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shotte of us, but to lee-ward; the Reare-Admiral cracked her maine-yard asunder in the middest, being ahead of us."*

With all "these disgraces upon them and the hand of God helping us," Hawkins discovered by the light of the moon that he was completely beset in the midst of them, but at some distance. At a consultation as to what was best to be done, it was decided to dash through them, and, having in this succeeded, they made sail to the northward, while Don Beltran de Castro repaired with his fleet to Callao to make good his damages. "The people of the Spanish fleet," Sir Richard says, “began to goe ashore, where they were so mocked and scorned by the women, as scarce any one by day would shew his face; they reviled them with the name of cowards and golnias, and craved licence of the Viceroy to be admitted in their roomes, and to undertake the surrender of the English shippe."†

Hawkins, having got clear of the enemy, and pursuing his course to the northward, captured a Spanish ship, half laden with wheat, sugar, and hides, and burnt her, landing the crew near Truxillo. In a bay near Cape San Francisco he repaired his pinnace, and took in water. On the 20th of June, when the Dainty and her pinnace were getting up their anchors, two large ships and a small bark were observed near Cape de San * Observations of Sir R. Hawkins, &c. † Ibid.

Francisco, steering towards the bay. The pinnace being sent out to reconnoitre was soon driven back, one of the ships "gunning at her all the way." Sir Richard, judging it better to have sea-room to fight in than to lie at anchor in the bay, stood out to meet them, and, when within musket-shot, he says "we hayled first with our noise of trumpets, then with our waytes, and after with our artillery, which they answered with artillery, two for one; for they had double the ordnance we had, and men almost ten for one."

In order to strengthen the Dainty, Hawkins took all the men out of the pinnace, and abandoned her. For three days the unequal fight continued, in the course of which the mainmast of the Spanish Admiral was shot away close to the deck; she dropped astern, but very soon was enabled to come up and renew her part in the action. It speaks not much for Spanish seamanship that two large ships of war, together with a third vessel, should have required three days and nights to batter and board a little merchant vessel of something more than three hundred tons, and after all to be obliged to grant her an honourable capitulation before she would surrender.

"In all these boardings and skirmishes," says Sir Richard Hawkins, "divers of our men were slaine, and many hurt, and my selfe amongst them received sixe wounds; one of them in the necke,

very perillous; another through the arme, perishing the bone-the rest not so dangerous. The Master of our shippe had one of his eyes, his nose, and halfe his face shott away. Master Henry On these two I principally

Courton was slaine. relyed for the prosecution of our voyage, if God, by sicknesse or otherwise, should take me away.” While suffering from his wounds the Master came to him, and announced that a parley had taken place with the enemy, and that the Admiral had offered us life and liberty, and to send us to our own country; and he added, "that if I thought it so meete, he and the rest of the company were of opinion that we should put out a flag of truce, and make some good composition. The great losse of blood had weakened me much. The torment of my wounds newly received made me faint, and I laboured for life, within short space expecting I should give up the ghost."

Nothing now was left but to surrender on capitulation, much against the will of the gallant Hawkins, though the conditions were very honourable to both parties-promise of the lives of all-of treatment according to the fair rules of war-and of being speedily sent to their own country: in confirmation of which agreement, and as a pledge of his strict observance of it, Don Beltran de Castro sent his glove to Sir Richard Hawkins. The

* Observations.

capitulation completed, they were sent as prisoners of war to Lima, where it appears they were demanded by the blood-thirsty Inquisition, which obliged the Marquis de Cañete to refer to Philip II., who returned an equivocal answer that, understanding the commander was a person of quality, it was proper that justice should be done accordingly. Sir Richard speaks highly of the honourable conduct of De Castro, and of the many civilities he received at his hands. From Lima Sir Richard was sent to Panama, in 1596, and in the same year to Spain, where, it is said, they kept him much longer than they ought to have done.

Every one must agree with Admiral Burney that the Voyage written by Sir Richard Hawkins "is replete with experienced observation and curious anecdote," a great deal more of which would have been extracted had space admitted. The book was published in 1622, but the author died while it was in the press. It is a book that must take its station in the very first rank of our old sea voyages; and is the last voyage that was made to the South Sea for many years afterwards.

LORD CHARLES HOWARD OF EFFINGHAM,

LORD HIGH ADMIRAL.

1570 to 1619.

LORD CHARLES HOWARD of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, was the son of Lord William Howard, Baron of Effingham, who was declared Lord Admiral by Queen Mary in the year 1553. His son Charles was born in the year 1536. While young he is said to have served under his father in short expeditions to the Continent. In 1559, on the death of Henry II. of France, he was sent on a mission of condolence and congratulation to his successor; in 1562 was elected a knight of the shire for the county of Surrey; in 1569 was made a General of Horse, under the Earl of Warwick, in the army sent against the rebel Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland; and in 1570, when Lord Lincoln was Lord Admiral, he was appointed to command a squadron of ships of war, which Queen Elizabeth ordered to be employed in escorting Anne of Austria, sister of the Emperor Maximilian, from Zealand into Spain, to espouse Philip II., who, even at that time, had become a determined enemy of England, and more particularly of the

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