Chap. XLV. during the Reign es §ltfeen Elizabeth.

CHAP. XLV.

The Earl of Cumberland’* seventh Expedition.

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she HrlV Cumber-Ws se-tsnth Expe-rt ion.

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H E Fleet fitted out for this se-venth Expedition consisted of:

The Royal Exchange, Admi-ral, of two Hundred and fiftyTuns, commanded by Captain GeorgeCave.

The May-flower, of two Hundredand fifty Tuns, Vice-Admiral, com-manded by Captain William Anthony.

The Samson, Rear Admiral, byCaptain Nicholas Downton, togetherwith a Caravel and a Pinnace.

They set Sail from Plymouth, on thesixth of April ; In their Way, they tooka small Bark loaded with Galicia Wineand other Goods; And, the second ofJune, they got Sight of St. Michael's.

The most important Action perform-ed in this Voyage was, their Fight with,and almost Ruining of, two of the bestCarracks the King of Spain had, oneof Two Thousand, and the otherof Fifteen Hundred Tuns Burden. ThisAction was, however, of more Honourthan Advantage. The largest of thesetwo Carrcks was, indeed, very rich inPearls, Jewels, Silks, Drugs, and thelike. And had they taken this Prize,they might have gone Home contented,without looking after any other : Shebeing esteemed of greater Value, thanthe Madre de Dios, taken two Y earsbefore. But the Attempt did not siic-ceed so far. The Spaniards, indeed, losttheir Treasure; But the Englijh did notget it. The Ship was conquered ; Butthe Victors could not lead her away inTriumph, It was about ten Days afterthey got Sight of St. Michael's, thatthey discovered this Carrack, whichthey afterwards found was called theCm-que Llagas (or, Five Wounds of Christ.)The May-flower first got up to her, andreceived an unwelcome Salutation. Inthe Night, the Samson came in, andcontinued the Fight, and at last theAdmiral. They agreed that the Ad-miral should lay the Carrack on Board,on the Prow , the Vice-Admiral inthe Waste, and the Rear-Admiral inthe Quarter ; But it happened, that theAdmiral laying her on Board at theLoof,rpcojled astern, the Vice-Admiral be-

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ing so near that she was forced to runwith her Boltfprit between the twoQuarters, which forced the Rear-Ad-miral to lay her on Board on the Bow.

After a very warm Engagement,for a considerable Time, the Vice-Ad-miral fired the Carrack in her Stern,and the Rear-Admiral her Fore-castle,by a Shot which gaveFire to theMat onthe Beak-head, and so run on from theBoltfprit, to the Top-fail-Yard, duringwhich the Spaniards were so warmlyplied with small Shot, that they couldnot extinguish the Flames; And they emcreased to such a Height, that they tookand consumed the Vice-Admiral’s Fore-sail and Fore-top-fail, and very muchendammaged the Rear-Admiral; Whilethe Admiral ^had as much to do, toquench the Fire thrown into her fromthe Carrack.

To save themselves in this Heat andFury, the Admiral and Vice-Admiralfell off, leaving the Rear-Admiral foulof the Carrack’s Sprit-fail-Yard, in greatDanger of being consumed with her, ifthey had not towed her off with theirBoats.

In this Distress, the Spaniards per-suaded their Commander, Don Francis-co de Melo, to put out his Flag of Truce;

But the Carpenter, who was more de-sperate, flattering him with the Hopesof extinguishing the Flames, he cried,Coraggio, I will never yield , and conti-nued the Fight. Being thus reduced tothe last Extremity, the desperate De-fendants threw themselves and their The CarTreasures, over Board ; Some of the rack firedChief stripped themselves, of their richChains and Jewels, and as naked as e-ver they were born, ventured to swimtowards the Englijh Ships for Quarter.

Only two of them, of the first Quality,

Eon Nuno Velio Peri er as, late Gover-nour of Mozambique and Sofala, andDon Bras Carero, Captain of a Carrack,cast away near Mozambique, were takenon Board, who, being brought to Eng-land, were afterwards ransomed : Andthe Truth is, they did not take the rightCourse to have Favour Ihewn them; stwas not their naked Carcasses could re*

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