CHAP. X.

FRESH COLONISTS ARRIVE IN FLORIDA.

125

pant, and the captain determined to return to France with the whole company. They were delayed for want of sufficient vessels. Meanwhile, Sir John Hawkins, of England, sailed into the St. John's with several ships. Laudonnière bought one of them, and was about to embark for Europe in her, with his whole company, when Ribault appeared with a squadron of

seven ships from France, bringing a fresh company of colonists. Amongst them were several women and children. He had sailed from Dieppe late in May, with a commission as governor of all the French on that coast, and arrived at the St. John's at near the close of August, 1565.

A few days after Ribault's arrival, five ships were seen coming in from the sea. They anchored within speaking distance of the French ships at the bar, and after a long silence the commander of the intruding squadron

"And what are

hailed the nearest vessel. He was answered, "France." you doing in the territories of King Philip?" he asked. "Begone!" The questioner was a Spaniard, and the Spanish monarch claimed all Florida by right of pre-discovery. The Spanish officer then asked: “Are you Catholics or Lutherans?" and was answered, "Lutherans of the new religion." The French officer then inquired who the Spaniard was and what was his errand, when (according to Barcia, the Spanish historian) he replied: "I am Pedro Menendez, commander of this armament, which belongs to the king of Spain, Don Philip the Second. I have come hither to hang and destroy all the Lutherans whom I shall find either on land or sea, according to my orders received from the king, which are so precise as to deprive me of the power of saving any one whatsoever; and these orders I shall execute to the letter; but if I should meet with any Catholic on board your vessels, he shall receive good treatment. As for the heretics, they shall die."

Ribault was not taken altogether by surprise, for just as he was about to sail from Dieppe, he was handed a letter from Coligni, in which the admiral wrote in postscript: "While closing this letter, I have received certain advice that Don Pedro Menendez is about to depart from Spain to the coast of Florida. You will take care not to suffer him to encroach upon us, any more than he would that we should encroach upon him."

The threat of Menendez and the hostile attitude of his ships caused the captains of the French vessels to cut their cables and put to sea. The Spanish vessels followed, firing the contents of heavy bow-guns after the fugitives. They chased them far, but in vain. "These enraged devils," wrote Mendoza, the chaplain of Menendez' squadron, "are such adroit seamen, and manoeuvred so well, that we could not take one of them." The Spaniards finally turned back toward the coast, followed by the Frenchmen, who saw the smaller Spanish vessels enter a river several leagues south of the St. John's, and the larger ones, with the galleon of Menendez, anchor at its mouth. They also saw Spanish soldiers and provisions landed not far above that anchorage. With this important news the Frenchmen hastened He immeback to the St. John's and reported to Ribault all they had seen. diately prepared to go in search of his enemies and attack them with his ships and his whole land force.

Whilst Ribault was holding a council in which Laudonnière opposed the measure suggested by the governor, an Indian came with tidings that the Spaniards were fortifying themselves on the bank of the river where they had landed. Ribault believed that they were preparing to march overland and attack Fort Carolina, and he hastened his preparations for seizing their ships, attacking them in their quarters, and so spoiling their scheme and

CHAP. X.

FRENCHMEN AND SPANIARDS IN FLORIDA.

127

possibly destroying them totally or driving them from the coast. Was he sure that he could seize their ships? The more cautious Laudonnière thought not, and still opposed the perilous expedition. The more fiery Ribault persisted in his resolution, and gathering as many soldiers on three ships (his larger one, the Trinity, being yet at sea) as they could conveniently carry, he sailed out of the river and down the straight coast, in full expectation of gaining a complete victory. He was sorely disappointed. A dead calm and a very low tide, when he first approached the enemy, prevented his attacking the Spanish ships, and whilst he was waiting for a favoring breeze and a flood tide, there arose a very sudden and violent storm which drove the French vessels far out to sea, and exposed both ships and men to a sad fate, as we shall observe hereafter.

Meanwhile, Menendez dispatched one of his small vessels to Spain, and the galleon to Cuba, the latter for the purpose of bringing to Florida a reinforcement of Spanish troops known to be at Havana. But the galleon St. Pelayo a large three-deck ship-did not reach its destination. There were several French prisoners on board of her whom Menendez had ordered to be sent to the Inquisition in Spain by way of St. Domingo. Soon after the great ship put to sea, these prisoners joined the sailors in a mutiny, and taking the command from the officers, they sailed for Europe and entered a port in Denmark.

CHAPTER XI.

MENENDEZ HIS LANDING ON THE COAST OF FLORIDA-THE FRENCH ON THE ST. JOHN'S MASSACRED BY THE SPANIARDS-COMPLAINTS OF THE OUTRAGE UNHEEDED BY THE FRENCH MONARCH THE CHEVALIER DE GOURGES AVENGES THE CRIME BY RETALIATION THE FRENCH COURT FAVORS THE ROMAN CATHOLICS-WICKEDNESS OF CATHARINE DE MEDICI THE MURDER OF COLIGNI-QUEEN ELIZABETH ESPOUSES COLIGNI'S PLAN FOR SETTLEMENT IN AMERICA-REPORTS CONCERNING THE WARMER REGIONS OF AMERICA RECEIVED FROM WALTER RALEIGH-FROBISHER'S VOYAGE IN SEARCH OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE TO INDIA, AND FOR GOLD-HIS DISCOVERIES-THE GLOBE CIRCUMNAVIGATED BY DRAKE-HIS EXPLOITS AGAINST

THE SPANIARDS.

M

ENENDEZ (or Melendez) seems to have been rather too harshly treated by historians, for his career in Florida was not wholly voluntary. He was a native of Avila, in Spain, and at the period under consideration, he was about forty-six years of age. He had already risen to the highest rank in the Spanish navy, and was a man of large fortune. In 1554, he commanded the vessel which bore his king to England to marry Queen Mary; and in 1561, he commanded the great treasure-fleet of galleons on their voyage from Mexico to Spain. One of the vessels containing his son and several relatives and friends disappeared, and was never heard of afterward. When he had delivered the fleet in Spain, he asked permission to go back in search of the lost vessel, but was then refused. Finally, after two or three years delay, his request was granted, but on condition that he should explore and colonize Florida. He fitted out an expedition for the purpose at his own expense, but when he was about to sail, orders came to him from Philip to exterminate all Protestants he might find there, or in whatever corner of the world he should discover them, on land or sea, in forests or marshes.

Philip had heard that the Huguenots who had fled from persecution in France were hiding in the forests beyond the Atlantic, and his zeal was so kindled for the domination of his church, that he gave the order to Menendez to extirpate the heretics. The mariner had no alternative but to obey or lose the opportunity of searching for his son. He was not even allowed to choose the alternative, for disobedience would have led him to the dungeons of the Inquisition. So he obeyed. The king, regarding it as a holy enterprise, added ships and treasure. Soldiers and seamen flocked to the

CHAP. XI.

SPANIARDS ATTACK THE FRENCH.

129

standard of Menendez in great numbers, and he sailed with a fleet of eleven ships (one of them a galleon of nine hundred tons) with over twenty-six hundred persons, consisting, besides the soldiers and sailors, of adventurers and priests. This was the armament, the sailing of which Ribault had been apprised by Coligni. Storms and other disasters in the West Indies scattered it, and when it arrived on the coast of Florida, it was reduced to a squadron of only five vessels (one of them the great ship), bearing about a thousand persons of all descriptions.

When Menendez landed from the galleon, on the coast of Florida, he made the event an occasion for a pompous ceremonial. As he left the great ship in a boat with six oarsmen, accompanied by Mendoza, his chaplain, and followed by other boats filled with gentlemen and ecclesiastics, loud trumpets sounded, drums beat, cannon thundered, and flags were displayed on the ship and on the shore, where his soldiers had already begun the construction of a fort. As they touched the beach, the chaplain walked before, bearing a large cross and chanting a hymn. Menendez followed with his train, carrying aloft, with his own hand, the royal standard of Spain unfurled. He and his followers reverently knelt before the priest, who was arrayed in rich sacerdotal robes, and kissed the sacred symbol of the atonement which Mendoza held in his hand. It was firmly planted in the sand by the side of the flagstaff from which fluttered the royal banner in a gentle breeze; and a shield bearing the arms of Spain was leaned against the cross. Then Menendez drew his sword and formally took possession of the whole country in the name of King Philip of Spain. On that spot, and with such consecration, were laid the foundations of the city of St. Augustine, in Florida, forty years earlier than those of any other town in America, north of Mexico.

Menendez soon marched upon Fort Carolina, on the St. Johns, to execute his dreadful mission. His journey was in incessant rain over oozy ground, but zeal gave strength to his four hundred soldiers. The feeble Huguenot fort was in command of Laudonnière, who had only a handful of soldiers (for a greater portion had gone with Ribault), and he was burdened with civilians, men, women and children. With the ferocity of tigers, the Spaniards fell upon them. They were close to the fort before their presence was suspected. No person was spared on whom the assailants could lay hands. In their beds, in prayers for mercy, in flight, they were slaughtered. A few escaped to the woods without food and with scanty clothing. Many perished for want of food, and a few made their way to two small French ships, in which they sailed for Europe. Among them was Laudonnière. According to the chaplain, Mendoza, one hundred and forty-two of the Huguenots were slain, whilst the Spaniards did not lose a man. The women