England in America, 1580-1652 | Page 5

some Huguenot
cruisers.
In this expedition one of the two ships which escaped was commanded
by a young man named Francis Drake, who came to be regarded as the
greatest seaman of his age. He was the son of a clergyman, and was
born in Devonshire, where centred for two centuries the maritime skill
of England. While a lad he followed the sea, and acquired reputation
for his courage and sagacity. Three years after the affair at San Juan,
Drake fitted out a little squadron, and in 1572 sailed, as he himself
specially states, to inflict vengeance upon the Spaniards. He had no
commission, and on his own private account attacked a power with
which his country was at peace.[16]
Drake attacked Nombre de Dios and Cartagena, and, as the historian
relates, got together "a pretty store of money," an evidence that his
purpose was not wholly revenge. He marched across the Isthmus of
Panama and obtained his first view of the Pacific Ocean. "Vehemently
transported with desire to navigate that sea," he fell upon his knees, and
"implored the Divine Assistance, that he might at some time or other
sail thither and make a perfect discovery of the same."[17] Drake
reached Plymouth on his return Sunday, August 9, 1573, in sermon
time; and his arrival created so much excitement that the people left the

preacher alone in church so as to catch a glimpse of the famous
sailor.[18]
Drake contemplated greater deeds. He had now plenty of friends who
wished to engage with him, and he soon equipped a squadron of five
ships. That he had saved something from the profits of his former
voyage is shown by his equipment. The Pelican, in which he sailed,
had "expert musicians and rich furniture," and "all the vessels for the
table, yea, many even of the cook-room, were of pure silver."[19]
Drake's object now was to harry the coast of the ocean which he had
seen in 1573. Accordingly, he sailed from Plymouth (December 13,
1577), coasted along the shore of South America, and, passing through
the Straits of Magellan, entered the Pacific in September, 1578.
The Pelican was now the only one of his vessels left, as all the rest had
either returned home or been lost. Renaming the ship the Golden Hind,
Drake swept up the western side of South America and took the ports
of Chili and Peru by surprise. He captured galleons carrying quantities
of gold, silver, and jewelry, and acquired plunder worth millions of
dollars.[20] Drake did not think it prudent to go home by the way he
had come, but struck boldly northward in search of a northeast passage
into the Atlantic. He coasted along California as far as Oregon, repaired
his ship in a harbor near San Francisco, took possession of the country
in the name of Queen Elizabeth and called it Nova Albion. Finding no
northeast passage, he turned his prow to the west, and circumnavigated
the globe by the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at Plymouth in
November, 1580.[21]
The queen received him with undisguised favor, and met a request from
Philip II. for Drake's surrender by knighting the freebooter and wearing
in her crown the jewel he offered her as a present. When the Spanish
ambassador threatened that matters should come to the cannon, she
replied "quietly, in her most natural voice," writes Mendoza, "that if I
used threats of that kind she would throw me into a dungeon." The
revenge that Drake had taken for the affair at San Juan de Ulloa was so
complete that for more than a hundred years he was spoken of in
Spanish annals as "the Dragon."

His example stimulated adventure in all directions, and in 1586
Thomas Cavendish, of Ipswich, sailed to South America and made a
rich plunder at Spanish expense. He returned home by the Cape of
Good Hope, and was thus the second Englishman to circumnavigate the
globe.[22]
In the mean time, another actor, hardly less adventurous but of a far
grander purpose, had stepped upon the stage of this tremendous historic
drama. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was born in Devonshire, schooled at Eton,
and educated at Oxford. Between 1563 and 1576 he served in the wars
of France, Ireland, and the Netherlands, and was therefore thoroughly
steeped in the military training of the age.[23] The first evidence of
Gilbert's great purpose was the charter by Parliament, in the autumn of
1566, of a corporation for the discovery of new trades. Gilbert was a
member, and in 1567 he presented an unsuccessful petition to the queen
for the use of two ships for the discovery of a northwest passage to
China and the establishment of a traffic with that country.[24]
Before long Gilbert wrote a pamphlet, entitled "A Discourse to Prove a
Passage by