^hap 4 V. during the Reign of Gtyeen Elizabeth,

* 572 .

■'on.

b °tt Ac -

having taken the Pinnaces, put theirCrews to the Torture, and therebydiscovered where their Frigates andShips lay, which if the Spaniardshad taken, all Hopes of a Return totheir Native Country would have beenentirely cut off; and their Treasurewould have been of no Use to them.There was no Means to prevent thisimpending Ruin, but to get to theirShips before the Spaniards. By Landit was impracticable, being sixteen DaysJourny, and Boats they had none. Inthis Distress, our undaunted Captain or-dered Trees to be fastened together, anda Sort of Raft to be made. A Sail wasmade of a Bisket-Bag, and an Oar wasshaped out of a youngTree for aRudder.With this uncouth Machine, he pro-posed to find out his Ships, and bringthem thither, to take in the People andTreasure. All being ready, the Captaincried, I will be one in this Adventure,who will follow me. One John Smith,two French-men, and a Negro resolvedto accompany him. In this Manner,they put to Sea, and sailed about threeLeagues, sitting continually up to theWaste in Water, and at every Surge ofthe Waves up to the Arm-pits, for theSpace of six Hours. At Length, theywere so fortunate to discover two Pinna-ces, at a great Distance, turnipg to-wards them, with much Wind .- 'jrake,with great Joy, concluded they werehis own, and acquainted his Companionswith his Opinion. But their Joy hadlike to have been short; For they, ly-ing low in the Water, were not seen bythe Pinnaces, and the Wind encreasing,and Night coming on, they took Shelterbehind a Point or Promontory, for thatNight. Drake, perceiving it would bevery Difficult to weather the Point, runhis Raft alhoar, got to the Pinnaces byLand, and found them to be as he hadhoped. Tho' the Weather was verybad, he made his Company row thatNight to Rio Francisco, where, takingall the Rest in, together with the Bootythey had made, they set Sail, by Day-break. As soon as they came to theirShips, the Captain divided the Treasurethey had taken, by Weight, into equalPortions, one of which he gave to theCompany of the French Ship, whichhad assisted them in the Expedition.About a Fortnight after, the Captainwent again, with one Pinnace, to RioFrancisco, where he set on Shoar JohnOxenham and Thomas Sherwill, with tenNumb. IX.

more of his Men, and sixteen Negroes, 1^72.to go in SearcFoLthe Gold and Silverthey had hidden ; But they perceivedtheSpaniards had been before-handwiththem, so that they found only thirteenBars of Silver, and some Quoits of Gold,with which they returned in Safety totheir Ship.

Whilst Drake was on Shoar, rang-ing about the Country, with the Syme-rohs, as I have related above, on thethirteenth of February, he discoveredthe South-Sea, from the Top of a highMountain, lying East and West,betweenthe two Seas. He was immediately soexcited with the Ambition of Glory, and Drake UsHopes of Wealth-, And was so vehement- covers-thely transported with a Desire to Navigate South -S ' ea »those Seas, that, falling on his Knees,he implored the Divine Assistance. Hebegged that he might, at some Time orother, sail thither, and make a perfectDiscovery of them ; and, at the sameTime, bound himself with a Vow to at-tempt that Voyage.

Drake returned from this successful returnsVoyage, in which, however, he lost t0 Eng,and ‘two of bis Brothers, soon after his lastDeparture from Rio Francijco, and ar-rived in Safety at Plymouth, on theninth of Auguji,

In the Beginning of the Year 1573, 1573.

the Earl of Montgomery, and some o- "The Frenchther French Refugees, fitted out a Fleet, Refi'geesfitand sailed to relieve Rochel, which, ^relieveafter it had endured a long Blockade, Rochel.was now besieged in Form. The Siegewas, however, raised, on the five and Thuanus. wtwentieth of June, after the City hadwithstood thirty Thousand Cannon-balls, nine great Assaults, and twentyless considerable ones, besides the Da-mages occasioned by sixty Mines, andafter the Duke of Anjou had lost abovetwelve Thousand Men before it.

The French Ambasiadour madeComplaints of the Earl’s being suffered Complaintsto go on this Expedition, and, at the °f France Jfame Time, that the English Merchantshad supplied the Besieged with Provisi-rk B “ the evaded awing a £

direct Answer to the Satisfaction de- t / :e &^ iee smanded, by disowning her Knowledgeof the first, and for the latter alledg-ing , that Merchants were Men whofollowed their Gain, where-ever theyhoped to find it, and that since they,as Protestants, were in Danger of beingbutchered in every otherPort of France,it was no Wonder they carried theirGoods where they might hope to vend

2 $ them