English seamen - 1895 Author:Robert Southey Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THOMAS CAVENDISH THE most successful of all those adventurers who followed in Drake's track was Thomas Cavendish, who was born to a large possession and a fin... more »e mansion at Trimley St. Martin, in the county of Suffolk. Having in a few yean- almost consumed his whole estate in extravagance, and following the court, he " thought to recover himself by a voyage into the South Sea, at a time when the war having openly begun it was lawful to make any spoil upon the Spaniards". This resolution was taken while he had yet means enough remaining from the waste of his fortune to build from the stocks one ship of 120 and one of 60 tons, to purchase a barque of 40, fit them out, and victual them for two years; and with 123 persons of all sorts in this little squadron he sailed from Plymouth on the 21st of July, 1586. The names of his vessels were the Desire, the Content and the Hugh Gallanl. They made the Canaries on the 5th of August, and on the 26th anchored at Sierra Leone. The next day two negroes came aboard, but not without first requiring that a hostage should be sent ashore for their own security ; for European villainy had taught them the necessity of such a precaution. They informed him by signs that there was a Portuguese ship farther up the river; and the Hugh Gallant was sent after her; but, after going three or four leagues up, returned for want of a pilot, " for the harbour runneth up three or four league more, and is of a marvellous breadth, and very dangerous ". On the morrow some of the men went ashore, jj and played and danced all the forenoon with the negroes, with a view to learning some good news of the ship on which they had fixed their hopes. They spied a Portuguese among the bushes, whom they seized and carried aboard: the ')' account of the navigation which ...« less