Bigges: WALTER BIGGES EXPEDITIO FRANCISCI DRAKI EQUITIS ANGLI IN INDIAS OCCIDENTALES ANNO MDLXXXV (1588)
Bigges•WALTER BIGGES EXPEDITIO FRANCISCI DRAKI EQUITIS ANGLI IN INDIAS OCCIDENTALES ANNO MDLXXXV (1588)
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FRANCISCUS Drakus eques Anglus, augere studens nomen principis patriaeque suae, de expeditione in Indias occidentales iterum cogitavit, eamque in rem classem viginti quinque navium paravit, in qua fuere bis mille trecenti tum milites, tum nautae, et eam in portum Plymouthensem pridie Idus Septembris anno MDLXXXV deduxit. Capitaneos autem aliquot strenuos aliosque viros nobiles comites habuit, quorum nomina ista: Christophorus Carleil vicarius generalis (ut vocant), homo rei militaris qua mari, qua terra peritissimus; Antonius Powel sergantus maior exercitus totius, ut hodie dicunt; Matthaeus Morgan, Ioannes Sampson, Antonius Plott, Ioannes Marchant, Edwardus Wynter, Ioannes Goringe, Robertus Piew, Georgius Berton, Walterus Bygges, Richardus Stanton, Ioannes Hannam.
Francis Drakus, an English knight, striving to augment the name of his prince and his fatherland, again conceived an expedition to the West Indies, and prepared it into a fleet of 25 ships, in which were 2,300 both soldiers and sailors, and he led it into the port of Plymouth on September 12, 1585. He had moreover several valiant captains and other noble companions, whose names are these: Christopher Carleil, vicar-general (as they call him), a man most experienced in military affairs both by sea and by land; Anthony Powel, sergeant major of the whole army, as they now say; Matthew Morgan, John Sampson, Anthony Plott, John Marchant, Edward Wynter, John Goringe, Robert Piew, George Berton, Walterus Bygges, Richard Stanton, John Hannam.
2. Et hi quidem terra militiae duces sive capitanei. Mari, navium praefecti isti: Martinus Frobicher viceadmirallius, vir rei maritimae peritissimus, qui ante aliquot aliis expeditionibus etiam toti classi praefuerat; Franciscus Knollis, Thomas Frenar, Gulielmus Cicel, Iacobus Carleil, Henricus Whyte, Thomas Drake, Thomas Seely, capitaneus Rivers, capitaneus Martinus, capitaneus Baylie, capitaneus Crosse, capitaneus Fortescus, capitaneus Carlese, capitaneus Hauukins, capitaneus Erizo, capitaneus Moone, capitaneus Vaghan, capitaneus Varney, capitaneus Gilman, nobilesque alii multi, quorum nomina hic non recensentur.
2. And these indeed were the leaders of the land-military, or captains. For the sea, the commanders of the ships were: Martin Frobisher, vice-admiral, a man most experienced in maritime affairs, who on several former expeditions had also commanded the whole fleet; Francis Knollis, Thomas Frenar, William Cicel, James Carleil, Henry Whyte, Thomas Drake, Thomas Seely, Captain Rivers, Captain Martin, Captain Baylie, Captain Crosse, Captain Fortescus, Captain Carlese, Captain Hawkins, Captain Erizo, Captain Moone, Captain Vaghan, Captain Varney, Captain Gilman, and many other noble men, whose names are not here enumerated.
3. Postquam hinc XVIII Kalend. Octobr. solvissemus, primum venimus ad Baionias insulas Hispaniae, quo tum ventus adversus tam tempestas subito exorta, et aquae recentis penuria nos appellere coegit.
3. After we set sail from here on 14 September, we first came to the Baionian islands of Spain, where a storm suddenly arose and the wind was adverse, and a scarcity of fresh water forced us to put in.
Scarcely had we cast anchor, when our general ordered all ships, greater and lesser, to be fitted out with soldiers and every sort of arms, and to be made ready for every contingency. This done, he also boarded his galeotta (so we call the kind of vessel in which he was carried), and bent his course toward the city of Baiona, thinking to occupy it, God well assisting. Scarcely had we completed half a league of this passage, when behold an English merchant was sent to us by the prefect of the city, to enquire who and of what sort we were.
After our general had talked with him for some time, he summoned Captain Sampson to him and sent him to the prefect to inquire two things of which he wished to be made more certain by him. First, whether an open war existed between the English and the Spaniards; secondly, why our merchants there were being detained with their goods. He who, when he came into the city with the merchant, saw all the citizens and the prefect himself not a little astonished and disturbed at so sudden a novelty of so great a matter.
Meanwhile our general, by the counsel of Christopher Carleil his vicar-general, resolved not to tarry elsewhere any longer, but to draw the city itself nearer, from which, if perhaps by so doing the need should arise, with Sampson returned he might more easily, before nightfall and against the opinion of all, either seize it or even assault it. Sampson then returned with this answer. First, as to peace or war, the prefect had nothing to answer, being one only of the king’s subjects, in whose hands, not his own, the power of declaring war was vested.
That their merchants and their merchandise had been detained by the king’s mandate, not however with the intent that they should suffer any damage thereby; and that about eight days before, or thereabout, another order of the same had been promulgated, allowing English merchants freely to go where they wished with their goods. To attest this he sent one of our nation’s merchants to us, several of whom were then in the city and trading in those parts. When they had explained to our general what the matter was, our men held a council on what above all should be done, and, it seeming best and necessary because night was already impending, to go ashore as soon as possible — which at last was done after many evenings.
Where, having chosen for our men a place as commodious as could be, and with sentinels posted everywhere, we rested the whole night. On the next day the prefect of the city sent to refresh us wine, oil, apples, grapes, marmalade (a certain sweetmeat which they themselves call scitamentum) and other such xenia. About midnight the weather suddenly changed and forced us likewise to change our plan, and it seemed safer for us to return to our ships as soon as possible than to remain there longer.
But before we could reach our fleet, a great storm arose suddenly, so that most of the ships, their anchors cast off, were driven by the waves; others, not without great peril to their passengers, were forced at once to commit their sails to the winds, among which some were named Tallebot, others Haukins, and another called Speedwel. This one alone, tossed about, put into England; the two others followed and overtook us again. This storm lasted three days.
4. As soon as this was quelled, the deputy-general Carleil was sent by our general with his galeotta, another of his ships, and three other small and somewhat diminutive vessels to the city Vigon to see whether any plunder or profit might be there for him in that place or the neighboring localities. There he seized several ships laden with much furniture and other things of not great value, but among them was one in which were the donations transported for the greater temple of Vigon, and many silver utensils, and among them a certain large cross of value likewise great, most artfully chased and gilded. Afterwards we learned from the complaining citizens that those things which in that turn they had lost were worth more than 40,000 ducats.
On the next day our general weighed from those isles, and, leaving Vigon to his rear, chose for himself a port not far off and most commodious therefor, both for the most secure station of ships the place afforded and also for its fresh water. While our fleet lay there, the governor of Galicia (a region, as they say, formerly inhabited by the Callaici) suddenly mustered a band of as many soldiers as he could—so it seemed, two thousand foot and three hundred horse—and with them retired to that part of the region from which he could best keep our fleet in view, and there commanded his men to remain. From thence he sent to us requesting a conference with our general, which was granted on the condition that he should be visited in some actuaria or other small ship, and that hostages be given on both sides.
Which, as soon as the governor had held it ratified, he committed himself with two companions to the skiff of our vice-admiral, which had been sent to the shore for him, and our general likewise went forth in his own skiff to meet him. When they met, it was permitted that by our men we draw up as much fresh water as we wished and as was necessary for our use, and that all other things for refitting us, upon payment of a just price, might there be procured.
5. Sic inde solventes, velificati sumus versus insulas Canarias, occupare rati insulam Palmam, ibique meliori ordine disponere res nostras, et nos rebus omnibus necessariis plenius instruere quas regio illa copiosissime suppeditatura esset. Sed quia nusquam appellere poteramus nisi ad locum quemdam pluribus propugnaculis munitissimum, expositi semper iactibus tormentorum bellicorum, pedem referre inde coacti statim fuimus, crebris canonibus (ita hodie tormenta bellica maiora vocant) nos petentibus, quibusdam eorum ad naves nostras usque pervenientibus globis, tam magnis quam ulli alii quorum hodie usus. Sed imprimis nos istinc etiam abire cogebant maris tunc aestus vorticesque maximi, qui actuariis navibus nostris scaphibusque exitium praesens minibantur.
5. Thus putting to sea from there, we sailed toward the Canary Islands, intending to occupy an island called Palma, and there to arrange our affairs in better order and to furnish ourselves more fully with all necessities which that region would most abundantly supply. But because we could land nowhere except at a certain place very strongly fortified with multiple bulwarks, always exposed to the shots of war-engines, we were immediately forced to retreat, many cannons (for so today they call the larger tormenta bellica) firing upon us, some of their shot reaching even to our ships as great cannon-balls, the largest of any used today. But above all the tides of the sea then and great whirlpools compelled us likewise to depart from there, which threatened present destruction to our actuary ships and skiffs.
Thus, frustrated in our hope of invading that island, we sought another, the island commonly called del Ferro (which some assert was formerly called Pluitalia), in case perchance there we might fare better. When we landed there, we immediately ordered a thousand soldiers to go ashore, and they were stationed in a valley at the roots of a certain lofty mountain. There we remained for only three or four hours; meanwhile the natives came to us, bringing with them an English youth, a resident of that region, who declared to us that the island was then very poor and in the most miserable condition, and that they had almost come to such want that they were perishing from starvation.
Finding this to be most true, we departed thence empty-handed and at once embarked the ships, and that same night we were ordered to make for the shores of Africa, the South and Subsolanus winds blowing. On Saturday, the Ides of November (13 November) we arrived at the region commonly called Capo Bianco, very solitary and low-lying, where, the sea being exceedingly shallow, we took a great abundance of fish.
Then we came there to a certain place (it seemed a station of ships) where we encountered several Gallic warships, which, their commanders or nauarchs having been received humanely and generously, we left there. After a meal taken, our fleet, again assembled, which earlier had been scattered here and there while we fished, was gathered together.
6. Unde volavimus versus insulasdel Capo Verde dictas, navigantes usque ad XVI Kalend. Decemb. cum mane summo obtulit sese conspectui nostro insula D. Iacobi, et sub vespe choras iecimus inter oppidum nomine Play vel Pray, et fanum D. Iacobi, quae totius insulae metropolis illique dans nomen.
6. Whence we sailed toward the islandsdel Capo Verde, sailing until the 16th day before the Kalends of December, when at the height of morning the island of St. James presented itself to our sight, and toward evening we cast anchors between a town called Play or Pray and the shrine of St. James, which is the metropolis of the whole island and gives it its name.
Here one thousand soldiers descended to land, under the command of Christopher Carliell, our vicar general, who then there, as at other times, conducted the matter prudently and strenuously. The way by which we were first to go was very difficult and rugged, for on it innumerable hills and valleys and many obstructing rocks lay before us, against which we might strike. On account of some of these we were compelled often to quit our ordines (our ranks).
But our leader did not allow us to rest until he had led the whole column out into a level, open field, and there had ordered each man to return to his proper rank. And when thus, with the battle line drawn up across the plain, we had advanced only half a league from the city, the same vicar general forbade anyone to go further or to attempt anything more, before the day had risen, because we had no one to show us the way to the city, and we were ignorant of all the places there. He, there, while we rested for a while, an hour and a half before dawn divided his troops into three parts; and now, while our ranks were being arranged, the day began to grow pale.
We drew nearer to the city's walls, and met no one who resisted us as an enemy. Wherefore our leader ordered the captains Sampson and Barton, each with thirty scolopetarii (arquebusiers), to descend into the city as soon as possible, which lay in a depressed valley, so that easily from the mound of the hill on which we sat, as from a lookout, we could descry from one side to the other what was in it or what was being done. To that place also immediately we sent our great vexillum, bearing only a red cross, marked with the English device, to be raised toward the sea, so that our fleet might also see its royal standard set upon the enemy's bulwarks.
With an equal uproar our fleet, which had already drawn near, answered through its own war engines. There was a huge clamor, which, wonderful to tell, for however long it lasted, smote upon our ears and those of the inhabitants. Meanwhile our duke held the greater part of the soldiers on the summit of the hill until lodgings in the city had been provided for them, and soon to each of the captains a district of the city was assigned, with great care and sentinels placed everywhere, so that there might be no fear from the enemy.
7. Sub idem tempus dum ibi adhuc haeremus, evenere quaedam alia quae non indigna hic etiam referri. Venit quidam ad nos cum signo induciarum, ad quem statim capitanei Sampson et Goringius missi. A quibus ille primum quaesivit cuiates essent.
7. At about the same time, while we yet lingered there, certain other things occurred which are not unworthy to be here likewise related. A certain man came to us with a token of truce, to whom immediately the captains Sampson and Goringius were sent. From whom he first asked what their identities were.
To whom they said that they were English. He then asked whether, therefore, war had been proclaimed between the Spaniards and the English. Our men answered that they had nothing to reply to that; but if he wished to be made more certain of the matter, let him address our general: in lieu of a pass they would put forward their faith, that he would go and return safe and uninjured.
But he refused to approach more closely, because he had not been sent by his prefect. Then they said to him: that the prefect would consult for the safety of the people and of the fatherland, if he would present himself to our general, and try his clemency and humanity toward himself and his men rather than, as ours three days before stood hesitating to do, see everything laid waste by fire and sword. With that answer he departed, and promised that he would return the next day, but no one came thereafter.
On the 8th day before the Kalends of December, with six hundred soldiers we came to a certain village in the region of S. Dominic, situated twelve leugas from the sea. When we entered it, we encountered the place empty and deserted by the inhabitants, who had fled into the nearest mountains for the sake of their protection.
Wherefore we halted here for a while, in case perchance any of them wished to converse with us. And when we now seemed to have rested sufficiently, our general ordered his men to return to whence they had come. And behold, on the road some of the enemy displayed themselves with cavalry and infantry, yet not in such numbers that they dared to join battle with us.
our general ordered all ships, greater and lesser, to be made ready, and commanded the soldiers to board them. But his vicarius Carleil sent Captain Goringe with vicarius Tucks and a hundred arquebusiers to the town market to keep watch meanwhile while our forces were on the ships — which in the harbour the vice-admiral was awaiting with some trading and small vessels — there to transfer them into the larger ships. Furthermore the general ordered a company of captains, Berton and Bygges, to embark a galley (thus the kind of larger ship we today call a galley) and two merchant vessels, and with Sampson as leader to proceed onward to the town of Play, to search, for we had understood from a certain captive taken by us the day before, who had also promised to indicate the place, that siege engines and war instruments were hidden there.
When they put in there, the captain Capson ordered the captive at once to show those things which he had said were hidden there. Which he could not do, or rather would not. But nevertheless they searched through most of the more secret places, and found two larger tormenta (war-engines), one iron, and likewise one bronze.
In the afternoon the general ordered the remaining part of the fleet to cast anchors even before the same town, which he commanded us to burn and to which he ordered us to return to the ships as quickly as possible. This was done suddenly, and the fleet about the sixth hour in the evening again committed its sails to the winds.
8. Sed antequam ulterius progrediamur, de ordine disciplinaque militari in insula illa S. Iacobi nobis observata, atque aliis quibusdam memoratu non indignis, quaedam etiam dicenda nobis. Quisque ibi capitaneus dilectum militum suorum habebat, qui iusiurandum adacti se regiae maiestati Anglicae ut supremae dominae fideles usque ad mortem futuros, generalis eiusque officialium iussis semper obtemperaturos. Illud autem imprimis mirabamur, quod omni eo tempore quo illic haerebamus nec insulae a rege Hispaniarum praefectus, nec episcopus civitatis cuius magna ibi auctoritas, nec civium aut incolarum quisquam nos accederet (e quibus vel a quibus aliquos eam ob rem venturos indies expectabamus) qui rogaret ea quae asportabamus reddere, aut saltem non omnia illis ad vitam necessaria auferre, neu urbem incendere vel omnino delere vellemus.
8. But before we proceed further, some things must be said by us concerning the order and military discipline observed toward us on that island of St. James, and also some other matters not unworthy of mention. Each captain there had a favourite of his soldiers, who, having been bound by oath, declared that they would be faithful to the royal majesty of England as supreme mistress even unto death, and would always obey the commands of the general and his officers. What we marveled at most of all, however, was that for the whole time we remained there neither the island’s prefect appointed by the King of Spain, nor the bishop of the city whose authority there is great, nor any of the citizens or inhabitants came to us (from whom or by whom we daily expected some to come for that reason) to ask that we restore the things we were carrying off, or at least not to take from them all things necessary for life, nor to wish to burn or utterly destroy the city.
And although we had penetrated into their region for as much as 12 English leagues (as above said), where we heard that the governor was with the bishop, and that, on our arriving, they fled; and returning from there we expected them because they had shown themselves to us at a distance, yet they never would come nearer to us, even when we sent a few townsmen to request a parley. I suspect the cause of this unusual distrust to have been the memory still fresh of a great injury inflicted by them three years before on Gulielmus Haukins of Plymouth, who had also made a voyage thither on that expedition, and towards whom they had violated a faith given. That deed, since I judge it now unknown to some few, I shall forbear here to repeat in detail.
Indignantly bearing, therefore, that they had always denied us a colloquy, and because they had most cruelly disfigured the corpse of a certain boy of our men—found temere in the road—with his head hacked off and his intestines drawn out, we burned all the houses, both in the countryside and in the town, as they were departing thence.
9. Unde porro occidentales Indias versus pergentes, non ita diu in mari fueramus, cum nos morbi genus quoddam insolitum, quasi contagio quaedam, subito invasit, et e nostris plusquam trecentos intra exiguum tempus e medio sustulit, quam non prius sensimus quam octo dies post nostrum ex insula D. Iacobi discessum, ad quod usque tempus numerus nostrum omnino integer adhuc fuerat. Sed et post multi etiam arida febri correpti fuere, e quibus pauci in vita remanserunt, illique quidem non parum diu post mentem ac membra viresque omnes vi morbi continua debilitati. In corporibus quorumdam mortuorum maculae exiguae quaedam apparebant, non absimiles iis quibus cutem illorum qui peste laborant convariari plerumque videmus.
9. Whereupon further, setting forth toward the Western Indies, we had not been long at sea when a certain unusual kind of sickness, as if a contagion, suddenly seized us, and swept away more than three hundred of our men within a short time, which we did not perceive until eight days after our departure from the island of St. James — until which time our number had still been entirely intact. Yet afterwards many more were stricken with a dry fever, of whom few remained alive, and those indeed long after were wholly weakened in mind and limbs and all their powers by the force of the continual disease. On the bodies of certain dead there appeared small spots, not unlike those by which we commonly see the skin of those afflicted with plague become altered.
10. Inter autem octodecim dies ab insula D. Iacobi ad S. Dominici, primam Indiarum occidentalium insulam ad quam appellebamus, pervenimus. Sed in alia insula S. Christophori dicta ad occidentem sitam diebus aliquot, videlicet natalium Servatoris nostri solemnibus, morati sumus ad reficiendos aegrotos, purgandasque et aeri salubriori exponendas nostras naves. Ubi generali nostro, vicario, viceadmiralio ceterisque capitaneis sententia stetit, inde versus insulam Hispaniolam vela facere, cum etiam ex tunc vires nostras recuperasse videremur.
10. Meanwhile, within eighteen days from the island of St. James to St. Dominic, the first island of the West Indies at which we made landfall, we arrived. But on another island called St. Christopher, lying to the west, we stayed for several days, namely on the solemnities of the Nativity of our Savior, to restore the sick and to cleanse and expose our ships to healthier air. Whereupon the opinion of our general, the vicar, the vice-admiral and the other captains prevailed, and thence we made sail toward the island Hispaniola, since even from that time we seemed to have recovered our strength.
By which chiefly the fame of the shrine of St. Dominic, most ancient in those parts of the city, was drawing us. On the journey a certain swift woman, going the same way, met us; she was taken by us at once, and her boatmen were questioned as diligently as possible about all things that could conduce to our expedition. Among them was one who pointed out to us a very sandy port, and a region all around very well fortified, and a certain bulwark furnished with many large engines of war, so that to land on the shore, unless ten thousand paces from the city, we could not do so without great danger; he likewise promised that he himself would be our guide for the route.
When these things were understood, toward evening our soldiers were ordered to descend into the launches and other small boats, and our general also embarked in a skiff called Frauncis. We sailed the whole night, accomplishing little of the voyage until, with the dawn rising, we had the place we sought in sight. Therefore, on the Kalends of January we came to land nine or ten thousand paces westward from the most elegant city of S. Dominic, since up to that time no other place was known to be more safe there for smaller ships, nor where the sea’s tides could more easily be overcome by them.
Here therefore, seeing that all his men were ashore, our general returned to his fleet as soon as possible, and committed us to divine protection and to the leadership of his vicar Carleil. Afterwards, at the eighth hour ante meridiem, our column began to march, and about noon we came nearer to the city, when some nobles and princes of the town, more than one hundred fifty in number, showed themselves to us on very fine horses — who, from our musketeers and arquebusiers, and who were excellently protected by lancers, were assailed by very frequent volleys of shot, yet by no force could they rush upon us.
They, with their battle-line excellently drawn up, showed themselves arrayed and most ready to fight, and already, as we approached, could not be kept from the gates and ramparts of the city. There were two gates facing toward the sea, fortified with soldiers and war-engines, and not far from them a few musketeers placed in ambush on the road. Here near our forces (which were a thousand or twelve hundred, or thereabouts) they were divided in two parts with the plan that we should, at the same time, make an assault on each gate, and not desist from the undertaking until we had again met together as one in the city’s forum.
Immediately when the siege-engines began to be directed at us, our vicar, lifted up with a loud voice to encourage his men, endeavoured with all aid and force to burst into the city. At his side first one of our men fell, struck by a shot from a larger engine. Wherefore, that they might not again fill their engines, he tried, as much as he could, to hinder them.
And now, although those who lay in ambush still blocked nothing, with great impetus and the utmost force we burst into the gates, and together with them we entered the city in a heap, indiscriminately. They were compelled at once rather to flee than to stand their ground, dispersing their men here and there or gathering them up, and to look to their lives. Having thus entered, we proceeded at once to the forum of the city, a spacious, square place in front of the larger temple, which we immediately fortified and likewise certain others all round by drawing up embankments; and there (a place which to us seemed most safe, and one that could best be defended) we stationed all our soldiers.
11. Postridie latius aliquantulum diffusi, non tamen per dimidiam eius partem, loca adhuc alia nobis maxime commoda ac opportuna occupavimus, circaque ea fossis undique ductis, tormentis item bellicis ubique dispositis ita ut sibi invicem optime responderent, urbem per mensem integrum tenuimus. Per quod tempus saepius ab incolis ac civibus missi ad nos qui de ea pretio redimenda nobiscum agerent. De quo cum convenire inter nos illosque non posset, singulorum dierum tempus matutinum incendendis aedificiis quae extrra urbem impendimus, quorum altissimorum magnificentissimeque a lapide quadrato extructorum destructio ingenti labore nobis constabat.
11. The next day, having spread out a little more widely, though not through half of it, we occupied other places yet most convenient and opportune for us, and around them, with ditches drawn on every side and war engines likewise stationed everywhere so that they mutually answered one another most effectively, we held the city for a whole month. During that time men were often sent by the inhabitants and citizens to us who were bargaining with us about ransoming it for a price. Since it could not be agreed between us and them about this, we spent the morning hours of successive days in setting fire to the buildings that overhung outside the city, the destruction of which — those very tallest and most magnificently built of squared stone — cost us enormous labor.
And although we ordered for several days, from the dawn rising in the east until the greater heat of the day (which began at the 9th hour), two hundred naval comrades to do nothing else than to cast fire into all the houses which lay outside our trenches and ramparts, meanwhile while the soldiers kept watch, yet we could scarcely pull down a fourth part of the city; and finally, hastening elsewhere, we suffered it to be ransomed for 25,000 gold coins.
12. Inter alia quae relatu digna illic vidimus, non omittendum in palatio ibi regio, ubi gubernator regionis habitabat, repertum magnum ac memorabile quoddam indicium Hispanici fastus. Introeunti in aulam aliaque palatii membra per gradus lautissimos ac faberrime factos ascendum est, ubi sese in superiori domus parte statim offert locus spatiosissimus (porticum diceres), ad cuius latus alterum insignia regis Hispaniarum cuilibet intranti statim obvia, subque illis globus ingens complexus ambitum maris totius et terrae, et in eo equus in pectus sublatus, pedibus imis globo insistentibus, prioribus autem extra eum erectis tamquam saltare vellent, cum hoc symbolo in ore, NON SUFFICIT ORBIS. Cuius dicti sententiam cum praecipuos ex iis, qui ad nos urbis redimendae caussa venerant, rogaremus, nihil quidem nobis responderunt, sed nunc alio respicientes, nunc rubore suffusi, capite in terram demisso, obmutuerunt.
12. Among other things worthy of mention that we saw there, not to be omitted is the royal palace, where the governor of the region resided, in which was found a great and memorable sign of Hispanic pomp. Entering into the hall and into other parts of the palace one ascended by very sumptuous and most expertly made steps, where in the upper part of the house there immediately presents itself a very spacious place (you would call it a portico), at the side of which the insignia of the King of the Spaniards were at once conspicuous to any entrant, and beneath them a huge globe embracing the circuit of the whole sea and land, and upon it a horse reared on its chest, its hind feet standing on the globe, its forefeet raised outside it as if wishing to dance, with this device in its mouth, NON SUFFICIT ORBIS. When we asked several of those foremost among those who had come to us on account of redeeming the city the meaning of this said emblem, they answered us nothing, but now looking one way, now flushed with shame, their heads cast to the ground, they fell silent.
So utterly astonished were our men by these things that they said if the king of theirs together with our queen had entered into open war, he would soon cast off that vain pride, and rather would bethink himself of conserving his dominions against an invasion by our men, as their city’s being taken so easily by us could be sufficient proof to them. Some marvel that in that very ample, most splendid, and populous city — and in which a supply of all things necessary to refit our men was present — we found not much gold or silver. Let those cease to marvel, and know that for a long time the natives of that isle, equalling England in magnitude, have been most shamefully exterminated from their fatherland by the Spaniards, and with them also all who were known to possess the region’s gold or silver.
So that thereafter only bronze coinage was in use there, the force of which we even then perceived greatly. The merchandise brought thither are chiefly sacks, native ginger, hides of oxen — for whose sake very many tracts of soil of astonishing magnitude and fatness are pastured in the eastern part of the island, a most fertile region. Much also there of superior wine, oil, and vinegar, likewise of the finest flour found in dolia, and also some cloths of linen and silk lately conveyed thither from Spain.
Silver tableware, for the remainder of the city's magnificence, was not in very great supply, because in those warm regions there is a greater use of vessels of clay most elegantly vermiculated (which they call porcellain there, brought from the East Indies) and of glassware, which are there made of the very best sort. Yet nevertheless we found some silver vessels there too, which, having been bought by them at an extravagant price, were of little moment to us.
13. Inde contintentem versus tetendimus, ad cuius oram venientes urbem Cartagenam tandem in conspectu habuimus, tam prope littus maris sitam ut qui in actuariis navibus nostris essent inde in eam colleuerinis suis facile iaculari possent. Quinque milliaribus nostratibus ab urbe in portum primum intrabatur, quem nemine prohibente (nam propugnacula aut tormenta bellica ibi nulla) sub horam quartam pomerideianam subivimus. Cum iam advesperaceret, duce vicario Carliel, prope os portus in terram descendimus.
13. Thence we stretched toward the continent, and, coming to whose shore, at last we had the city of Carthage in sight, so near the sea’s littoral that those who were in the small boats of our ships could from there easily hurl their missiles into it. About five of our miles from the city one enters the first harbour, which, no one opposing (for there were no bulwarks or war engines there), we entered about the fourth hour of the afternoon. When it was already growing dusk, with the deputy commander Carliel as leader, we disembarked onto the land near the mouth of the harbour.
And our column being formed to make resistance, in case perhaps anyone on the road would attack us or assault us by ambush, about midnight we advanced slowly along the sandy shore, lest again, as a little before, we be led from the road by the error of him who was our guide. We were scarcely half a mile from the city, and behold a hundred horsemen came upon us, who, put to flight at the first volleys of our musketeers, having fallen back to a road blocked with trees and hedges, and thereby much inconvenienced, retired to the place from which they had come. About the same time near the port a great roar of war engines was heard by us, a signal given by the general to the vice-admiral and to captains Frenar, Whyte, Crosse and others, so that then, with some boats and smaller vessels, they attacked the lesser fortification nearest the entrance of the port toward the city.
Which attempt, because the place was very strongly fortified, and the entrance most narrow and closed by an iron chain, was in vain, nor was anything else then effected, save that those who were a full mile on the other side of the harbour from us were roused to arms. Our troops now being dispersed, the road by which we marched was very narrow at half a mile from the city, which was at most fifty paces broad, the sea washing it on one side and on the other that upon which the harbour stood. This place was girded on the outside by a ditch, and defended by a wall of stone most elegantly built and most conveniently arranged for the engines of war, by which work indeed I judge nothing could be more effectual.
There was no more open space there than that which a horse, or at most a wagon, if by chance need required, could cross, and that was excellently fortified against the hostile onslaught with barrels of earth, in place of ramparts. On this bulwark were six larger war-engines, which were directed at the front of our column. There were also on the harbour side two triremes, or, as they are called today, galleys, equipped with eleven engines and three hundred or four hundred gunners (sclopetarii), who also assailed us on the flank.
The bulwark itself was defended by three hundred, both sclopetarii and lancers. All of them, diligently awaiting us, more than once thundered out with their cannons and their guns. But we, before it grew light, using the opportunity of the darkness by the order of the vicar general, advancing always along the sand which the sea — which had now receded very far — most closely washed, secretly approached nearer to them, so that almost all the throws of those engines and of those firearms by which they hoped to keep us off at a distance proved to have been vain.
This same vicar and general forbade any one of us to rush forward before we were at the wall itself. When at once, with whatever stakes and with lances we could, we made the greatest assault upon those embankments of barrels—the spot which first we should attack seeming most opportune—we charged them, and although they defended themselves very stoutly with sclopetarii (musketeers) and lancers, we broke and overthrew them. And immediately, our stakes withdrawn, we entered, mingled together with them.
14. Cumque iam locum cedere nobis cogerentur impetu primo, vicarius generalis noster vexilliferum Hispanum strenuissime usque ad mortem sese defendentem manu sua interfecit, nosque illos confestim insecuti sumus, respirandi eis tempus nullum aut locum dantes, et tandem usque ad forum civitatis pervenimus, quod, aliquandiu ab illis frustra contra nos defensum, facile occupavimus. Tum illi nobis urbem totam vacuam reliquerunt, seseque extra eam omni eo tempore quo ibi eramus continuerunt. Singulorum vicorum exitus aggeribus terra et extra eos fossis artificiosissime ductis muniverant, eorumque etiam introitus diligentissime observabant.
14. And when now by the first assault they were being forced to yield the place to us, our vicarius general killed with his own hand the Spanish vexillifer (standard‑bearer), bravely defending himself even unto death, and we immediately pursued them, giving them no time or place to breathe, and at length we reached the forum of the city, which, having been for some while vainly defended by them against us, we easily occupied. Then they left the whole city vacant to us, and kept themselves outside it for all the time that we were there. The exits of each quarter they had fortified most artfully with earth ramparts and ditches dug outside them, and they watched the entrances very diligently.
Their guards, with a few slain or wounded, were easily overpowered by our men. They had also stationed many Indian archers in numbers and in positions most opportunous for themselves, who hurled their poisoned missiles at us as much as they could. Each of these strikes, if they but pierced the cuirass, was deadly, and the circumstance seemed incredible and most worthy of admiration if anyone struck by them escaped death.
From the midst, therefore, they struck down some of our men with their sagittae, others with shorter, very sharp rods, the point imbued with venom, and they fixed several of these into the ground at the greater road which we had to cross, wounding them so that they were not far from death. But we avoided most of their blows by walking along the littus maris, not that way which they had supposed.
15. Multa hic tum temporis accidere alia quae, cum otium ad ea referenda non sit, volens praetermitto. Inter quae illud fortasse non indignum relatu videatur, quemadmodum capitaneus Sampson qui lanceariis primi agminis praeerat, primo introitu crebra per gladiorum ictus vulnera acceperit; item ut praefectus urbis Alfonsus Bravus sese a capitaneo Goringe, qui in eodem agmine sclopetariis praeerat, ab eo prius ense vulneratus, capi passus sit. Erat etiam in primo agime capitaneus Wynter, et ipse quoque vicarius generalis.
15. Many things then befell which, since there is no leisure to set them down, I willingly pass over. Among these perhaps not unworthy of mention is how the captain Sampson, who commanded the lance-bearers of the first column, at the first onset received frequent wounds from sword strokes; and likewise how the prefect of the city, Alfonsus Bravus, was taken by the captain Goring, who commanded the musketeers in the same column, after first having been wounded by him with the sword. There was also in the first column the captain Wynter, who likewise was vice‑general.
Sergeant-Major Powel, Morgan, who had at first presided at the shrine of St. Dominic, was leading the rearmost column. At last all, with so willing and alacritous a spirit, charged the enemies that they could not withstand so great an onrush. Here we remained six weeks, and the above‑mentioned disease in the meantime did not cease to harry our men, though not at once in so great a number nor so vehemently as before.
Of these, few who had labored there could return to their pristine vigours, nay scarcely even to their mind. Hence there was among us a proverb for one speaking less considerately, that we would say he had labored under the calentoura (thus the warm fever is called by the Spaniards). For this fever was, as we have said above, hot, continuous, and pestilential, which they suppose to be born there from having drawn in the evening impure air, which they call the serenam.
For they affirm with certainty that anyone remaining there about evening under the open air, unless he be an Indian or native of the region, is thereby infected and afterwards seized by that pestiferous fever. Our men, however, generally kept watch under that contagious sky, and especially on the island D. Iacobi. And then this continuous disease, by reducing the number of our men as much as possible, hindered us from proceeding further to the island Nombre de Dios and thence by land to complete the undertaking into Pannania, whence we had hoped to carry off and convey much gold and silver, the reward of our continued labor.
16. Ubi, ut etiam ante ad fanum D. Dominici, Hispanis quam familiarissime usi sumus, saepiusque illos, ut et illi nos vicissim, quam prolixissime convivio excepimus, ita ut et praefectus urbis ipse cum episcopo nobilibusque aliquot aliis generalem nostrum officii caussa adiret. Multa hic etiam, quemadmodum et illic, aedificia extra urbem incendimus diruimusque, quod primo colloquio etiam de pretio redemtionis inter nos convenire non posset. Post tamen convenit pro reliqua urbis parte quae adhuc stabat, centum et decem millia aureorum nobis solverent.
16. Where, as also before at the shrine of D. Dominicus, we used the Spaniards as familiarly as possible, and often received them, as they also in turn received us, with the most extended convivium, so that even the prefect of the city himself, with the bishop and several nobles, would visit our general for reasons of official courtesy. Many buildings here likewise, as there, we set on fire and razed outside the city, which at the first conference could not even be agreed among us upon the price of redemption. Afterwards, however, it was agreed that for the remaining part of the city which still stood they would pay us 110,000 gold pieces.
This city, as you see, although in respect to the shrine of St. Dominic half as large, reckoned a much greater ransom, for it was far wealthier both because it has so commodious a port and because it lies in a place from which goods are most conveniently transported to the island Nombre de Dios and to other regions, and being inhabited by very wealthy merchants it was, with justice, regarded by us as of greater consequence. The shrine of St. Dominic, however, is mostly inhabited by nobles, jurisconsults, and those who preside in the administration of law. For there is a curia there to which the inhabitants of that island and of other neighbouring islands are accustomed to appeal.
A rumor, however, that the shrine of S. Dominici, occupied by us, had reached those men twenty days before we made landfall, who in the meantime had been given ample time to arm themselves against us, to fortify the city, and had abundantly supplied all the gold and silver and whatever of greater moment was to be transported elsewhere.
17. Hic igitur, ut eo unde digressus sum redeam, cum sex septimanas morati fuissemus, ad naves reversi, vela ventis tradidimus, et iam vix duos aut tres dies in mari fueramus, cum ecce navis quaedam quam in insula S. Dominici ceperamus, tormentis bellicis ac aere multo omnique praeda alia onusta (quapropter eam Strenam anni novi vocabamus) rimis fatiscere atque aquam admittere coepit, ita ut etiam tandem a classe reliqua aberraret. Quam generalis noster, nusquam a se postridie visam, classe omni varie eam in rem hic illic dispersa, quarere instituit, eamque tandem rimis pluribus fatiscentem et socios navales sentinando perquam fatigatos offendit. Iussit etiam eam navim aliam Tallebot nomine a tergo sequi ad recipiendos, si fortassis submergendi periculum adiret, conservandosque vectores, et ipse cum tota classe Cartagenam rediit.
17. Here then, to return to the place whence I departed, when we had remained six weeks, having returned to the ships we committed the sails to the winds, and scarcely two or three days had we been at sea when, behold, a certain ship which we had taken on the island of S. Dominici, laden with war engines and much brass and every other plunder (wherefore we called her the Strena of the New Year), began to gape with cracks and to admit water, so that at last she even fell away from the rest of the fleet. Our general, who was nowhere to be seen by him the next day, caused the whole fleet, dispersed here and there about the matter, to seek her, and at last he lighted upon her, gaping with many cracks and very much disabled, and found the naval comrades keeping watch exceedingly weary. He ordered also that another ship named Tallebot follow her from astern to take her in, if perchance the peril of sinking should come upon her, and to preserve the passengers; and he himself with the whole fleet returned to Cartagena.
Whereupon, after that ship had been broken and we had spent eight or ten days there in unloading it and in putting its burdens and its passengers onto other ships, we made for the western part of the regions of Cuba called Capo S. Antonio, and there arrived on 27 April. But from there, for want of fresh water, we were immediately forced to weigh, in the good hope of reaching Matanzas, a part of the western region of Havana, with a following wind. Yet when that wind, after 14 days from our departure thence, began to blow against us, it compelled us to return to Capo S. Antonio.
18. Non hic tacenda vigilantia summa generalis nostri, qui hic, ut et ante ubique, exemplo suo reliquos incitans, non secus quam unus e minimis aquae quam citissime hauriendae operam omnem adhibuit. Sed et is tanta cum prudentia ac cura, et saepe non absque vitae suae periculo, classi suae praefuit atque quam optime dispositae ubique et semper prospexit, ut etiamsi, ut e suis quilibet alius imperatis dumtaxat tanta cum laude paruisset, primo honoris loco meritissimo dignus haberetur. Qui etiam felix vicario tanto capitaneo Carleil, cuius consilia certissima inque rebus gerendis solertiam non nisi felici eventu umquam experiebatur.
18. Nor should the highest vigilance of our general be left unspoken here, who here, as before everywhere, urging the others by his example, no less than one of the least applied all his effort to drawing water as quickly as possible. But he likewise presided over his fleet with such prudence and care, and often not without danger to his life, and watched it everywhere and always as best arranged, that even if, among his men, any other had yielded in obedience only with so great praise, he would be held most worthy of the first place of honor. He was also fortunate in the deputy, the great captain Carleil, whose counsels were most certain and whose cleverness in managing affairs was never tested except by fortunate outcome.
19. III Idus Maias iterumCapo S. Antonio solvimus, et V Kalend. Iun. iuxta Capo de la Florida navigantes nusquam appulimus donec, toto illo die eamdem regionem Floridam semper a latere habentes procul, Septemtrionem versus, speculam quamdam ligneam quatuor malis navalibus subnixam, in quam per triginta gradus ascendebatur, conspeximus.
19. on the 3rd day before the Ides of May we again weighed anchor atCapo S. Antonio, and on the 5th day before the Kalends of June, sailing close to Capo de la Florida, we made no landfall until, all that day keeping that same region of Florida always on our flank far off, toward the north, we caught sight of a certain wooden watch-tower, propped on four naval masts, to which one ascended by thirty steps.
To this place, having boarded our small river-craft, we went ashore and for a while marched along the river’s bank, perhaps so that we might finally reach those places there attempted by the enemy. For we had no leader of the route nor anyone knowing the localities of that region. Our general ordered his vicar to lead the first column.
Thus, having scarcely advanced a whole mile, we had in view a certain bulwark recently erected by the Spaniards on the other bank of the river, and thence a town, one mile distant, unfortified by walls, carelessly constructed with wooden buildings. Here we prepared our engines to disperse the bulwark, and placed one of them in that quarter before evening. The first shot was launched by the deputy-general himself into the enemy’s standard, which it passed clean through, as we afterwards learned from a certain Gaul who had been detained by them there for some time in prison.
Then we directed another engine against the lower part of the bulwark, which was made of a wooden beam. That same night the vicarius generalis decreed to ferry the river with four vexilla of soldiers, and to station his men there in a place girded all round with ditches so near the bulwark itself that our scopetarii could easily reach it from there, and could strike down anyone lifting his head higher there; likewise to tranvehere their tormenta thither, to be at once directed against the enemy. But since the naval socii were not on hand to lead the digging of the fossae, that whole enterprise was deferred to the next night.
20. Et mox eadem illa nocte vicarius generalis comitibus sex bene armatis, capitaneis videlicet Morgan, Sampsone, quatuorque aliis, scapha remis acta explorare ivit qualiter hostium vigiliae dispositae essent, et qua commodissime ulterius in regionem illam pergere possemus. Quibus, etsi sese quantum poterant tacite tecteque per viam gererent, procul visis, hostes statim, putantes nostram manum iam eo ad sese oppugnandos venisse, arma, et mox, tormentis prius aliquot evacuatis, etiam fugam corripuerunt. Et quidem vicarius generalis iam ad nos redierat, nescius num propugnaculi ab illis derelicti, donec tibicen quidam Gallus fistula sua canticum in laudem principis Auriaci, vulgo tritum, canens, inde a nostris ad ripam fluminis excubias agentibus venire cernitur.
20. And soon on that same night the vicar general, with six well-armed companions, namely the captains Morgan, Sampson, and four others, in a skiff driven by oars went to reconnoiter how the enemy watches were posted, and by what route most conveniently we might proceed farther into that region. Although they conducted themselves along the road as silently and covertly as they could, being seen from afar the enemies at once, thinking our force had already come there to attack them, took up arms, and soon, after some of their engines had first been withdrawn, also broke into flight. And indeed the vicar general had already returned to us, ignorant whether the bulwarks had been abandoned by them, until a certain Gaul piper, with his pipe singing a song in praise of Prince Auriacus, a tune commonly worn out, was seen coming from among our men keeping watch on the riverbank.
He, having been accosted by them, before he left his little boat, declared who he himself was and how the Spaniards had abandoned their bulwark. To the truth of this he surrendered himself into our hands, and said he was ready to return with us. Trusting him, our general with his vicarius and several other captains in an actuaria vessel, likewise the vice‑admiral with two or three small vessels also, ships full of soldiers, the remaining actuaries ordered to follow, hastened along the second river to the bulwark.
From there, as we drew nearer, we were assailed by those who had remained there more audacious than the others with two castings of siege-engines. None of these did we encounter afterwards, for landing, we immediately entered the bulwark there. The walls of this very bulwark, however, were built of ship-pales and beams and other wooden timbers in the fashion of palisades (thus today we call a place so fortified).
The ditches, however, which lay outside them had not yet been carried completely to an end. These, as also other parts of the same bulwark, they had not been able to finish in the space of four months before our arrival. And therefore, with our approaching, they could neither hold it any longer nor defend it.
Which also for this reason ought not rashly to be considered abandoned by them, because, besides being easy to storm, it could also have been set on fire without much difficulty. There were fourteen engines there, placed upon the ramparts on trunks of pine laid one atop another and joined in the manner of a wheel, with a considerable quantity of earth interposed here and there. A chest also still closed, in which the royal money — by which the soldiers’ pay there had been accustomed to be counted — two thousand pounds sterling of our currency, was found there by us.
Therefore, with the bulwark of Sancti Ioannis (so they called it) thus occupied, we also attempted to approach the town itself, to which, as far as that very ford, a river lying between prevented us from reaching. But immediately, having returned by another way to our ships, we again steered toward the same place on the second larger river (which the town itself also called the river of S. Augustini). When we had now come there and were ready to go ashore, some soldiers showed themselves to us at a distance, who straightaway, with their sclopis aimed at us, took to flight.
And as soon as we came down to the land, straightaway our sergeant-major mounted a certain horse which he there found equipped with saddle and bridle, in case perchance he might pursue or capture any of the fugitives. He alone now, having left his comrades behind him in the rear, was pierced through the head and breast by a round shot (globo — a sclopus) from a certain man lying in ambush behind the reed-beds, and before any of our men could come to his aid he was at once stabbed through by three or four of them together, eagerly with swords and thrusts, and fell, greatly deplored by us. For he was a man outstanding above the rest, a veteran and a soldier of the highest courage.
21. In fano autem S. Augustini centum quinquaginta, totidemque in loco altero duodecim inde leucas Septemptrionem versus distante S. Helena dicto, ad arcendos inde exteros omens (ut Anglos Gallosve), si fortassis etiam loca illa incolere vellent, rex milites in praesidio habebat. Quibus omnibus praeerat Petrus Melendez marchio, nepos istius admiralii Melendez qui quindecim sedecimve annos ante classem Ioannis Haukins nostratis, contra fidem data, in portu Mexico invaserat. Is igitur utrique praesidio praefectus in oppido, nobis adventantibus, erat, primusque etiam id deserebat.
21. In the fort of S. Augustini, however, he had 150, and as many in another place twelve leagues from there toward the North called S. Helena, to repel from there foreigners — for example the English or the French — should they perhaps wish to inhabit those places also; the king kept soldiers as a garrison. Over all of these presided Pedro Melendez, marquis, nephew of that Admiral Melendez who, fifteen or sixteen years before, had attacked the fleet of our countryman John Hawkins in the port of Mexico, in breach of faith. He therefore was, as we came, prefect of both garrisons in the town, and was also the first to abandon it.
When, in our assembly of all the captains, it was resolved that thenceforth as soon as possible we should attempt to seize the propugnaculum of St. Helena, and next to reconnoitre a certain tract of the same region inhabited by our English and called by our queen the maiden La Virginia, which lay thence toward the northern part some six degrees (as we now speak), we set about it. But when we were not far from St. Helena, because the places there were shallow and sandy, and therefore exceedingly dangerous, and moreover we had in particular no seaman skilled in that route, we landed nowhere, caute, for the sake of avoiding peril (
Having seen at a distance a mighty fire, which throughout that whole tract it is the custom everywhere to kindle, our general sent his skiff with his naval companions to the shore, who in that region encountered several English, and from them brought one to us with them, who showed us the way to the port. Since our ships could not enter it, they cast their anchors outside it. Whereupon, on the day after we had landed, a great storm seized them, so that most were forced to heave anchor and make sail; some of these returned to the remainder of the fleet, others straight back to England.
Our general Radulphus Lane offered to the English general who was in Virginia to provide for him and his men all things most necessary, and to leave one larger ship of his there with a shallop, by which, if within a month the number of soldiers, which at that time was only 105, were not made up, he could return to England. But they were so pressed and broken there by want of all things that they wished for nothing sooner than to return with us to their homeland as quickly as possible. Thus, soon taken aboard our ships, they sailed from there with us.
22. Tandemque omnes simul viventes et valentes VI Kal. Augusti MDLXXXVI Portismotham appulimus. Deo sit gratia, laus, honor qui feliciter hanc expeditionem nostram cedere dedit, non sine principis nostrae ac patriae et nostrum omnium honore.
22. And finally all together, alive and well, on 27 July 1586 we landed at Portsmouth. To God be thanks, praise, honor, who happily permitted this our expedition to succeed, not without honor to our prince and fatherland and to all of us.
Our entire booty was valued at sixty thousand of our own pounds sterling, of which twenty thousand were due to our soldiers and our naval associates. From the whole number of those who took part in this expedition, about seven hundred and fifty were missing, of whom these are the names of those who perished by violent death, by sickness, or otherwise: capitaneus Powel, capitaneus Bigges, capitaneus Varney, capitaneus Cicel, capitaneus Moone, capitaneus Haman, capitaneus Fortescue, capitaneus Greenfield, vicarius Thomas Teucker, vicarius Alexander Starke, vicarius Escot, vicarius Vincentius, vicarius Waterhouse, Nicholas Winter, Alexander Carleil, Robert Alexander, Scroup, James Dier, Peter Duque, and several others whose names no longer occur to me. We obtained two hundred and forty war-torments, both bronze and iron, and two hundred of them were bronze: on the island of St. James fifty‑two or three; at the shrine of St. Dominic about eighty, which for the most part were the larger sorts, such as canons (cannons), semi-canons (demi-cannons), colluerinae (culverins), semi-colluerinae (demi-culverins), and other like kinds; at Cartagena sixty‑two or three, of which likewise the greater part were larger; in the bulwark of St. John fourteen.