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 Francis Russell Hart, F. R, G, S, 
 

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 ilonograpli 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCIS RUSSELL HART, F. R. G. S. 
 
 REPHINTED FROM 
 THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORT 
 
 VOLUME 1, NUMBER 4 
 COPTRIGHT ASSIGNED TO THE AUTHOR 
 
 A.SSOOIATED PUBI.ISHBKS OP AMERICAIT HECORDS 
 NEW HAVES', COITirEOTICTTT 
 190T 
 
Person) 
 
 12 J e '08 
 
i'tr Jranris Irak? 
 
 By Francis Rtjssel.l, Hart, F. R. G. S. 
 
 ^HB^ URING the last quarter of 
 ^ ^ the sixteenth century 
 ^k —^ Spain was the strongest 
 ^B — I of European powers, and 
 " ^ ^ Phihp the most powerful 
 ^^^^ of monarchs. In the New 
 World, Spanish rule was 
 absolute from Florida to the Rio de la 
 Plata on the Atlantic coast, and from 
 the Isthmus south on the Western 
 coast of South America ; in fact, a 
 papal grant had conveyed the whole 
 of America to the Spanish Crown. 
 A small French settlement on 'the St. 
 Lawrence in the North, and an expe- 
 dition to Labrador by Frobisher, un- 
 der the patronage of Queen Elizabeth, 
 showed that the somewhat arrogant 
 claim of Spain to the whole of Amer- 
 ica was not uncontested. 
 
 Protestant England under Eliza- 
 beth longed not only for a share of the 
 rich plunder which the exploitation of 
 the New World was gaining for 
 Spain, but also for an opportunity to 
 cross swords with Catholicism. On 
 both sides the adventurous spirit was 
 strangely mixed with religious enthu- 
 siasm. Prayers and piracy were 
 closely, and often with sincerity, 
 blended. The fact that no commerce 
 except with Spain was permitted in 
 the New World made trade by English 
 ships and men possible only when car- 
 ried on by privateers or armed vessels. 
 The inevitable result of these condi- 
 tions was that English ships ostensibly 
 fitted for trade turned to plundering 
 the rich galleons of Spain, giving rise 
 to reprisals with terrible excesses on 
 both sides. 
 
 The story of the great seamen of 
 Elizabeth's reign — -Drake, Hawkins 
 and Frobisher, is almost the history of 
 the England of their day ; a story re- 
 plete with the romance of dangerous 
 adventure, reckless courage, cruelty 
 and craft, but none the less the story 
 of brave and gallant men who fought 
 battles not only for their own but for 
 succeeding generations. 
 
 Upon Drake's return from his great 
 
 voyage around the world, begun in 
 1577 and ended in 1580, he was re- 
 ceived with great enthusiasm by both 
 queen and country. On this voyage 
 he had sacked the unguarded coast 
 towns of Peru and Chili, and it is said 
 returned with over half a million ster- 
 ling of treasure taken chiefly from the 
 Spanish possessions. That Drake 
 himself was knighted and his com- 
 pany feted by all England, was not un- 
 naturally received as an insult by 
 Philip, and added fuel to the flames 
 of war already kindled. There could 
 be now no further question of concili- 
 ating Spain, and every effort was 
 made by Elizabeth and her sailor coun- 
 sellors to build up a naval establish- 
 ment of a strength equal to that of 
 Philip, his naval power having been 
 almost doubled through the acquisi- 
 tion of Portugal by the failure of its 
 royal line. To make havoc with the 
 Spanish possessions in the New World 
 appealed to both the political sagacity 
 of the queen and to the business-like 
 judgment of those imbued with the 
 buccaneer spirit of the age. 
 
 It has been necessary to touch thus 
 briefly on the general conditions 
 affecting England and Spain at the 
 time of the expedition against Carta- 
 gena and other towns of the Spanish 
 Main, in order to more justly con- 
 ceive the true value and motived of an 
 attack which has been variously de- 
 scribed as a great legitimate naval ex- 
 pedition and as a series of wanton 
 piratical seizures. To more ade- 
 quately gain a proper perspective it 
 will be necessary to also touch briefly 
 on the earlier history of Drake. 
 
 Few men whose deeds have played 
 such an important and forceful part in 
 actual events, have had associated with 
 their names so much of almost legend- 
 ary romanticism as has that of Fran- 
 cis Drake. Knighted and made an 
 admiral by Elizabeth, and dubbed a 
 pirate by the Spaniards, he was in 
 truth a mixture of the great soldier- 
 admiral and the adventurous bucca- 
 
^ir JranriH Srak^ 
 
 neer. His father, Edmund Drake, is 
 said to have been at one time a sailor, 
 but be this as it may, he liad become 
 vicar of Upchurch, Hving near Tavis- 
 tock, under the patronage of the Earl 
 of Bedford. It was the earl's son, 
 Francis 'Russell, who endowed the son 
 born to Edmund Drake with his own 
 name. 
 
 Francis Drake was born about 1545. 
 His early associations were strongly 
 anti-Catholic. As a boy he was ap- 
 prenticed to the master and owner of 
 a small channel coasting vessel, and 
 appears to have been treated as a son 
 by the master, who upon his death not 
 very long after left the vessel to him. 
 
 Sir John Hawkins, said by some to 
 have been a kinsman of Drake, had 
 been early engaged in the slave-trade 
 and in trading expeditions to the West 
 Indies and Spanish Main. In 1567 
 he visited the Spanish Main, and only 
 succeeded in landing and selling his 
 negroes at Rio de la Hacha after over- 
 coming armed resistance. Fie finally 
 at Cartagena abandoned this com- 
 merce. This voyage was in many re- 
 spects unfortunate, and it was also 
 alleged that many acts of bad faith on 
 the part of the Spaniards brought 
 great hardships, sufferings and death 
 to many of Hawkins' unhappy com- 
 panions. Hawkins himself says in his 
 account of the expedition : "If all the 
 miseries and troublesome affairs of 
 this sorrowful voyage should be per- 
 fectly and thoroughly written, there 
 should need a painful man with his 
 pen, and as great a time as he had that 
 wrote the lives and deaths of the mar- 
 tyrs." 
 
 Great indignation was felt in Eng- 
 land over the mishaps of this voyage 
 and the treatment of the voyagers by 
 the Spaniards. Drake had taken part 
 in this expedition in command of the 
 "Judith," having previously sold his 
 own little coaster and used the pro- 
 ceeds, with his other earnings, for the 
 proper outfitting for this voyage with 
 Hawkins. Having lost everything in 
 this unhappy venture, from which he 
 barely escaped wi^-h his life, Drake be- 
 
 came an ardent supporter of the doc- 
 trine, soon popular in England, that 
 it was lawful to recover from the 
 Spaniards that which their treachery 
 had taken from the English traders. 
 In 1570 Drake again went to the 
 West Indies, this time with two ships, 
 the "Dragon" and the "Swan," and 
 again in 1571 with the "Swan" alone. 
 These voyages appear to have been 
 mainly for acquiring information, or 
 at least, that appears to have been their 
 chief result.^ With the experience 
 gained by these two voyages and the 
 previous one with Hawkins, he sailed 
 from Plymouth in May, 1572, with the 
 "Pacha" of seventy tons, and "Swan" 
 of twenty-five tons, with total crews of 
 seventy-three men and boys. By the 
 end of July he reached Nombre de 
 Dios, and after a sharp but brief en- 
 gagement, in which he himself was 
 wounded, captured the town. From 
 Nombre de Dios he sailed along the 
 coast towards Cartagena, capturing 
 several well-laden vessels on the way, 
 but making no stop of consequence un- 
 til arriving at the Isthmus of Darien. 
 There he found settlements of the 
 Cimarrones (or Maroons), negroes 
 who had escaped from slavery, with 
 whom he entered into intercourse and 
 by the chief of whom he was shown 
 from a "goodly and great high tree" 
 on a commanding height a sight of the 
 Pacific ocean. Drake is reported to 
 have "besought Almighty God of his 
 goodness to give him life and leave to 
 sail in an English ship on that sea." 
 This same chief guided and helped in 
 an expedition overland to intercept the 
 trains of mules which brought treas- 
 ure from Panama to Nombre de Dios. 
 Beyond taking possession of a small 
 town on the road and destroying some 
 property the expedition appears to 
 have been fruitless, and it was only 
 after great hardships and dangers that 
 Drake and his men regained their 
 ships. He returned to Plymouth 
 from this voyage on August 9, 1573, 
 somewhat enriched, but with his am- 
 bition in no way satisfied. A val- 
 orous and venturesome seaman 
 
^tr Jffrattrts Btnkt 
 
 named John Oxenham, whose name 
 is closely associated with the stir- 
 ring events of that day in the Carib- 
 bean littoral, had served under Drake 
 in this expedition. About two years 
 later Oxenham, with one ship and sev- 
 enty men, retraced the course of Drake 
 to Darien with the object of inter- 
 cepting one of the richly laden mule 
 trains from Panama. Being informed 
 by the Cimarrones that the trains were 
 now accompanied by a strong guard, 
 he abandoned this plan and, helped by 
 a few of the Cimarrones, marched to 
 the Pacific side, built himself a small 
 pinnace, and gained the distinction 
 of being the first Englishman to sail 
 upon the Pacific ocean.' In December, 
 1577, Drake started on his great trip 
 of circumnavigation, already referred 
 to, with a fleet consisting of the "Peli- 
 can" and four smaller vessels, having 
 a total complement of one hundred and 
 sixty-four men. That the plans for 
 this voyage had the full, if secret, con- 
 currence of the queen, there seems little 
 doubt, notwithstanding the fact that 
 one of its real if not avowed ob- 
 jects was to prey upon the colonies of 
 a nation with which technical peace 
 existed. The story of this voyage has 
 no place here, but its great success 
 from both a naval and "profit-sharing" 
 standpoint, and the enthusiasm with 
 which the voyagers were- received on 
 their return in September, 1580, 
 "richly fraught with gold, silver, silk, 
 pearls and precious stones," added 
 greatly to the prestige of Drake. 
 
 For the next four years Drake re- 
 mained in England, becoming mayor 
 of Plymouth for a brief period and 
 then entering Parliament as member 
 for Bossiney. 
 
 Early in 1585, Elizabeth could no 
 longer blind herself to the certainty 
 of the intention of Spain to attack 
 England. A fleet of English ships 
 laden with corn had been unfairly 
 seized, and swift retribution was 
 planned. Under letters of marque, 
 Drake gathered about him at Ply- 
 mouth the most formidable squadron 
 of privateers ever gotten together. 
 
 consisting of twenty-five ships with a 
 total of twenty-three hundred sailors 
 and soldiers. His vice-admiral was 
 the doughty Martin Frobisher; his 
 rear-admiral, Francis Knollys, and 
 Lieutenant-General Christopher Car- 
 leill was in command of the ten com- 
 panies of land troops included in the 
 complement. 
 
 The fleet sailed from Plymouth on 
 the twelfth of September, 1585. After 
 threatening Bayona and Vigo, and by 
 his promptness and courage doing 
 much to injure the morale of the 
 Spanish naval defences, Drake pro- 
 ceeded to the Cape de Verde Islands, 
 taking almost unopposed possession 
 of the chief town, Santiago, and plun- 
 dering the islands for provisions and 
 anything of value. From there he 
 began his voyage towards the West 
 Indies with the greatest armament 
 which had ever crossed the Atlantic. 
 -His plan was to weaken Spain by cut- 
 ting off the chief sources of her 
 wealth in the New World and to 
 strengthen England by obtaining the 
 mastery of the rich Caribbean ports 
 from which it seemed a limitless 
 stream of gold could be made to flow 
 into the Old World. 
 
 During the voyage to the West In- 
 dies the men suffered severe losses 
 from deaths due to an infectious sick- 
 ness, and the squadron arrived some- 
 what weakened in consequence at the 
 Island of Dominica. This island is 
 described by Thomas Cates, one of 
 the company officers who wrote a 
 complete account in Hakluyt's Voy- 
 ages, as inhabited by "savage people, 
 which goe all naked, their skinne col- 
 oured with some painting of a reddish 
 tawny, very personable and handsome 
 strong men." From thence the 
 squadron proceeded towards Hispani- 
 ola (San Domingo), spending Christ- 
 mas (1585) at anchor at the Island 
 of St. Christopher (St. Kitts) where 
 no people were found. 
 
 The city of San Domingo in His- 
 paniola was one of the chief strong- 
 holds of the Spaniards in the West 
 Indies, and so strongly built and for- 
 
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 tified that no serious attack had previ- 
 ously been attempted upon it. It was 
 surrounded by walls and batteries of 
 some strength and reputed to be gar- 
 risoned by a powerful force, although 
 the Spanish acounts state that about 
 2,000 only of the 8,000 inhabitants 
 were capable only of bearing arms 
 and that in the actual defense of the 
 city a few hundred only participated. 
 Gates refers to the "glorious fame 
 of the citie of S. Domingo, be- 
 ing the ancientest and chiefe inhab- 
 ited place in all the tract of country 
 thereabouts." 
 
 The squadron arrived at a safe 
 
 landing-place about ten miles from 
 the city, on New Year's day, 
 1586, and notwithstanding the com- 
 motion created in the city by 
 the approach of the large flotilla, 
 the troops were secretly landed with- 
 out molestation under cover of the 
 night. In the morning following, 
 Drake made a feint at landing on the 
 opposite side towards which Carleill 
 with the men already landed was ap- 
 proaching. The advantage gained by 
 this manoeuvre was pushed home, and 
 after a short engagement in the streets 
 and market-place the victory was 
 won. 
 
 Extract from account published by Thomas Gates (v. Hakluyt's Voyages), entitled : 
 
 "A SUMMA-RIE AND TRUE DISCOURSE OF SiR FRANCIS DRAKE'S 
 
 West Indian voyage, begun in the yeere isss." 
 
 This worthy knight for the service of his Prince and countrey having prepared 
 his whole fleete, and gotten them down to Plimmouth in Devonshire, to the nurnber 
 of five and twenty saile of ships and pinnesses, and having assembled of souldiers 
 and mariners, to the number of 2300 in the whole, embarked them and hitpselfe at 
 Plimmouth aforesaid, the 12 day of September 1585, being accompanied with these 
 men of name and charge, which hereafter follow : 
 
 Master Christopher Carleil Lieutenant General, a man of long experience in the 
 warres as well by sea as land, who had formerly carried high offices in both kindes in 
 many fights, which he discharged alwaies very happily, and with great good reputation. 
 
 Anthonie Powel Sergeant Major. 
 
 Captaine Matthew Morgan, and Captaine John Sampson, Corporals of the field. 
 
 These officers had commandement over the rest of the land-Captaines, whose 
 names hereafter follow : 
 
 Captaine Anthony Plat. Captaine John Merchant, 
 
 Captaine Edward Winter, Captaine William Cecill, 
 
 Captaine John Goring, Captaine Walter Bigs, 
 
 Captaine Robert Pew, Captaine John Hannam, 
 
 Captaine George Barton, Captaine Richard Stanton. 
 
 Captaine Martine Frobisher Viceadmirall, a man of great experience in sea-faring 
 actions, who had carried the chiefe charge of many ships himselfe, in sundry voyages 
 before, being now shipped in the Primrose. 
 
 Captain Francis Knolles, Reereadmirall in the Galeon Leicester. 
 
 Master Thomas Vennor, Captaine in the Elizabeth Bonadventure under the 
 Generall. 
 
 Master Edward Winter, Captaine in the Aide. 
 
 Master Christopher Carleil the Lieutenant generall, Captaine of the Tygar. 
 
 Henry White, Captaine of the sea Dragon. 
 
 Thomas Drake, Captaine of the Thomas. 
 
 Thomas Seelie, Captaine of the Minion. 
 
 Baily, Captaine of the Barke Talbot. ^ 
 
 Robert Crosse, Captaine of the Bark Bond. 
 
 George Fortescue, Captaine of the Barke Bonner. 
 
 Edward Carelesse, Captaine of the Hope. 
 
 James Erizo, Captaine of the White Lyon. 
 
 Thomas Moone, Captaine of the Vantage. 
 
 John Vaughan, Captaine of the Drake. 
 
 John Varney, Captaine of the George. 
 
 John Martin, Captaine of the Benjamin. 
 
 Edward Gihnan, Captaine of the Skout. 
 
 Richard Hawkins, Captaine of the Galiot called the Ducke. 
 
 Bitfield, Captaine of the Swallow. 
 
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 The town being rather large for 
 complete occupancy by the small num- 
 ber of troops under Carleill, he was 
 directed by Drake to intrench himself 
 in the most important part of the town, 
 the Spanish troops being then divided 
 into two divisions, one which had fled 
 to safety well outside of the city, and 
 the other remaining in that part not 
 invested by the English forces. 
 
 Drake now demanded a large ran- 
 som for the release of the town. 
 During the negotiations he sent a 
 negro boy with a flag of truce to the 
 Spanish camp; the boy being met by 
 a few Spanish officers was so wound- 
 ed by one of them that he could barely 
 crawl back within his own lines to 
 die. This so inflamed the natural 
 anger of Drake that in the first burst 
 of his fury he had hanged, on the spot 
 of the boy's death, two friars who 
 were among the prisoners, and de- 
 clared that until the cowardly Span- 
 iard who killed the boy was publicly 
 executed two more prisoners would 
 be hanged daily. This demand was 
 quickly met. The amount of the ran- 
 som which the city, even with diffi- 
 culty, could pay, was not so great as 
 Drake had expected, and he had to be 
 contented with twenty-five thousand 
 ducats, , probably equivalent to about 
 sixty thousand dollars of American 
 money. In addition, all valuable 
 property of a shape to permit of re- 
 moval was taken aboard the ships, in- 
 cluding from two to three hundred 
 guns and ample stores of provisions. 
 A few of the better vessels in the har- 
 bor were taken and the remainder de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 Exhilarated by victory, and with his 
 squadron in reinforced condition, 
 Drake sailed the middle of February 
 for Cartagena on the Spanish Main. 
 It was now that the experience which 
 he had gained in his earlier voyages 
 stood him in good stead, for he could 
 approach this difficult shore and har- 
 bor with the confidence of an experi- 
 enced pilot. 
 
 The town of Cartagena had been 
 founded a little more than fifty years 
 
 before Drake's attack, and was 
 already well fortified, although its sys- 
 tem of walls and fortifications which 
 were afterwards intended to make it 
 impregnable, were not then wholly 
 completed. Th6 town is situated at 
 the eastern extremity of the harbor or 
 Bay of Cartagena, on low level land. 
 While -its southwestern side faces the 
 harbor, its northwestern face is actu- 
 ally on the open sea itself and the 
 surf breaks near the base of strong 
 walls on that side. The remaining 
 boundary is largely made up of a 
 great shallow lagoon almost connect- 
 ing with the sea on the one side, and 
 connecting with the harbor on the 
 other. The harbor itself is made' 
 nearly a closed basin by the Island of 
 Tierra Bomba, at each end of which 
 in Drake's time was an entrance for 
 ships, the larger called Boca Grande 
 being nearer the city, and the smaller 
 and more difficult called Boca Chica 
 being near the western end of the bay. 
 
 The Boca Grande entrance was 
 subsequently closed by - artificial 
 means, which, when once effected, 
 was greatly helped by the .natural 
 drift of the sands. It has now been 
 closed for all but the smallest boats 
 for over two centuries. 
 
 Cartagena, by reason of its magnifi-. 
 cent harbor and its nearness to the 
 great river Magdalena, which led 
 down from the rich country in the in- 
 terior, had become the storehouse 
 of Spain in the New World, and the 
 headquarters of all Spanish com- 
 merce. Relying upon the reputation 
 of Cartagena for strength to keep it- 
 self from being attacked and having 
 no conception that such an audacious 
 attack upon his American possessions 
 would be made, Philip had not had 
 time to send out in advance of Drake's 
 arrival any reinforcements. So that 
 although w^arned in advance of the 
 impending visit of Drake with his 
 formidable squadron, the governor of 
 Cartagena, Pedro Vique, could not 
 depend on more than eleven or twelve 
 hundred men all told for the defence 
 of his city. This force was made up 
 
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 of fifty lancers, four hundred and fifty 
 harquebussiers, one hundred pikemen, 
 twenty negro musketeers, four hun- 
 dred India bowmen and one hundred 
 and fifty harquebussiers who manned 
 two galleys in the harbor. 
 
 The entrance to the inner harbor 
 was defended by a fort at the place 
 now called Pastelillo, but otherwise 
 there were no fortifications except 
 those surrounding the city itself. 
 The aproach to the inner harbor was 
 further protected by chains, and the 
 narrow neck of land reaching from 
 the city to Boca Grande was defended 
 by a stone breastwork armed with a 
 few guns and several hundred men. 
 
 Drake entered through Boca 
 Grande between three and four in the 
 afternoon without resistance. At 
 nightfall he landed the troops under 
 the command of Carleill close to Boca 
 Grande. About midnight, having 
 failed to find paths through the thick 
 growth which covered the neck of 
 land, they marched along the beach 
 on the side towards the . sea, meeting 
 only the slight resistance ofifered by a 
 small body of horsemen who retired 
 at the first volley. 
 
 The sound of this slight engage- 
 ment was a signal to Drake to order 
 the carrying out of a pre-arranged 
 plan, by which the ships attacked the 
 fort at the entrance to the inner har- 
 bor. This attack was a diversion and 
 was not pressed to a successful con- 
 clusion, as indeed would have been 
 difficult in view of the narrowness of 
 channel, the chains, and the well-sus- 
 tained gun fire from the fort. 
 
 During this attack by the ships the 
 troops pressed forward against the 
 breastworks, which consisted of a 
 well-built stone wall with a ditch with- 
 out and flankings covering every part. 
 A small passing space was protected 
 by wine-butts filled with earth, the 
 whole mounted with six gun's and fur- 
 ther protected by drawing into the 
 harbor shore the two large galleys. 
 
 Carleill forced the attack on the 
 space protected by the wine-butts, and 
 largely through the superiority of the 
 
 English Dikes and armour a breach 
 was made and quickly carried by 
 storm. The defenders were forced 
 into the city, where the streets were 
 strongly barricaded. The Indians 
 rendered active help to the Spaniards, 
 fighting with poisoned arrows and 
 with small sharp poisoned sticks about 
 eighteen inches long, and so placed in 
 the ground that contact with the poi- 
 soned ends was difficult to avoid. 
 Many of the Spanish leaders were 
 killed and Drake was soon in posses- 
 sion of the city. While Drake's idea 
 had been to permanently hold Carta- 
 gena and use it for a base from which 
 to attack the other Spanish settlements, 
 the reduction which he had already 
 suflfered in his forces and the persist- 
 ence of yellow fever among his men, 
 changed his plans and he determined 
 to exact the largest possible ransom 
 and leave the place. At a general 
 council of land captains held at Car- 
 tagena on the twenty-seventh of Feb- 
 ruary, it was resolved that it was in- 
 expedient to proceed with the intended 
 capture of Panama and it was re- 
 solved to proceed home by the way of 
 Florida. 
 
 Drake demanded a ransom of £ioo,- 
 GOO, but this sum was declared by the 
 Spaniards impossible to be gotten to- 
 gether and paid, and an amount equiv- 
 alent to about £28,000 was tendered. 
 In the meantime, notwithstanding va- 
 rious courtesies exchanged between 
 the higher officers on each side, 
 much irritation appears to have 
 arisen over the matter of the ransom, 
 and a considerable part of the city 
 was burned. Finally a ransom stated 
 by Gates to have been 110,000 ducats, 
 and by Spanish authorities to have 
 been $400,000, was paid and the Eng- 
 lish troops evacuated. Drake, how- 
 ever, after leaving the city, insisted 
 that an abbey or priory just outside 
 had not been included in the terms of 
 settlement, and continued to hold it 
 until an additional sum of 1,000 
 crowns was paid. 
 
 Altogether the fleet had remained 
 at Cartagena six weeks when it finally 
 
Bit Jfranria irak^ 
 
 set sail the last of March, and was 
 even then delayed by leaky vessels 
 and did not arrive off Cape Anthony 
 on the eastern end of Cuba until the 
 twenty-seventh of April. Here the 
 fleet took water and proceeded to the 
 coast of Florida, where St. Augustine, 
 and various smaller and less impor- 
 tant places were captured. The fleet 
 then sailed for Plymouth and arrived 
 there the twenty-eighth of July, 1586. 
 
 There were on this voyage a total 
 of seven hundred and fifty men lost 
 from all causes, the greater number 
 being from disease. 
 
 The total value of the booty gained 
 was about i6o,ooo, not counting some 
 two hundred and forty pieces of ord- 
 nance, of which about two hundred 
 pieces were of brass, including sixty- 
 three from Cartagena. 
 
 Drake had ably and bravely exe- 
 cuted the task which had been given 
 him and returned home with increased 
 popularity and prestige. The actual 
 injury to the king of Spain by the ex- 
 pedition was less than the harm done 
 to individuals in the Spanish posses- 
 sions, a fact which served to create a 
 hatred of the English which survived 
 for generations. 
 
 In the following year, 1587, when 
 an invasion of England was again 
 feared by Elizabeth, Drake was ap- 
 pointed to command the English fleet 
 which was immediately formed to pre- 
 vent the "joining together of the king 
 of Spain's fleet out of their several 
 ports." He attacked Cadiz, where he 
 destroyed thirty-three vessels and car- 
 ried away others. After several other 
 captures he returned to England, to 
 be sent out again in July, 1588, as 
 vice-admiral, under Lord Howard, of 
 the fleet sent to intercept the "Spanish 
 Armada," the history of which is too 
 well-known to need repetition here. 
 The next year Drake was in com- 
 mand of an expedition to invade Spain 
 and Portugal. After his return from 
 this service he again served in Parlia- 
 ment, but the sea once more claimed 
 him in August, 1595, when he sailed, 
 on what was to be his last voyage, for 
 the West Indies with Sir John Hawk- 
 ins as his vice-admiral. Hawkins died 
 off Puerto Rico in November, and on 
 the twenty-eighth of January, 1596, 
 Drake himself died on board of his 
 ship when off Nombre de Dios after a 
 fortnight's illness in his cabin. 
 
 Transcript from "a resolution of the Land-captaines, what course they think most expedient 
 
 to be taken. Given at Cartagena the xxvij. 
 
 of Februarie, 1585" 
 
 Whereas it hath pleased the General! to demaund the opinions of his Captaines 
 what course, they thinke most expedient to be now undertaken, the Land-Captaines 
 being asembled by themselves together, and having advised hereupon, doe in three 
 points deliver the same. , 
 
 The first, touching the keeping of the towne against the force of the enemie, either 
 that which is present, or that which may come out of Spaine. is answered thus : 
 
 We holder opinion, that which this troope of men which we have presently with 
 us in land-service, being victualled and munitioned, wee may well keepe the towne, 
 albeit that of men able to answere present service, we have not above 700. The 
 residue being some 150 men by reason of their hurts and sicknesse are altogether 
 unable to stand us in anystead ; wherefore hereupon the Sea-captaines are likewise to 
 give their resolution, how they will undertake the safetie and service of the Shippes 
 upon the arrivall of any Spanish Fleete. 
 
 The second poynt we make to be this, whether it bee meete to goe presently home- 
 ward, or els to continue further tryall of our fortune in undertaking such like enter- 
 prises as we have done already, and thereby to seeke after that bountifull masse of 
 treasure for recompence of our travailes, which was generally expected at our comming 
 forth of England : wherein we answere : 
 
 That it is well knowen how both we and the souldiers are entred into this action 
 as voluntarie men, without any imprest or gage from her Majestic or any body els. 
 and forasmuch as we have hitherto discharged the parts of honest men, so that now 
 
^tr IFranrtH irak^ 
 
 by the great blessing and favour of our good God there have bin taken three such 
 notable townes, wherein by the estimation of all men would have been found some 
 very great treasures, knowing that S. lago was the chiefe citie of all the 
 Islands and traffiques thereabouts, S. Domingo the chiefe citie of Hispaniola, and the 
 head government not only of that Hand, but also of Cuba, and of all the Hands about 
 it, as also of such inhabitations of the firme land, as were next unto it, & a place that 
 is both magnificently builded, and interteineth great trades of merchandise; and now 
 lastly the citie of Cartagena, which cannot be denied to be one of the chiefe places of 
 most especiall importance to the Spaniard of all the cities which be on this side of the 
 West India; we doe therefore consider, that since all these cities, with their goods and 
 prisoners taken in them, and the ransoms of the said cities being all put together, are 
 found farre short to satisfie that expectation which by the generality of the enterprisers 
 was first conceived: And being further advised of the slendernesse of our strengthe, 
 whereunto we be now reduced, as well in respect of the small number of able bodies, 
 as also not a little in regard of the slacke disposition of the greater part of those which 
 remaine, very many of the better mindes and men being either consumed by death, or 
 weakened by sicknes and hurts : And lastly, since that as yet there is not laid downe 
 to our knowledge any such enterprise as may seeme convenient to be undertaken with 
 such few as we are presently able to make, and withall of such certaine likelihoode. as 
 with Gods good successe which it may please him to bestow upon us, the same may 
 promise to yeeld us any sufficient contentment : We doe therefore conclude hereupon, 
 that it is better to hold sure as we may the honour already gotten, and with the same 
 to returne towards our gracious Soveraigne and Countrey, from whenece if it shall 
 please her Majestic to set us foorth againe with her orderly meanes and intertainment, 
 we are most ready and willing to goe through with anything that the uttermost of our 
 strength and indevour shall be able to reach unto ; but therewithal we doe advise, and 
 protest that it is farre from our thoughts, either to refuse, or so much as to seeme 
 to be wearie of any thing, which for the present shalbe further required or directed 
 to be done by us from our Generall. 
 
 The third and last poynt is concerning the ransome of this citie of Cartagena, for 
 the which, before it was touched with any fire, there was made an offer of some xxviij. 
 thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 Thus much we utter herein as our opinions agreeing (so it be done in good sort) 
 to accept this offer aforesayde, rather then to break off by standing still upon our 
 demaunds of one hundred thousand poundes, which seemes a matter impossible to bee 
 performed for the present by them, and to say trueth, wee may now with much honour 
 and reputation better be satisfied with that summe offered by them at the first (if they 
 will now bee contented to give it) then we might at that time with a great deale more, 
 inasmuch as we have taken our full pleasure both in the uttermost sacking and spoyling 
 of all their householde goods and merchandize, as also in that we have consumed' and 
 ruined a great part of their Towne with fire. And thus much further is considered 
 herein by us, that as there bee in the Voyage a great many poore men. who have will- 
 ingly adventured their lives and travailes, and divers amongst them having spent their 
 apparell and such other little provisions as their small meanes might have given them 
 leave to prepare, which being done upon such good and allowable intention as this 
 action hath alwayes caried with it, meaning, against the Spanyard our greatest and 
 most dangerous enemie : so surely we cannot but have an inward regardes so farre as 
 may lye in us, to helpe either in all good sort towards the satisfaction of this their 
 expectation, and by procuring them some little benefite to incourage them and to nour- 
 ish this readie and willing disposition of theirs both in them and in others by their 
 example against any other time of like occasion. But because it may bee supposed 
 that herein wee forgette not the private benefite of our selves, and are thereby the 
 rather mooved to incline our selves to this composition, wee doe therefore thinke good 
 for the clearing of ourselves of all such suspition, to declare heereby, that what part 
 or portion soever it bee of this ransome or composition for Cartagena, which should 
 come unto us, wee doe freely give and bestowe the same wholy upon the poore men, 
 who have remayned with us in the Voyage, meaning as well the Sayler as the Souldier. 
 wishing with all our hearts it were such or so much as might seeme a sufficient 
 rewarde for their painfull indevour. And for the firme confirmation thereof, we have 
 thought meete to subsigne these presents with our owne hands in the place and time 
 aforesayd. Captaine Christopher Carleill Lieutenant Generall. 
 
 Captaine Goring. 
 Captaine Sampson, Captaine Powell &c. 
 
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