Notable Voyagers Part 26

On this the master and several others hurried aloft, when, convinced that he was right, Cavendish was informed of the joyful news.

The two small vessels were immediately got ready for the expected fight, and the sails being trimmed, they gave chase to the galleon. In the afternoon they got up to her, and without waiting to hail, they each having given her a broadside and a volley of small shot, laid her aboard, although she was of seven hundred tons burden and full of men, whereas their ships' companies had been greatly reduced with those they had at different times lost. They were at once convinced that she was the _Santa Anna_, the galleon they were in search of, belonging to the King of Spain. The tacks had been hauled down, and she was hove to, but not a man could be seen on her decks. As soon as the English began to climb up, however, they perceived the Spaniards standing close together, armed with lances, javelins, rapiers, targets, and vast quant.i.ties of large stones, with which they so warmly attacked the heads of their a.s.sailants that the latter were driven back again into their ships, two being killed and several wounded. On this, as the two little vessels sheered off, Cavendish ordered his crews again to fire their great guns, and to discharge their small arms among the Spaniards, by which the sides of the galleon were pierced through and through, and many of her crew killed and wounded.

The Spanish captain, however, like a valiant man, still stood at his post, refusing to yield. Cavendish on this, ordering the trumpets to sound, the broadside guns and small arms were again fired, with such effect that many more Spaniards were killed and wounded; while the shot striking the huge ship between wind and water, she began to fill. On this the Spanish captain struck his colours, and holding out a flag of truce, asked for quarter.

Cavendish promised that it would be given, and ordered the Spanish officers to strike their sails and lower a boat.

Without loss of time this was done, and one of the princ.i.p.al merchants coming up the side of the _Desire_, falling on his knees, implored the Admiral's mercy.

Cavendish a.s.sured him it would be granted, that their lives would be spared, and that they would be well treated, provided he was correctly informed of the amount of valuables on board the galleon.

The captain and pilot, who had also arrived, told him that the ship carried one hundred and twenty-two thousand pesos of gold, and that the rest of her cargo consisted of silks, satins, damasks, with musk and other merchandise, with provisions of all sorts in abundance.

They were detained on board while the galleon their prize was carried into Puerto Seguro. There was here a stream of clear water, with plenty of fish, fowl, and wood to be obtained, as also numerous hares and coneys. As soon as they had anch.o.r.ed, the English employed themselves in transferring the rich cargo on board their own vessels, as also in dividing the treasure, to each man being allotted a certain portion; but the crew of the _Content_ were very far from contented, and showed some inclination to mutiny. They were, however, to all appearances speedily pacified, though as it turned out they were far from being really so.

The Spaniards were supplied with sufficient arms to defend themselves against the natives and everything else they required, for which the captain, in the name of the rest, expressed himself very grateful. All the pa.s.sengers and most of the ship's company were allowed to go except two j.a.panese lads, who were detained, and three others who had been born in Manilla, the youngest of whom afterwards became a page to the Countess of Ess.e.x.

Besides these, Rodrigo, a Portuguese who had visited Canton and other parts of China, and had been in Java and the Philippines, was kept, and a Spaniard, Thomas de Ersola, an experienced pilot between Acapulco, the Ladrones, and the Philippines.

The _Santa Anna_, which had still five hundred tons of goods in her, was set on fire, and all arrangements being made, on the 19th of November, to the joy of their crews, the Admiral, firing a farewell salute, stood out of harbour at three o'clock in the afternoon, and with a fair wind, steering westward, they commenced their homeward voyage.

The King's ship was soon burnt down to the water's edge, but curious as it may seem, she escaped destruction. Her cables being burnt through, she drifted on sh.o.r.e, when the Spaniards managed to extinguish the flames, and with the planks they had obtained and the sails and rigging which had been landed, the trees in the neighbourhood supplying them with masts and yards, they fitted her for sea, and before long contrived to make their escape.

Cavendish took a great liking to Ersola, and placed much confidence in him as a pilot. He seemed to merit this by the accurate way in which he guided the ship across the Pacific.

On going out of the harbour the _Content_ had been left astern. Night coming on, she was lost sight of, and when morning broke she was nowhere to be seen. In vain the _Desire_ waited for her. At length, spreading her sails, she stood on her course.

From that day no more was seen of the hapless _Content_, nor was the slightest clue obtained as to what became of her. Some thought that she had sailed for the Straits and been lost, but Ersola was of opinion that Captain Hare, who commanded her, thinking to be wiser than Drake, had attempted the North-East Pa.s.sage, and had got so far north that he had perished, with all his company, in the ice.

That there was such a pa.s.sage no one doubted, and that America was a continent by itself, independent of the rest of the world.

For forty-five days the _Desire_ glided on with a fair wind out of sight of land, until on the 3rd of January, 1588, she made the island of Guham, one of the Ladrones. From thence a number of natives came off, bringing fruits and vegetables, but became so troublesome that, losing temper, Cavendish in a most unjustifiable manner ordered a shot to be fired among them.

On the 14th of the same month the _Desire_ made the Philippines, and sailing on, came to an anchor, on the morning of the 15th, in a safe harbour in the island, called Capal. Scarcely had the anchor been dropped than one of the chief caciques of the island came off with provisions, supposing the ship to be Spanish. He being detained on board, his people were sent on sh.o.r.e to invite the other cacique to come off, which he shortly did, bringing an abundance of provisions, so that the whole of the clay was spent in buying hogs, hens, roots, cocoas, and other vegetables, by which the crew were greatly refreshed.

This island was about sixty leagues distant from Manilla, which was already a flourishing place, containing seven hundred inhabitants, among them many merchants from China, and also several Sanguelos, who were partly Moors, or Malays probably, and partly heathen. The Sanguelos were especially clever in inventing and making all manner, of things, so that few or no Christians could surpa.s.s them. They excelled in drawing and embroidering upon satin, silk or lawn, representing either beasts, fowls, fish, or worms, in the most natural manner. They also worked in silk, silver, gold, and pearl.

On the same night of their arrival at Capal the Portuguese Nicholas Rodrigo, who had been taken out of the _Santa Anna_, desired to speak to Cavendish in secret. His request being granted, he told the Admiral that although he had hitherto appeared to be discontented, he was truly grateful to him for the kindness he had received, and as a proof of this he desired to put him on his guard against a treacherous plot which had been devised by the pilot Ersola to deliver up his vessel to the Spaniards. As a proof that what he said was true, a letter, he stated, would be found in Ersola's chest. Search being made, the letter was discovered, which Ersola had intended to send by some natives to Manilla. It called on the authorities there forthwith to fit out an expedition to capture the _Desire_, warning them that if she escaped, the English would bring their countrymen down to attack the settlement.

A drum-head court martial was immediately held. The hapless pilot at first denied all knowledge of the letter, but at length compelled to confess his guilt, with a short shrift he was next morning hanged at the yard-arm.

The _Desire_ remained nine days at Capal, during which Cavendish obliged the chief cacique, as well as the caciques of a hundred other islands, to pay tribute to him in hogs, hens, potatoes, and cocoas. The tribute being received on board, he hoisted the flags and sounded the drums and trumpets. Then telling them that the English were enemies to the Spaniards, he paid them in money more than an equivalent for the provisions they had brought. To show their pleasure, the caciques rowed about the ship in their canoes at a great rate. The brave voyagers, who never doubted the existence of Satan, firmly believed what they stated,--that those people wholly worshipped the devil, and oftentimes have conferences with him who "appeareth unto them in a most ugly and monstrous shape."

Setting sail on the 24th, the _Desire_ ran along the coast, past Manilla, putting to flight some frigates which had been sent after her, and dispersing some Spaniards who fired at her boat.

One or two men died at this time, and on the last day of February Captain Havers succ.u.mbed to a burning ague, from which he had suffered several days, to the great grief of all on board.

Pa.s.sing by the Moluccas, the _Desire_, after various adventures, reached Java, where she was visited by the chief Rajah, named Bolamboam, an aged despot who possessed a hundred wives, while his son had fifty. His people were said to be the bravest of all those inhabiting the south-east part of the world, for they never feared any death.

Several Portuguese who were settled in this part of the island visited the ship, and, hearing that their King, Don Antonio, was a friend of the Queen of England, urged Cavendish to advise him to come out and found a kingdom which would comprehend the Moluccas, Ceylon, China, and the Philippines. A friendly reception was also promised to the English.

Firing a parting salute on the 16th of March, Cavendish took his departure, traversing for forty days that "mightie and vaste sea between the yle of Java and the main of Africa, observing the heavens, the crosiers or southern cross, the other starres, the fowles, which are marks unto seamen of fair weather or foul weather, approaching of lands or islands, the winds, the tempests, the rains and thunder, with the alterations of the tides and currents."

On the 10th of May the _Desire_ was overtaken by a terrific storm, but it calmed in a few hours, and the next day a look-out from the masthead saw land, which was supposed to be the Cape of Good Hope, but was ultimately proved to be False Cape.

It was not until the 16th of May that, with a brisk gale, the ship pa.s.sed the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 8th of June she came in sight of the island of Saint Helena. Only four people were found upon the island, but it was abundantly stored with fruits and vegetables of all sorts, carefully cultivated, while there were numberless goats and hogs running wild among the mountains.

The Portuguese homeward-bound East Indian fleet, the smallest of which vessels were of eight or nine hundred tons burden, laden with spices, Calicut cloth, precious stones, pearls, and treasure, had called off there only twenty days before.

Having touched at the Azores on the 3rd of September, the _Desire_ fell in with a Plymouth vessel coming from Lisbon, which gave the voyagers the glorious information of the overthrow of the Spanish Armada.

Directly afterwards the _Desire_ encountered a terrific gale, which carried away the greater part of her remaining sails. To replace them others were manufactured from the Indian damasks, and the canvas made of the silk gra.s.s of the South Seas, which had a most l.u.s.trous appearance.

One of her topsails was of cloth of gold, while her officers and crew were dressed in silk clothes, their own having probably long since worn out.

Thus equipped, on the 9th of September the _Desire_ entered the long-wished-for port of Plymouth, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants, who, as they gazed at her, fancied that all her sails were of silk, supposing naturally that this betokened the value of her cargo.

In this they were not far wrong, for the wealth Cavendish brought home was enough to buy a fair earldom.

He was received with great kindness by the Queen, who, considering that his exploit almost rivalled that of Drake, bestowed on him the honour of knighthood. He boasted to his patron, Lord Hunsdon, that he had burnt and sunk nineteen sail of ships, small and great; that all the villages and towns where he had landed he had burnt and spoiled, and had carried off a great quant.i.ty of treasure, his most profitable transaction being that of the capture of the _Santa Anna_, as her cargo was the richest that had ever floated on those seas, so that his ships could only contain a small portion.

Happy would it have been for the gallant Cavendish had he remained contentedly on sh.o.r.e, but his eager soul burned for fresh enterprises.

Having fitted out a squadron of three ships and two barks, in one of which, the _Roebuck_, John Davis went as captain, he sailed from Plymouth on the 26th of August, 1591, for the purpose of finding a North-West Pa.s.sage by way of the Pacific into the Atlantic. Disaster, however, followed him from the first. He was deserted by one of his captains, and failing to get through the Straits of Magellan, was compelled to return home. He died of a broken heart, after a vain search for Saint Helena, where he hoped to refresh his crew, towards the end of the year 1592.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

CAPE HORN FIRST DOUBLED BY SCHOUTEN AND LE MAIRE--A.D. 1615-17.

Desire of Dutch merchants to find a fresh pa.s.sage into the South Sea--Le Maire applies to Captain Schouten--The _Unity_ and _Horn_ fitted out-- Sail--Touch at Dover and Plymouth--Put into Sierra Leone--Fruit and water obtained--The _Horn_ struck by a sea-unicorn--Make the coast of South America--Attempting to enter Port Desire, the _Unity_ strikes a rock--Both vessels nearly lost--The vessels put on sh.o.r.e to clean--The _Horn_ burnt--Penguins--Sea-lions--Discovery of the Straits of Le Maire--Cape Horn named and doubled--Steer for Juan Fernandez--Unable to find anchorage off it--Touch at Dog, Water, and Fly Islands--Fire at a double canoe--Some of the natives killed--The _Unity_ anchors off an island--Natives swarm around her--Boat attacked--Natives become friendly--Their chief visits the ship--The savages attack the ship-- Course changed to the northward--Two savages killed--Friendly intercourse with others--The King and his courtiers take to flight at the sound of a great gun--Meeting of two Kings--A feast--Other islands visited--Coast of New Guinea reached--Natives attack the ship--Shock of an earthquake felt on board--Sail along western coast of New Guinea-- Hostility of the natives--Barter with the natives at the south end-- Touch at Gilolo and Amboyna--The _Unity_ confiscated at Batavia--Death of La Maire--Captain Schouten reaches Holland.

The Dutch, from an early period of their history, had actively engaged in commercial enterprises. They had followed the Spaniards and Portuguese to India, and having successfully competed with them for its trade, had established settlements and factories in many of the most fertile portions of the Eastern Archipelago. They had, notwithstanding, no idea of the advantages of free trade, and the Dutch East India Company having been formed, obtained from the States General of the United Provinces--as their government was then called--exclusive privileges, prohibiting all the rest of their subjects from trading to the eastward beyond the Cape of Good Hope, or westward through the Straits of Magellan, in any of the countries within those limits, whether known or unknown, under the heaviest penalties. This prohibition gave great dissatisfaction to many of the wealthy merchants of Holland, who wished to employ their ships in making discoveries and trading at their own risk. Among them was Isaac Le Maire, a rich merchant of Amsterdam, then residing at Egmont, who had a desire to employ his wealth in acquiring fame as a discoverer.

Le Maire was a person of determination, and having considered among his friends who was most likely to a.s.sist him, fixed upon William Cornelison Schouten, of Horn, an experienced master-mariner, who had already made three voyages to the Indies, as supercargo, pilot, and master. Le Maire first asked him whether he thought it possible that some other pa.s.sage, besides that of the Straits of Magellan, might be found to the South Sea, and if so whether the countries to the south of that pa.s.sage would afford commodities as rich as those of the East or West Indies.

Schouten replied that such a pa.s.sage might be found, and also that there might be many wealthy countries to the westward of the straits.

Believing that the East India Company's charter could not prohibit Dutch subjects from trading with countries to be reached by a new route, they came to the determination of at once fitting out some fleet vessels to make the experiment.

Le Maire advanced half of the funds, and Schouten, with the a.s.sistance of Peter Clementson, burgomaster of Horn, and other friends, advanced the remainder. It is probable that they might have heard from some English pilots who were in the service of the United Provinces, that Drake had discovered an open sea to the south of Terra del Fuego. They did not openly avow their object, but they succeeded in obtaining from the Government the privilege of making the first four voyages to the places they might discover. Their destination, however, was not disclosed to the seamen. The other merchants, unable to penetrate their designs, derisively called them: "gold-seekers."

Schouten was to have command of the expedition, and to sail in the larger ship, and Jacques Le Maire, the eldest son of Isaac, was to be supercargo. They at once commenced fitting out two vessels for the voyage, the largest, the _Eendracht_, or in English the _Unity_, was of three hundred and sixty tons, carried nineteen guns and twelve swivels, and a crew of sixty-five men, and had on board two pinnaces, one for sailing and another for rowing, a launch, and a small boat. The smaller vessel was named the _Horn_, of one hundred and ten tons, carrying eight guns and four swivels. Her crew consisted of twenty-two men. She was commanded by Jan Schouten, and Aris Clawson was her supercargo.

The two vessels sailed from the Texel on the 14th of June, and called off Dover, where an experienced English gunner was engaged.

Experiencing a heavy storm, they took shelter under the Isle of Wight, and on the 27th put into Plymouth, where a carpenter, Maydenblick, was engaged.

Sailing thence on the 28th of June, with fine weather and a fair breeze, they proceeded on their voyage. The strictest rules were laid down for the government of officers and men. When a boat went on sh.o.r.e where any hostility was to be expected, one of the commanders was always to be in charge. The supercargo was to have the exclusive management of all commercial dealings. The officers were warned against holding conversations with the men in regard to the objects of the voyage; and while they were to be strict in the execution of their duty, they were not to subject the crews to unnecessary toil.

Touching at various places, they cast anchor off Sierra Leone on the 30th of August. The village at that time consisted only of eight or nine poor thatched huts. The native inhabitants declined to come off until a hostage was left for their security, because a French ship had lately perfidiously carried off two of their number. The water which poured down from every hill was to be had in abundance, and the casks could be filled by placing them under the falls. Lemons were so cheap that ten thousand could have been obtained for a few knives. Each man purchased one hundred and fifty for sea store.