait, enter the
South Sea, and attack Lima. The population of that city
consisted of 2000 families, but they were neither a warlike
people, nor had they been trained to arms ; and as the place

* Gates, in Hakluyt, iii., 536.



288 ENGLISH SEAMEN

was open, and had no artillery for its defence, the English
might take and sack it, and proceed to make themselves
masters of the land ; in furtherance of which views it was
veiy probable that they would get possession of Panama. If
this were not Drake's design, it might be to sack St. Domingo,
Puerto Rico, and the coast of Tierra-Firma to Carthagena and
Nombre de Dios, and by way of Venta de Cruz attack Panama
from that side. The Havannah, also, was in great danger,
the fortress being but small and weak. The marquis advised,
therefore, that despatches should be sent off with all possible
diligence to the viceroys and governors in the Indies ; that
a fleet should be ordered out to sail in pursuit of the English,
and give them battle ; that 1000 Catalonian and Genoese
sailors should be distributed in this fleet, and 6000 soldiers
levied for it, a greater number being raised, to the end that
those who were chosen might be able men.*

Drake, meantime, was on his way to the Canaries, and
made first for the Isle of Palma, " with intention," says
Gates, "to have taken our pleasure of that place, for the
full digesting of many things into order, and the better
furnishing our store with such several good things, as it
affordeth very abundantly". But he complains "we were
forced by the vile sea-gate, which at that present fell out,
and by the naughtiness of the landing-place, being but one,
and that under the favour of many platforms, well furnished
with great ordnance, to depart with the receipt of many of
their cannon shot ; but the only or chief mischief was the
dangerous sea surge, which at shore all along plainly threatened
the overthrow of any boats as should have attempted land-
ing". They then tried the Island of Hierro, and landed
about 1000 men : the inhabitants came to them ; and, by
means of a young Englishman who resided there, represented
" their state to be so poor, that they were all ready to starve ".

* Hakluyt, 530, 534.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 289

This poverty was their defence ; and the expedition, thus a
second time disappointed, proceeded for the Cape de Verds.*
Arrived at the principal of those islands, they anchored
between the towns of Playa and Santiago. Carleill was
landed there with 1000 men, marched toward the latter
place, being the capital, during the night, halted at some
two miles' distance till break of day, and then advancing
"hard to the walls" saw no enemy to resist him, the inhabit-
ants having, at sight of the fleet, fled into the interior. Two
companies of thirty men each were then sent to enter the
town, the whole of which, being in a valley, was completely
seen from the high ground on which the troops had arrived ;
the great ensign was also sent, " which had nothing on it but
the plain English cross, to be placed toward the sea, that our
fleet might see St. George's cross flourish on the enemy's
fortress. Order was given that all the ordnance throughout
the town, and upon all the platforms, which were about
fifty pieces, all ready charged, should be shot off in honour
of the queen's majesty's coronation day, being the 17th
November, after the yearly custom of England, which was
so answered again by all the ships in the fleet, being now
come near, as it was strange to hear such a thundering noise
last so long together." The town was in form like a triangle,
having cliffs, " as it were, hanging over it," on the east and
west ; both heights were fortified, though no attempt had
been made to defend the works. On the south was the sea ;
and at the north end the valley, in which the town is built,
becomes so narrow, that it was estimated not to be above ten
or twelve score over. A stream came down the valley, and
formed a pond near the sea-side, at which the ships were
watered with great ease. Above the town the valley ex-
panded, and was wholly converted into gardens and orchards.
Carleill remained on the heights till the deserted town was
quartered out for the lodging of the whole army ; that done,

* Hakluyt, 536.

19



290 ENGLISH SEAMEN

he took possession, and set such sufficient guard in every part
that there was no cause for any present fear.*

Here the English continued a fortnight, finding no treasure
nor any booty of greater value than provisions, and " trash
for the Indian trade ". None of the inhabitants came near
them, till one day a Portuguese approached with a flag of
truce ; and being received by Captains Sampson and Goring,
first asked what countrymen they were, and then put the
pithy question, whether there was war between England and
Spain ? Their answer was, that they knew not ; but that if
he would go to the general he could best resolve him of that
particular. This he refused, as having no such commission
from the governor. They then told him that if the governor
desired to take a course for the good of the place and the
people, " his best way was to present himself unto our noble
and merciful general, Sir Francis Drake, whereby he might
be assured to find favour both for himself and the inhabitants ;
otherwise, within three days, we should march over the land,
and consume with fire all inhabited places, and put to the
sword all such living souls as we should chance upon ". Some
cause of complaint the English had against the people of this
island, for having broken their promise to " old Master William
Hawkins of Plymouth," a few years before, and murdered
many of his men ; and to this they imputed the fear which
prevented the authorities from opening any negotiation, and
the inhabitants from holding any communication with them.
A week after their arrival, Drake marched with 600 men to
a village called St. Domingo, twelve miles inland, where he
had heard that the governor, the bishop, and all the chief
inhabitants, had retired : it was deserted before they arrived ;
but when, after waiting awhile, not only to rest themselves,
but to see whether any would come to confer with them,
they marched back, the islanders showed themselves with

* Hakluyt, 537.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 291

some force both of horse and foot, yet not in such strength
as to venture or abide an attack ; " so in passing some time
at gaze with them, it waxed late before the men reached
Santiago ". The invaders had expected that either the
governor or the bishop, whose authority they believed to be
great, or the people either of town or country, would entreat
them to leave some part of their needful provision, " or at
least to spare the city at their departure " ; that is, they
expected that a ransom would be offered, and they took
" great discontentment and scorn " at a conduct which disap-
pointed their hopes. The wisest course that the islanders
could take with such enemies was thus to disappoint them,
it being better to suffer any immediate havoc that might be
made than, by purchasing a respite, to attempt a repetition
of such visits. But they provoked the invaders by murdering
a boy, whom they caught straggling, and by mutilating his
body " in a most brutish and beastly manner". In revenge
for this the invaders burnt every house in the town, and
every house which they saw in their incursions, except the
hospital : that they left uninjured ; and there and in other
places affixed a paper, declaring the reason why they had
exercised this vengeance. Having thus inflicted upon the
islanders all the evil they could, they re-embarked leisurely,
but cautiously, and set sail, not having suffered the slightest
loss. *

Unpunished, however, they did not depart ; for though,
till then, not a man had been lost by sickness, there now
began among them such mortality, that in the course of a few
days between 200 and 300 died. "The sickness," says
Gates, "showed not his infection till we were departed
thence, and then seized our people with extreme hot burning
and continual agues, whereof veiy few escaped with life, and
those for the most part not without great alteration and
decay of their wits and strength for a long time after." Upon

* Hakluyt, 537, 538.



292 ENGLISH SEAMEN

some of the dead marks appeared which were taken for
plague spots. The first land which they made after a passage
of eighteen days was Dominica : not thinking it safe to make
any tarriance there, because of the character of the Caribs,
though they exchanged beads and such trifles which they
had brought from Santiago for "great store of tobacco and
cassavi bread," they proceeded to St. Christopher, which at
that time was uninhabited, and there spent some days of
Christmas, to refresh the sick, and to cleanse and air the
ships. There a counsel was held ; and it was determined
that they should make for the great Island of Hispaniola,
"as well for that they knew themselves then to be in their
best strength, as also the rather allured thereunto by the
glorious fame of the city of St. Domingo, being the ancientest
and chief inhabited place in all the tract of country there-
abouts ".

The city of St. Domingo is the oldest, and was once the
most considerable Spanish city in the New World. Bartolome
Columbus founded it so early as the year 1496, and called it
Nueva Isabella, removing to it the inhabitants of the earlier
settlement named after the Queen of Castille. He placed it
on the eastern side of the river Ozama, where a copious fountain
supplied it with good water, that of the river being salt or
brackish for some leagues up. The first inhabitations were
hastily constructed with wood and reeds, and were nearly de-
stroyed in 1502 by a hurricane. Shortly afterwards Ovaiido
removed it to the opposite side of the Ozama. In the first
years of the conquest a city was moved almost as easily as
a camp ; and such removals were sometimes made with no
worthier motive than the desire of a new governor to gain
reputation at the expense of his predecessors. By this motive
Ovando is thought to have been influenced * when he aban-

* Oviedo, lib. iii., c. 10, f. 31. Yet, in an earlier part of his most valu- I
able work (lib. ii., c. 13, f. 19), Oviedo says that the foundations were not
originally laid on the present site, because Bartolome Columbus was



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 293

cloned a well-chosen and commodious site for one which was
exposed to morning fogs, and where fresh water was wanting.
That want he meant to supply by bringing an aqueduct from
the river Haina ; and the foundations of the city were laid
by him in a manner and upon a scale worthy of the Spaniards
in their best days. In the next generation it was said, that,
space for space, no city in the mother country was better built,
Barcelona alone excepted ; that the emperor Charles V. was
often lodged in Spain in worse houses than were to be found
in this capital ; that the palace of the viceroy, Diego
Columbus, far exceeded that of any subject in Spain ; and
that the streets having been built, according to a regular plan,
upon convenient ground, and laid out by cord and compass,
excelled those of any other place that its earliest historian
Oviedo had ever seen.* The first cross which Columbus
in evil hour for the Indians planted on the island was pre-
served in the cathedral, enclosed in a silver case, richly inlaid,
and secured in a tabernacle with three locks, the keys of
which were kept by three of the dignitaries of the church.
To that cathedral, also, the remains of Columbus, pursuant
to his will, were translated from Seville, and there they
rested on the right of the high altar till, upon the scandalous
cession to France of the Spanish part of Hispaniola, the brazen
coffin wherein they were deposited was removed to the Ha-
vannah by the direction of his representative the Duque de
Veragua, who, on that occasion, manifested a feeling in which
the miserable Charles IV. and his profligate ministers were
wanting.f

unwilling to disturb the cacica Catalina and the Indians who were settled
on that side of the river. " The city was called St. Domingo," he says,
" not only because the adelantado came to found it on a Sunday (Domin-
go), which Sunday also was St. Domingo's day, but, moreover, because
his father's name was Domenico y en su memoria el fib llamar Sancto
Domingo a este ciudad.'''

* Historia, Natural et General, f. 31. Sommario (in Ramasio, Hi., 46).

t Walton's Spanish Colonies, i., 144.



294 ENGLISH SEAMEN

Proceeding with the determination of attacking this city,
and not knowing how greatly it was fallen from its high
estate, Drake came up with a small frigate, on the way,
bound for the same port ; and having " duly examined the
crew, learnt from them that it was a barred harbour, com-
manded by a strong castle ; but that, about two miles to the
westward of it, there was a convenient landing-place," to
which one of the men offered to pilot him. The troops,
accordingly, embarked in pinnaces and boats, Drake going
in his namesake, the barque Francis, as admiral : thus they
lay all night at sea, bearing small sail ; and on the morrow,
being New Year's Day, safely * disembarked about daybreak.
Having seen them landed, Drake returned to the fleet,
" bequeathing them to God and the good conduct of Master
Carleill ". About noon they approached the city, from
whence some 150 brave horse began to present themselves.
But the invaders played upon them with small shot, and
supported that fire " with good proportion of pikes in all
parts" ; and the Spaniards, having viewed the very superior
force which threatened them all round, found it necessary to
let them proceed toward the two sea-ward gates : both gates
were manned, and ordnance planted there, and some troops
of small shot in ambuscade by the wayside. Carleill divided
his force, consisting of some 1200 men, into two bodies, giving
Captain Powell the command of one : they were to enter
both gates at the same time ; and he swore to Powell, " that,
with God's good favour, he would not rest till they met in
the market-place ".f

The artillery was discharged with some effect, though not
much : the first man that fell was very near Carleill, who
" began forthwith to advance both his voice of encourage-

* " At that time," says Gates, " nor yet is known to us any landing-
place where the sea surge does not threaten to overset a pinnace or
boat " (p. 539).

f Hakluyt, 539,



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 295

ment and pace of marching," hastening all he could to
prevent the Spaniards from reloading their guns ; and,
notwithstanding the ambuscade, his men " marched, or rather
ran, so roundly into them, that pell-mell they entered the
gates, and gave them more care every man to save himself
by flight than reason to stand any longer to their broken
defence ". Forthwith the victorious adventurers made their
way to the Plaza Mayor, or market-place ; "a. place of very
fair, spacious, square ground:" there Powell, with the other
detachment, met them. They strengthened it and its avenues
with barricadoes, and secured themselves there as the most
convenient position, thinking the city " far too spacious for
so small and weary a troop to undertake to guard. The
castle was abandoned that night ; some of the garrison being
made prisoners, and others fleeing, by the help of boats, to
the other side of the haven, and so into the country. Next
day, the English quartered a little more at large, but not
into the half part of the town ; and so, making substantial
trenches, and planting all the ordnance that each part was
correspondent to other," they held the town a month. *

It was a great marvel and no less disappointment both to
the adventurers and the sleeping partners of the concern,
that such a famous and goodly built city, so well inhabited
of gallant people, should afford no greater riches than was
found there ; for at that time it was not understood, in
England, that, as the conquests on the main became of more
importance, Hispaniola had declined ; and that its native
population had been consumed, and, consequently, that its
mines had ceased to be productive. The colonists had opened
a surer source of prosperity i$ the cultivation of their fer-
tile soil ; but gold and silver money had disappeared (as
at this time in Brazil), the only currency which was found
was in copper, and that in great quantity. "We found

* Hakluyt, 540.



296 ENGLISH SEAMEN

here," says Gates, " great store of strong wine, sweet oil,
vinegar, olives, and other such like provisions, excellent
wheat meal, packed up in wine pipes and other casks, and
other commodities, as woollen and linen cloth, and some
silks ; all which were brought out of Spain, and served us
for great relief. (Good store of brave apparel our soldiers
also found for their relief.) There was but little plate, or
vessel of silver, in comparison of the great pride in other
things of this town ; because, in these hot countries, they
use much of those earthen dishes, finely painted or varnished,
which they call porcellana, which is had out of the East
India ; and for their drinking they use glasses altogether,
whereof they make excellent, good and fair, in the same
place. But yet some plate we found, and many other good
things, as their household garniture, very gallant and rich,
which had cost them dear, although unto us they were of
small importance." *

The Spaniards here were more ready to treat f for the
ransom of their city than the Portuguese had been in the
Cape de Verds. There was, in the gallery of the governor's
palace, " painted, in a very large scutcheon, the arms of the
King of Spain ; and in the lower part of the scutcheon a
terrestrial globe, whereon a horse was represented as in the
act of leaping from it, with a scroll proceeding from his
mouth, and displaying these words, Non siifficit orbis, The
world sufficeth not". The invaders, who looked upon this
" as a very notable mark and token of the unsatiable am-

*Hakluyt, 541.

t Faria y Sousa ascribes this to the pusillanimity of Christoval de
Ovalle, president of the audience there. He had been advised of the
danger (according to this historian) in time to have provided for defence ;
but disbelieving or disregarding the information, he was half dead with
fear when he saw the English in the island, and actually died when told
that they were making search for him (Europa Portugtieqa, t. iii., p. 1., c.
2, 27).



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 297

bition of the Spanish king and nation/' could not refrain
from pointing it out to the Spaniards who came to negotiate
with them, nor from sarcastically inquiring what was intended
by such a device ; at which they " would shake their heads,
and turn aside their countenance in some smiling sort, with-
out answering anything, as greatly ashamed thereof. For by
some of our company," says Gates, " it was told them, that
if the Queen of England would resolutely prosecute the war
against the King of Spain, he should be forced to lay aside
that proud and unreasonable reaching vein of his, for he
should find more than enough to do to keep that which he
had already, as by the present example of their lost town
they might, for a beginning, perceive well enough.'' *

This was in no commendable spirit of bravery ; and the
enmity with which the Spaniards and English then regarded
each other needed nothing to exasperate it. Drake had
sent out a negro boy, with a white flag : there could be no
mistake concerning it, for the same flag was used, in like
manner, by the Spaniards themselves ; but some of their
officers fell in with the bearer and ran him through the body
with a horseman's spear. The poor boy returned to the
general, wounded as he was, told his story, and died in his
presence. Upon this Drake, " being greatly passioned,"
ordered the provost marshal to take two friars, who were
among his prisoners, under a guard, to the place where the
boy had been hurt, and there hang them both. Another
Spaniard he set at liberty to declare to the authorities where-
fore this execution was done ; and to tell them, farther, that
until the party who had thus murdered his messenger were
delivered into his hands for condign punishment, there
should no day pass wherein there should not two prisoners
be hanged, until all who were in his hands were consumed.
This terrible message, and the dreadful proof which had been

* Hakluyt, 540.



298 ENGLISH SEAMEN

given of Drake's determination to carry his words into effect,
made them send the offender, on the following day, to be
delivered into his hands ; " but it was thought a more honour-
able revenge to make them there, in his sight, perform the
execution themselves ; " and this was done.*

The treaty concerning the ransom proceeded slowly, and
" upon disagreements," the invaders still spent the early
mornings in firing the houses without their intrenchment ;
and they found it " no small travail to ruin them ; being very
magnificently built of stone, with high lofts ". For many
successive days, 200 sailors, from daybreak till nine o'clock,
when the heat began, did nothing but labour to fire these
houses ; the same number of troops being drawn out to pro-
tect them during this work of devastation. " Yet," says
Gates, " did we not, and could not, consume so much as one
third part of the town ; and so in the end, what wearied
with firing, and what hastened by some other respects, we
were contented to accept of 25,000 ducats, of 5*. 6d. each,
for the ransom of the rest." f

The expedition then stood over to the main, and kept
along the coast till they came in sight of Carthagena. That
city, which was then the principal fortress in all that country,
and contained about 450 families, was built upon a sandy
peninsula, formed by the sea on one side, and on the other
by a great lake, which communicates with the harbour. The
mouth of the harbour lay some three miles westward of the
town, and the fleet entered, about three in the afternoon,
without any resistance, or meeting with any impediment. In
the evening, Carleill landed, toward the harbour mouth ; the
plan being that the land forces should advance about mid-
night, " as easily as foot might fall," along the sea-wash of
the shore, while the fleet drew the attention of the Spaniards
by a false attack upon a little fort at the entrance of the

* Hakluyt, 540. t Ibid.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 299

inner haven. When the troops were within two miles of the
town, some hundred hoi-semen fell in with them ; but the
ground being bushy, even to the water-side, was unfavourable
for these enemies, and upon the first volley they turned about,
and hastened back to give the alarm. At the same time the
English heard a firing in the harbour, where, if anything
more than a feint was intended, nothing was done : the place
was strong, and a chain drawn across the narrow entrance ;
but little or no harm was received. The troops, meantime,
advanced till they came to the neck of the peninsula, about
half a mile from the town. The strait was about fifty paces
over ; " fortified clean across with a stone wall, well and
orderly built, with flanking in every part, and a ditch ".
There was only so much space left as might serve for ordin-
ary passage ; but this opening was now fortified with a good
barricade of barrels " filled with earth, full and thick, as they
might stand on end one by another ; some part of them
standing even in the main sea. This place of strength was
furnished with six great pieces, demi-culverins and rakers,
which shot directly in front upon the assailants ; and without
the wall, on the inner side of the strait, they had brought
two great galleys, with their prows to the shore, and eleven
pieces of ordnance, thus flanking the approach. On board
these the English estimated that there were from 300 to 400
harquebussiers, and, to defend the barricade, 300 shot and
pikes." *

The Spaniards, being thus ready to receive their sturdy
visitors, spared not their shot ; but they expended most of it
in vain ; for they were too eager to wait till they could see