[Footnote 177: Cited by Hakluyt, Vol. II. Part 2. p. 2]
"It appears by a memorandum or letter of Nicholas Thorn, senior, a considerable merchant in Bristol, of which Hakluyt gives the contents[178], that in 1526, and from circumstances for a long time previous, certain English merchants, among whom were Nicholas Thorn and Thomas Spacheford, had frequently traded to the Canary islands. In that letter or memorandum, notice was given to Thomas Midnal his factor and William Ballard his servant; residing in St Lucar in Andalusia, that the Christopher of Cadiz bound for the West Indies, had taken on board several packs of cloth of different fineness and colours, together with packthread, soap, and other goods, to be landed at Santa Cruz in Teneriffe. They are directed to sell these goods, and to send back returns in Orchil[179], sugar, and kid skins.
[Footnote 178: Id. ib. p. 3.]
[Footnote 179: A species of moss growing on high rocks, much used in these days in dying.--Astl. I. 138. d.]
"At length, about the middle of the sixteenth century, the English spirit of trade, meeting with favourable circumstances, began to exert itself, and to extend its adventures to the south as well as the north. About the year 1551, Captain Thomas Windham sailed in the ship Lion for Morocco, whither he carried two Moors of the blood-royal. This was the first voyage to the western coast of Africa of which we have any account, and these are all the particulars to be found respecting it; except that one Thomas Alday, a servant to Sebastian Cabot, in a letter inserted in Hakluyt's Collection[180], represents himself as the first promoter of this trade to Barbary, and observes that he would have performed this voyage himself, with the sole command of the ship and goods, had it not been that Sir John Lutterel, John Fletcher, Henry Ostrich, and others with whom he was connected, died of the sweating sickness, and he himself, after escaping that disease, was seized by a violent fever, so that Thomas Windham sailed from Portsmouth before he recovered, by which he lost eighty pounds.
[Footnote 180: Vol. II. p. 7.]
"In the next year, 1552, Windham made a second voyage to Zafin or Saffi and Santa Cruz without the straits, which gave so much offence to the Portuguese, that they threatened to treat the English as enemies if found in these seas. Yet in the year following, the same Thomas Windham, with a Portuguese named Antonio Yanez Pinteado, who appears to have been the chief promoter of the attempt, undertook a voyage to Guinea, with three ships having an hundred and forty men; and having traded for some time on the coast for gold, they went to Benin to load pepper: But both the commanders and most of the men dying of sickness, occasioned by the climate, the rest returned to Plymouth with one ship only, having burnt the other two for want of hands, and brought back no great riches. In 1554, Mr John Lok made a voyage with three ships to the coast of Guinea, whence he brought back a considerable quantity of gold and ivory. These voyages appear to have been succeeded by others almost every year. At length, upon application to Queen Elizabeth, two patents were granted to certain merchants. One in 1585, for the Barbary or Morocco trade, and the other in 1588, for the trade to Guinea between the rivers Senegal and Gambia[181]. In 1592, a third patent was granted to other persons, taking in the coast from the river Nonnia to the south of Sierra Leona, for the space of 100 leagues, which patents gave rise to the African company. In all their voyages to the coast of Africa they had disputes with the Portuguese. Several of these voyages have been preserved by Hakluyt, and will be found inserted in this chapter, as forerunners to the English voyages to the East Indies.
[Footnote 181: The former for twelve years, was granted to the Earls of Leicester and Warwick, and certain merchants of London, to the number of 32 in all. The other for ten years to eight persons of Exeter, London, and other places. By this latter patent, it appears that this trade was advised by the Portuguese residing in London, and one voyage had been made before the grant. See Hakluyt, II. part 2. pp. 114 and 123.--Astl. I. 139. a.]
"The views of the English extending with experience and success, and finding the long attempted north-east and north-west passages to India impracticable, they at length determined to proceed for that distant region round Africa by the same course with the Portuguese. In 1591, that voyage was undertaken for the first time by three large ships under the command of Captain Raymond; and in 1596, another fleet of three ships set out on the same design under Captain Wood, but with bad success. In the mean time several navigators were employed to discover this course to the East Indies. At length in 1600, a charter was obtained from Queen Elizabeth by a body of merchants, to the number of 216, having George Earl of Cumberland at their head, under the name of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, for carrying on a trade to the East Indies. From this period ships were sent there regularly every two or three years; and thus were laid the foundations of the English East India commerce, which has subsisted ever since under exclusive chartered companies.
"Long before the English sailed to India in their own ships, several English merchants and others had gone to India from time to time in the Portuguese ships, and some overland; from a desire to pry into and to participate in the advantages of that gainful commerce. Of those who went by land, several letters and relations remain which will be found in the sequel: But of all who performed the voyage as passengers in the Portuguese vessels, we know of only one who left any account of his adventures, or at least whose account has been published; viz. Thomas Stephens. To this may be added the account by Captain Davis of a voyage in the Dutch ship called the Middleburgh Merchants in 1598, of which he served as pilot, for the purpose of making himself acquainted with the maritime route to India, and the posture of the Portuguese affairs in that country. Both of these journals contain very useful remarks for the time in which they were made, and both will be found in our collection.