desirous to do service to their Prince | the furthest limit of his knowledge. and country, may soon be persuaded There he found out a lake called to all hardness and danger, but having Laguna de Nicaragua, upon which once made trial thereof, would be very stand certain towns, as Granada, loth, as I suppose, to carry any force Leon, and others; also the Bay of that way again; for beholding it in Honduras, a place known to be of many places, a man would judge it small wealth by itself, unless it be dangerous for one man to pass alone, brought thither to be embarked for almost impossible for horses and an Spain. He demanded which of these army. we would attempt; our Colonel said, "Both, one after the other, and all too little to content us if we took them." It was then resolved that we should first for the river, and as matters fell out, for the other. Nombre de Dios, together with their Negro town, was fired; and we sunk and fired fourteen small frigates which we found in the road. We got here twenty bars of silver, with some gold and certain plate; more would have been found had it been well sought but our General thought it folly to gather our harvest grain by grain, being so likely at Panama to thrust our hands into the whole heaps; and after our return, being troubled in mind, he seemed little to regard any counsel that should be given him to that purpose, but to hasten thence as fast as he might. This is a most wealthy place, being settled upon a ground full of camphire, environed with hilly woods and mountains, the bottom a dampish fen. Hence we departed the 5th, and held our course for Nicaragua.

The day that our General had news of our return, he meant to weigh and fall nearer to the River Chagre with the fleet, leaving some few to bring us if we were enforced to retire, whereby he little doubted. But being beaten from the place where it appeared all his hopes rested for gaining to himself and others this mass of treasure which he so confidently promised before, it was high time for him to devise of some other course. Wherefore, on the 4th of January, he called us to council, and debated with us what was now to be done. All these parts had notice long before of all our intentions, as it appeared by letters written from the Governor of Lima to the Governor of Panama and Nombre de Dios, giving them advice to be careful and to look well to themselves, for that Drake and Hawkins were making ready in England to come upon them. Lima is distant from these places more than three hundred leagues, all overlaid with snakes. It appears that they had good intelligence. This made them to convey their treasure to places which they resolved to defend with better force than we were able to attempt. Like as upon the coming of the sun, dews and mists begin to vanish, so our blinded eyes began now to open, and we found that the glorious speeches, of a hundred places that they knew in the Indies to make us rich, was but a bait to draw Her Majesty to give them honourable employments, and us to adventure our lives for their glory; for now charts and maps must be our chiefest directors, he being in these parts at

1 The promoters of the expedition. 2 Drake.

3

On the 9th we found a very deep and dangerous bay, playing it here up and down; all men weary of the place. The 10th we descried a small island called Escudes, where we came to anchor; and here we took a frigate which was an advice of the King's. By this we learned that the towns standing upon this Lake were of small wealth and very dangerous, by reason of many shoals and great roughs our mariners should have, it being a hundred leagues: yet if the wind would have permitted, we had

3 Escudo Island, near the bottom of Mosquito Bay.

An "aviso," or despatch-boat. ♪ Of Nicaragua.

DEATH OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.

1

Her Majesty's broad seal, endeavoured | have lost my life than so forsake the to prevent the dissevering of the fleet, like. He deposed on the Bible, and and to that end talked with such as Christianity made me believe him. he heard intended to quit company But playing it up and down about before they were disembogued, and twelve of the clock, and discovering drew all companies to subscribe to none of them, the wind blew so concertain articles signifying our pur- trary that the seamen affirmed by poses viz., that putting hence, we holding this course we should be cast should turn it back to Santa Martha, back in the bay, and they were perif the wind would suffer us, otherwise suaded that our fleet could not attain to run over for Jamaica, where it was Santa Martha, but were gone over for thought we should be refreshed with Jamaica, whither they would follow some victuals. Matters thus con- them. I plainly foresaw that if we cluded, the Delight, the Elizabeth, missed them there, it was like that and our late taken frigates were sunk. we should no more meet till we came Many of the Negro men and base to England, which would have made prisoners were here put on shore; and me to persuade a longer search upon here we weighed on Sunday the 8th the main; but my hope of their being of February. Our victuals began to there, together with the weakness of shorten apace, yet we had lain a long our men and the small means we had time at very hard allowance-four to retain them, fearing lest my delay men each morning one quart of beer might endanger Her Majesty's ships and cake of biscuit for dinner, and and the whole company, I yielded to for supper one quart of beer and two their persuasions. We were in ten decakes of biscuit and two cans of water, grees and a half when we put from hence, with a pint of pease, or half a pint of and we came till the 22d, when we had rice, or somewhat more of oatmeal. sight of a very dangerous shoal which This was our allowance being at Por- our seamen thought they had passed tobello, and six weeks before, but that near two days ago. If we had fallen in we had sometimes stock-fish. From with it in the night we had been all thence there is a current that sets to lost. The shoal is named Secrana. the eastward, by the help of which, on the 14th, we had sight of an island short of Carthagena fifteen or sixteen leagues; further than this we could not go to the eastward, for that the current had left us. The 15th at night, it being fair weather, we lost sight of our fleet. Here as I grew discontented, knowing it touched my poor regulation so to leave the army; and I had many things to persuade me that it was done of purpose by the captain and master, thereby gaining an excuse to depart; I showed the captain the danger he would run into by leaving so honourable forces when they had need of our company; and God knoweth that had I but had judgment which way to have cast for them, I would rather

1 Before they passed the Boccas or narrow seas, and entered the wider Ocean.

2 Commoner sort.

On Shrove Wednesday, being the 24th, we fell with Jamaica, and by means of a Mulatto and an Indian we had, this night, forty bundles of dried beef, which served our whole company so many days. We came to anchor at the westernmost part of the island, in a fair sandy bay, where we watered, and stayed, in hope to have some news of our fleet, seven days. This our stay brought no intelligence, wherefore, our seamen thought that our fleet, not able to recover this place, were fallen either with Cape Corrientes or Cape Saint Antonio;3 these places we meant to touch in our course; and hence we went the 1st of March. On the 6th we saw a ship on the leeward of us, and the next morning we made her to be the Pegasine, one of our fleet, who, as they said, lost the Admiral near the time as we did, being by the Colonel

3 At the west of Cuba.

1596.]

HOMEWARD BOUND.

109

sent to the Susan Bonaventure, whom | our men to give them over. So after they left in great distress, by reason I had endeavoured, by myself, my of a leak they had taken, and I greatly lieutenant, and other gentlemen, by feared, by their report, they are per- persuasion, to work the captain resoished. There were in her one hundred lutely to attempt them, and finding and thirty or one hundred and forty no disposition in him but to consume persons, many gallant gentlemen and powder and shot to no purpose but good men. If they perish this ship firing it in the air, I yielded to give shall repent it. Holding our course them over, persuading myself that for these places, we descried five sails God had even ordained that we should astern of us. We stayed for them, not, with any nature, attempt where and soon made them out to be none we were resisted with never so weak of our fleet; and we had good reason forces. Thus away we went, and the to persuade us they were enemies. wind chopping us southerly, our seaThey had the wind of us, but we soon men held that our fleet could neither regained it upon them, which made rideat Corrientes nor at Saint Antonio, them, upon a piece of ordnance shot which made me condescend to leave off by the greatest ship, tack about; the Indies, with all their treasure, we tacked with them; when the cap- and to ply the next course to disemtain of this ship faithfully protested bogue, for little hope was left me that unto me not to shoot a piece of ord- we should do Her Majesty any sernance till we came board and board, vice, or good to ourselves, when, upon and then I promised him, with our the feigned excuse of endangering her small shot, to win the greatest or lose ships which she sent forth to fight if our persons. This we might have occasion were offered; and to persuade done without endangering Her Ma- myself that Her Majesty prizeth not jesty's ships; but our enemy, playing her ships dearer than the lives of so upon us with their ordnance, made many faithful subjects, who gladly ur gunners fall to it ere we were at would have ventured their lives, and musket shot, and no nearer could I upon no brain-sick humour, but from bring them, though I had no hope to a true desire to do Her Highness some take any of them but by boarding, service for the charge and adventure Here we popped away powder and she had been at in this glorious spokenshot to no purpose, for most of our of journey. Fortune's child was dead, gunners would hardly have stricken things would not fall into our mouths, Paul's steeple had it stood there. I nor riches be our portions, how dearly am a young seaman, yet my small soever we ventured for them. Thus judgment and knowledge make me avoiding Scylla (after the proverb) we avow, that never ship of Her Majesty's fell into Charybdis, and indeed we were went so vilely manned out of her not now far from it. kingdom; not twenty of them worthy to come into her ships; and I know not what had possessed the captain, but his mind was clean altered, telling me that he had no authority to lay any ship aboard, whereby he might endanger this, Her Majesty's; and they being, as he said, the King's men of war, they would rather fire with us than be taken., Had I been a merchant of her burthen (God favouring me) they would have been mine, as many as stood to the trial of their fortune; but the paltry Pegasie we lately met withal never came near us by a league, which was some colour to

Our master, a careful old man, but not experienced upon these coasts, rather following the advice of others than relying on his own judgment, brought us, on the 12th three hours before day, into a very shallow water, upon a dangerous bank, which some held to be the Meltilettes, others the Tortugas, either like enough to have swallowed us, had not God blessed us with fair weather. Freeing ourselves of this danger, upon Monday the 15th of March we entered the Gulf, and by ten of the clock we brought the Cape of Florida west of us. On the 17th (the Lord be thanked) we were dis

END OF DRAKE'S LAST VOYAGE