We have also the personnel of the ayuntamiento of Panamá,[XXVII‑2] and certain ordinances passed by that body, one of which relates to the sale of a noxious liquor known as vino de Aljarafe,[XXVII‑3] and the other forbids trafficking in negro slaves.[XXVII‑4]
PARKER'S ATTACK.
It was during the administration of Mercado that Captain William Parker attacked and captured Portobello. He sailed from Plymouth in November 1601 with two ships, a pinnace, and two shallops, and at least two hundred men.[XXVII‑5] After a tempestuous voyage in which he lost his pinnace and all her crew save three, he captured the town of San Vicente, on the Cape Verde Islands, and after despoiling it and giving it up to the flames sailed for the coast of Tierra Firme. Arriving at the island of Cubagua, where was a pearl-fishery, he was confronted by a company of soldiers, who resisted manfully, but were finally overcome; several barks and boats were captured, and several prisoners taken, for whose ransom he received pearls to the value of twenty-five hundred pesos. Thence he shaped his course for Cape de la Vela, off which he met with a fine Portuguese ship of two hundred and fifty tons, bound for Cartagena, and laden with negroes for the mines. An easy capture was made, and another twenty-five hundred pesos secured as ransom for the slaves. Calling at the islands of Cabezas and Bastimentos, at the latter of which he procured several negro guides, he embarked one hundred and fifty of his men in the shallops and in two small pinnaces which he had built during the voyage. He entered the mouth of the river on which Portobello is situated about two o'clock in the morning of the 7th of February 1602.[XXVII‑6]
The moonlight quickly revealed the boats to the watch on duty at the fort of San Felipe, commanding the entrance of the harbor. Being challenged as to whence they came, they answered from Cartagena, the reply being given in Spanish by men taken on board at that town for the purpose. They were then commanded to anchor, and did so at once, six leagues from Portobello, "the Place where my Shippes roade," says Parker, "beinge the rock where Sir Francis Drake his Coffin was throwne overboarde."
The captain was well aware that at San Felipe were always thirty-five great pieces of brass ordnance, ready mounted, to bid an enemy welcome, and fifty soldiers to manage them. Nevertheless, as soon as all was quiet, he proceeded up the river with thirty men and two cannon in his shallops, ordering the remainder of his forces to follow him. Directly opposite the castle was a smaller fort named Santiago, mounting five pieces of ordnance and manned by thirty soldiers, some of whom, seeing the boats, cried out to them to stop, and ran along the shore in pursuit. Heedless of their noise Parker proceeded to the suburban town of Triana, landed there with his company, and in a trice, though the alarm was promptly given, set it on fire. Then, leaving it burning, he marched on Portobello, capturing on his way a piece of ordnance with the loss of only one man. The English made directly for the king's treasure-house, a large and conspicuous building where the governor of the town, Pedro Melendez, was stationed, with a strong force. The flames and smoke of Triana had given warning of the invaders' approach, and Parker found before the treasury a squadron of soldiers drawn up ready to receive him, and also a company of trained civilians with two field-pieces. The conflict that followed was sharp and bloody. Soon all of the English except eight or nine were killed or wounded, and the governor at the head of sixty soldiers was now advancing to crush the remnant of their little band. "But," says the pious pirate, "God did prosper our Proceedings mightelie, for the first two Shott which went from us shot Malendus through his Targett, and went throughe both his Armes, and the other Shott hurted the Corporall of the Fielde, whereupon they all retired to their House which they made good untill it was almost daie."
PORTOBELLO TAKEN.
Meanwhile the remainder of the captain's forces had come up, and after a fight of four or five hours the contest was decided in favor of the English. Among the prisoners taken were the governor, the king's escribano, and many of the leading citizens, all of whom were afterward released, Melendez[XXVII‑7] being carried on board the fleet and liberated without ransom after his wounds had been dressed.
The booty captured in the treasure-house amounted to but ten thousand ducats,[XXVII‑8] though had the English arrived but seven days earlier they would have made prize of a hundred and twenty thousand ducats which had just before been carried away by two frigates bound for Cartagena. Elsewhere in the town a considerable amount of plunder was found in the shape of plate, merchandise, and money, all of which was divided among the men, the commander reserving for himself the sum found in the treasury.
No further injury was done to the town, except that a few negro huts were burned in order to intimidate the inhabitants. Seizing two vessels that he found in the port, and in one of which were three mounted pieces of cannon, the English, as they dropped down the river, opened fire on the forts, and were warmly answered by the Spaniards, who expected to sink their vessels. "But God so wrought for us," says the captain, "that we safely gott forthe againe contrarie to the Expectation of our Enemyes." Most of the shots fired from shore passed high overhead, though a few of the English were wounded, among them the commander, who was hit in the elbow with a musket ball which passed out at his wrist. Reaching a neighboring island, Parker was soon rejoined by his ships, and next day, the 9th of February, put out to sea.[XXVII‑9]
It has already been said that in 1585 Portobello contained not more than ten dwellings, and that in March 1597 the port of entry was removed there from Nombre de Dios. During the five years that elapsed between this change and Parker's raid the town had developed into a thriving settlement, and now contained two churches, a treasury, an exchange, a hospital rich and large, a convent and several streets, where for six weeks in the year, when the galleons were in port, merchants and artificers congregated.