CHAPTER II

DRAKE AND THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION

AMONG the many Elizabethan sailors whose daring exploits initiated the British struggle for world trade and dominion there is none more famous than Sir Francis Drake. As a Protestant seaman, he added religious zeal to his enthusiasm for the plunder of Spanish commerce. In a time when the contest for oceanic traffic took the form of ill-disguised warfare, Drake showed himself master of the art of sailing, fighting, and freebooting. He made many bold and successful expeditions, but one of them stands out above all others on account of its uniqueness and daring. That is his voyage around the world, on which he set out in 1577. The story of this journey is told in Mr. Corbett's little volume on Drake from which is taken the following extract relating a part of the tale after the rounding of South America.

§ 1. Raiding Spanish Shipping1

Lord Burleigh's scheme had failed, and Drake was knocking at the golden gates. In the teeth of the astutest ministers of the time, he was about to blow the blast before which the giant's doors would fly open, and deliberately to goad the giant into open fight. Full of the momentous meaning of his resolve, he paused upon the threshold to do honor to the mistress whose favor he wore. Before the frowning entry he caused his fleet, in homage of their sovereign lady, to strike their topsails upon the bunt as a token of his willingness and glad mind, and to show his dutiful obedience to her Highness. It was a piece of true Elizabethan chivalry, and like a true Elizabethan knight he accompanied it with a shrewd stroke of policy. Sir Christopher Hatton had now no visible

Corbett, Drake, chap. vi. By permission of Julian Corbett, Esq., and The Macmillan Company, Publishers.

connection with the venture. The vessel named after him had been broken up, and his representative had been beheaded. Drake knew well how flat fell prowess at the Faery Queene's court if a man had not a friend at her ear. He knew, too, that no reputation was so fashionable just then as that of a patron of discoveries, nor could he be ignorant that all the new favorite's good-will would be required to save him from Burleigh's power. So on the poop of the little flagship was placed the crest of the Captain of the Guard, and in his honor the Pelican became the Golden Hind. So protected, Drake boldly entered the straits. Then from the towering snow-cones and threatening glaciers that guarded the entry the tempests swept down upon the daring intruders. Out of the tortuous gulfs that through the bowels of the fabulous Austral continent seemed to lead beyond the confines of the world, rude squalls buffeted them this way and that, and currents, the like of which no man had seen, made as though they would dash them to pieces in the fathomless depths where no cable would reach. Fires lit by natives on the desolate shores as the strangers struggled by, added the terrors of unknown magic. But Drake's fortitude and consummate seamanship triumphed over all, and in a fortnight he brought his ill-sailing ships in triumph out upon the Pacific. Then, as though maddened to see how the adventurers had braved every effort to destroy them, the whole fury of the fiends that guarded the South Sea's slumber rushed howling upon them. Hardly had the squadron turned northward than a terrific gale struck it and hurled it back. The sky was darkened, and the bowels of the earth seemed to have burst, and for nearly two months they were driven under bare poles to and fro without rest, in latitudes where no ship had ever sailed. On the maps the great Austral continent was marked, but they found in its place an enchanted void, where wind and water, and ice and darkness, seemed to make incessant war. After three weeks' strife, the Marygold went down with all hands; and in another week Wynter lost heart, and finding himself at the mouth of the Straits, went home in despair; while the Golden Hind, ignorant of the desertion, was swept once more to the south of Cape Horn. Here, on the fifty-third day of its fury, the storm ceased, exhausted, and Drake found himself alone. But it was no moment to repine, for he knew he had made a discovery so brilliant as to deprive even Magellan's of its radiance. He was anchored among the islands southward of anything known to geographers, and before him the Atlantic and Pacific rolled together in one great flood.

In his exultation he landed on the farthest island, and walking alone with his instruments to its end, he laid himself down, and with his arms embraced the southernmost point of the known world. . .

About a month later, little dreaming what had taken place, the crew of the Grand Captain of the South were lazily waiting in Valparaiso harbor for a wind to carry them to Panama with their cargo of gold and Chili wine. As they lounged over the bulwarks a sail appeared to the northward, and they made ready a pipe of wine to have a merry night with the newcomers. As the stranger anchored they beat her a welcome of their drum, and then watched her boat come alongside. In a moment all was in confusion. A rough old salt was laying about him with his fists, shouting in broken Spanish, “Down, dog, down!" and the astounded Spaniards were soon tight under hatches. It was Tom Moone at his old work. Hither the Golden Hind had been piloted by a friendly Indian in its search for provisions and loot. The little settlement was quickly plundered of all it had worth taking, and Drake's mariners, who for months had been living on salted penguin, and many of whom were suffering from wounds received in an encounter with the islanders of Mocha, were revelling in all the dainties of the Chilian paradise. For three days the mysterious ship, which seemed to have dropped from the skies, lay in the harbor collecting provisions, and then, laden with victuals, it sailed away northward with its prize.

In a

Drake's great anxiety now was to rendezvous his scattered fleet for the sack of Lima and Panama, and assured that Wynter must be ahead he fully expected to find him in 30° north latitude, the point agreed on. After an ineffectual attempt to water at Coquimbo, where he found the Spaniards in arms, he discovered a natural harbor a little north of it which suited his purpose. month his preparations were complete. The men were thoroughly refreshed; a pinnace had been set up; the Golden Hind refitted from stem to stern, and under the guidance of the pilot of the Grand Captain he set out to realize the dream of his life. Every one except perhaps poor John Doughty was in the highest spirits. The return of health and the glorious climate made them reckless of the dangers of their single-handed attempt. Still they trusted to find the Elizabeth, and as they searched the coast for water with the pinnace they never lost hope of hearing of her. Fresh plunder constantly compensated for their continued disappointment. At one point on the coast of Tarapaca they found a Span

iard asleep with thirteen bars of silver beside him. They apologized profusely for disturbing his nap, and politely insisted on making amends by relieving him of his burden. Farther on they met another driving a train of guanacoes laden with some eight hundred pounds of silver, and expressing themselves shocked to see a gentleman turned carrier they took his place; but somehow, as they afterwards said, they lost the way to his house and found themselves suddenly just where they had left the pinnace.

So they romped along that peaceful coast, startling its luxurious slumbers with shouts of reckless laughter till they came to Arica, the frontier town of Peru and the point where the fabulous wealth of the Potosi mines was embarked for Panama. It was a place important enough to have tempted the Elizabeth from her tryst. But not only was no trace of her to be found, but so hot was the alarm in front of Drake that two small treasure-barks were all there was in the harbor to plunder and the town was in arms. A few hours ago a galleon had escaped northward, laden with eight hundred bars of silver, all belonging to the king of Spain, and fuming to so narrowly miss his revenge, Drake at once resolved to give chase. Without further care for his consort or any attempt on the town he hurried on with his pinnace and the Valparaiso prize, till at Chuli, the port of Arequipa, they saw the chase at anchor. Her capture was without a blow, for not a man was found aboard her nor a bar of silver either. Two hours ago the whole of it had been heaved overboard to save it from Drake's hands, and in a fury of disappointment he at once set both the slowsailing prizes adrift out into the ocean. For he was resolved by a dash on Lima to outstrip his notoriety at all costs, and so once more the Golden Hind and its pinnace spread their wings northward alone.

It was on February 15 that, in the dead of night, they quietly entered Callao de Lima. The harbor was full of shipping, and the pilot whom Drake had seized from a vessel outside was made to take him right in among them. A ship from Panama was entering at the same time, and as they anchored side by side, a customhouse boat at once put off and hailed them. Not content to wait till the morning, a sleepy officer boarded the Golden Hind, and before he knew where he was he tumbled right on the top of a big gun. Frightened to death, he was over the side again in a moment, and his boat dashed away crying the alarm. The ship of Panama cut her cables, and Drake slipped into the pinnace to take her, but as she showed fight he left her for the present and turned to

ransack the defenceless shipping that lay around him. From ship to ship he went, but not an ounce of treasure could he find. It was all ashore except a vast quantity which had recently been shipped for Panama in a large vessel called Our Lady of the Conception, and nicknamed the Spitfire. That was enough for him. He returned to the Golden Hind, left his anchorage, and as he drifted out in the calm which had fallen, he captured the ship of Panama. But then ensued a delay both exasperating and dangerous. For three days there was not a breath of wind, and the Viceroy of Peru, marching down from Lima with two thousand troops, sent out four vessels to capture or burn the rover as he lay becalmed. All was in vain. Ere they found heart to close with the terrible stranger the breeze sprang up and away he went in hot pursuit of the treasure-ship. It had fourteen days' start of him, but he did not despair, and while the Viceroy was solemnly casting guns to arm vessels to pursue him, Drake was ransacking ship after ship for treasure and news of the chase. She had stopped at Truxillo to load more bullion, and each prize told him he was overhauling her. At Paita he learned she had sailed but two days before. The scent was now hot indeed. Exasperated to miss his prey so narrowly, the admiral promised a golden chain to the man who first sighted her, and swore she should be his, though he tore her from her moorings at Panama itself. Across the line they raced and still no sight of her, till on March 1 off Cape San Francisco young John Drake, his page and nephew, claimed the reward. Fearful of alarming his quarry, Drake at once ordered casks to be trailed astern, and so managed to keep hull down till nightfall. Then the Golden Hind was slipped, and in one bound rushed alongside her prey. A single shot brought her to reason, and then side by side the two ships ran westwards for three days into the silent wastes of the Pacific. For three days more they lay together, and when they parted there were added to Drake's treasure thirteen chests of pieces of eight, eighty pounds' weight of gold, jewels untold, and the Golden Hind was literally ballasted with silver.

So huge was the booty that the only thought was home. To attempt Panama single-handed would in any case have been madness, and Drake resolved to return, but not by the way he came. The great discoveries he had already made did not satisfy his greed for renown. He had swept one whole continent from the globe; by his survey of the coast of Chili he had for the first time determined the shape of another; and now he was minded to settle