It has been deemed the more necessary to point out carefully the errors of Mr. Greenhow, in regard to these two narratives, because he contrasts them expressly (p. 74) as “the one proceeding entirely from a person who had accompanied Drake in his expedition, and published in 1589, during the life of the hero; the other compiled from various accounts, and not given to the world until the middle of the following century.”
In respect to the narrative of the World Encompassed, Mr. Greenhow thus expresses himself:—“It is a long and diffuse account, filled with dull and generally absurd speculations, and containing moreover a number of statements, which are positive and evidently wilful falsehoods; yet it contains scarcely a single fact not related in the Famous Voyage, from which many sentences and paragraphs are taken verbatim, while others convey the same meaning in different terms. The journal, or supposed journal of Fletcher’s, remains in manuscript in the British Museum: and from it were derived the false statements above mentioned, according to Barrow, who consulted it.”
Mr. Greenhow’s opinion of the length and diffuseness of the narrative, and of the dulness and general absurdity of the speculations, will probably be acquiesced in by those who have read the World Encompassed, but the rest of his observations have been made at random. The World Encompassed does not profess to be an original work, but to be a compilation from the notes of several who went the voyage. It is therefore highly probable that the compiler had before him “The Famous Voyage” amongst other narratives, and we should be prepared to find many statements alike in the two accounts. But it seems hard to suppose with Mr. Greenhow, that, where the World Encompassed differs from the Famous Voyage, the statements are “positive and evidently wilful falsehoods.” There are several statements, for instance, where the two narratives differ, and where the World Encompassed agrees with Nuño da Silva’s account, or with Cliffe’s narrative.
For instance, on the second day after clearing the Straits of Magellan, on Sept. 7th, a violent gale came on from the northeast, which drove Drake’s three vessels, the Golden Hind, the Elizabeth, and the Marigold to the height of 57° south according to Cliffe, and about 200 leagues in longitude west of the strait, according to the Famous Voyage. They could make no head against the gale for three weeks, and during that interval there was an eclipse of the moon, which is alluded to in all the narratives. According to Nuño da Silva, they lay driving about, without venturing to hoist a sail till the last day of September, and about this time lost sight of the Marigold. The Elizabeth still kept company with the Golden Hind, but on or before October 7th, Drake’s vessel parted from her consort. We now come to a very important event in Drake’s voyage, which would seem to be one of the supposed “positive and evidently wilful falsehoods,” to which Mr. Greenhow alludes.
The Famous Voyage conducts Sir F. Drake in a continuous course north-westward, after losing sight of the Elizabeth, to the island of Mocha, in 38° 30′ south, whereas the World Encompassed says, that “Drake, being driven from the Bay of the Parting of Friends out into the open sea, was carried back again to the southward into 55° south, on which height they found shelter for two days amongst the islands, but were again driven further to the southward, and at length fell in with the uttermost part of land towards the South Pole,” in about 56° south. Here Fletcher himself landed, and travelled to the southernmost part of the island, beyond which there was neither continent nor island, but one wide ocean. We altered the name, says Fletcher in his MS. journal, from Terra Incognita, to Terra nunc bene Cognita. Now this account in the World Encompassed, varying so totally from that in the Famous Voyage, is fully borne out by the positive evidence of Nuño da Silva, who says, that after losing sight of another ship of their company, the Admiral’s ship being now left alone, with this foul weather they ran till they were under 57°, where they entered into the haven of an island, and stayed there three or four days. The Famous Voyage would lead the reader to suppose, that after leaving the Bay of Severing of Friends, the Elizabeth and Golden Hind were driven in company to 57° 20′ south; but it is altogether contrary to probability that Cliffe should have omitted the fact of the Elizabeth having been in company with Drake when he discovered the southernmost point of land, had such been the case. The author of the Famous Voyage has evidently mixed up the events of the gale in the month of September with those of the storm after the 8th of October. This is a very striking instance of the truth of Captain W. Burney’s remark, “that the author of the Famous Voyage seems purposely, on some occasions, to introduce confusion as a cloak for ignorance.”
Again, the World Encompassed mentions that Drake was badly wounded in the face with an arrow by the natives in the island of Mocha, about which the Famous Voyage is altogether silent, but Nuño da Silva confirms this statement. Other instances might be cited to the like purport.
Mr. Greenhow, at the end of his note already cited, says, “The journal, or supposed journal of Fletcher, remains in MS. in the British Museum, and from it were derived the false statements above mentioned, according to Barrow, who consulted it.” Mr. Greenhow has nowhere particularised what these false statements are, unless he means that the statements are false which are at variance with the Famous Voyage. It is evident, however, that such a view assumes the whole point at issue between the two narratives to be decided upon internal evidence in favour of the Famous Voyage, which a careful examination of the two accounts will not justify.
But it is incorrect to refer to Fletcher’s journal, as the source of the assumed false statements in the World Encompassed. The manuscript to which Captain James Burney refers, in his Voyage of Sir Francis Drake round the world, as “the manuscript relation of Francis Fletcher, minister, in the British Museum,” forms a part of the Sloane Collection, in which there is likewise a manuscript of Drake’s previous expedition to Nombre de Dios. It is not, however, properly speaking, a MS. of Fletcher’s, but a MS. copy of Fletcher’s MS. It bears upon the fly-leaf the words, “e libris Joh. Conyers, Pharmacopolist,—Memorandum, Hakluyt’s Voyages of Fletcher.” Its title runs thus: “The First Part of the Second Voyage about the World, attempted, contrived, and happily accomplished, to wit, in the time of three years, by Mr. Francis Drake, at her Highness’s command, and his company: written and faithfully laid down by Ffrancis Ffletcher, Minister of Christ, and Presbyter of the Gospel, adventurer and traveller in the same voyage.” On the second page is a map of England, and above it these words: “This is a map of England, an exact copy of the original to a hair; that done by Mr. Ffrancis Ffletcher, in Queen Elizabeth’s time; it is copied by Jo. Conyers, citizen and apothecary of London, together with the rest, and by the same hand, as follows.”
The work appears to have been very carefully executed by Conyers, and is illustrated with rude maps and drawings of plants, boats, instruments of music and warfare, strange animals, such as the Vitulus marinus and others, which are referred to in the text of the MS., opposite to which they are generally depicted, and each is specially vouched to be a faithful copy of Fletcher’s MS.
There is no date assigned to Fletcher’s own MS., but we might fairly be warranted in referring it to a period almost immediately subsequent to the happy accomplishment of the voyage, from the leader of the company being spoken of as “Mr. Francis Drake.” The Golden Hind reached England in November, 1580, and Drake was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in April, 1581; there was then an interval of four months, during which the circumstances of his voyage and his conduct were under the consideration of the Queen’s Council, and Fletcher may have completed his journal before their favourable decision led to Drake’s receiving the honour of knighthood. On comparing the World Encompassed with this MS., it will be found that most of the speculations, discussions, and fine writing in the World Encompassed have emanated from the nephew of the hero, or whoever may have been the compiler of the work, and have not been derived from this MS., which is written in rather a sober style, and is much less diffuse than might reasonably be expected. Fletcher’s imagination seems certainly to have been much affected by the giant stature of the Patagonians, and by the terrible tempest which dispersed the fleet after it had cleared the Straits of Magellan. In respect to the Patagonians, Cliffe, it must be allowed, says, they were “of a mean stature, well limbed, and of a duskish tawnie or browne colour.” On the other hand, Nuño da Silva says, they were “a subtle, great, and well-formed people, and strong and high of stature.” Whichever of the two accounts be the more correct, this circumstance is certain, that four of the natives beat back six of Drake’s sailors, and slew with their arrows two of them, the one an Englishman, and the other a Netherlander, so that they could be no mean antagonists. In respect to the tempest, the events of it must have with reason fixed themselves deep into Fletcher’s memory, for he writes in his journal, “About which time the storm being so outrageous and furious, the barke Marigold, wherein Edward Bright, one of the accusers of Thomas Doughty, was captain, with 28 souls, was swallowed up, which chanced in the second watch of the night, wherein myself and John Brewer, our trumpeter, being watch, did hear their fearful cries continued without hope, &c.”