Humphrey Gilbert was the second son of Sir Otho Gilbert of the manor-house of Greenaway in South Devon; his mother was Catherine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernown, of pure Norman descent, having the blood of the Courtneys in her veins.
The three brothers, John, Humphrey, and Adrian, living at Greenaway close to the Dart, about two miles above Dartmouth, no doubt often played at being sailors in the beautiful reach of water that runs so deep beneath the windows, that the largest vessels may ride safely within a stone's throw. They were brave boys, full of promise even in their boyhood, and all three destined to win the honour of knighthood for daring deeds.
Humphrey, born about the year 1539, was no mere fighting seaman, but a thoughtful, earnest discoverer of such scientific truths as were within the intellectual grasp of the sixteenth century.
He was educated at Eton and Oxford, but his heart was ever in seamanship. He talked so learnedly about his profession that news of his prowess came to the ears of Walsingham, who rehearsed them to the Queen. Hence it came that Humphrey Gilbert was examined before her Majesty and the Privy Council: a record of this examination was drawn up by Humphrey and still exists. He was "for amending the great errors of naval sea-cards, whose common fault is to make the degree of longitude in every latitude of one common bigness"; he had already begun to invent instruments for taking observations and for studying the shape of the earth. But his great idea was to form colonies in the New World and find an outlet for trade and a population growing too thick upon English soil. His manner and intelligence left a great impression upon the Virgin Queen, for he reminded her more of her favourite Greek philosophers than of a blunt English squire.
Sir Otho must have died when Humphrey was about twelve years old, and his mother then married Mr. Raleigh of Hayes; he was a country gentleman of slender means, living in a modest grange in a village between Sidmouth and Exmouth. Whether her three boys accompanied her we do not know; but when Walter Raleigh was a boy, he used to visit his half-brothers at Compton Castle, amid the apple orchards of Torbay, or at the Greenaway manor-house. We can imagine how that imaginative child would sit by the river and listen to the stories of his half-brothers, drinking in a love of adventure, a hatred of religious persecution, and a belief in God's providence. For the river was full of quaint vessels from every port, and the sailors were full of moving stories of the prisons of the Inquisition, or the sufferings of the Netherlanders; and the Gilberts had been brought up by their mother to see the hand of God in all the great events of life.
As one of Frobisher's men said, when describing the great tussle with the ice-floes, "The ice was strong, but God was stronger."
We may be sure that one of the most critical moments in Walter Raleigh's education was the time when he stayed with the Gilberts, and listened to ideas of empire and duty which only a few in any age have been inspired to feel and know and carry into practice.
Humphrey shows in his writings that he had read deeply; Homer and Aristotle and Plato are quoted in his Discourse to prove a north-west passage to Cathay. Philosophers of Florence, Grantor the Grecian, and Strabo, Proclus, and Philo in his book de Mundo, and the German Simon Gryneus, and a host of modern geographers are called to bear witness to his theory that America was an island. Then he had read all the accounts brought home by great seamen, and skilfully wrought them together to prove his theory. But of course his facts were very unreliable and mixed with strange errors, but that was not his fault. If he believed that there was unbroken land to the South Pole, except for the narrow opening of the Straits of Magellan, the error was not his.
At the end of his memorial to the Queen, he writes: "Never therefore mislike with me for the taking in hand of any laudable and honest enterprise; for if through pleasure or idleness we purchase shame, the pleasure vanisheth, but the shame remaineth for ever. Give me leave therefore, without offence, always to live and die in this mind: that he is not worthy to live at all that, for fear or danger of death, shunneth his country's service and his own honour, seeing that death is inevitable and the fame of virtue immortal."
We can imagine the great Queen looking admiringly at this tall knight of Devon, so fair and yet so strong, so practical and inventive, and yet so compact of fancy and imagination; a man after her own heart, brave and loyal, and one who feared God alone.
Humphrey was only twenty-five years old when he petitioned the Queen in association with Anthony Jenkinson for licence to find out a north-eastern passage to Cathay, a country which surpassed in wealth all the parts of the Indies visited by the Spaniards. Gilbert promised to fit out such an expedition at his own expense, all the profits to go to those who embarked upon it, except the fifths, which belonged to the Crown. However, Elizabeth did not yet listen favourably to this project; she sent Jenkinson back to Russia as her Ambassador, and found service for Gilbert under the Earl of Warwick at Havre in 1563. Here he received a wound and had to come home for a space of three years; then he was ordered to Ireland in July 1566, to be employed under the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney. Humphrey was appointed captain in the army which under Sidney was resisting the forces of the Irish rebel chief, Shan O'Neill, and saw a good deal of desperate fighting.
In November 1566, Sir Henry Sidney sent Gilbert with despatches to England, and the daring youth presented another petition to the Queen, asking for two of the Queen's ships, provided he supplied two others, and requesting the life government for himself of any countries he might conquer, and a tenth part of all their land. In this petition he proposed to reach the Indies by the north-west, and to this change of plan he remained constant. But the Company of Merchant Adventurers protested against this as an infringement of their own charter, and it was abandoned.
But the Queen never lost sight of her able young officer. In March 1567 Gilbert was back in Ireland, and in June the Queen wrote to Sidney bidding him see how far the Irish rebels could be restrained by establishing a colony of honest men in Ulster. She recommended him to use the services of Humphrey Gilbert, as the colonists would come chiefly from the west of England; these Gilbert was to select, to conduct them to Lough Foyle and there to be their President. But this plan was never carried out, and Gilbert went back to his soldiering. For the next two years, as leader of a band of horse, he helped Sidney to put down rebellion.
When in 1568 he was sent back to England and fell dangerously ill, the Queen inquired carefully into his condition, and wrote to Sir Henry Sidney to say that Gilbert was to have his full pay during his absence, and some better place was to be found him on his return to Ireland. So, with a Queen to back him up, Gilbert was made a colonel, and defeated M'Carthy More in September. This victory won for him the honourable duty of keeping the peace in the province of Munster, where he showed more vigour and stern discipline than sympathy.
In December we find him writing to the Lord Deputy, saying he was determined to have neither parley nor peace with any rebel; for he was convinced that no conquered nation could be ruled with gentleness.
Henry Sidney was not averse to the strong hand, and wrote to the Queen, praising Gilbert's "discretion, judgment, and lusty courage," and on January 1, 1570, he knighted Gilbert at Drogheda.
In 1571 Sir Humphrey Gilbert married Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Ager of Kent, not unmindful perhaps of the old proverb:—
"A Knight of Gales, and a Gentleman of Wales, and a Laird
of the North Countree,
A Squire of Kent with his yearly rent will weigh them down
—all three."
He was then returned as M.P. for Plymouth.
But Elizabeth, who had been helping the Netherlands against Philip in secret, underhand ways, began in 1572 to be impressed by the Catholic League, and to fear that England, like all other Protestant countries, must look to encounter the whole forces of the Pope. She remembered the words of Walsingham, "Unless God had raised up the Prince of Orange to entertain Spain, Madam, we should have had the fire long since at our own door."
So Gilbert went to Flanders in 1572 with 1400 Englishmen to fight against Philip's stern deputy, the Duke of Alva. He took part in the siege of Sluys, and wrote to ask the Queen for more men to be sent. He then helped in the assault on Tergoes. But his rash, hot-headed style of fighting, acquired perhaps in Ireland, offended the slow and cautious Dutchmen whom he was assisting, and Gilbert returned to England, convinced that the Dutch lacked animal courage.
Then for two years Sir Humphrey lived quietly at Limehouse, busy with chemical researches; but as his partners wished to try the so-called science of alchemy and to transmute iron into copper, he begged leave to withdraw, mistrusting their modicum of science.
Gilbert had time to meditate now on his relentless treatment of Irish rebels. A brave and chivalrous gentleman, for those times, a scientific explorer and a man of deep piety, he could now compare his conduct in Ireland with Alva's in the Netherlands, and wonder if Sidney's high praise had been deserved.
"For the Colonel," Sidney wrote to Cecil in 1570, "I cannot say enough. The highways are now made free where no man might travel unspoiled. The gates of cities and towns are now left open, where before they were continually shut or guarded with armed men.... And yet this is not the most, nor the best that he hath done; for the estimation that he hath won to the name of Englishman there, before almost not known, exceedeth all the rest; for he hath in battle broken so many of them, wherein he showed how far our soldiers in valour surpassed those rebels, and he in his own person any man he had. The name of an Englishman is more terrible now to them than the sight of a hundred was before. For all this, I had nothing to present him with but the honour of knighthood, which I gave him; for the rest, I recommend him to your friendly report."
That was the better side of the question—order kept and duty done. But Sir Humphrey in his two years of quiet thinking and writing must have often recalled with compunction scenes in Ireland which he could not approve of, and perhaps was dimly conscious of at the time.
For the English troops, spread abroad over a lonesome countryside and held in check only by some ruthless sergeant-major, would often, when opposed to desperate men, meet outrage with outrage, and cruelty with cruelty.
Sidney himself loathed his vile task, and often implored to be called away from "such an accursed country."
We may be sure, then, that a man so gentle and humane as Sir Humphrey Gilbert must have felt that the government of Ireland was no pleasant task. It was also very expensive, for the cost of it to England above the revenue levied in Ireland itself from the date of Elizabeth's accession was now £90,000.
No one seems to have thought that lenity might win a greater success than stern discipline. Rokeby writes to Cecil: "It is not the image nor the name of a President and Council that will frame them to obedience; it must be fire and sword, the rod of God's vengeance. Valiant and courageous soldiers must make a way for law and justice; or else, farewell to Ireland."
In the winter of 1574 Gilbert received a visit at Limehouse from George Gascoigne, the poet. "Well, Sir Humphrey, how do you spend your time in this loitering vacation from martial stratagems?" asked the poet.
"Come into my writing-room, George, and you shall see sundry profitable exercises which I have perfected with my pen—and that of my half-brother, Walter Raleigh." Thereupon Gilbert put into his friend's hands the celebrated Discourse on the North-west Passage.
As Gascoigne read the concluding words: "If your Majesty like to do it all, then would I wish your Highness to consider that delay doth oftentimes prevent the performance of good things, for the wings of man's life are plumed with the feathers of death," he turned and said with a laugh, "It is easy for a rhymester to see that Walter, the poet, writ those words. But suffer me to take it home: such good stuff asketh some study."
The manuscript of the Discourse was handed about in influential quarters, and that very winter the Queen reminded the Governor and Directors of the Muscovy Company that twenty years had passed since they last sent out an expedition to search for Cathay. It was Martin Frobisher who bore the Queen's letter to the Governor; and when the Company declined to find a North-west Passage, the Queen granted a licence to Frobisher and others to search for the same. But the initial impulse had been given by Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Walter Raleigh.
Various schemes these restless adventurers proposed to the Queen, but it was not until June 1578 that a charter was granted to Gilbert for discovering and possessing any distant and barbarous lands which he could find, provided they were not already claimed by any Christian prince or people. He was authorised to plant a colony and to be absolute governor both of the Englishmen and of the natives dwelling in it; and he was to rule, "as near as conveniently might be," in harmony with the laws and policy of England.
How swiftly Gilbert set about preparing his expedition! Fortunately long arrears of pay had lately been issued to him for his services in Ireland. All this he lavished on his ships and their provision, leaving his little wife but a slender margin to live upon. But his faith was so strong in his theories that he dared to risk almost all he had.
Friends came round him, eager to help and—not least—to share the profits of the expedition; among these were Walter and George Raleigh, George and William Carew, Denny, his cousin, Nowell and Morgan. But best of all, the Queen wished him all good success; for she had sent two of her own kinsmen, Henry and Francis, sons of Sir Francis Knollys, to join him on the expedition.
By the end of summer, 1578, Gilbert's fleet of eleven sail, manned by five hundred young gentlemen and sailors, seemed ready for sea as it lay at anchor between the wooded cliffs that girdle the Dart.
But a strange discord was already making Gilbert's life bitter to him; there were too many masters in that little fleet, and petty bickerings spoilt the voice of authority and command.
Naturally, the common seamen took their cue from their betters. They were for the most part reckless men who had broken out of prison; blasphemers and ruffians who had been tempted to volunteer from sheer love of piracy.
Some of these men went brawling and rioting through Plymouth, insulting the night-watch, and even adding murder to pillage.
The townsfolk complained, and the Earl of Bedford, at that time Lord-Lieutenant of Devon, demanded that the guilty should be delivered up. Sir Humphrey would have seconded the Earl's efforts to keep order, but Henry Knollys, to whose ship most of the rioters belonged, set the law at defiance, laughed at the disorders, and thus encouraged his crew to commit further excesses.
Knollys, relying on his kinship to the Queen, even ventured to be rude and insolent towards his leader, and boasted to Sir Humphrey that he was worth twenty knights. Once, when Gilbert had invited him to dinner, Knollys declined the invitation, insolently remarking that he had money to pay for his own dinner, and that the admiral might keep his trenchers for such beggars as stood in need of his hospitality.
Every day these bickerings and insults passed between the captains and threatened to end in bloodshed. Henry Knollys, being left second in command while Sir Humphrey was absent on business, took the opportunity to pay off a grudge he had against Captain Miles Morgan.
Fortunately Gilbert returned just in time to stay the proceedings. As he rowed to the ship he asked the meaning of the flag being at half-mast. "They be agoing to string up Cap'en Morgan at the yardarm, Admiral."
One may imagine how anger and shame and disappointment troubled the mind of the thoughtful explorer, as he hastened to save his captain from the savage vengeance of Henry Knollys.
Then, to secure himself against an appeal to the Queen's Council, Gilbert submitted the matter to the Mayor of Plymouth, who, after hearing evidence on both sides, gave judgment in favour of the admiral.
But this did not put a stop to the quarrels of the captains, and Henry Knollys, his brother Francis, Captain Denny, Gilbert's cousin, and others of the company broke away from the admiral with four ships, and set sail on their own account. It is pleasant to know that the Queen stood by her faithful Gilbert, and would listen to no complaints from the Knollys.
It was not until the 19th of November that Sir Humphrey, with Walter Raleigh, was able to sail from Plymouth with seven ships and three hundred and fifty men. But whither they went has been left in obscurity.
It seems that Gilbert wished to plant a colony on the North American coast, a little south of Newfoundland, but the majority of his officers were for making an attack upon the Spanish possessions further south. In attempting this they fell in with a strong Spanish fleet in the spring of 1579, and were defeated with the loss of one of their best ships and of the brave Captain Miles Morgan, and of many others among the adventurers.
So Raleigh and Gilbert gave up the voyage and returned to Plymouth in May. They came to London, poor in funds and somewhat dashed in spirit; but the unlooked-for sympathy of admiring courtiers and merchants cheered them not a little.
"Walter, we will not give it up yet! Let us work hard for a better ending."
The Queen was much concerned for Gilbert's failure, and sent him with Walter Raleigh in two ships to the Irish coast to prevent James Fitz-Maurice from raising an insurrection along the south coast. After some active service against Spanish vessels, Gilbert was sent back to England, while Raleigh remained to serve under Lord Grey of Wilton. Gilbert, returning to his wife in poverty and disappointment, was not unlike Martin Frobisher; they both suffered in promoting the expansion of the Queen's Empire, and both found their wives in abject destitution.
In July 1581 Sir Humphrey writes to Walsingham from his house in Sheppey a piteous letter, begging that he may be paid a small sum of money owed him for his services in Ireland, whereby he had lost so much that he was reduced to extreme want. "It is a miserable thing that after twenty-seven years' service I should now be subjected to daily arrests for debt, to executions and outlawries, and should have to sell even my wife's clothes from off her back."
Still Sir Humphrey did not despond, but talked much of his new colony which he was to found in Baccalaos, or Newfoundland.
The elder Cabot had discovered the island, and Spaniards and French had made trading voyages to it in search of codfish. The Bristol merchants still preferred commerce with Iceland, though Anthony Parkhurst of Bristol reported in 1578 that the English fishing fleet had increased from thirty to fifty sail, and he urged that more should try that trade.
But the moneyed gentlemen of the Court and City thought little of cod-fish, and yearned for the wealth of the Aztecs in Mexico, where lumps of gold as large as a man's fist could be picked up, and pearls were measured by the peck. With some retailers of such marvellous stories Gilbert had conference, and, with help from many speculative friends, he was able to make a second start in the summer of 1583.
His brother, Walter Raleigh, and his old friends Sir George Peckham and Carlile, helped to fit out the expedition. Raleigh, having made money in Ireland and at Court, fitted out the Raleigh, a barque of 200 tons. There were also the Delight, of 120 tons, the Golden Hind and the Swallow, each of 40 tons, and the tiny Squirrel, of 10 tons. In these vessels were some two hundred and sixty persons. "For solace of the people and amusement of the savages we were provided with music in great variety, not omitting toys, as morris-dancers, hobby-horses, and many like conceits, for to delight the savage people, whom we intended to win by all fair means possible."
The Queen, ever willing to lend approval to her sea-captains, not without a sense of favours to come from the Indies, had sent Gilbert, by Raleigh, a token, an anchor in gold guided by a lady; "And further she willed me to send you word that she wished you as good hap as if she herself were there in person, desiring you to have care of yourself as of that which she tendereth ... further, she commandeth that you leave your picture with me."
This time Gilbert had his own way and steered straight for Newfoundland, leaving Plymouth harbour on the 11th of June 1583. The wind was fair all day, but a great storm of thunder and wind fell in the night.
On the third day signal was made from Raleigh's barque that Captain Butler and many of his crew were fallen sick—a contagious sickness had broken out which constrained them to forsake the fleet and return to Plymouth.
"The reason I never could understand," says the chronicler, Edward Hayes, captain and owner of the Golden Hind. "Sure I am, no cost was spared by their owner, Master Raleigh, in setting them forth, therefore I leave it unto God."
After this they passed through a series of fogs and storms, and were separated; they saw many mountains of ice drifting southwards. About fifty leagues this side of Newfoundland they passed the Bank, having twenty-five fathoms water below them. There they saw many Portuguese and French fishing over the Bank; they knew without sounding how far the Bank extended, by the incredible multitude of sea-fowl hovering over the same. When the Golden Hind at last reached the Bay of Conception they found the Swallow again, and all her men much altered in apparel. At their first meeting the crew of the Swallow "for joy and congratulation spared not to cast up into the air and overboard their caps and hats in good plenty." These men, it turned out, being pirates for the most part, had stopped a home-bound barque, just to borrow a little victual and raiment. "Deal favourably with them, my lads," quoth the captain of the Swallow.
Off went the cock-boat with a merry crew and boarded the English fishing-smack; from which they rifled and took store of tackle, sails, cables, victuals, and raiment. While, if any tried to hide his valuables, they wound a cord about his head full merrily, pulling it taut till the blood gushed out. "But God's justice did follow the same company," for as they took their cock-boat to go aboard the Swallow, it was overwhelmed in the sea, and certain of the men were drowned. The rest were saved even by those whom they had before spoiled; but God's vengeance was, we are told, only delayed. They then held on southwards until they came to St. John's harbour, where they found the Squirrel at anchor outside; for the captains of the merchant ships had refused to let her enter the harbour.
So, while making ready to fight and force an entrance, Gilbert despatched a boat to let them know that he came with no ill intent, but had a commission from her Majesty for the present voyage.
Permission was at once granted, and the four ships were sailing in, when the Delight ran upon a rock fast by the shore. "But we found such readiness in the English merchants to help us in that danger, that without delay there were brought a number of boats which towed off the ship and cleared her of danger."
When they had let fall their anchors, the captains and masters of the merchantmen came on board; the admiral showed his commission, to take possession on behalf of the Crown of England, and they all welcomed him with salutes of guns and offer of provisions. Also invitations were issued to continual feasts and merry entertainments. "We were presented with wines, marmalades, most fine rusk, or biscuit, sweet oils and sundry delicacies. Also we wanted not of fresh salmons, trouts, lobsters, and other fresh fish brought daily unto us."
After their hard fare and tedious sea-passage such abundance came to them as a delightful surprise.
The next day being Sunday, the 4th of August 1583, Sir Humphrey and his officers went on shore and were shown "the garden." "But nothing appeared more than Nature herself without art, who confusedly hath brought forth roses abundantly, wild but odoriferous, and to sense very comfortable. Also the like plenty of raspberries, which do grow in every place."
Gilbert was so pleased with what he saw that he resolved to make St. John's the chief place in the new colony.
On Monday there was a mass meeting called before the admiral's tent, and the charter was explained to all; then in the Queen's name Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland, England's first and oldest colony, and had delivered unto him a rod and a turf of the soil, as the custom of England was.
Three laws to begin with Sir Humphrey proposed, and all agreed thereto:—
"1. All the religion in public exercise shall be according to the Church of England.
"2. If any one attempt anything prejudicial to the Queen's authority, he shall be tried and executed as in case of high treason.
"3. If any shall utter words sounding to the dishonour of her Majesty, he shall lose his ears, and have his goods and ship confiscate."
Then amid general shouts of joy the Arms of England, engraven in lead and fixed upon a pillar of wood, were set up not far from the admiral's tent.
For a short time Sir Humphrey spent a very happy life in Newfoundland, for he had won for himself and his descendants almost regal power; and he was no selfish adventurer, but one who from a good heart and fear of God wished to advance the welfare of his Queen and country, while he benefited the merchants and natives.
ENGLAND'S FIRST COLONY
ENGLAND'S FIRST COLONY
Sir Humphrey Gilbert landed at St. John's, and there took formal possession of Newfoundland for the Crown, by receiving a rod and a turf of the soil, as the custom of England was.
He appointed men to repair and trim the ships, others to gather supplies and provisions, others to search the country round for account of what was most noteworthy. By his orders two maps were drawn of the coast, which were however lost at sea. The explorers came back full of enthusiasm for the new colony, having found no natives in the south part, but in the north many harmless savages.
Fish, trout, salmon, and cod were reported to be in incredible quantities; whales and turbot, lobsters and herrings and oysters abounded. They saw fir-trees, pine, and cypress, all yielding gum and turpentine; they were told that the grass would fatten sheep in three weeks, and were shown peas gathered in early August.
They found also large partridges, grey and white, and rough-footed like doves, red-deer, bears, and ounces, wolves and foxes and otters, rich in fur beyond price.
The General had brought to him a sable alive, which he sent to his brother, Sir John Gilbert, knight of Devonshire; but it was never delivered.
The narrator in Hakluyt bursts into a pæan of delight at the lavish gifts of a munificent God: "Though man hath not used a fifth part of the same, choosing to live very miserably within this realm pestered with inhabitants, rather than to adventure as becometh men."
Especially in the matter of minerals had Gilbert ordered his refiner, Daniel, to make diligent inquiry, who one day brought the admiral some ore and said, "If silver be the thing which may satisfy thee, seek no further."
Gilbert commanded him not to let others know of his discovery; he sent it on board for further assay when they should be on the high sea.
Some people have found fault with Sir Humphrey for not having exercised more forethought for housing his colonists in the winter; but the fault and the failure of the first settlement lay in the men he had been given to take out with him. For indeed many of them were lawless robbers, men who hated honest work—gaol-birds let out to avoid the expense of keeping them at home.
The bad men amongst them corrupted the weaker, and in a fortnight Gilbert had such a ruffianly crew that his heart must have sunk within him.
Some were for stealing away vessels by night and taking to piracy. One band of marauders carried away out of the harbour a ship laden with fish, after they had set the poor crew ashore. Others—and many of them—stole away into the woods, hiding themselves, and living as wild men; others lay about in drunken exhaustion. Some were sick of fluxes, and many died; and not a few craved licence to depart home.
So less than three weeks after the glad blowing of horns and booming of guns, the little colony had grown so weak and dispirited that Gilbert resolved to leave the Swallow behind, to carry home the sick as soon as they could travel, while he himself in the Squirrel, with the Delight and the Golden Hind, set out to explore the coast to the south. He preferred the little Squirrel, because she was so light and could search into every harbour and creek; for he intended to return next year and plant yet another colony, if it pleased God, of a better sort of men.
Under Cape Race, at the south-west of the island, they were becalmed several days, and laid out hook and line to fish: in less than two hours they took cod so large and so abundant that for many days after they fed on no other food. On reaching Cape Breton Isle, Gilbert intended to land; but the crew of the Delight turned mutinous, and sailed out to the open sea.
The Golden Hind and the Squirrel gave chase, but the Delight sped on faster, and her crew kept up their spirits with noisy music of drums and cornets.
Towards the evening of August the 27th, the crew of the Golden Hind caught "a very mighty porpoise with a harping iron"; they had seen many—a sure sign of a coming storm. Some declared that they heard that night strange voices which scared them from the helm. Men who would meet a known danger face to face were apt to run away from what seemed weird and ghostly. Next day the Delight, keeping ill watch, struck against a rock, and in an hour or two had her stern beaten in pieces. The others dared not venture so near shore to help them, but they could see the crew taking to their boats and to rafts in the raging sea.
Thus Gilbert lost his largest ship, freighted with great care, and with all his papers, and with her he lost nearly a hundred men; amongst whom were the learned Budæus of Hungary, who was to have celebrated their exploits in the Latin tongue, Daniel, the Saxon refiner, and Captain Maurice Brown, "a vertuous, honest, and discrete gentleman," who refused to leave his ship. One pinnace, overfull of passengers, had a narrow escape. There was on board a brave soldier, named Edward Headly, who said, "My friends, 'twere better that some of us perish rather than all. I make this motion, that we cast lots who shall be thrown overboard, thereby to lighten the boat. I offer myself with the first, content to take this adventure gladly, so some be saved."
But the master, Richard Clark, answered him thus:
"No, no! I refuse the sacrifice, and I advise you all to abide God's pleasure, who is able to save all, as well as a few."
The little boat was carried for six days before the wind, and then they arrived famished and weak on the Newfoundland coast, saving that Headly, who had been ill, could not hold out, but died of hunger by the way. Those that were saved were taken to France by certain fishermen.
The weather continued thick and blustering, and the cold grew more intense; they began to lose hope, and doubted they were engulfed in the Bay of St. Lawrence, where the coast was unknown and full of dangers. Above all, provisions waxed scant and their clothes were thin and old. The men of the Golden Hind and of the Squirrel exchanged signs, pointing to their mouths and ragged clothing, till Gilbert was moved to compassion for the poor men, and called the captain and master of the Hind on board the Squirrel and said:
"Be content, we have seen enough, and take no care of expense past. I will set you forth royally next spring, if God send us safe home. Therefore, I pray you, let us no longer strive here, where we fight against the elements." So with much sorrow they consented to give up the voyage, being comforted by the General's promise to return speedily next spring.
It was Saturday, the 31st of August, when they changed their course, and at the very instant when they were turning there passed along towards the land which they were forsaking "a marvellous creature, like a lion in shape, hair, and colour, not swimming after the manner of a beast, but rather sliding upon the surface, with all his body exposed except the legs. Thus he passed along, turning his head to and fro, yawning and gaping wide, with ugly demonstration of long teeth and glaring eyes: and, to bid us farewell, he sent forth a horrible voice, roaring as doth a lion; which spectacle we all beheld so far as we were able to discern the same, as men prone to wonder at every strange thing, as this doubtless was, to see a lion in the ocean sea, or fish in shape of a lion. The General took it for a Bonum Omen, rejoicing that he was to warre against such an enemie, if it were the devil."
On Monday Sir Humphrey went aboard the Golden Hind to have the surgeon dress his foot, which he had hurt by treading on a nail.
He was merry enough, and they comforted one another with hope of hard toil being all past, and of the good hap that was coming.
They agreed all to carry lights always by night that they might the better keep together. But when they begged Sir Humphrey to stay aboard the larger vessel, he laughed and shook his head and rowed back to the Squirrel. Immediately after followed a sharp storm which they weathered with some difficulty; then, the weather being fair again, the General (as they called him) came aboard the Hind again, and made merry with the captain, master, and company, continuing there from morning until night.
This was their last meeting, and sundry discourses were made touching affairs past and to come: but Sir Humphrey lamented sore the loss of his great ship, and of the men, and most of all of his books and notes; for which he seemed out of measure grieved: so that the chronicler deemed he must be sorrowing over the loss of his silver ore.
But Sir Humphrey's great soul was above such trash. He had seen enough in Newfoundland to know that its possession by England would be a jewel in the Queen's crown beyond all price. This was his second failure, not from any fault of his, but he doubtless feared that God was wroth with him for some fault of temper. For faults of temper he had, and confessed the same, saying: "Do ye mind when I sent my boy aboard the Delight to fetch some charts and papers before she had gone on the rocks?"
"Aye, aye, General; 'twas when we were becalmed off Newfoundland, near unto Cape Race."
"I be wondrous sorry now that I beat the lad so grievously in my great rage; but he had forgotten to bring the chief thing I wanted."
They kept silence, as he sighed and looked away through the rigging. Anon they would talk of next year's voyage, please God! and Sir Humphrey reserved unto himself the north for discovery, affirming that this voyage had won his heart from the south, and that he was now become a northern man altogether.
"But what means have you, General, to compass the charges of so great a preparation for next spring—with two fleets, a southern and a northern?"
"Oh! leave that to me, friends; I will ask a penny of no man. I will bring good tidings unto her Majesty, who will be so gracious to lend me a thousand pounds. Nay, lads, be of good cheer; for I thank God with all my heart for that I have seen in Newfoundland: enough there for us all, and no need to seek any further."
Such comfortable words Sir Humphrey kept oftentimes repeating, with demonstration of great confidence and fervency, and belief in the inestimable good which this voyage should procure for England. But his hearers looked on and listened, with considerable doubt and mistrust.
"I will hasten to the end of this tragedy," writes Mr. Hayes; "as it was God's ordinance upon him, even so the vehement persuasion and entreaty of his friends could nothing avail to divert him from a wilful resolution to go through in his ten-ton frigate, which was overcharged upon her decks, with nettings and small artillery, too cumbersome for so small a boat that was to pass through the ocean at that season of the year."
All the answer which his well-wishers got was a cheery refusal to stay: "I will not forsake my little company going homeward, with whom I have passed so many storms and perils." It is worth noting, too, that a squirrel was in the crest of the Gilberts. So, seeing he would not bend to any reason, they carried some better provision for him aboard the Squirrel and committed him to God's protection.
By this time they had brought the Azores south of them, and were still keeping to the north until they had got to the latitude of South England. Here they met with very foul weather and terrible seas, "breaking short and high, pyramid-wise"; so that men said they never saw more outrageous seas. Also upon the mainyard sat a little fire by night which seamen call Castor and Pollux, a sure sign of more tempest to follow.
Monday, the 9th of September, a great wave passed over the little Squirrel, yet she shook herself like a bird and recovered; and then they saw Sir Humphrey Gilbert sitting abaft with a book in his hand. And as oft as the Golden Hind approached within hearing, the crew heard him cry out to them from his frigate, "Courage, my friends; we are as near to heaven by sea as by land."
This speech he repeated more than once, "well beseeming a soldier, resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testify he was."
The same Monday night, about midnight or not long after, when the little Squirrel was ahead of the Golden Hind, suddenly her lights were seen to go out; the watch cried, "The General is cast away"; and this proved too true.
The Golden Hind battled on, signalling to every small vessel they saw in the distance, in case she should be their consort, but all in vain. They arrived at Falmouth the 22nd day of September, then on to Dartmouth to certify Sir John Gilbert of his brother's death, who courteously offered hospitality to the captain and his company.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert has been described as one of the worthiest of the Elizabethan heroes. He had all Raleigh's high sense of honour, and a more genial manner. He gave England her first colony, and ruined himself in doing it. Mr. Hayes, who sailed with him, says, "The crosses, turmoils, and afflictions, both in the preparation and execution of this voyage, did correct the intemperate humours in this gentleman, which made less delightful his other manifold virtues."
No doubt, the fact that his aunt, Kate Ashley, had been Elizabeth's old and valued governess first commended him to the Queen, but her continued favour was due to Humphrey Gilbert's sterling worth and loyal service. Prince, in his "Worthies of Devon," describes him as "an excellent hydrographer and no less skilful mathematician, of an high and daring spirit, though not equally favoured of fortune. His person recommended him to esteem and veneration at first sight; his stature was beyond the ordinary size, his complexion sanguine, and his constitution very robust."
The motto on his arms, Mutare vel timere sperno, if not good Latin, yet breathed the spirit of chivalry. Sir Humphrey did "scorn to waver or to fear," and he has earned an Empire's gratitude.
Charles, eldest son of Lord William Howard, was born in 1536, his mother being Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Gamage of Glamorganshire. His father, brother of the Duke of Norfolk and uncle of Queen Catherine Howard, was, on that lady's execution, condemned to life imprisonment for having concealed her faults; but the sentence was soon remitted, and in Mary's reign he was appointed High Admiral of England. It was under such a father that Charles was trained both on land and sea service. He was about twenty-two years of age at the accession of Elizabeth, and his "most proper person," or handsome appearance, at once won the Queen's favour; for she liked a jewel set in a goodly case.
So Charles was sent to France on an embassy of condolence after the death of Henry II., and to congratulate the young king. Soon he was elected one of the knights for his native county of Surrey in the Parliament of 1562. We next hear of him as being a General of Horse under the Earl of Warwick, in the army sent against the rebel Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland in 1569.
In 1570, when Lord Lincoln was Lord Admiral, Howard was ordered to command a squadron of ships-of-war sent by Queen Elizabeth to escort Anne of Austria, sister of the Emperor Maximilian, from Zealand into Spain, whither she was going for the purpose of being married to Philip II. Howard of course knew that Philip had no love now for the Queen of England; so, when the great Spanish galleons came into British waters he first made them salute the Queen's flag, and then gave them all honourable escort, to show his Queen's respect for the house of Austria. It was a deed which gave promise of great exploits hereafter. Richard Hakluyt thus describes it in a letter to Lord Charles Howard:—
"When the Emperor's sister, the spouse of Spain, with a fleet of one hundred and thirty sail, stoutly and proudly passed the narrow seas, your Lordship, accompanied by ten ships only of her Majesty's Royal Navy, environed their fleet in most strange and warlike sort, enforced them to stoop gallant and to vail their bonnets for the Queen of England, and made them perfectly to understand that old speech of the Prince of Poets, Virgil,
'Non illi imperium pelagi sævumque tridentem,
Sed tibi sorte datum."
('It was not to him that fate had given the Empire of the deep and the fell trident, but to thee.')
"Yet after they had acknowledged their duty, your Lordship, on her Majesty's behalf, conducted her safely through our English Channel, and performed all good offices of honour and humanity to that foreign Princess."
No doubt this proud demand for homage to the flag of England went far to secure for Lord Charles the post of Lord High Admiral in 1585. For relations between Spain and England were growing ever more strained, and war conducted at first by private adventurers was bound to issue in a national contest. The Queen began to prepare for this by purchasing arms and powder abroad. She had many pieces of great ordnance of brass and iron cast, and luckily a rich vein of stone was found in Cumberland, near Keswick, which helped much in the works for making brass. How patriotic our forefathers were can be seen by the cheerful way in which both nobles and peasants helped in providing weapons.
In every nobleman's house complete armouries were provided, private individuals built ships-of-war, and poor men flocked to the ports to offer their services. When Spain insolently warned off all the English from trading with America, when she instigated revolt in Ireland, and hired assassins to murder Elizabeth, patriotism was awakened from a long sleep. The near approach of danger had evoked the nation's dormant spirit and indomitable courage.
When the Prince of Orange had been assassinated and the Prince of Parma had taken Antwerp, Elizabeth hesitated no longer to conclude a treaty with the Netherlands against their Spanish oppressors, and issued a long statement of the reasons for so doing. Other Christian princes admired such manly fortitude in a woman. The King of Sweden said she had taken the crown from her head and adventured it upon the chance of war.
There was no need in those days to compel the men to bear arms and defend their country. Englishmen were not then devoted to sports and games, but hastened from north to south to offer their maligned Queen bands of horse and foot. Amongst the first was Lord Montague, a Roman Catholic peer, with two hundred horsemen led by his own sons, and with them a young child, very comely, seated on his pony, the eldest son to his lordship's heir; so there were grandfather, father, and son at one time on horseback before the Queen, ready to do her service.
There were many Roman Catholics who remained loyal, and not least among them was Lord Charles Howard, who had been for many months looking after the welfare of the fleet, seeing all was in good order, and now and then issuing out to check or pursue pirates.
"The Queen," we are told by Fuller, "had a great persuasion of his fortunate conduct, and knew him to be of a moderate and noble courage, skilful in sea matters, wary and provident, valiant and courageous, industrious and active, and of great authority and esteem among sailors."
Another admirer of Lord Howard's admits that he was no deep seaman like Sir Humphrey Gilbert; but he had sense enough to know those who had more skill than himself, and to follow their instructions; he was not one to go his own wilful way, but ruled himself by the experienced in sea matters—thus the Queen had a navy of oak and an admiral of osier. With the help of Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, the new Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, formed his plans of defence. Sir Philip Sidney, too, was deep in their counsels, planning expeditions, subscribing money, and persuading rich friends to volunteer or fit out ships.
Early in January 1588 Philip, to gain time for his preparations, had proposed through the Duke of Parma, his Governor in the Netherlands, that commissioners should meet to negotiate a treaty of peace. Both Elizabeth and Burghley were in favour of this, not seeing that it was but a blind to cover their exertions to repair the damage done by Drake at Cadiz the year before.
Howard wrote at once to Walsingham: "There never was such a stratagem and mask to deceive her Majesty as this treaty of peace. I pray God that we do not curse for this a long grey beard with a white head witless (Burghley's), that will make all the world think us heartless.... Therefore, good Mr. Secretary, let every one of ye persuade her Majesty that she lose no time in taking care enough of herself."
Lord Charles does not forget his wife as danger begins to face him: "I request that, if it please God to call me to Him in this service of her Majestie, which I am most willing to spend my life in, that her Majestie of her goodness will bestow my boy upon my poor wife" (he was probably a page at Court), "and if it please her Majestie to let my poor wife have the keeping either of Hampton Court, or Oatlands, I shall think myself most bound to her Majestie; for" (in his own spelling) "I dow assur you, Sir, I shall not leve heer so well as so good a wyfe dowthe desarve."
It is strange to mark from the letters written a few weeks before the Armada set sail how very parsimonious both the Queen and Burghley seemed to the admiral to be in providing for the expenses of fitting out the fleet. Drake had been prevented from getting his fleet in order for sea-service at Plymouth. "The fault is not in him," wrote Howard, "but I pray God her Majestie do not repent her slack dealing." Four ships, which Howard had asked for, the Queen was loth to use, and especially the Elizabeth Jonas, a stout vessel of 900 tons burthen, which carried more guns and not fewer seamen than any of the other ships. "Lord! when should she serve if not at such a time as this?" wrote Howard to Walsingham on the 7th of April; "either she is fit now to serve, or fit for the fire. I hope never in my time to see so great a cause for her to be used. The King of Spain doth not keep any ship at home, either of his own or any other that he can get for money. I am sorry that her Majestie is so careless of this most dangerous time. I fear me much, and with grief I think it, that she relieth on a hope that will deceive her and greatly endanger her, and then it will not be her money nor her jewels that will help. Well, well! I must pray heartily for peace, for I see the support of an honourable war will never appear. Sparing and war have no affinity together."
Lord Howard had been painfully riding from port to port all along the south coast of England, to scan the outfit and crews of all the ships. He had written letter after letter for more ships, better victuals, more guns. He had dared to say to the Queen what few others could say, and had awakened her at last from her false hopes of peace. On the 21st of May, after leaving with Lord Henry Seymour a fleet strong enough to protect the narrow seas from any invasion that the Prince of Parma might attempt, Lord Howard left Dover with most of the Queen's ships and a great number of private vessels, some fifty sail, that were furnished by London and the east coast. On the 23rd of May he entered Plymouth Road and was met by Sir Francis Drake and a fleet of sixty vessels, Queen's ships and stout barques and pinnaces fitted out by the town and nobles of the west coast. Here he was detained a week by contrary winds. On the 28th he wrote to Burghley, saying that his fleet of a hundred sail had only victuals for eighteen days: "With the gallantest company of captains, soldiers, and sailors ever seen in England, it were a pity they should lack meat." However, he did go out to meet the Armada, which they thought was on its way, but a violent gale from the south scattered his ships, which "danced as lustily as the gallantest dancers in the Court."
On Howard's return to Plymouth on the 13th of June, he found a letter from Walsingham, reproving him in the Queen's name for having gone so far away, and for leaving England almost unprotected.
He was obliged to defend himself and his advisers, Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, and Fenner, against the lady's private view of sea-tactics. "I hope her Majestie will not think we went so rashly to work, or without a choice care and respect of the safety of this realm." And then at grave length he painfully explained that he was more likely to miss the enemy near home than off the coast of Spain, as they must needs pass Cape Finisterre on their way from Lisbon, but after that they might go eastwards towards the Netherlands, or coast the west of Ireland, or seize the Isle of Wight—and thus humbly he vails his bonnet to the imperious Mistress of the Sea: "But I muste and will obeye, and am glad there be suche in London as are hable to judge what is fitter for us to doe than we here."
Let us hope that the Queen and Burghley were able to note the bitter sarcasm; for we can imagine how Drake and Hawkins and Frobisher discussed the matter, not without "old swearing."
It was at the end of May that the Invincible Armada sailed from the Tagus for Corunna, there to take on board the land forces and stores. Cardinal Albert of Austria gave it his solemn blessing before it departed, and the Spaniards were full of confidence and enthusiasm.
Its total tonnage was about 60,000, its fighting force 50,000; while the English tonnage was 30,000, and the mariners and fighting men some 16,000.
Howard sailed in the Ark Royal, Sir Francis Drake in the Revenge as vice-admiral, Sir John Hawkins in the Victory as rear-admiral, while Lord Henry Seymour in the Rainbow, with four Queen's ships and some Dutch vessels, watched the narrow seas.
The English admirals were united by good feeling and patriotism; no jealousy disturbed their counsels. Drake, in a letter to Burghley, writes: "I find my Lord Admiral so well affected for all honourable service in this action as it doth assure all his followers of good success and hope of victory."
The storm which had driven back the English fleet from the Spanish coast dispersed or dismasted many of the enemy. One sunk and three were captured by their own galley-slaves under a Welshman, David Gwynne; he had been a galley-slave eleven years, and encouraged the rest to rise and strike for liberty. After killing the Spaniards on board, he took the three galleys to a French port. The Armada had to put back to Corunna to refit, and spent a month or more in harbour.
Then the news was carried to Court that the Spanish fleet was so broken they would not attempt any invasion this year. Some of our ships were ordered to the Irish coast, the men at Plymouth were allowed ashore, some were even discharged, while the officers amused themselves with revels, dancing, bowls, and making merry.
The Queen and Burghley were again keeping a tight hand on the slender finances, and Walsingham had to write to Lord Howard, bidding him send back to London four of the tallest ships-royal. This made the Lord High Admiral write a strong letter to the Queen on June 23rd, in which he breaks out boldly, "For the love of Jesus Christ, madame, awake thoroughly, and see the villainous traitors around you and against your Majestie and your realm: draw your forces round about you like a mighty Prince, to defend you. Truly, madame, if you do so, there is no cause to fear; if you do not, there will be danger."
The safety of England was surely in great part due to this nobleman's brave conduct in standing up against the rigid measures of Lord Burghley. He even offered to pay the cost of the four ships which he retained, if they were not wanted in battle.
Meanwhile conflicting reports kept coming into Plymouth respecting the Spanish fleet; sometimes it was said they were at sea, at other times they were reported to be still in harbour. Lord Howard's scouts were of course on the watch for their first appearance.
On the 17th of July the Lord Admiral had to write to the Lord High Treasurer for a supply of money: "Our Companies grow into great neede. I have sent herein enclosed an estimate thereof, praying your Lordship that there may be some care had, that we may be furnished with moneye, withoute the which we are not hable to contynewe our forces togeather."
On the 19th of July the Spanish fleet steered across the Channel from France to the Lizard; but they mistook it for the Ram's-head, just west of Plymouth Sound, and night being at hand they tacked off to sea, intending in the morning to attempt to surprise the ships in Plymouth. For they had heard that the crews were off their vessels, all making merry in the town. Had they sailed in that night they might have done much damage, and anticipated the Japanese surprise at Port Arthur.
But a Cornish pirate, named Thomas Fleming, had caught sight of the Armada off the Lizard, and made all sail to Plymouth with the fateful news—
"At sunrise she escaped their van, by God's especial grace;
And the tall Pinta, till the noon, had held her close in chase."
It was deemed so important that he got as a reward a free pardon and a pension for life. There is a tradition that Howard, Drake, and Frobisher, with other officers, were playing a match at bowls on the Hoe when a seaman came running up with Fleming's news.
"We must go on board at once," was the thought of all.
"No, no," laughed Drake, with a wave of the hand; then shouted in his cheery manner, "Come, let us play out our match. There will be plenty of time to win the game and beat the Spaniards too."
It sounds at first like a bit of bravado, but no doubt Sir Francis had a fine knowledge of the effect of brave words upon sailors; that story was told at once from ship to ship, and the rogues laughed, and swore that Drake was the man to singe the Spaniard's beard, as he had done before at Cadiz. King Philip might well set a big price on Drake's head, for his men feared Drake worse than the devil.
Whistles were blown, orders shouted, ropes riven. The wind was blowing pretty stiffly into the harbour and the ships were warped out with difficulty; boat-loads of men came splashing up to their ships' side, fresh from the bear-pit and the tavern. They were soon busy, hauling and sweating and laughing merrily at the thought of the fun which was coming, for which they had waited so long on shore. All hands worked with a will—"With singular diligence and industry and with admirable alacrity of the seamen, whom the Lord Admiral encouraged at their halser-work, towing at a cable with his own hands.... I dare boldly say," says Fuller, "that he drew more, though not by his person, by his presence and example, than any ten in the place."
Lord Howard hauled himself out that night in the teeth of the wind with only six ships. Early next morning, July 20th, some four-and-twenty came out, and with these he stood out to meet the enemy, resolved to check their progress at all hazards.
Soon after daybreak sixty-seven vessels entered Plymouth Road; by nine o'clock they were in the open channel, waiting for the enemy.
Howard had to wait all day; for the Spanish fleet did not come in sight till three o'clock in the afternoon.
One gentleman in the English fleet, named Dodington, occupied part of his time in writing a hasty despatch to the Privy Council:—
"Right Ho. Heare is a ffleete at this instant cominge in upon us, semid at north-west, by all likelywode it should be the enymy: hast makes me—I can write no more. I beseech your L. to pardon me, and so I referr all to your Ho. most depyst considerationes.
"Your Ho. most humble to comand
"ED. DODINGTON.
"ffrom the ffleete at Plymouth."
The covering address of this letter is curious; the little gallows expresses haste.
FOR HER MA<sup>ties</sup> SPETIALL SERVISE
FOR HER MAties SPETIALL SERVISE