himself the defence in this emergency. For the English
entered not only without resistance, but without any one
speaking to them or giving the alarm : so strange a circum-
stance made them apprehensive of some stratagem ; still,
however, though with all possible circumspection, they ad-
vanced up the street, at the end of which stood the parochial
church of the upper town ; and to whom should that
church be dedicated but to the peculiar patron of Spain
and especial glory of Galicia Santiago ? He did not indeed
appear in person : short as the distance was from Compostella,
the occasion was not of sufficient importance for him to leave
his shrine and mount his celestial white horse ; but out of
his church there issued a great darkness, and in the midst of
that darkness a great light ; and the light dazzled, and the
darkness confused, and both terrified them : they made their
way out of the gate with more alacrity than they had entered
it ; and Santiago achieved for his faithful devotees the only
one of all his numerous victories in which no blood was shed. *
This was a modest miracle for the saint, the country, and
the religion. Another and not less thaumaturgic saint worked
none upon the occasion, though he might seem to have been
more especially invited or provoked to manifest his power.
Without the Puerta de los Aires, and fronting it, was a
convent of St. Domingo : the invaders occupied it ; and
from the upper windows and other parts of the edifice fired
into the town. These things passed on the day after the
escalade. On the morrow some 2000 men from the adjacent
parts approached the gates as confidently as if they had been
resolved to enter : but they advanced without order ; and
losing a few men in the first encounter took to flight, and

* Gandara, 471.



324 ENGLISH SEAMEN

outstripped their pursuers. A party following up this success
foraged round about, and brought back kine and sheep in
abundance, to the great relief of the army, whose provisions
when they landed * were well nigh exhausted. Norris
meant in the ensuing night to take a " long munition house
built upon the wall " ; but the Spaniards apprehending this,
and knowing how advantageous a position it would be for
the enemy, burnt it before the attempt could be made. At
the same time a fire broke out in the lower end of the town,
" which, had it not been by the care of the general heedily
seen unto, and the fury thereof prevented, by pulling down
many houses which were most in danger, had burnt," says
Wingfield, " all the provisions we found there, to our wonder-
ful hindrance ".t

Two demi-cannons and two culverins were now planted
under the garden of the convent, but with little skill or fore-
sight, for the first or second fire shook down the cross wall by
which this battery was " defended or gabioned " ; it then lay
open to the enemy. They did not overlook their oppor-
tunity ; and the lieutenant of the ordnance, with some of the
cannoneers, were slain there. The battery was secured dur-
ing the night. When it was ready to open, the general sent
to summon the place : the man who bore it was fired at
from the town. Presently a Spaniard was hanged over the
wall, and a signal for parley made, the object of which was
to let the English see that this summary punishment had
been inflicted upon the person who fired at the messenger ;
and they took the opportunity of requesting to have " fair

* Wingfield says : " What extremity the want of that month's victuals
which we did eat during the month we lay at Plymouth for a wind
might have driven us unto, no man can doubt of that knoweth what
men do live by, had not God given us, in the end, a more prosperous
wind and shorter passage into Galicia than hath been often seen, where
our own force and fortune revictualled us largely " (Hakluyt, 135).

t Hakluyt, 141.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 325

war/' promising it on their part. They made inquiry con-
cerning what prisoners were in the hands of the English, but
would not listen to any proposal for surrendering. *

Norris had now sufficiently reconnoitred the walls to see
that they were almost everywhere built upon a rock : one
place, however, he thought mineable, and men were presently
set to work there, who, after three days' labour, and on the
seventh after their entrance of the base town, had bedded
their powder, but, as afterwards appeared, not far enough
into the wall. The breach by that time was thought as-
saultable, and companies were drawn out for a simultaneous
attack there, and at the point where it was expected that
the mine would make an opening. But the mine failed, "by
reason the powder brake out backward in a place where the
cave was made too high ". Nothing therefore could be at-
tempted that day. The miners resumed their work, and by
the second day after had wrought well into the foundation of
the wall. The first failure drew after it no ill consequence ;
not so the partial success of the second attempt. The ex-
plosion brought down half the tower under which the mine
had been made, and opened a practicable breach : it was im-
mediately assaulted ; and when the men had gained the
summit, the other half fell on them ; some twenty or thirty
were crushed, and the men were " so amazed, not knowing
whence that terror came, that they forsook their commanders,
and left them among the ruins of the mine ". The two
ensigns were shot in the breach, but their colours were
rescued ; among those on whom the tower fell " was Captain
Sydenham pitifully lost, who having three or four great
stones upon his lower parts was held so fast that neither him-
self could stir nor any reasonable company recover him ; not-
withstanding the next day, being found to be alive, there
were ten or twelve lost in attempting to relieve him ". It

* Hakluyt, 141.



326 ENGLISH SEAMEN

is the most honourable incident on the part of the English,
during their descent in Galicia, that so many should have
exposed and lost their lives in endeavouring to perform this
act of forlorn humanity toward their suffering countryman ; *
and the least honourable on that of the Spaniards that they
should have fired on men who were exposing themselves for
such a motive.

Meantime a breach which had been made by the poor
battery in the convent garden was attempted ; and the officers
brought their men to the push of the pike at the summit.
But the Spaniards had prepared all means of defence, and
they were encouraged by the masculine exertions of the wife
of an alferez, Maria Pita was her name. With a spirit
which women have more often displayed in Spain than in any
other country, she snatched up sword and buckler, and took
her stand among the foremost of the defendants ; and so
much was ascribed by the people to the effect of her example,
that she was rewarded for this service with the full pay of an
ensign for life, and the half pay was settled upon her de-
scendants in perpetuity, t The defence, however, was not
difficult ; for the rubbish over which the assailants mounted
" slid outward from under their feet ; and it then appeared
that half the height of the wall had received no injury ". {

* Hakluyt, 141.

f Gandara, as chronista mayor of Galicia, is good authority for a circum-
stance like this. The story gained something by travelling in its own
country. Faria y Sousa says, that this virago lost none of her courage
at seeing her husband killed before her eyes, and that she wounded an
English standard-bearer, mortally, with a lance (p. 95. Gandara, 472).

I " For let no man think that culverin or demi-cannon can sufficiently
batter a defensible rampire. And of those pieces which we had, the
better of the demi-cannons, at the second shot, broke in her carriages "
(Hakluyt, 141).

The writer argued, that if the battering pieces which were promised
for the armament, but not supplied, had been there, the place would
have been taken.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 327

Thus, had there been more spirit for renewing the assault,
the breach no longer appeared practicable. From both
points of attack the retreat lay through a narrow street or
lane, and many were hurt there. * Whatever the loss may
have been, the failure was so complete, that it determined t
the general to abandon an enterprise which he now con-
sidered hopeless. But to secure his embarkation it was
necessary to disperse a considerable force with which the
Conde de Andrade was encamped behind the Puente de
Burgo, waiting there to be joined by the Conde de Altamira,
and then, with united strength, to advance for the relief of
the town. Norris accordingly, leaving Drake, with five
regiments, to guard their quarters, marched, with nine, to
meet the enemy. His brother, Sir Edward Norris, who
commanded the van, came in sight of them some half mile
from their camp, and beat them from place to place (though
" they had good places of defence, and cross walls which they
might have held long "), till they came to the bridge, " on
the foot of the farther side whereof lay their camp, strongly
intrenched ". Sir Edward followed at the point of the pikes,
through a heavy fire : the enemy's shot flanked both sides
of the bridge, and at the end was a barricade of barrels.
They who should have guarded it forsook their station, seeing
this " proud approach ". Sir Edward entered, and charging
the first who opposed him, pike in hand, fell, " with very
earnestness, in over-thrusting," and received a grievous sword
wound in the head. The general, and some other officers,

* Gandara, in his exaggerated statement, says, that the English held
out a signal for burying their dead, who were found to be 1500 ; and
that the loss of the Spaniards, from the time that the expedition landed,
till it re-embarked, amounted only to thirty-five. I wish Wingfield's
account of the slaughter in the base town rested on no better authority,
or could be suspected of equal exaggeration.

t The expression in Hakluyt is, " it made him grow to a new resolu-
tion " (p. 141).



328 ENGLISH SEAMEN

" most honourably " rescued him ; and overcoming, not with-
out a severe struggle, the brave resistance that was made,
obtained then an easy victory over the rest of the army.
The standard was taken, and the fugitives hotly pursued
for some three miles. " How many," says Wingfield, " 2000
men (for of so many consisted our vanguard) might kill in
pursuit of four sundry parties, so many you may imagine fell
before us that day. And to make the number more great,
our men having given over the execution, and returning to
their stands, found many hidden in the vineyards and hedges,
whom they despatched." Two hundred, also, were found in
a convent, and were there put to the sword, and the convent
spoiled and burnt. This was not the " fair war," for which
the Spaniards had asked, and which, by their honourable
conduct at the time of asking, they had deserved. The
contrary system can be justified only when reprisals become
necessary, as the sole means of putting a stop to it ; but in
that age fair war seems, almost, to have been the exception. *
After what is called "the fury," and might better have
been termed the wickedness t " of the execution," the van-
guard was sent one way, and the main body the other, " to
burn and spoil, so that you might have seen the country,
more than three miles' compass, on fire ". The next day was
spent in shipping their artillery, J and whatever booty could
be transported ; and they attempted, during the last night
of their tarriance, to burn that part of the upper town where

* Hakluyt, 142. Camden, 430.

f Such a carnage after the action well deserves to be so qualified,
especially if the relater in Hakluyt is to be believed when he says, that
" there were slain in this fight, on our side, only Captain Cooper, and
one private soldier ".

J Their own and those taken in the base town, " which," says Wing-
field, " had it been such as might have given us any assurance of a
better battery, or had there been no other purpose of our journey but
that, I think the general would have spent some more time in the siege
of the place".



329

the houses were built upon the wall by the water side ; but
the Spaniards were vigilant, and made so good a defence
that they frustrated this intention. At their departure, how-
ever, the invaders, by their own account, set fire to every
house of the base town, so that not one was left standing
there. * Putting then to sea, after contending nine days
with contrary winds, they reached the Berlings, having a
little before fallen in with Essex, who, with some other
volunteers of note, had followed the expedition in a single
ship. By this time, the troops had suffered much by sickness,
aggravated by their own excesses at Corunna ; and the loss
during the siege had been considerable, t But this was not
the only evil J during the eighteen days of their continuance
there ; troops had been sent to Lisbon, and all persons of any
influence, who were suspected of favouring Antonio, were
removed from that city, and sent into Spain. Antonio, in-
deed, had been considered of so little consequence in this
first act of the expedition, that he seems not to have been

* Gandara confirms this, but represents it having been done before
the attempts on the upper town ; and he avoids all mention of the action
at the Puente de Burgo.

t El Peregrine Espanol (Antonio Perez) whose Tratado Parcznetico
was translated into French and English, and widely circulated by the
Portuguese emigrants, says that the greater part of the troops died there,
and all the best artillerymen : but he seems to refer this loss rather to
the mortality than the siege ; and his object was to show that the
expedition failed wholly through the misconduct of the English, and not
owing to the weakness of Antonio's partisans.

I Sir William Monson says: "The landing at the Groyne was an
unnecessary lingering and hindrance of the other great and main
design ; a consuming of victuals and weakening of the army by the
immoderate drinking of the soldiers, which brought a lamentable sick-
ness amongst them ; a warning to the Spaniards to strengthen Portugal ;
and (what is more than all this) a discouragement to proceed farther,
being repulsed in the first attempt" (160). This is true, except as to
the waste of provision. Monson himself says, that " divers of the ships
had not four days' victuals when they departed from Plymouth ".



330 ENGLISH SEAMEN

consulted concerning it, nor, indeed, is he noticed in the
accounts of it till the fleet arrived at Peniche. The troops
landed there, about a mile from the town, with much
difficulty, owing to the wind and the surf, and with the loss
of one boat, carrying twenty-five men. Essex commanded
this party ; and when man enough had been disembarked for
forming two troops, he left one to protect the landing, and
advanced with the other against some companies who sallied
from the town to oppose him. The Spaniards fled when it
came to the push of the pike : he entered the open town,
and summoned the castle, which the commandant, Antonio
de Araujo, readily surrendered to Antonio, acknowledging
him as his king. *

Here it was agreed that the army should proceed overland
to Lisbon, and the fleet meet them in the Tagus. When
the army was marshalled and ready to act, Drake, " to make
known the honourable desire he had of taking equal parts in
all fortune with them, stood upon the ascent of a hill by
which the battalions marched, and, with a pleasing kindness,
took his leave severally of the commanders of every regiment,
wishing them happy success, with a constant promise, that if
the weather did not hinder him, he would meet them at
Lisbon with the fleet ". The non-performance of this en-
gagement brought a reproach upon Drake, who may, with
more cause, be censured for having made it. While the ai-my
proceeded with little encouragement from the Portuguese,
whose eager co-operation they had been led to expect, Drake
sailed for Cascaes and took possession of the town. The in-
habitants, who abandoned it upon his landing, returned upon
his assurances of all peaceable kindness if they would ac-
knowledge Antonio for their king, and supply the fleet with
necessaries ; but the castle, having a Spanish garrison, was
maintained against him. Here he remained, till the army,
weakened by sickness, unable for want of artillery (the little

* Hakluyt, 144.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 331

which they had being in the fleet) to make any serious
attempt upon Lisbon, knowing themselves far inferior in
number to the Spanish troops who were collected against
them, and undeceived as to the influence and strength of the
pretender's adherents, gave up this ill-planned and worse
conducted attempt, and came to join him at Cascaes. What-
ever blame was afterwards imputed to the admiral, those
who were on the spot, and were capable of forming a dis-
passionate opinion, must have admitted the validity of the
motives which had withheld him from entering the river.
The fleet must have passed within culver shot of St. Julian's,
which was then accounted "one of the most impregnable forts
to seaward in Europe : this and the other two forts between
Cascaes and Lisbon Drake might have passed with a reason-
able gale " ; but once in the Tagus, the coming out again
was uncertain : there were galleys in the river ready at any
advantage to have assailed him : he would have been exposed
to fire ships ; and if a fleet had been brought against him at
the mouth of the river, he had neither the hope of victoiy
nor of escape, and the destruction of the army must have
followed upon the loss of the ships.*

The emigrants whose expectations had been so cruelly
disappointed, imputed Drake's breach of promise to his
regarding the interests of the merchant adventurers rather
than those of the expedition, because while he remained at
Cascaes many prizes were brought in there. Most of these
were easterlings, of which not fewer than three scores
belonging to the Hanse towns, and laden with naval stores,
as was supposed for another armada, were captured. Some
were of great burden, with little on board, and evidently
built as ships of war : it could not be doubted that these
were for the Spanish navy. The embarkation of the troops
was secured by forcing the Castle of Cascaes to surrender,
the commandant requiring only such a display of force as

* Camden, 431, 432. Monson, 160.



332 ENGLISH SEAMEN

might justify him in offering no farther resistance. It was
occupied then by English troops, till the armament was ready
to sail, and partially blown up at their departure. One
company had been left at Peniche, together with the sick
and wounded : some vessels were sent to bring them away,
and advices were despatched to the commanding officer over-
land : the advice arrived in time, but not the ships ; for the
commander, then apprised of what had happened, and learn-
ing also that an enemy's force was hastening against him,
embarked in barques which were on the spot, and with such
haste that he neither brought away the artillery nor all his
men. *

Nine galleys from Andalusia had entered the Tagus some
days before the departure of the English : these, with the
twelve which were stationed there, followed the fleet ; and
on the following morning, taking advantage of a dead calm,
cut off some stragglers, and ran down some who endeavoured
to escape from them in their boats. One hulk had Captain
Minshew and his company on board, and he was seen fight-
ing to the last after his ship was on fire : the calm meantime
was such, that none of the great ships could approach to
assist him, though every effort was made by towing them.
In this and in another action with a straggler the galleys
were so roughly handled, that they discontinued the pursuit.
The expedition had been instructed to ply for the Azores if
the wind were northerly ; but if it blew from the south,
then for the Isles of Bayona. The fleet was dispersed in a
gale ; but after seventeen days the two commanders and
good part of the ships were united off Vigo. In that interval
many men had been cast overboard ; for not only was the
sickness raging among them, but many died of hunger, and
more must have perished for lack of sufficient food, if the
mortality which carried off their comrades had not left a

* Hakluyt, 149.



HAWKINS AND DRAKE 333

more competent allowance for the survivors. Not more than
2000 effective men were now left. They were landed in two
bodies : they approached the town on two sides ; and though
a strong barricade had been constructed at the end of every
street, no defence was attempted. The inhabitants deemed
it prudent to withdraw in time, and had removed with them
everything of value, except good store of wine. It was
thought too hazardous to make a movement upon Bayona,
whither they had fled, and where they knew, from one of
their Corunna prisoners, that there was a strong garrison.
The English contented themselves with spoiling the country
for some seven or eight miles, burning the villages and the
standing corn : then, after setting fire to every house in the
town, they re-embarked. *

Still the commanders clung to the hope of returning with
some booty that might compensate for the loss incurred in
this luckless expedition. It was agreed that Drake should
draft the able men into twenty of the best ships, and sail for
the Azores for the chance of falling in with the Indian fleet,
while Norris with the rest of the armament should return
home. They parted with this understanding : on the second
night there arose a greater storm than any they had en-
countered since they left England ; both squadrons were
dispersed ; and when Norris, twelve days afterwards, reached
Plymouth, he found that Drake had arrived there, and all
the queen's ships, and many others ; but every vessel had
taken the opportunity, which the storm afforded, of going its
own way, " some led by a desire of returning whence they
came, and some," says Wingfield, " being possessed of the
hulks (the Hanse towns' prizes), sought other ports, from their
general's eye, where they might make their private com-
modity of them, which they did to their own great advan-
tage ". At Plymouth the army was dissolved, eight companies

* Hakluyt, 150.



334 ENGLISH SEAMEN

only being retained : every soldier received five shillings, and
" the arms he bare to make money of, and this was believed
to be more than could by any means be due to them ". * It
appears, however, that some of the men who compared their
wages with their pains, murmured against this distribution,
and that this increased the unpopularity, t which in some

* " For they were not in service three months ; in which time," says
Wingfield, " they had their victuals, which no man will value at less
than half their pay, for such is the allowance in her majesty's ships to
her mariners ; so as there remained but ten shillings a month more to
be paid : for which there was not any private man but had his apparel
and furniture to his own use ; so as every common soldier discharged
received more in money, victuals, apparel, and furniture than his pay
did amount to" (Hakluyt, 151).

t "As our country," says Wingfield, " doth bring forth many gallant
men, who, desirous of honour, do put themselves into the actions there-
of, so doth it many more, who, though their thoughts reach not so high
as others, yet do they listen how other men's acts do pass ; and, either
believing what any man will report unto them, are willingly carried away
into errors, or, tied to some greater man's faith, become secretaries
against a noted truth. The one sort of these take their opinions from
the highway side, or, at the farthest, go no farther than Paul's, to
inquire what hath been done in this voyage ; where if they meet with
any whose capacity before their going out could not make them live,
nor their valour maintain their reputation, and who went only for spoil,
complaining on the hardness and misery thereof, they think they are
bound to give credit to these honest men who were parties therein, and,
in very charity, become of their opinions. The others, to make good
the faction they are entered into, if they see any of those malcontents
(as every journey yieldeth some), do run unto them, like tempting spirits,
to confirm them in their humour, with assurance that they foresaw,
before our going out, what would become thereof.

" Be ye not, therefore, credulous in believing every report ; for there
have been many more beholders of these things that have passed than
actors in the same ; who, by their experience not having the knowledge