Minion, the fight waxed hote upon all sides; but they having won and got our ordinance did greatly annoy us. In this fighte there were two great shippes of the Spaniards sunke, and one burnte, so that with their shippes they were not able to harme us, but from the shore they beat us cruelly with our own ordinance in such sort that the Jesus was very sore spoyled, and suddenly the Spaniards, having fired two great shippes of their owne, they came directly against us, which bred among our men a marvellous feare. Howbeit the Minion, which had made her sayles ready, shifted for herself, without consent of the Generall, captaine, or master, so that very hardly our Generall could be received into the Minion, and those which the small boat was not able to receive were most cruelly slain by the Spaniardes.

“Of our shippes none escaped saving the Minion and the Judith; and all such of our men as were not in them were inforced to abide the tyrannous cruelty of the Spaniards. For it is a certain trueth, that whereas they had taken certaine of our men ashore, they took and hung them up by the armes, upon high postes, until the blood burst out of their fingers' ends of which men so used, there is one Copston and certaine others yet alive, who by the merciful providence of the Almighty were long since arrived here in England, carrying still about with them (and shall go to their graves) the marks and tokens of those their inhuman and more than barbarous cruell dealings."*

Thus the Minion, with only one small bark of fifty tons, the Judith (Drake's ship), escaped the treachery of the Spaniards:

"But," says Hawkins, "the same night the Judith likewise forsook us. We were now left alone, with only two anchors and two cables, our ship so damaged that it was as much as we could do to keep her above water, and a great number of us with very little provisions. We were besides divided in opinion what to do. Some were for yielding to the Spaniards, others chose rather to submit to the mercy of the savages; and again, others thought it more eligible to keep the sea, though with so scanty an allowance of victualls as would hardly suffice to keep us alive.

"In this miserable plight we ranged an unknown sea for fourteen days, till extreme famine obliged us to seek for land. So great was our misery that hides were reckoned good food; rats, cats, mice, and dogs, none escaped us that we could lay our hands on; parrots and monkeys were our dainties. In this condition we came to land on the 8th of October, at the bottom of the bay of Mexico, where we hoped to have found inhabitants of the Spaniards, reliefe of victuals, and a proper place to repair our ship. But we found every thing just contrary to our expectation; neither inhabitants, nor provisions, nor a haven for the repair of our ship. Many of our men, nevertheless, being worn out with hunger, desired to be set on shore, to which I consented; and such as were willing to land I put them apart, and such as were desirous to go homewards I put apart; so that they were indifferently

* Narrative of Miles Philips, given by Hakluyt.

posted, a hundred on one side, and a hundred on the other side. These hundred men we set a-land with all diligence in this little place, before said, which being landed, we determined there to take in fresh water, and so with our little remains of victuals to take the sea.

"Of about two hundred souls which we then were, one hundred chose to seek their fortune on land, on which they were set with great difficulty; and with the remainder, after having watered, I again submitted to the mercy of the seas, and set sail on the 16th of October."

Hawkins himself and his companions were first endangered by a vehement storm; after that, by famine: many of his men died; and the rest, from weakness, being unable to manage the ship, entered Ponte Vedra, near Vigo, to obtain fresh meat there also many of them died; and, for fear of being a second time betrayed by the Spaniards, he again put to sea, and arrived in England on the 25th of January, 156.

"If," says Hawkins, in concluding his narrative, "all the miseries and troubles of this melancholy voyage were to be completely and thoroughly written, it would require a laborious man with his pen, and as much time as the author had, who wrote the lives and deaths of the Martyrs."

The following is a copy of a letter in the State Paper Office, from Hawkins, announcing his arrival in England from this disastrous voyage :

:

25th January 1568.

Right Honorable, my dewty most humbly consydered: yt may please your honor to be advertysed that the 25th day of Januarii (thanks be to God) we aryved in a place in Cornewall called Mounts bay, onelie with the Minyon which is left us of all our flet, & because I wold not in my letters be prolyxe, after what maner we came to our dysgrace, I have sent your honor here inclosed some part of the circumstance, and althoughe not all our meseryes that hath past yet the greatest matters worthye of notynge, but yf I shold wryt of all our calamytyes I am seure a volome as great as the byble wyll scarcelie suffyce: all which thyngs I most humblie beseeche your honour to advertyse the Queen's Majestie & the rest of the counsell (soch as you shall thinke mette).

Our voiage was, although very hardly, well acheived & brought to resonable passe, but now a great part of our treasure, merchandyze, shippinge and men devoured by the treason of the Spanyards. I have not moche or any thynge more to advertyse your honour, nore the rest, because all our business hath had infelycytye, mysfortune, and an unhappy end, & therefore wyll troble the Queen's Majestie, nor the rest of my good lords with soch yll newes. But herewith pray your honour eftsoons to impart to soch as you shall thynke mete the sequell of our busyness.

I mynd with God's grace to make all expedicyon to London myselfe, a.

what tyme I shall declare more of our esstate that ys here omytted. Thus prayinge to God for your Honours prosperous estate take my leave: from the Mynion the 25th day of Januarii 1568.

Your's most humbly to command,

(Signed) JOHN HAWKINS.

To the Ryght Honorable Sir Wm Cycylle Knighte, & Principall Secretarie to the Queen's Majestie, gyve this.

No mention whatever is made of the Judith, nor does the name of Drake once occur in Hawkins' account of this unfor tunate voyage; there are, however, detached accounts of it in which Drake is represented as having done wonders with the little Judith.

Regarding the hundred men who were put on shore, and the sufferings they underwent from the Indians and Spaniards, the industry of Hakluyt and Purchas has collected many particulars. The accounts given by these men on their return to England of the miseries they had undergone, and of the horrid cruelties practised upon many of them by the Inquisition, tended greatly to arouse a spirit of indignation against the whole Spanish nation. The following account of the affair at St. Jean d'Ulloa was given by Job Horton, one of the sufferers who returned to England on the 2nd day of December, 1590. It is extracted from Hakluyt.

"From Cartagena, by foule weather, wee were forced to seeke the port of Saint John de Ulloa. In our way thwart of Campeche we met with a Spaniard, a small ship who was bound for Santo Domingo; he had in him a Spaniard called Augustine de Villa Neuva; them we took and brought with us into the port of Saint John de Ulloa. Our Generall made great account of him, and used him like a nobleman; howbeit in the ende he was one of them that betrayed. When wee had mored our ships and landed, wee mounted the ordinance that wee found there in the Ilande, and for our safeties kept watch and warde. The next day after wee discovered the Spanish fleete, whereof Luçon, a Spanyard, was Generall: with him came a Spaniard called Don Martin Henriquez, whom the King of Spain sent to be his viceroy of the Indies. He sent a pinnesse with a flag of truce unto our Generall, to knowe of what countrie those shippes were that rode there in the King of Spaine's port; who sayd they were the Queene of England's ships, which came in there for victuals for their money; wherefore if your Generall will come in here, he shall give me victuals and all other necessaries, and I will goe out on the one side the port, and he shall come in on the other side. The Spanyard returned for answere, that he was a viceroy and had a thousand men, and therefore he would come in. Our Generall

sayd, If he be a viceroy I represent my Queene's person, and I am a viceroy as well as he and if he have a thousand men, my powder and shot will take the better place.

"Then the viceroy, after counsell among themselves, yeelded to our General's demand, swearing by his king and his crowne, by his commission and authority that he had from his king, that hee would performe it, and thereupon pledges were given on both parts.

"Our Generall bearing a godly and Christian minde, voyde of fraude and deceit, judged the Spanyards to have done the like, delivered to them five gentlemen, not doubting to have received the like from them; but the faithlesse Spanyardes, in costly apparell gave of the basest of their company, as afterwardes it was well knowen. These things finished, proclamation was made on both sides that on payne of death no occasion should be given whereby any quarrel should grow to the breach of the league, and then they peaceably entered the port with great triumph on both sides.

"The Spanyards presentli brought a great hulke, a ship of five hundred, and mored her by the side of the Minion, and they cut out ports in their other ships, planting their ordinance towardes us; in the night they filled the hulke with men, to lay the Minion aboord, as the sequel did shew, which made our Generall doubtful of their dealings; wherefore, for that he could speake the Spanish tongue, he sent Robert Barret aboord the viceroy to know his meaning in those dealings, who willed him with his company to come in to him, whom he commanded presently to be set in the bilbowes, and forthwith a cornet (for a watch-word among the false Spaniards) was sounded for the enterprising of their pretended treason against our Generall, whom Augustine de Villa Neuva, sitting at dinner with him, should then presently have killed with a poynarde, which hee had privily in his sleeve, which was espyed and prevented by one John Chamberlayne, who tooke the poynarde out of his sleeve. Our Generall hastily rose up, and commanded him to be put prisoner in the steward's roome (and to be kept with two men).

"The faithlesse Spanyards, thinking all things to their desire had been finished, suddenly sounded a trumpet, and therewith three hundred Spanyards entred the Minion; whereat our Generall with a loude and fierce voyce called unto us, saying, 'God and Saint George! upon those traiterous villaines, and rescue the Minion; I trust in God the day shall be ours:' and with that the mariners and souldiers leapt out of the Jesus of Lubeck into the Minion, and beat out the Spaniards; and with a shot out of her fiered the Spaniards' Vice Admiral,* where the most part of 300 Spanyards were spoyled and blowen over-boord with powder. Their Admirall * also was on fire halfe an houre.

"We cut our cables, wound off our ships, and presently fought with them: they came up upon us on every side, and continued the fight from ten of the clocke until it was night. they killed all our men that were on shore in the iland saving three, which, by swimming, got aboord the Jesus of Lubeck.

In those days the two chief ships were so called.

They sunke the Generall's ship called the Angel, and tooke the Swallow. The Spaniards' Admirall had above threescore shot through her: many of his men were spoyled: foure other of their ships were sunke. There were in that fleete and that came from the shore to rescue them, fifteene hundred : we slew of them five hundred and fortie, as we were credibly informed by a note that came to Mexico.

"In this fight the Jesus of Lubeck had five shotte through her maynemast; her foremast was strooke in sunder under the hounds, with a chayne shotte, and her hull was wonderfully pearced with shotte: therefore it was impossible to bring her away. They set two of their owne shippes on fire, intending therewith to have burnt the Jesus of Lubeck, which we prevented by cutting our cables in the halse, and winding off by our sternefast. The Minion was forced to set saile and stand off from us, and come to an anker without shot of the iland.

"Our Generall couragiously cheered up his souldiers and gunners, and called to Samuel his page for a cup of beere, who brought it him in a silver cup; and hee, drinking to all men, willed the gunners to stand by their ordinance lustily like men. He had no sooner set the cup out of his hand but a demy culverin shot stroke away the cup, and a cooper's plane that stoode by the mainemast, and ranne out on the other side of the ship; which nothing dismayed our Generall, for he ceased not to incourage us, saying, 'Feare nothing; for God, who hath preserved me from this shot, will also deliver us from these traitours and villaines.' Then Captaine Bland, meaning to have turned out of the port, had his mainemast stroke over boord with a chaine shot that came from the shore; wherefore he ankered, fired his ship, tooke his pinnesse with all his men, and came aboord the Jesus of Lubeck to our Generall, who said unto him that he thought he would not have runne away from him: he answered that he was not minded to have runne away from him, but his intent was to have turned up, and to have laid the weathermost ship of the Spanish fleete aboord, and fired his ship, in hope therewith to have set on fire the Spanish fleete. He said if he had done so he had done well. With this, night came on. Our Generall commanded the Minion, for safeguard of her masts, to be brought under the Jesus of Lubeck's lee: he willed M. Francis Drake to come in with the Judith, and to lay the Minion aboord, to take in men and other things needefull, and to goe out; and so he did.

At night, when the wind came off the shore, we set sayle, and went out in despite of the Spanyards and their shot, where we ankered with two ankers under the island, the wind being northerly, which was wonderfull dangerous, and wee feared every houre to be driven with the lee shore. In the end, when the wind came larger, we waied anker and set saile, seeking the river of Panuco for water, whereof we had very little; and victuals were so scarce that we were driven to eate hides, cats, rats, parrats, munkies, and dogges. Wherefore our Generall was forced to divide his company into two parts, for there was a mutinie among them for want of victuals; and some said that they had rather be on the shore to shift for themselves amongst the enemies, than to starve on ship-boord.