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25 - Sir Francis Drake by Julian Corbett · Sir Francis Drake

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty five of Sir Francis Drake by Julian Corbett.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
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  Speaker 1: Pamel and Agami, Chapter thirteen, The Last Treasure Hunt, Part two.
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  Speaker 1: In the autumn, Drake was summoned to court, and once
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  Speaker 1: there he carried all before him. Raleigh was in disgrace,
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  Speaker 1: Frobisher and Lord Thomas Howard paled again beside the new
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  Speaker 1: risen sun, and ere long the realm was all astir
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  Speaker 1: with the growth of a kingly project. In February, Parliament
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  Speaker 1: was summoned. As soon as it met, it was asked
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  Speaker 1: for a grant of two hundred thousand pounds, and told
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  Speaker 1: that if it were voted, the Queen was resolved to
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  Speaker 1: send Drake to sea to encounter the Spaniards with a
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  Speaker 1: great navy. So unprecedented was the sum however, that the
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  Speaker 1: bill met with serious opposition. The Admiral, who worthily sat
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  Speaker 1: for King Arthur's castle of Tintadgel, supported the government with
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  Speaker 1: all the weight of his influence and eloquence. He served
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  Speaker 1: on all the public committees except that to which the
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  Speaker 1: Bill for the Suppression of the Puritans was referred, and
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  Speaker 1: on all others where he had a special or local knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: For the subsidy bill, he did his best with a
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  Speaker 1: speech in which he graphically depicted the horrors of a
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  Speaker 1: Spanish conquest, and, after debates which lasted eleven days, a
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  Speaker 1: very lengthy discussion as things went. Then the bill was passed,
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  Speaker 1: and Drake was at once plunged into a massive business
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  Speaker 1: relating to naval affairs and coast defense. But it was
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  Speaker 1: all too little to allay the pent up impatience of
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  Speaker 1: his long disgrace. He could not wait a year, perhaps two,
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  Speaker 1: till Elizabeth and Philip had fully armed. He was burning
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  Speaker 1: to act. Panama, the virgin treasure house of his desire,
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  Speaker 1: was still unsacked. Raleigh had nearly supplanted him, and from
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  Speaker 1: the first moment he came to court he began tempting
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  Speaker 1: his mistress again. In January fifteen ninety three, he presented
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  Speaker 1: her with an account of his first romantic voyage, when
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  Speaker 1: from the little grove beside Pizarro's Road he had seen
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  Speaker 1: and desired, But as though some presentiment of the ann
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  Speaker 1: hung over her, she could not bring herself to let
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  Speaker 1: him leave her side. Nor was it till the summer
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  Speaker 1: of fifteen ninety four that he prevailed. Then at last,
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  Speaker 1: so magnificent was Philip's deliberation, Drake persuaded Elizabeth how easy
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  Speaker 1: it would be to make a dash over the Atlantic
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  Speaker 1: for Nombre de Dios, throw a few troops across the Isthmus,
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  Speaker 1: to stack Panama, and be home again with all the
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  Speaker 1: wealth of Peru before the new Armada could sail. It was,
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  Speaker 1: of course to be quite a private adventure, but the
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  Speaker 1: Queen was to provide two thirds of the capital. The
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  Speaker 1: rest was to be underwritten by Drake and Hawkins. She
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  Speaker 1: was also to lend six ships to escort the transport,
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  Speaker 1: and as the success of the undertaking depended chiefly upon
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  Speaker 1: the land forces, Drake was authorized to proceed to Holland
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  Speaker 1: and seek the consent of the states to the recall
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  Speaker 1: of the English veterans and their service. His mission was
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  Speaker 1: a failure, and it was but the first of his
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  Speaker 1: succession of disappointments. Voice after voice seemed to warn him
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  Speaker 1: of his doom, but nothing could shake his self confidence.
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  Speaker 1: All the winter from his great house by the Dowgate,
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  Speaker 1: which had sheltered so many of the most famous of
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  Speaker 1: English warriors, he struggled with the difficulties that beset his preparations,
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  Speaker 1: and as the ring of his toil echoed in the
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  Speaker 1: ears of Philip's recruits, they deserted by hundreds for very
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  Speaker 1: terror of his coming. Lisbon itself was almost stripped of inhabitants.
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  Speaker 1: Ten thousand householders fled with their families in a panic,
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  Speaker 1: and those that remained sent away their wives and goods.
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  Speaker 1: The English spies declared that Drake's name was more feared
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  Speaker 1: in Spain than ever was Talbots in France, and from
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  Speaker 1: the highest to the lowest there was no talk but
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  Speaker 1: of the coming of Drake. At home, the magic of
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  Speaker 1: his name had no less power. Volunteers flocked to his
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  Speaker 1: flag in such numbers that he hardly had to press
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  Speaker 1: a man, But for all their eagerness, they were a
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  Speaker 1: sorry substitute for the tried campaigners of the low countries.
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  Speaker 1: Nor had he honoris to command and discipline. The chickens
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  Speaker 1: of Mars had quarreled with him as they quarreled with
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  Speaker 1: every one else, And Drake was a man even harder
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  Speaker 1: to reconcile than those turbulent knights. Another family, only a
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  Speaker 1: degree less renowned, supplied their place. The commission of Colonel
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  Speaker 1: general was given to Sir Thomas Baskerville, the hero of Slous,
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  Speaker 1: and berjanop Schom, the first of the famous captains that
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  Speaker 1: make a halo for the name of Sir Francis Vere.
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  Speaker 1: At the head of but one hundred men, he had
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  Speaker 1: already taught eight companies of the Spanish Old Legion that
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  Speaker 1: they were no longer the finest infantry in the world,
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  Speaker 1: and during a truce Parma himself had embraced him, proclaiming
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  Speaker 1: that no braver soldier served a Christian prince. On his
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  Speaker 1: staff were his brothers Arnold and Nicholas. Sir Nicholas Clifford
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  Speaker 1: was his lieutenant, a band worthy to serve under the
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  Speaker 1: flag of Drake. But as the enterprise grew ripe, the Queen,
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  Speaker 1: always half frightened at the ungovernable energy of her favorite engine,
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  Speaker 1: again lost heart, and, not content with having set the
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  Speaker 1: caution of Hawkins to drag upon it in May, she
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  Speaker 1: refused to let them go at all. The old fatal
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  Speaker 1: hesitation had once more seized her. For two months they
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  Speaker 1: were compelled to lie idle, consuming their resources and losing
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  Speaker 1: their men, till early in July she had again plucked
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  Speaker 1: up heart, and they were again told they might go
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  Speaker 1: with twelve chartered merchantmen and the six navy ships. They
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  Speaker 1: at once hurried out of the Thames to join the
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  Speaker 1: rest of their squadron at Plymouth, and while Hawkins toiled
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  Speaker 1: to complete the ships for sea, Drake scoured the West
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  Speaker 1: Country for supplies to set the force on its legs again.
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  Speaker 1: By the end of the month, they hoped to be
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  Speaker 1: ready when into the midst of their final preparations broke
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  Speaker 1: the news that pins Antce was in flames. Four Spanish galleys,
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  Speaker 1: supported by a fleet of forty sail had suddenly slipped
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  Speaker 1: across from breast to retaliate for Drake's insults to the
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  Speaker 1: Spanish coast, and while Baskerville flew westward to rally the
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  Speaker 1: country Levees, Drake, in a fury, dashed out of Plymouth
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  Speaker 1: with the ships that were ready. It was too late.
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  Speaker 1: The Spaniards had heard their terror was at hand, and
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  Speaker 1: having destroyed a few fishing villages, hurried off faster than
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  Speaker 1: they came. Stung by the blow the Spaniards had so
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  Speaker 1: smartly given in their very faces, the admirals were now
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  Speaker 1: more eager than ever for their sailing orders. It was
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  Speaker 1: the eleventh before the expected packet came, and when they
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  Speaker 1: opened it it was to be astounded with an entire
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  Speaker 1: change of plan. Instead of making a sudden invasion of
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  Speaker 1: the Darian province, they were ordered first to cruise off
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  Speaker 1: the Spanish coast for intelligence, then to capture the plate fleet,
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  Speaker 1: and finally, before receiving their route, they were told they
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  Speaker 1: must promise to be back in six months in order
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  Speaker 1: to serve against the new armada. In despair, the admirals
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  Speaker 1: protested that they could not go cruising or fight a
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  Speaker 1: naval action with a fleet of transports, and as for
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  Speaker 1: promising to be back by a certain day, it was
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  Speaker 1: but tempting providence. They were ready to obey the Queen's orders,
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  Speaker 1: they said, but they must have time to disband the
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  Speaker 1: troops and reorganize the expedition. Elizabeth was furious at their
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  Speaker 1: perverseness and disloyalty, as she was pleased to consider it.
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  Speaker 1: Nor is it possible to say how long the deadlock
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  Speaker 1: would have continued had not news of a disabled treasure
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  Speaker 1: ship of enormous value lying at Puerto Rico suddenly tempted
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  Speaker 1: the Queen into reason. It was already the end of
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  Speaker 1: the month there was no time to do all that
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  Speaker 1: had been undone, and with but twenty seven sail and
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  Speaker 1: only two thousand, five hundred men, they started on the
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  Speaker 1: ill omened voyage. A Spanish fleet was known to be out,
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  Speaker 1: and so nervous was the government about Ireland that Drake,
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  Speaker 1: in spite of his protests, had to open his campaign
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  Speaker 1: with a reconnaissance on the coast of Spain. On his
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  Speaker 1: way he was chased by twenty strange sail, but he
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  Speaker 1: showed them a clean pair of heels, and a few
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  Speaker 1: days later, having ascertained from a frigate of the Earl
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  Speaker 1: of Cumberland's that the Spanish fleet was going home, he
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  Speaker 1: continued his voyage for the Canaries. Drake and Baskerville, in
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  Speaker 1: consequence of the course forced upon them by the Queen's instructions,
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  Speaker 1: had found that it would be necessary to land there
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  Speaker 1: to water and refresh the soldiers. Hawkins, who less understood
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  Speaker 1: than nesssinities of a military expedition, violently opposed Drake's proposal,
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  Speaker 1: and the result was a painful scene between the two
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  Speaker 1: old friends at the council table. The soldiers, however, persuaded
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  Speaker 1: them to dine together on Hawkins's flagship next day, and
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  Speaker 1: the old admiral was brought round to his kinsman's view
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  Speaker 1: four weeks out. Therefore the fleet anchored under the guns
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  Speaker 1: of Los Palmas and the Grand Canary. But it was
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  Speaker 1: only for Drake to get his first hint that the
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  Speaker 1: days for his daring raids were over. Ever since it
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  Speaker 1: had been known in Spain that he was again in favor,
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  Speaker 1: Philip had been busy reinforcing and fortifying his colonial ports,
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  Speaker 1: and lost Palmis had not been forgotten. To surprise it
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  Speaker 1: there and then might have been possible, but Drake found
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  Speaker 1: the surf too high for a landing and drew off.
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  Speaker 1: After a three hours search in his bars for a
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  Speaker 1: practicable beach. Baskerville offered to take the place in four
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  Speaker 1: days by a regular operation, but Drake would not wait
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  Speaker 1: too much. Time had had already been lost, and having
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  Speaker 1: watered at another part of the island, the voyage was
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  Speaker 1: next day continued across the Atlantic two days from their
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  Speaker 1: rendezvous at Guadalupe. At Gale broke up the fleet, but
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  Speaker 1: in spite of it, Drake managed to get all his
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  Speaker 1: squadron safely anchored behind Saint Marie Gallant. Thence he proceeded
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  Speaker 1: to his well known anchorage, and their next day Hawkins
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  Speaker 1: joined him prostrate with misfortune. A small ship of his
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  Speaker 1: squadron had been captured by five Spanish frigates bearing for
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  Speaker 1: San Juan de Puerto Rico. The whole gravity of the
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  Speaker 1: disaster at once flashed on Drake. He divined immediately that
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  Speaker 1: the enemy squadron must be the ships which had been
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  Speaker 1: sent to embark the treasure from the disabled galleon, And
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  Speaker 1: but for the unfortunate straying of the lost tender, he
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  Speaker 1: knew the whole of them must have fallen into his lap.
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  Speaker 1: Now not only had they escaped, but from their prisoners
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  Speaker 1: the Spaniards would torture through the secret of his destination.
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  Speaker 1: He was for weighing on the spot in pursuit, but
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  Speaker 1: his colleague had lost his nerve. The old admiral was
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  Speaker 1: ill and anxious, and querulously insisted on first cleaning the
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  Speaker 1: ships and getting the big guns up from the holes
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  Speaker 1: into their places, that the fleet might be ready for anything. Then,
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  Speaker 1: in pity of his old friend's condition, Drake did what
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  Speaker 1: he is never recorded to have done before he gave way.
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  Speaker 1: Four days they lay getting the fleet into fighting trim,
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  Speaker 1: and when at last, they sailed from Guadalupe to Tortola.
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  Speaker 1: Not a trace of the enemy could be seen. It
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  Speaker 1: was clear they had reached San Juan to reinforce and
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  Speaker 1: warn the garrison, and unless it could be thrown off
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  Speaker 1: his guard again, Drake knew that success was almost impossible. Then,
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  Speaker 1: in the hour of need, the spirit of his youth
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  Speaker 1: came once more strong upon him. The fleet seemed to
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  Speaker 1: grow no more cumbrous in his hands than a privateer schooner,
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  Speaker 1: and falling back on the bewildering tactics of his buccaneering days,
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  Speaker 1: he made it disappear from the seas in vain. The
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  Speaker 1: Spaniards watched for his coming, just as twenty years ago
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  Speaker 1: his two tiny craft lay lost in the creeks of
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  Speaker 1: the Darian Gulf. So now into the still recesses of
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  Speaker 1: the Virgin Islands, in roadsteads unknown, he had led his
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  Speaker 1: whole fleet where none could guess of its existence. And
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  Speaker 1: there for some days they lay, drilling the soldiers and
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  Speaker 1: refreshing them ashore, while Drake in his barge, surveyed for
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  Speaker 1: an outlet. End of Section twenty five