[754] Ibid., cclvi, 107. But see supra [p. 160].
[755] Pipe Office Accounts 2233, but £70,000 according to State Papers, Dom., cclix, 61.
[756] State Papers, Dom., cclii, 107.
[757] State Papers, Dom., cciv, 46.
[758] Lansd. MSS., 70, f. 82. The Madre de Dios, the Bom Jesus, the Santa Cruz, and the St. Bartholomeu, all richly laden left Goa in company on 10th January 1592. The Bom Jesus was lost in the Mozambique Channel with all on board, the Bartholomeu parted company about the same time and was never heard of again, the Santa Cruz was run ashore and burnt to prevent capture. Nor was the total loss of a Portuguese or Spanish squadron, from various causes, at all remarkable. The captain of the Madre de Dios, Fernando de Mendoza, had been master of Medina Sidonia’s flagship in 1588; his maritime interviews with the English must have become a veritable nightmare to him. The Fuggers of Augsburg, to whom the cargo was hypothecated, are said to have been the real losers by the capture, as it was probably not insured. It was difficult to insure Spanish ships at this time. In 1587 a Spaniard wrote of a vessel in the West Indies, ‘I have not assured any part thereof and at this present I do not find any that will assure at any price’ (Lansd. MSS., 53, f. 21). The conditions had become much more unfavourable to Spanish seaborne commerce by 1592.
[759] Lansd. MSS., 73, f. 38.
[760] Harl. MSS., 598.
[761] Lansd. MSS. 73, f. 38. It suited Elizabeth to rate the Foresight as high as possible, so she now reached her maximum of 450 tons; she had been as low as 260.
[762] Lansd. MSS. 70, ff. 55, 187.
[763] Harl. MSS., 306, f. 233, 3rd May 1594.