2 14 Eliz, Naval Expeditions, &c of the Englisli, Book If

1585.

Number ofMen.

Land Of-ficers.

They departfrom Ply-mouth :

Jnd take fe-reralPrizeson Tpe Coaftsof Spain-

> .Jago sur-prized and

They water^-/Dominica;

The Land-Forces were under thechief Command of Christopher Carlisle,an old experienced Officer, both byLand and Sea, with the Rank of Lieu-tenant General; And under him,CaptainHntbony Powel , Sergeant-Major; Cap-tain Matthew Morgan, and CaptainJohn Sampson , Corporals of the Field;with ten other Captains.

This Fleet, being assembled at Ply-mouth, set Sail, from thence, on thefourteenth (Hackluyt fays the fifteenth)of September, and shaping their Coursetowards the Coafts of Spam, they tookseveral Prizes, but none of any consi-derable Value. They likewise landedat Bayonne, Vigo, and the Island os Ferro ;But without making any great Booty:The Chief was the Plate and other Fur-niture of the Cathedral of Vigo, amongwhich was a very large Cross, of mas-sive Silver, doubly gilt. The Spaniardsreckoned their Loss amounted togetherto above thirty Thousand Duckets.

Leaving these Parts, they bent theirCourse toward the PVeJl-lndies ; Andtaking the Cape Verd I/lands in theirWay, they came, on the sixteenth ofNovember, to the Island of St. J ago,and anchored between the Town of thatName, and another Town called Plajeor Praje. There they landed a Thou-sand Men, under the Command of Lieu-tenant-General Carlisle. It was in theEvening that they landed, and marchedto within two little Miles of St. J ago,and surprizing the chief Town, of thesame Name, sacked the Place, and car-ried off a considerable Booty, as someAuthors fay; Camden Hackluyt, andsome others, however, fay, they foundnot the least Gold in it; But of Meal,Wine and Oyl, great Quantities. Theystay’d there about fourteen Days; Butthen, neither the Governour, nor theBishop, nor any of the Inhabitants, ei-ther of the Town or Island, coming nearthem, as they expected they would havedone, to entreat some Favour for thePlace, they destroy’d the Town, as wellas all the Houses they found in the Coun-try, with Fire, sparing none but theSpital.

About a Week after their Departurefrom St. J ago, a contageous Disease be-gan to shew itself among their Men,which, in a short Time, took off two orthree Hundred of them, tho’ before,not a Man had died in the whole Fleet.They were about eighteen Days in theirPassage from thence to Dominica, which

was the first Island of the Wefl-Indies 1 fythey fell in with, where they water’d.

From thence they failed Westward, dothe Island of S. Christopher'’ s, where theyrefreshed their Men, and spent theirChristmas, but saw no Inhabitants. f .

H e r e they resolved, in a Council of si fatWar, of all the Officers, to proceed to Hispa niola 'Hispaniola, where they arrived the firstof January. The Soldiers, under theCommand of Lieutenant-General Car-lisle, were landed, in a safe Place,

(which was discovered to them by aSpaniard whom they had taken, in aFrigat bound thither) about ten Miles statistfrom the City of Santo Domingo, and ne ar&-^°'there, placing themselves, in Battle- mingo-Array, they marched towards that City,to the Number of about twelve Hun-dred Men. ,

About a Hundred and fifty SpanijhHorse, which made Head against them, ^ania^were forced to retire, and some Muske-teers, who lay in Ambush, being putto the Flight, the English entered pell-mell wish them into the City, at the twoWestern Gates, having divided theirMen in two Bodies for that Purpose ;

While the Townsmen, in great Fear,ran all out of the City, at the NorthernGate. This Resolution of the Englishto march with so much Intrepidity intothe very Mouths of their Cannon, whichbegan to do some Execution, saved thema great many Men. They now march-ed up in twoBodies to the Market-place,near the great Church, which they for-tified, with Barricadoes, and thus be- Santos^/came Masters of the Place. niing°L

About Midnight, the Spaniards, who its Sf.were in the Castle, hearing the Englijh ta ewere approaching the Gates, abandon-ned it. Some of them were taken Pri-soners ; But some escaped, with theHelp of Boats, to the other Side of theHaven, and so into the Country. ThenextDay, they quartered more at large,and, in that Manner, kept Possession ofthe Place, a whole Month. The Inha-bitants offering but a small Sum to re-deem it, they began at last, to burnthe Houses of the Suburbs, which, be-ing all of solidStone, cost them no smallTime to destroy; But when the Citizenssaw their Houses in Danger, they choserather to rescue them, from the Flames,with a Ransom of five and twenty rThousand Duckets, of five Shillings and Iffsix Pence, each which being paid, th es 00Fleet, after having carried on Board aconsiderable Booty, consisting chiefly

of