How greatly the measures of her otherwise vigorous government were
crippled by necessary parsimony was, perhaps, not so well known to him
as it no%v is ; but he might have seen that if Drake had attempted to
keep possession of those places, which are among the most unwholesome
for Europeans of any-Sn the world, the consequences would have been as
fatal as they were at Puerto Rico. I have elsewhere explained the
conduct of the Dutch. But Monson felt and thought rightly when he
said : " Whosoever makes an enterprise on a town in America, with an
intention not to keep it, will do no more than a malicious person that
seeks the destruction of his neighbour in setting his house a-fire, without
any other prospect in so doing but mischief and revenge. I confess we
shall damnify the inhabitants of the town so sacked and spoiled, as the
owner of a house burnt will be damnified ; but it is no more loss or
prejudice to the King of Spain, or to the bordering countries, than to the
neighbour of the man that shall have his house burnt ; for every
bears his own particular loss " (p. 241).



312 ENGLISH SEAMEN

reputation in this voyage : he had bravely and ably executed
the service on which he was sent, overcoming the enemy
everywhere, and yielding only to an evil against which the
skill of man was of as little avail as his strength. When,
therefore, Elizabeth, in the year 1587, was assured that
preparations were making upon a great scale in the Spanish
ports, for the invasion of England, and thought it wiser to
prevent the danger than wait for it, she appointed Drake to
command the fleet which was equipped for that intent. It
consisted of four ships of the navy royal, namely, the Bona-
ventura, in which he went as general ; the Lion, Captain
William Borough, who was comptroller of the navy ; the
Dreadnought, Captain Thomas Venner ; and the Rainbow,
Captain Henry Bellingham ; to these two of the queen's
pinnaces were " appointed as handmaids ". Certain tall ships
of the city of London were added, and the whole armament
amounted to some thirty sail. *

Sailing from Plymouth early in April, they met on the
16th, in latitude 40, two Middleburg ships coming from
Cadiz, from whom they learnt that great store of warlike
provision had been collected in that and the adjacent ports,
ready for transport to Lisbon. For Cadiz, therefore, Drake
made with all possible speed, and on the 19th entered
the road. Sixty ships and many other small vessels were
lying there, little expecting such an attack, and yet not un-
prepared for defence, having the fortresses to protect them,
and also some galleys. Six of these vessels assailed the in-
vaders in front of the town, but were soon compelled to
retire under the fortress. Two from St. Mary's, and two
from Puerto Real, came boldly to the fight and shot freely,
" but altogether in vain," so that they hastened back with no
little loss. A great Ragusan ship of 1000 tons, carrying 40
guns, and very richly laden, was sunk early in the action.
Before night Drake was master of the road, and there he

* Hakluyt, ii., part ii., 121.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 313

continued till the morning of the 21st, with so little loss as
to be thought at the time " not worth mentioning " ; with
little ease, " by reason of their continual shooting from the
galleys, the fortresses, and the shore, where continually at
convenient places they planted new ordnance " ; but also
with no little triumph, for never was daring service more
resolutely performed. Drake had two objects in view, which
were not very compatible at this time : to sink, burn, and
destroy for the public good ; and, on the other hand, to
secure as much as he could for the benefit of the merchant
adventurers, who bore by much the larger part in this ad-
venture. The labour which lay upon the sailors day and
night during the six and thirty hours after the action, in
discharging the stores from their prizes, was so great, that it
was a pleasant sight to them when the Spaniards set fire to
the ships which they could no longer defend ; though the
greatest danger to which the conquerors were exposed was
when the ships thus fired were drifted toward them in flames
by the tide.

About thirty vessels were burnt, sunk, or taken in this
daring enterprise. Among them were four large Biscayans,
taking in stores for the armament at Lisbon, and another of
1000 tons, laden for the West Indies. Some twenty French
ships, and some Spanish ones that could pass the shoals,
escaped to Puerto Real, where about forty others were lying
in sight of the English. W r hen Drake left the road, satisfied
as he well might be with the success of his attempt, ten
galleys came out after him, " as it were in disdain, to make
some pastime with their ordnance " : the wind just at this
time scanted, so that the fleet cast about, stood in with the
shore, and anchored within a league of the town ; but the
galleys, alert as they had seemed to be, suffered them to
ride quietly there ; and thus brought themselves into disrepute
with the English sailors. * The loss which had been inflicted

* The author of the relation in Hakluyt says: "We now have had



314 ENGLISH SEAMEN

upon the Spaniards was great : the insult and humiliation
were greater ; and Philip pursued his plans of vengeance with
exacerbated hatred. Drake, having despatched advice of his
triumphant proceeding to England, turned back along the
coast, and captured and burnt nearly 100 vessels before he
came to Cape St. Vincent's, dealing " favourably with the
men, and setting them ashore " ; but he destroyed all the
fishing boats and nets, " to their great hindrance," and in
the hope of spoiling the tunny-fishery for that year. Near
the Cape a landing was made ; and that he might ride there
in harbour at his pleasure, he assaulted the Castle of Sagres,
and took that fortress with three others, some by force, some
by surrender. He then entered the mouth of the Tagus,
anchored near Cascaes, sent to the Marquis of Santa Cruz,
who, as general of the armada, was with his galleys in the
river, preparing for the invasion of England, told him who
he was, and said he was then ready to exchange bullets with
him. The marquis, according to the English account, replied
that he was not then ready for him, nor had any such com-
mission from his king. But the insult here, and at Cadiz, is
said to have " bred such a corrosion in his heart, that he
never enjoyed good days after," and within few months died
of chagrin, happy in thus being removed before the invincible
armada went to its destination. *

What Drake had done delayed the sailing of that arma-
ment for the current year. The public service had been

experience of galley-fight ; wherein I can assure you, that only these
four of her majesty's ships will make no account of twenty galleys, if
they be alone, and not busied to guard others. There were never galleys
that had better place and fitter opportunity for their advantage to fight
with ships : but they were still forced to retire ; we riding in a narrow-
gut (the place yielding no better), and driven to maintain the same,
until we had discharged and fired the ships, which could not conveniently
be done but upon the flood, at which time they might drive clear of us "
(p. 122).

* Hakluyt, 122, 123.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 31$

thus effectually performed ; but he knew that if nothing
more were done, it would not give satisfaction to the mer-
chant adventurers, who expected some immediate and
tangible profit upon their disbursements. He shaped his
course, therefore, toward the Azores, having obtained intelli-
gence that the San Philipe, a Portuguese carrack from India,
had wintered at Mozambique, and was expected to reach
Lisbon in the passing month. His stores were becoming
low, and his people importunate to return ; but he with fair
speeches, of which no man was more a master, persuaded,
and prevailed with them to cruise yet a few days longer off
the islands. And on this occasion fortune made him large
amends for all former losses and disappointments, for he fell
in with and easily captured the prize he looked for. This,
says the writer of the voyage, was the first carrack that ever
was taken coming from the East Indies, which the Portugals
took for an evil sign, because the ship bore the king's own
name. The whole company assured themselves now, that
every man would have a sufficient reward for his travail, and
thereupon they all resolved to return home, with the willing
consent of their general. He dismissed the prisoners in
certain vessels, with all the courtesies and humanities of war ;
and sailing then for England, the whole fleet arrived safely
with their prize at Plymouth,* " to their own profit and

* " And here, by the way, it is to be noted, that the taking of this
carrack wrought two extraordinary effects in England : first, that it
taught others that carracks were no such bugs but that they might be
taken (as since, indeed, it hath fallen out in the taking of the Madre de
Dios, and firing and sinking of others) ; and, secondly, in acquainting
the English nation more generally with the particularities of the exceed-
ing riches and wealth of the East Indies ; whereby themselves and their
neighbours of Holland have been encouraged, being men as skilful in
navigation, and of no less courage than the Portugals, to share with
them in the East Indies, where their strength is nothing so great as
heretofore hath been supposed " (Hakluyt, 122).

Lediard says : " The taking of this ship was of a greater advantage



316 ENGLISH SEAMEN

due commendation," says one of the happy company, " and
to the great admiration of the whole kingdom ". *

The service which in this voyage he had performed at
Cadiz, and all along the coast to the Tagus. Drake called
singeing the King of Spain's beard. This was said in the
mirthful spirit of a sailor ; and with that spirit of local
patriotism, from which so many great and good actions have
arisen, he expended no trifling part of the riches which he
had won in supplying Plymouth with fresh water : the in-
habitants had till then been enforced to fetch it from a
mile's distance. The head of the spring from which it was
now to be brought is between seven and eight miles distant
in a direct line ; but by indentings and circlings it was to be
conveyed twenty-four miles, t through valleys, wastes, and
bogs ; and what was most troublesome, through a mighty
rock, thought to be impenetrable. He, nevertheless, " made
the way he could not find, and overcoming the difficulty.
finished the enterprise to the continual commodity of the
place, and his own perpetual honour ". " And fine would
have been the diversion," says the good old vicar of Berry
Pomeroy, "when the water was brought somewhat near the
town, to have seen how the mayor and his brethren, in their

to the English merchants than the value of her cargo to the captors ; for.
by the papers found on board, they so fully understood the rich value
of the Indian merchandises, and the manner of trading into the eastern
world, that they afterwards set up a gainful trade and traffic, and es-
tablished a company of East India merchants " (i., 229).

* Hakluyt, 123. Monson, 156. Lediard, i., 228.

f Prince says thirty. " Various mills were erected on the stream for
the use of the town at Sir Francis's expense. He vested the property
hi the mayor and commonality, and their successors for ever. The
water is brought to a reservoir above the town, and from thence dis-
tributed by leaden pipes. The lessee pays a fine of 3/. 135. 6d. for
twenty-one years of the water, and an annual quit-rent of i2s. Persons
who use more water than private families pay a double quit-rent, and
brewers a fourfold one " (Beauties of England and Wales, iv., 148).



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 317

formalities, went out to meet it, and bid it welcome thither ;
and being thus met, they all returned together ; the gentle-
men of the corporation, accompanied with Sir Francis Drake,
walked before, and the stream followed after into the town,
where it has continued so to do ever since." Perhaps the
day of that peaceful triumph was the happiest of Drake's
public life.

His next service was as vice-admiral in that fleet by which,
with the aid of the elements, the mighty preparations of the
Spaniards were frustrated, their invincible armada dispersed,
and England providentially saved from a most formidable
invasion. In the ensuing year he was employed as admiral
in an expedition sent to Portugal, in the vain hope of es-
tablishing the claim of a pretender to that kingdom. In
this adventure the government took little part, acting upon
a system of parsimonious policy, as if it risked nothing, so it
avoided the risk of expense, and considered not how greatly
the national interests and national character must be affected
by the issue, and that that issue could not be fortunate unless
adequate means were applied. The journey of Portugal (as
this expedition was at the time called) was undertaken chiefly
at the charge of Drake and Sir John Norris, grandson of that
Xorris who was unjustly executed with Anne Boleyn. Eliza-
beth always rightly regarded his family as entitled to more
than ordinary favour on that account ; and this Sir John and
his brethren (six in all) were " men of haughty courage, and
great experience in the conduct of military affairs; persons,"
says Sir Robert Naunton, * " of such renown and worth, as
future times must out of duty owe them the debt of an
honourable memory ". No English soldier in that age had
seen more service than this Sir John. He had been trained
under Coligny in the religious wars in France, served in
Ireland while yet very young under Walter, Earl of Essex,
held various commands in the Low Countries till he became

* Scot's Somers Tracts, i., 267.



318 ENGLISH SEAMEN

general of the English forces there ; and in the year of the
armada, when an invasion was expected, was made " marshal
of the field in England ". There were others who engaged
in the charge of the expedition, but fewer than had been
expected ; and some of those who subscribed their names,
thinking that the scheme would never be brought to bear,
but that they might gain credit by displaying a readiness to
encourage it, withheld their money when they saw that
serious preparations were made, and 10,000/. was thus with-
drawn from the sum on which the leaders had calculated.
And this was not the only nor the most serious defalcation
from the means which had been looked for. Six hundred
English horse from the Low Countries were withheld for
other service, and seven out of thirteen old companies from
the same school of war : the Dutch, instead of supplying six
men of war and ten companies, sent only four companies ; *
and the government, which had promised twelve pieces of
cannon, gave only a third part of that number, t

When the expedition sailed from Plymouth it consisted of
11,000 troops and 1500 seamen. There had been some
weeks' previous delay ; and when all was ready contrary
winds detained them a whole month, living upon pi-ovisions
which they could ill afford to consume in inaction. The
generals at length, weary of these cross winds, " thrust to
sea in the same, choosing rather to attend the change thereof
there, than by being in harbour to lose any part of the
better, when it should come, by having their men on shore ".

* Camden (429) says the estates joined some ships, although they
were somewhat discontented with the English, because Wingfield,
Governor of Gertruydenberg, and the English garrison in it, had betrayed
that town to the Spaniards. But these could not have been ships of
war, or their failure in this point would not have been distinctly stated,
as it is in the relation ascribed to Colonel Anthony Wingfield (Hakluyt,
ii., part ii., 133).

f Hakluyt, 123. Camden, 429.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 319

Two days the wind continued cross ; and some of the fleet,
having twenty-five companies on board, parted company
during that time, " either not being able or not willing to
double Ushant". Nearly 3000 men thus forsook the ex-
pedition at sea, "whereof some passed into France, and the
rest returned home ". The weather then became favourable ;
and in five days more, on the evening of 20th of April, the
troops disembarked in a bay something more than a mile
from Corunna. * No attempt was made to prevent or im-
pede their landing ; t but as they presently marched toward
the town, they were encountered on the way : the Spaniards,
however, retired within their walls, and the invaders took up
their lodging for the night in the "villages, houses, and
wind-mills next adjoining, and very near round about the
town ". They were not disturbed there by the garrison :
but the galleon San Juan, one of the few which had escaped
from the general wreck of the armada, was lying in the
harbour ; and with two galleys, and three smaller vessels,
fired upon their lodgings during the night, and as they passed
to and fro. |

Before day, Norris reconnoitred the base town : this, which

* This place is called the Groine in Hakluyt, as it still is by the
sailors, an easy corruption from Cruna, the name bestowed upon it at
the beginning of the thirteenth century, when Alonso IX. founded it,
and removed thither the inhabitants of Burgo Viejo. Cruna is the
Galician word for coluna, a column or pillar ; and it is supposed that
the town took its name from the Torre de Hercules at the entrance of
the port, that well-kno\vn lighthouse having this appearance when seen
from a distance (Cornide, Investigaciones sobre la Torre de Hercules,
etc., p. 17, n.).

Joshua Barnes tells us that Logrono also was called Groing by the
English (Hist, of Edward III., 705).

t Faria y Sousa says, however, that the marquis made more resistance
than could be made, " fortificose lo major que pudo, y mas de lo que se
podia resistio la desembarcacion " (p. 94).

; Hakluyt, 138.



320 ENGLISH SEAMEN

retains the name of La Pexaria, or Pescaderia, from the days
when it was only of importance as a fishing station, stands
upon a small tongue of land, and contained at that time
1 500 houses. On the land side it was protected by a wall
and a dry ditch, but on neither of the water sides were there
any defences, and Norris resolved upon attempting it by
escalade, in two places. As a preliminary measure it was
necessary to silence the enemy's ships. Some artillery was
landed : as soon as it opened, the galleys retired to Ferrol,
and the other vessels ceased their fire. The rest of the day
was spent in preparing for the attack. Twelve hundred men
under Colonel Huntley, and the vice-admiral, Captain Fenner,
were to be landed on one side the peninsula on which
Corunna stands, and the long boats and pinnaces which
landed them were to keep up a fire as they approached.
On the other side, Captain Wingfield, who was Norris's
lieutenant-colonel, and Captain Sampson, who held the same
rank under Drake, were to enter with 500 men at low water,
if they found it passable : otherwise they were provided for
the escalade ; and on the land side 300 men, under Colonels
Bret and Umpton, were to set up their ladders and scale the
wall. The three attacks were to be made at the same time.
In strict obedience to this part of their orders, Wingfield
and Sampson began the assault as soon as the signal was
given : they found good resistance, and were twice beaten
from their ladders, yet persevered in the attempt. Huntley
and Fenner landed, meantime, with no great difficulty, and
but little loss ; and some of this party, under Captain Hinder,
having effected an entrance, scoured the wall, clearing the
way for Bret and Umpton to enter without resistance, and
passed on till he came in the rear of those who were resisting
Wingfield and Sampson : upon this the defence was aban-
doned. The Spaniards, indeed, knowing that if attacked
from the water it was not tenable, had determined upon
withdrawing the garrison and the inhabitants into the high



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 321

town, should this be the plan of the assailants ; but in the
confusion and fear which prevailed, the signal for recalling
the troops from the land side was not made ; and men whose
courage deserved a more generous treatment than they
underwent were sacrificed through this error. *

Upon the English having thus entered in three places,
" with a huge cry," the inhabitants, they who could, betook
themselves to the high town, which they might with less
peril do, because the assailants, being strangers, knew not the
way to cut them off. " Some," says one of the expedition,
" fled to the rocks in the peninsula ; some hid themselves in
chambers and cellars ; some found favour to be taken prisoners ;
but the rest, to the number of about 500, falling into the
hands of the common soldiers, had their throats cut " ; and
this seems to have been perpetrated and related equally
without compunction. The cellars were found full of wine,
2000 pipes having been collected there, toward the provision
for a second armada ; and the men, by inordinate drinking,
becoming reckless of danger, or incapable of perceiving it,
exposed themselves to the shot from the upper town, whereby
many were hurt, t It was thought that by their excesses at

* Hakluyt, 139.

f In the only Spanish account of these transactions which I have
been able to consult, it is said that the wine was purposely left ; and
that the Spaniards, taking advantage of the drunkenness and consequent
disorder thus produced, killed as many as 800 stragglers, whom the
succours, as they arrived from the interior, fell in with and found drunk
and sleeping. This writer says : " Bebieron bellamente los Ingleses,
como valientes bebedores ; y pareciendoles que ya eran seriores de la
tierra, lo que menos cuidado les daba era la guerra" (P. M. F. Felipe
de la Gandara, Armas y Triunfos del Reino de Galicia. 1672, p. 470).

The author was chronista general of that kingdom. The first part
of his account cannot be reconciled with the English statements.
According to him the invaders landed more than 10,000 men, and took
possession of Burgo, an open village (lugar), without walls or castle,
more than a league from Corunna : there they began to visit the drinking

21



322 ENGLISH SEAMEN

this time they brought on the subsequent sickness and
mortality. From the few prisoners who were taken, they
learnt that there were in the town when they arrived 500
soldiers, the poor remains of seven companies who had
returned from " the journey of England," and that money
and stores had been sent thither for a second attempt at
invasion. *

The Spaniards had been taken by surprise, which they
ought not to have been in any of their great ports on this
side the Straits. But the governor, who was the Marquez
de Zerralbo don Juan Pacheco Osorio, prepared now with
a Spaniard's determination for defence. His first object was
to prevent the enemy from taking possession of the galleon ;
and as this could by no other means be effected, he gave
orders for destroying it ; the crew, accordingly, overcharged
the guns, set the ship on fire, and left her in flames, " which
burnt in terrible sort for two days together ". When she
had burnt to the water's edge, and the English came to
search her hull, they found only sixteen whole cannon out of
fifty : the rest had burst in their discharge, as had been
designed, and were taken out in broken pieces and molten
lumps. Every exertion was made for improving the fortifica-
tions, which were strong but old. All hands were employed
at this, and in carrying earth for the ramparts, which were
now made ; and so intent were they upon these operations,

houses, instead of making any attempt to occupy the bridge (at the head
of the harbour, over the mouth of the Mandeo), and take a position, to
prevent succours from arriving. " They might have done this easily,"
he says, " sin que pudicra cntrar gcnte par parte alguna." Afterwards
they attempted to insulate the fortress by cutting across the isthmus ; but
there were rocks in the way, large reinforcements had already entered, and
the fire from the walls put an end to their operations. He makes no
mention whatever of the storming the base town, nor of the subsequent
carnage, but simply says that they burnt the suburb called La Pescaderia,
which contained 1500 houses.
* Hakluyt, 140.'



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 323

that they left the Puerto Real, or royal gate, open, and
Corunna, according to the Galicians, would have been lost,
if a greater personage than the governor had not taken upon