Volume 1

A new and complete collection of voyages and travels / [John Hamilton Moore].

  • John Hamilton Moore
Date:
[1785?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new and complete collection of voyages and travels / [John Hamilton Moore]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    kins ; but thefe are a company of idle heads that have nothing elfe to talk of. And, my mafters, I mull tell you, I do know them as my very good friends ; but to fay they were the fitters forth of this voyage, 6r that it was by their means, I tell you it was nothing fo. But indeed thus it was. My lord of Eflex wrote in my commendation unto Secretary Walfingham hiore than I was Worthy ; but by like I had deferved fomewhat at his hands* and he thought [reported] me in his letters, a fit man again!! the Spaniards for my practice and experience that I had in that [the Spanifh] trade; whereupon indeed Secretary Walfingham did come to confult with his lordfinip, and declared unto him that for that her majefly had received divers in¬ juries of the king of Spain, for the which fhe de- fired to have fome revenge ; and, withal he fhewed me a plot [plan] willing me to fet my hand, and to write down where I thought he might be moll engaged ; but I told him fome part of my mind, but refufed to fet my hand to any thing, affirming that her majefly was mortal, and if it fhould pleafe God to take her ma¬ jefly away, it might be fo that l'ome perfon might reign that might be in league with the king of Spain, and then will [would] mine own hand beawitnefs againfl myfelf. Then was I very fhortly after, and on an evening, fent for to her majefly by Secretary Walfingham ; and the next day coming to her ma¬ jefly, thefe or the like words fhe faid: Drake, fo it is that I would be gladly revenged on the king of Spain for divers injuries that I have received. And [as Drake afl’erted,] fhe faid further that he was the only man that might do this exploit, and withal craved his ad¬ vice therein, who told her majefly of the final 1 good that was to be done in Spain, but the only way was to annoy him by his Indies. Then, with many more words he fhewed forth a bill of her majefly’s adventure of a thoufand crowns ■which however he faid at fome time before, that her majefly did give him towards his charges. He fhewed alfo a bill of Mailer Hatton’s adventure, and divers letters of credit that had paffed in his behalf, but ne¬ ver let them come out of his own hands. He faid alfo that her majefly did fwear by her crown,—That if any within her realm did give the king of Spain hereof to underhand (as fhe fufpcCted but two) they fhould lofe their heads therefore. 4£ And now, mafters, faid he, let us confider what we have done—We have now fet together by the ears three mighty princes ; namely, her majefly, [and] the kings ®f Spain and Portugal ; and if this voyage fhould not have good fuccefs, we fhould not only be a fcorning, or a reproachful fcoffing hock unto our ene¬ mies, but alfo a great blot to our whole country for ever, and what triumph would it be to Spain and Por¬ tugal, and again the like would never be attempted. And now, refloring every man again to his former office, he ended, fhewing the company that he would fatisfy every man or elfe he would fell all that he had, even unto his plate :-For, quoth he, I have good reafon to promife, and am beh able to perform it; for I have fomewhat of mine own in England ; and behdes that I have as much adventure in this voyage as three of the beh whatfoever ; and if it be fo that I never come home, yet will her majefly pay ever}' man his voages ; whom indeed \ ou and I and all come to J'erve ; and for to fay vou come to ferve me, indeed I will not give you thanks ; for it is only her majefty that you ferve, and this voyage is only her fitting forth. So willing all men to be friends, he willed them to depart about their bufinefs. The reader will eafily perceive that how fubtly fo- ever Drake thought he had'formed this fpeech (which Vol. I. No, 3. might be well enough calculated to impofe on men 1578 who were under his command, and being fo far dif- tant frorn their country, had no other dependhnee than on him for their future fortunes) yet it abounded with inconfiflencies, and feems to furnifh fufficient reafons to doubt the authority by which he aCted, at the fame time that it fliews his own doubts and fears about the expedition in which he was engaged. The number of thefhips being reduced to three, Drake quitted * Port St. Julian, and entered the flreights of Maghellan on the 20th of Augufl, in the intricate paflage of which an ifland was difeovered, to which the Englifh gave the name of Elizabeth, in honour of their queen.-They came on the 24th to an ifland, where they killed 3000 penguins in one day. At length they paffed the Streights, which fome- times feem entirely fhut up by capes and head-lands* yet the fhips made good their paffage. Maghellan obferved many harbours here, but re¬ marked that in moil of them no bottom was to be found, which however does not feem to appear to be an accurate account ; the harbours being in general good, though the tides and blafls continually rufhing in from various directions create the danger. The land on both fides rifes into innumerable moun¬ tains ; the tops of them were encircled with clouds and vapours, which, being congealed, fell down in fnow, and increafe their apparent height by hardening into ice ; yet in the winter time, even at that feafon which anfwers to our February, they found the valJ leys in fome places, green, fruitful and pleafant. Anchoring in a bay near Cape Forward, Drake, imagining the flreight quite fhut up, went in his boat to endeavour to find fome other paffage out; and, and having found an inlet towards the north, was returning to his fhips ; but euriofity occafioned him to flop for the fake of obferving a canoe or boat with feveral natives of the country in it. He could not, atadiflance, help admiring the form of this little veffel, which feemed inclining to a femicircle, the ffern and prow handing up, and the body finking in¬ ward ; but much greater was his wonder when upon a nearer infpe&ion, he perceived it was made only of the barks of trees, fewed together with thongs o.r filaments of the feal fkin in fuch a manner, that fcarcely any water entered the feams of that little vef¬ fel. He found the people here well fhaped, and painted like thofe who have been already deferibed. On the land they had a hut built with poles, and covered with fkins, in which they had water veffels and other uten- fils, made like wife with the barks of trees. Among thefe people natural fagacity and unwearied induf- try fupplied the want of fuch manufactures or na¬ tural productions, as appear to us abfolutely necef- fary for the fupport of life. Though the inhabitants were wholly flrangers to iron and the ufe we make of it, yet inflead of it, they fubflituted the fhell of a mufcle of prodigious fize found upon their coafls. This they ground upon a flone to an edge that was fo firm and folid, that neither wood nor flone were able to refill it; and with inflruments made of fhells, they were able to perform all their mechanical ope¬ rations. Thus Drake, though not at a favourable feafon, paffed the Streights of Maghellan in the fpace of f 16 days, and after he had furveyed the country, having direCled his courfe N. W. and entered the great South Sea on the 6th of September, intending to hold on his way towards the EquinoClial line. But the very next day, after having obferved an ^ eclipfe of the moon, the fleet was overtaken with fo^rnfora violent a florm, that the % fhips were in a manner left morup I to * The Day before they weighed anchor we find he came on hoard the Elizabeth, and fwore that he would hang thirty of his men, and repeated his charge againft Worral, fti 11 feeming to retain that refentment againfl particular perfons which he had promifed to banifh from his breaft. t None of our modern vovagers have been lefs than 3 6 days. Ca ptain Wallis was four months in his voyage through thefe flreights. 4 The Marygold was feparated from the reft of the fleet, du¬ ring the continuance of this ftorm on the 30th of September. Having entered a harbour on the 7th of October, they were once more forced out to fea by a violent guft of wind, and Captain Winter was fo much difeouraged, that regaining the {freights he made the beft of his way to England, 5
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