And now, having broken up the Portuguese prize on account of its unseaworthiness, and rechristened his own ship, the Pelican, into the Golden Hinde, Drake entered the Straits now named after Magellan, though that navigator termed them the Patagonian Straits, because he had found the natives wearing clumsy shoes or sandals: patagon signifying in Portuguese a large, ill-shaped foot. The land surrounding the straits is high and mountainous, and the water generally deep close to the cliffs. “We found the strait,” says the first narrator, “to have many turnings, and as it were, shuttings up, as if there were no passage at all.” Drake passed through the tortuous strait in seventeen days. Clift, one of the historians of the expedition, whose narrative is preserved in Hakluyt’s collection of “Voyages,” says of the penguins there, three thousand of which were killed in less than a day, “We victualled ourselves with a kind of fowl which is plentiful on that isle (St. George’s in the Straits), and whose flesh is not unlike a fat goose here in England. They have no wings, but short pinions, which serve their turn in swimming; their colour is somewhat black, mixed with white spots under their belly, and about their necks. They wall so upright that, afar off, a man would take them to be little children. If a man approach anything near them, they run into holes in the ground (which be not very deep) whereof the island is full, so that to take them we had staves with hooks fast to the end, wherewith some of our men pulled them out, and others being ready with cudgels did knock them on the head, for they bite so cruelly with their crooked bills, that none of us were able to handle them alive.”
Drake’s vessels, separated by a gale, were driven hither and thither. One of them, the Marigold, must have foundered, as she was never again heard of. The two remaining ships sought shelter in a dangerous rocky bay, from which the Golden Hinde was driven to sea, her cable having parted. The other vessel, under Captain Winter’s command, regained the straits, and “anchoring there in an open bay, made great fires on the shore, that if Drake should put into the strait also, he might discover them.” Winter proceeded later up the straits, and anchored in a sound, which he named the Port of Health, because his men, who had been “very sick with long watching, wet, cold, and evil diet,” soon recovered on the nourishing shell-fish found there. He, after waiting some time, and despairing of regaining Drake’s company, gave over the voyage, and set sail for England, “where he arrived with the reproach of having abandoned his commander.”
Drake was now reduced to his own vessel, the Golden Hinde, which was obliged [pg 309]to seek shelter on the coast of Terra del Fuego. The winds again forced him from his anchorage, and his shallop, with eight men on board, and provisions for only one day, was separated from him. The fate of these poor fellows was tragical. They regained the straits, where they caught and salted a quantity of penguins, and then coasted up South America to the Plata. Six of them landed, and while searching for food in the forests, encountered a party of Indians, who wounded all of them with their arrows, and secured four, pursuing the others to the boat. These latter reached the two men in charge, but before they could put off, all were wounded by the natives. They, however, succeeded in reaching an island some distance from the mainland, where two of them died from the injuries received, and the boat was wrecked and beaten to pieces on the rocks. The remaining two stopped on the island eight weeks, living on shell-fish and a fruit resembling an orange, but could find no water. They at length ventured to the mainland on a large plank some ten feet in length, which they propelled with paddles; the passage occupied three days. “On coming to land,” says Carter, the only survivor, “we found a rivulet of sweet water; when William Pitcher, my only comfort and companion (although I endeavoured to dissuade him) overdrank himself, and to my unspeakable grief, died within half an hour.” Carter himself fell into the hands of some Indians, who took pity on him, and conducted him to a Portuguese settlement. Nine years elapsed before he was able to regain his own country.
SIR F. DRAKE.
Meantime Drake was driven so far to the southward, that at length he “fell in with the uttermost part of the land towards the South Pole,” or in other words, reached Cape Horn. The storm had lasted with little intermission for over seven weeks. “Drake went ashore, and, sailor-like, leaning over a promontory, as far as he safely could, came back [pg 310]and told his people how that he had been farther south than any man living.” At last the wind was favourable, and he coasted northward, along the American shore, till he reached the island of Mocha, where the Indians appeared at first to be friendly, and brought off potatoes, roots, and two fat sheep, for which they received recompense. But on landing for the purpose of watering the ship, the natives shot at them, wounding every one of twelve men, and Drake himself under the right eye. In this case no attempt was made at retaliation. The Indians doubtless took them for Spaniards. Drake, continuing his voyage, fell in with an Indian fishing from a canoe, who was made to understand their want of provisions, and was sent ashore with presents. This brought off a number of natives with supplies of poultry, hogs, and fruits, while Felipe, one of them who spoke Spanish, informed Drake that they had passed the port of Valparaiso—then an insignificant settlement of less than a dozen Spanish families—where a large ship was lying at anchor. Felipe piloted them thither, and they soon discovered the ship, with a meagre crew of eight Spaniards and four negroes on board. So little was an enemy expected, that as Drake’s vessel approached, it was saluted with beat of drum, and a jar of Chili wine made ready for an hospitable reception. But Drake and his men wanted something more than bumpers of wine, and soon boarded the vessel, one of the men striking down the first Spaniard he met, and exclaiming, “Abaxo perro!” (Down, dog!) Another of the crew leaped overboard and swam ashore to give an alarm to the town; the rest were soon secured under hatches. The inhabitants of the town fled incontinently, but the spoils secured there were small. The chapel was rifled of its altar-cloth, silver chalice, and other articles, which were handed over to Drake’s chaplain; quantities of wine and other provisions were secured. The crew of the prize, with the exception of the Greek pilot, were set ashore, and Drake left with his new acquisition, which when examined at sea was found to contain one thousand seven hundred and seventy jars of wine, sixty thousand pieces of gold, some pearls, and other articles of value. The Indian who had guided them to this piece of good fortune, was liberally rewarded.
At a place called Tarapaca, whither they had gone to water the ship, they found a Spaniard lying asleep, and keeping very bad guard over thirteen bars of silver, worth four thousand ducats. Drake determined to take care of it for him. At a short distance off, they encountered another, who, with an Indian, was driving eight llamas, each carrying a hundredweight of silver. It is needless to say that the llamas were conveyed on board, plus the silver. At Arica two ships were found at anchor, one of which yielded forty bars of silver, and the other a considerable quantity of wine. But these were as trifles to that which followed.
Drake had pursued a leisurely course, but in spite of this fact, no intelligence of the pirate’s approach had reached Lima. The term “pirate” is used advisedly, for whatever the gain to geographical science afforded by his voyages, their chief aim was spoil, and it mattered nothing whether England was at war with the victims of his prowess or not. A few leagues off Callao harbour (the port of Lima), Drake boarded a Portuguese vessel: the owner agreed to pilot him into Callao, provided his cargo was left him. They arrived at nightfall, “sailing in between all the ships that lay there, seventeen in number,” most of which had their sails ashore, for the Spaniards had had, as yet, no [pg 311]enemies in those waters. They rifled the ships of their valuables, and these included a large quantity of silk and linen, and one chest of silver reales. But they heard that which made their ears tingle, and inflamed their desires for gain; the Cacafuego, a great treasure ship, had sailed only a few days before for a neighbouring port. Drake immediately cut the cables of the ships at Lima, and let them drive, that they might not pursue him. “While he was thus employed, a vessel from Panama, laden with Spanish goods, entered the harbour, and anchored close by the Golden Hinde. A boat came from the shore to search it; but because it was night, they deferred the search till the morning, and only sent a man on board. The boat then came alongside Drake’s vessel, and asked what ship it was. A Spanish prisoner answered, as he was ordered, that it was Miguel Angel’s, from Chili. Satisfied with this, the officer in the boat sent a man to board it; but he, when on the point of entering, perceived one of the large guns, and retreated in the boat with all celerity, because no vessels that frequented that port, and navigated those seas, carried great shot.” The crew of the Panama ship took alarm when they observed the rapid flight of the man, and put to sea. The Hinde followed her, and the Spanish crew abandoned their ship, and escaped ashore in their boat. The alarm had now been given in Lima, and the viceroy dispatched two vessels in pursuit, each having two hundred men on board, but no artillery. The Spanish commander, however, showed no desire to tackle Drake, and he escaped, taking shortly afterwards three tolerable prizes, one of which yielded forty bars of silver, eighty pounds’ weight of gold, and a golden crucifix, “set with goodly great emeralds.” One of the men having secreted two plates of gold from this prize, and denied the theft, was immediately hanged.
But it was the Cacafuego that Drake wanted, and after crossing the line he promised to give his own chain of gold to the first man who should descry her. On St. David’s Day, the coveted prize was discovered from the top, by a namesake of the commander, one John Drake. All sail was set, but an easy capture was before them; for the Spanish captain, not dreaming of enemies in those latitudes, slackened sail, in order to find out what ship she was. When they had approached near enough, Drake hailed them to strike, which being refused, “with a great piece he shot her mast overboard, and having wounded the master with an arrow, the ship yielded.” Having taken possession, the vessels sailed in company far out to sea, when they stopped and lay by. She proved a prize indeed: gold and silver in coin and bars, jewels and precious stones amounting to three hundred and sixty thousand pieces of gold were taken from her. The silver alone amounted to a value in our money of £212,000. It is stated that Drake called for the register of the treasure on board, and wrote a receipt for the amount! The ship was dismissed, and Drake gave the captain a letter of safe conduct, in case she should fall in with his consorts. This, as we know, was impossible.
Drake’s plain course now was to make his way home, and he wisely argued that it would be unsafe to attempt the voyage by the route he had come, as the Spaniards would surely attack him in full force, the whole coast of Chili and Peru being aroused to action. He conceived the bold notion of rounding North America: in other words, he proposed to make that passage which has been the great dream of Arctic explorers, and which has only, as we shall hereafter see, been once made (and that in a very partial sense) by Franklin and [pg 312]M’Clure. His company agreed to his views: firstly to refit, water, and provision the ship in some convenient bay; “thenceforward,” says one of them, “to hasten on our intended journey for the discovery of the said passage, through which we might with joy return to our longed homes.” They sailed for Nicaragua, near the mainland of which they found a small island with a suitable bay, where they obtained wood, water, and fish. A small prize was taken while there, having on board a cargo of sarsaparilla, which they disdained, and butter and honey, which they appropriated. Drake now sailed northward, and most undoubtedly reached the grand bay of San Francisco. Californian authorities concede this. The “Drake’s Bay” of the charts is an open roadstead, and does not answer the descriptions given of the great navigator’s visit. He had peaceful interviews with the natives, and took possession, in the fashion of those days, of the country, setting up a monument of the queen’s “right and title to the same, namely, a plate nailed upon a fair great post, whereupon was engraven her Majesty’s name, the day and year of our arrival there, ... together with her highness’s picture and arms in a piece of sixpence (!) of current English money under the plate, where under also was written the name of our general.” History does not tell us the fate of that sixpence, but the title, New Albion, bestowed on the country by Drake, remained on the maps half way into this century, or just before the discovery of gold in California. The natives regarded the English with superstitious awe, [pg 313]and could not be prevented from offering them sacrifices, “with lamentable weeping, scratching, and tearing the flesh from their faces with their nails, whereof issued abundance of blood.” “But we used,” says the narrator quoted by Hakluyt, “signs to them of disliking this, and stayed their hands from force, and directed them upwards to the living God, whom only they ought to worship.” After remaining there five weeks, Drake took his departure, and the natives watched the ships sadly as they sailed, and kept fires burning on the hill-tops as long as they continued in sight. “Good store of seals and birds” were taken from the Farralone Islands. Many an egg has the writer eaten, laid by the descendants of those very birds: they are supplied in quantities to the San Francisco markets. Drake’s attempt at the northern passage was now abandoned.