Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 1 of 2

by Robert Grant Watson

Four years later another English expedition sailed for the South Sea, but of a less pacific nature. Lord Cumberland was at its head, but Withrington was in active command, and of two privateers which accompanied it, one had been fitted out by Raleigh. From information which they obtained from Portuguese vessels which they had captured, they resolved to attack San Salvador, and accordingly made for Bahia. The safety of that place is said to have been due to the presence of converted Indians, who had been gathered together there, and who constituted a formidable force of archers; but the English remained six weeks in the bay, doing much damage to the neighbouring country.

The next English privateer of whom we read in connection with Brazil is Cavendish, who sent two of his vessels to attack the town of Santos. The inhabitants were surprised at mass, and the one man who resisted was slain, the rest being detained prisoners in church. They contrived to escape, however, at night, and took good care to make away with all their portable property; so that when Cavendish arrived some days later he found neither inhabitants nor provisions. The result was that after remaining several weeks the fleet had to depart worse provisioned than when it had arrived. The next exploit of Cavendish was to burn San Vicente on his way to the Straits, which, however, he failed to pass. His ships being dispersed in a storm, he put back alone to the coast of Brazil, and landed twenty-five men near Santos, with instructions to seize provisions and return forthwith. But of this party not a man returned. They were seized by the natives, and only two were spared to be carried prisoners to Santos.

Cavendish was now joined by another vessel of his squadron, and made for Espirito Santo. It not being deemed prudent for the ships to attempt to cross the bar, a party of eighty men were sent over it in boats, the orders of their commander, Captain Morgan, being to discover a good landing-place near the town. Disobeying the positive commands of his superior, he landed with a number of his men, with the result that he was himself killed, together with a large proportion of his force, upon which Cavendish left the coast of Brazil in despair, and died, it is said, of grief on his homeward voyage.

1594.

The next English expedition to Brazil was better designed. Three ships, the largest of them being of about two hundred and forty tons, were fitted out by certain citizens of London, and sailed under the command of James Lancaster, who was well acquainted with the Portuguese, having lived amongst them. Pernambuco was his point of attack, and for this purpose he secured two Frenchmen as interpreters in the language of the neighbouring natives. One of his vessels, commanded by Barker, had to put back to refit, but this officer rejoined him off Cape Blanco, having already captured four-and-twenty Spanish and Portuguese sail. They then made for Pernambuco, and on the way fell in with another English squadron under Captain Venner, consisting of four vessels. Venner readily agreed to assist Lancaster in securing a rich prize from a ship from India which had been wrecked near Olinda, at the port of which place her cargo was stowed. Venner was to receive a fourth of the value of the prize.

They arrived off Recife towards the end of March, 1595, where they discovered three large Dutch ships lying at the entrance. Lancaster manned five of his prizes, with orders to board the Dutch vessels should they offer opposition. His men were embarked in boats, and he himself took command of the galley, rowed by eighty of his ship’s company. This happened at night, and when morning came they found that the boats had drifted half a mile to the north. It was now ebb-tide, and they were forced to remain off the port in full sight of the place; but they had the satisfaction of seeing the Dutch vessels move away from the entrance. About noon, Lancaster received a message from the governor, requesting to know his object. The reply, given in curt seaman’s terms, was that he wanted the Indian prize, and that he meant to have it. On this declaration the Portuguese manned the small work at the mouth of the harbour and collected their entire force of six hundred men. At two o’clock the tide turned, when Lancaster led the way, running his boat on shore immediately under the battery, the other boat’s crew following his example. The place was then gallantly stormed; upon which Lancaster made signal for his ships to enter the harbour. He left a garrison in the fort and planted its guns against Olinda; after this he marched on Recife, which place he found abandoned, and where he obtained the sought-for prize.

The admiral now displayed much prudence. As his booty could not readily be removed, he put the Isthmus of Recife in a state of defence. This done, he opened communication with the Dutch vessels, which he chartered to take cargoes to England. He likewise obtained assistance from some French vessels which soon afterwards arrived, and to which he parted with valuable stores that were in excess of his own requirements. He obstinately refused to enter into parley with the authorities of Olinda, going on board ship when their envoys came to seek him. Meanwhile the work of lading went on; and in repulsing an attack which was made upon his force he was so fortunate as to secure some small carts, which were invaluable for transporting his spoil. He likewise captured a Portuguese ship with forty hands, whom he employed to relieve his own men in the work of carrying.

The Portuguese, however, were not idle meanwhile. During three weeks they made repeated attacks on the English, who were always compelled to fight for their supply of water. They next set five small vessels on fire, and let them float down the stream; but for this attempt Lancaster was prepared, and the fire-ships were stopped by grappling-irons and chains. A week later, at midnight, three blazing rafts came down the stream, having long poles attached to their sides to prevent their being grappled, and likewise having sparkling fireworks. The English, however, laid wet cloths on their powder, flasks, and oars, and, seeing the necessity of stopping them at all hazards, succeeded in doing so. The attempts of the Portuguese to cut the cables of the enemy’s ships were likewise baffled. Whilst they were preparing a third attempt to fire the ships, Lancaster, having now got his booty on board, was ready to depart. On the day of departure, however, in consequence of the state of the tide, it was necessary to delay till the evening; and in the attempt to destroy a battery which was being prepared by the Portuguese, some three hundred French and English were led into an ambuscade, losing thirty-five of their number, amongst them the vice-admiral, Barker. The same evening eleven richly-laden vessels set sail, and all safely reached their destination.

. . . . . . . . .

So well had Nobrega’s system been followed by his successors that, in the course of half a century, all the natives along the coast of Brazil, where Portuguese settlements extended, were collected in villages under their superintendence; whilst, on the other hand, so successfully had the slave-hunters practised their arts in setting one tribe of natives against another that the number of the latter was very greatly reduced. It thus happened that both missionaries and slave-hunters had now to penetrate much farther into the interior than heretofore, in search either of converts or of captives; and in this way fresh portions of the vast territory were from time to time discovered. About the year 1594, Rifault, a French adventurer, who had previously visited the coast of Brazil, returned to that country with three vessels, one of which he lost near Maranham, on which island he took refuge. Having returned to Europe, his people were now headed by the Sieur des Vaux, who persuaded the islanders to own the rule of the French. With this concession he too returned to France, and submitted to Henri IV. a project for taking possession of the considerable island of Maranham. The king listened with satisfaction, and sent back Des Vaux, accompanied by a commissioner of rank, by whose report he was to be guided; but before the report could be made Henri had been assassinated.