WORKS, Vol. II.
In the year 1585, he sailed with a fleet to the West Indies; and took the cities of St Jago, St Domingo, Carthage, and St Augustin. In 1587, he went to Lisbon with a fleet of 30 sail; and having intelligence of a great fleet assembled in the bay of Cadiz, which was to have made part of the armada, he with great courage entered that port, and burnt there upwards of 10,000 tons of shipping: which he afterwards merrily called burning the king of Spain's beard. In 1588, when the armada from Spain was approaching our coasts, Sir Francis Drake was appointed vice-admiral under Charles lord Howard of Effingham, high admiral of England, where fortune favoured him as remarkably as ever: for he made prize of a very large galleon, commanded by Don Pedro de Valdez, who was reputed the projector of this invasion. This affair happened in the following manner: On the 22d of July, Sir Francis observing a great Spanish ship floating at a distance from both fleets, sent his pinnace to summon the commander to yield. Valdez replied, with much Spanish solemnity, that they were 450 strong; that he himself was Don Pedro, and stood much upon his honour; and thereupon propounded several conditions, upon which he was willing to yield. But the vice-admiral replied, That he had no leisure to parley: but if he thought fit instantly to yield, he might; if not, he should soon find that Drake was no coward. Pedro, hearing the name of Drake, immediately yielded, and with 46 of his attendants came on board Drake's ship. This Don Pedro remained about two years Sir Francis Drake's prisoner in England; and, when he was released, paid him for his own and his captains liberties, a ransom of 3500l. Drake's soldiers were well recompensed with the plunder of this ship; for they found in it 55,000 ducats of gold, which was divided among them.
A little before this formidable Spanish armament put to sea, the ambassador of his Catholic majesty had the confidence to propound to queen Elizabeth, in Latin verse, the terms upon which she might hope for peace; which, with an English translation by Dr Fuller, we will insert in this place, because Drake's expedition to the West Indies makes a part of this message. The verses are these:
Te cito ne pergas bello defendere Belgas:
Quia Dracae crepuit nunc restituantur opes:
Quas pater evertit jubentis tendere bellis:
Religio Populi fac restituantur ad angum.
The queen's extempore return:
In the year 1589, Sir Francis Drake commanded as admiral the fleet sent to restore Don Antonio king of Portugal, the command of the land-forces being given to Sir John Norris: but they were hardly got to sea, before the commanders differed, and so the attempt proved abortive. The war with Spain continuing, a more effectual expedition was undertaken by Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake, against their settlements in the West Indies, than had hitherto been made during the whole course of it: but the commanders here again not agreeing about the plan, this also did not turn out so successfully as was expected. All difficulties, before these two last expeditions, had given way to the skill and fortune of Sir Francis Drake; which probably was the reason why he did not bear these disappointments so well as he otherwise would have done. A strong sense of them is supposed to have thrown him into a melancholy, which occasioned a bloody flux; and of this he died on board his own ship, near the town of Nombre de Dios in the West Indies, on the 28th of January 1595-6. His death was lamented by the whole nation, and particularly by his countrymen; who had great reason to love him from the circumstances of his private life, as well as to esteem him in his public character. He was elected burgess for the town of Baffin, alias Tintagal, in the county of Cornwall, in the 27th parliament of queen Elizabeth; and for Plymouth in Devonshire, in the 35th of the same reign. This town had very particular obligations to him: for, in the year 1587, he undertook to bring water into it, through the want of which, till then, it had been grievously distressed; and he performed it by conducting thither a stream from springs at eight miles distance, that is to say, in a straight line: for in the manner he brought it, the course of it runs upwards of 20 miles.