264

1588.

Hackluyt,P. I. p. 473.Purchas,Vol. III. p.413.

i ^89*Sis WiIn arclIvlonson-’ 5<Tra&s- 1j\/[S. inV>m-Cotton-

Catnden.

Stow-

^Append*

to

Col , fHackly 1 ’Vol- U Y ’

11. p-

■purchas

Vol. IV- P-1914- '

Colnmna

Roftrata.

A Flee* fit-ted cut-,

JVith littleExpence tothe Queen-

Eli£.

Naval Expeditions, <3cc.

of the English,

ter End of 0 [sober j But the Success wasnot at all answerable to the Preparations,neither did the Earl, this Time, put hisProject in Execution. The Blame islaid principally at the Door of the Windsand Weather, which, after a great Lossof Time, at last wholly disabled themfrom pursuing their Voyage any farther;Neither were they any other Ways re-compensed for their Cost and Trouble,but by one single Prize, a Ship calledthe Hare of Dunkirk laden with Mer-chandize for Spain, which they took inthe narrow Seas, and sent home; Afterwhich, having been obliged in a Storm,to cut his Main-Mast by the Board, hereturned to England.

M r. Giles Fletcher’s- Ambafsy to Russia.

This Year, likewise, the Queen sentMr. Giles Fletcher , Doctor of the CivilLaw, her Ambasiador to the Czar ofMuscovy. He obtained not only theConfirmation of former Privileges, which

had been granted to the Englijh Mer- 15^'

chants, but the Addition of severalnew and. advantageous Articles. Wehave a pretty large Treatise of RuJJia,written by this Doctor Fletcher, whichthe Reader will find in Purchas.

A Considerable “Trade to the Coajls ofGuinea.

About this Time, likewise, ourMerchants began to drive a very consi- ^ I23 .derable Trade to the Coasts of Guinea.

We have, in Hackluyt, a Copy of Let-ters Patent granted by the Queen to cer-tain Merchants of Exeter, and others ofthe West Parts, and of London, for aTrade to the Rivers of Senega and Gam-bra, in Guinea, as iikewife the Ac-count of some prosperous Voyages tothose Parts; But as they contain no-thing very remarkable, I shall, for Bre-vity’s Sake, omit them, and come toMatters of greater Importance.

CHAP. XXVII.

Sir

Francis Drake’s- and Sir John Norrish Grand Expedition to Portugal.

HIS Year, the Queenjudging it both more forher Safety and her Ho-nour, to annoy the Enemy,than to sit still, and wait for a secondAttack from them; and having a Mindto let the Spaniards fee, that the Eng-lijh could attack as well as defend ;gave her Consent for the fitting out aFleet. Sir John Norri-s, Sir FrancisDrake, and some others, who very wellknew, that the Power of Spain lay ra-ther in vulgar Fancy and Opinion, thanin any real Strength they were Mastersof, with an uncommon Generosity andWillingness, offered to defray the Ex-pence of it, with little or no Charge toHer Majesty, desiring only that shewould keep a few of her own Ships atSea.

Some of our Historians fay, she fur-niilied six Ships of War, and about six-ty Thousand Pounds in Mony, andgave Leave for Raising Soldiers andSailors for the Expedition.

izsy-

Harris observes, that this Fleet g S 0e Doswas disappointed of several Things at P oint fQljdit’s setting out, which was a great Hin- intderance to it’s Success afterwards. Theywanted eight of the twelve Pieces ofArtillery, which lost Her Majesty thePosiession of the Groyne and several o-ther Places; They wanted six HundredEnglijh Horses, and seven of the oldCompanies of the Low Countries ; fourDutch Companies, and six of their Menof War, all which Things were pro-mised them : Besides the Loss of twentyThousand Pounds of Adventures, andof their Provisions, during a Month theylay Wind-bound at Plymouth, And offive and twenty Companies (of SoldiersI suppose he means) ship’d in Part of theFleet, which were parted from themby cross Winds, being either unable orunwilling to double TJjhant. -pM

The States of Holland,wh.o were wil'ling to embark in the fame Design, sent ^ off.some Ships to act in Conjunction witb tugs jthe English ■ And Don Antonio the de-throned