they remained above three weeks, during which they endured
great storms, with perpetual snow ; and many of the men
"died with cursed famine and miserable cold, not having
wherewith to cover their bodies, nor to fill their bellies, but
living by muscles, water, and weeds of the sea, with a small
relief of the ship's store in meal sometimes ".* Discouraged
by these hardships, and doubting what the end would be,
Cavendish asked Davis's opinion, "because he was a man that
had good experience of the north-west parts in his three
several discoveries that way, employed by the merchants of
London ". Davis, who felt as much at home among ice and
snow as a white bear, or a walrus, told him the snow was a
matter of no long continuance. However, he called together
the whole company, and told them he would tarry no longer
in the straits, but turn back, and make for the Cape of Good
Hope. The general opinion was, that being within forty
leagues of the South Sea, it was better to " stay God's favour
for a wind," and endure any hardships rather than give over
the voyage ; nevertheless, what he determined on they would
perform. Upon this he declared his resolution to go for the
Cape of Good Hope. But when he returned on board the
Desire Davis represented to him that this would be a desperate
undertaking : " if the rest of your ships," said he, " be fur-
nished answerable to this, it is impossible to perform it ; for
we have no more sails than masts, no victuals, no ground-
tackling, no cordage more than is overhead, and among
seventy and five persons there is but the master alone that
can order the ship, and but fourteen sailors ; the rest are
gentlemen, serving-men, and artificers ". Davis made the
* Jane says : " All the sick men in the Galleon were most uncharitably
put ashore into the woods, in the snow, rain, and cold, when men of good
health could scarcely endure it, where they ended their lives in the
highest degree of misery ; Master Cavendish all this while being in the
Desire ".
THOMAS CAVENDISH 397
same representations to Cocke : the " chiefs of the whole
company " drew up a petition in consequence ; and Cavendish,
yielding to the general voice so far as to give up his own rash
intention, determined to leave the straits and return for Santos.
But as if he had been displeased with Davis for having in-
fluenced others in this matter, he left the Desire, and went
again on board the Leicester Galleon.*
On the 1 8th they were free of the straits : on the 20th the
Desire and the Black Pinnace separated from the other two
vessels ; Cavendish thought wilfully : but, according to their
protestation, by unaccountable accident. \ They returned
to Port Desire, thinking that he would put back there ;
waited there till that expectation could no longer be enter-
tained ; were driven to the Falkland Islands, " which had
never before been discovered by any known relation";
entered and passed the straits ; were driven back, and, after
enduring such sufferings as none but sailors can be exposed
to, and with a perseverance and patient fortitude which never
has been exceeded, reached Ireland in the June of the follow-
* Hakluyt, 843, 844.
t Admiral Burney says : " The circumstances are certainly of a sus-
picious nature ; and there is some reason for believing that Captain Davis
considered the engagement mutual between Mr. Cavendish and himself
to make a voyage into the South Sea ; and that he was determined, if
possible, not to be disappointed of an enterprise which he had been
brought thus far to prosecute. Instances without number are to be met
with of ships deserting their commander-in-chief, to escape the perils of a
long or dangerous undertaking ; but the case of Captain Davis is of a
different character, and is one of the few in which the separation, if
contrived, was for the purpose of persevering in a pursuit after it had
been abandoned by the chief commander as hopeless and impracticable"
(pp. 101, 102).
" This is the same distinguished seaman who discovered and has left his
name to Davis's Strait. He afterwards made several voyages to the
East Indies, and lost his life there in a quarrel with the crew of a
Japanese vessel " (ibid., 106).
398 ENGLISH SEAMEN
ing year, having lost sixty men out of a crew of seventy-six.
Jane was one of the survivors.
Cavendish, who had parted from the Roebuck also, arrived
with only his own ship on the coast of Brazil, and landed
twenty-five men about three leagues from Santos, to seize
provisions for the relief of their sick and starving comrades.
The principal persons in the ship were of this party, and not
a man returned. The Indians, who carried two of their
prisoners to Santos, entered that town in savage triumph
with the heads of all the rest. After these mishaps, Caven-
dish was joined by the Roebuck : they coasted along, ravaging
houses and plantations as they went, and attempted with
their boats to cut out some ships which were at anchor in the
river near the town of Espirito Santo. The attempt was
rashly made, and ended in the loss of eighty men killed,
wounded, or basely abandoned by their comrades ; after
which the master of the Roebuck, by whose orders they were
thus abandoned, and whom Cavendish calls " a most coAvardly
villain that ever was born of a woman," thought proper to
shift for himself with that ship, and desert his unfortunate
commander. * Nothing remained for Cavendish then but to
make for England ; but his heart was broken. Assured by
his own unerring feelings that death was at hand, he wrote
a letter to Sir Tristram Gorges, giving a brief account of this
unhappy voyage, and complaining of the conduct of his
officers and men. Having vented his complaints, he pro-
ceeded thus :
"And now to tell you of my greatest grief, which was the
sickness of my dear kinsman John Locke, who by this time
was grown in great weakness, by reason whereof he desired
rather quietness and contentedness in our course, than such
continual disquietness, which never ceased us. And now by
this, what with grief for him, and the continual trouble I
* Purchas, b. vi., c. 6., p. 1195. History of Brazil, i., 359-364.
THOMAS CAVENDISH 399
endured among such hell-hounds, my spirits were clean spent,
wishing myself upon any desert place in the world, there to
die, rather than thus basely to return home again ; which
course I had put in execution, had I found an island which
the cards make to be eight degrees to the southward of the
line. I swear to you, I sought for it with all diligence,
meaning, if I had found it, to have there ended my unfor-
tunate life. But God suffered not such happiness to light
upon me, for I could by no means find it ; so as I was
forced to go towards England, and having gotten eight
degrees by north the line, I lost my most dearest cousin.
" And now consider whether a heart made of flesh be able
to endure so many misfortunes, all falling upon me without
intermission ! I thank my God that, in ending of me, He
hath pleased to rid me of all further trouble and mishaps.
And now to return to our private matters : I have made my
will, wherein I have given special charge that all goods (what-
soever belong unto me) be delivered into your hands. For
God's sake refuse not to do this last request for me. I owe
little that I know of, and, therefore, it will be the less
trouble ; but if there be any debt that, of truth, is owing by
me, for God's sake see it paid. To use compliments of love,
now at my last breath, were frivolous : but know that I left
none in England whom I loved half so well as yourself;
which you in such sort deserved at my hands as I can by no
means requite. I have left all (that little remaining) unto
you, not to be accountable for anything. That which you
will, if you find any overplus (yourself especially being satis-
fied to your own desire), give unto my sister Anne Candish.
I have written to no man living but yourself, leaving all
friends and kinsmen, only reputing you as dearest. Commend
me to both your brethren, being glad that your brother
Edward escaped so unfortunate a voyage. I pray give this
copy of my unhappy proceedings to none but only to Sir
George Gary, and tell him, that if I had thought the letter
400 ENGLISH SEAMEN
of a dead man acceptable, I would have written unto him.
I have taken order with the master of my ship to see his
pieces of ordnance delivered unto him, for he knoweth them.
And if the Roebuck be not returned, then I have appointed
him to deliver him two brass pieces out of this ship, which I
pray you see performed. I have now no more to say ; and
take this last farewell, that you have lost the lovingest friend
that ever was lost by any. Commend me to your wife. No
more ! But as you love God, do not refuse to undertake
this last request of mine. I pray, forget not Master Carey
of Coakington : gratify him with something, for he used me
kindly at my departure. Bear with this scribbling ; for I
protest I am scarce able to hold a pen in my hand." '
Cavendish's history cannot be concluded better than by
these his dying words : they are most touching in themselves,
and leave us with an opinion of him far more favourable than
could be deduced from anything that is recorded of his life.
* Purchas, b. vi., c. 6., p. 1200.
NOTES.
LORD HOWARD.
Southey has not gone much into details in his account of Lord
Howard, thinking, perhaps, that he was rather the nominal than
the real commander of the different enterprises in which he took
part. Lord Howard, however, it should have been recorded, had
at least some share in founding the " chest " for disabled seamen
at Chatham. He sat on the trial of Essex, and was one of the
lords who had a share in all the various commissions appointed
by the Government for administrative purposes. During his
latter years as Lord High Admiral many abuses crept into the
navy. His age, and perhaps his easy-going profuse habits,
disqualified him for the work of vigilant minute administration.
His retirement was hastened by the adverse report of a commis-
sion, and perhaps by the pressure of Buckingham, who desired his
place, and offered him good pecuniary terms as an inducement
to retire.
EARL OF CUMBERLAND.
Research has added nothing of moment to this account of the
Earl of Cumberland.
HAWKINS AND DRAKE.
The fame of these two men has made all inquirers into the
history of that time eager to discover all there was to learn about
them in the long hidden records of public offices, or private libraries.
As regards Hawkins some curious facts have been revealed which
serve to intensify the opinion a shrewd impartial critic would
from the first have formed of him from accessible evidence. We
have learned, for instance, that on his first voyage he plundered
Portuguese slavers whom he found upon the coast a fact
naturally left unmentioned in his own published accounts. It
26
402 ENGLISH SEAMEN
has been revealed also, that in 1570 he entered, with the know-
ledge, if not at the instigation of Cecil, into a plot to cheat King
Philip out of money, and valuable information. He made an
offer to the king's ambassador, Don Guerau (Gerald) de Spes,
to betray a part of the queen's ships to the Spaniard for a suffi-
cient reward. Philip was for a time incredulous, but finally fell
into the trap. He released some of Hawkins* men who were in
prison at Seville, sent him 4O,ooo/. and a patent of Grandee.
Some of the money at least must have remained in the pocket of
Sir John, and Cecil gained evidence that the King of Spain's
intentions were mischievous. Both were no doubt well pleased,
and the story is characteristic of the diplomacy of the time. It
is also quite in keeping with the methods of that heroic, but lying
and intriguing, period, that Hawkins was contemporaneously
engaged in a negotiation to supply ships to the King of Spain's
enemy, Louis of Nassau. In 1573, he was stabbed in the Strand
by a fanatic who mistook him for Sir Christopher Hatton. Before
sailing in 1567, he had taken an active part in driving a packet
belonging to King Philip which endeavoured to take refuge in
Plymouth, into the hands of the Beggars of the Sea, who were
cruising outside. Cecil, who did not like him, recorded his
opinion that Hawkins had been guilty of malversation in office,
but of this there is no direct evidence.
Investigation has rather disproved the truth of some of the
stories told about Drake, than added anything of note to what was
known. The story of the quarrel with Bernard Drake must be at
least exaggerated. The family of Ash recognised Sir Francis' right
to bear their arms though with the "difference" of a third brother.
Perhaps he attempted to use them without a "difference". The
statement that he was of " mean parentage " is a mere mistrans-
lation of Camden's Latin, but his branch of the Drakes were
sinking into the mass of working people when his energy saved
them. His father cannot have been Vicar of Upnor, where there
has never been a church, but he may have had the living at
Upchurch. Nothing deserving to be called evidence has been
published to clear up the supposed mystery of Doughty's exe-
cution, but there is a curious statement in the malignant narrative
of one Cooke that Drake believed the man to be a wizard who
raised unfavourable winds to spoil the voyage. As a sailor,
NOTES 403
Devonshire man, and Elizabethan, it is probable that Drake did
believe in witchcraft. During his voyage in 1587, he put his
Vice-Admiral Borough under arrest for insubordination. During
the Armada war he had a violent quarrel with Sir Martin
Frobisher over their respective rights to the prize money of the
galleon Rosario. Drake apparently had to be satisfied with the
ransom of Don Pedro de Valdes, which amounted to 3000^.
CAVENDISH.
Contrary to his custom Southey has overlooked a voyage of
Cavendish's. If was the first, and was undertaken, in a ship of
his own, in 1585, in company with Sir R. Grenville. Raleigh was
the promoter of the venture, and the design was to plant the
first colony in Virginia. The adventurers spent some time among
the West Indian Islands plundering the Spaniards, and some
time in Virginia harrying the natives, and returned to England
at the close of summer. Some of the party stayed, but Cavendish
was not one of them.
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