John Drake

“ The next adventurers who suffered appeared in the auto of November 30, 1587. John Drake, a cousin of Sir Francis, passed the Straits of Magellan and was lost on the Pacific coast. Thirteen of the crew saved themselves and fell among cannibal Indians with whom they lived for about a year. Drake and two others fled in a canoe down the River Plate to Buenos Ayres, one of them being lost in the Paraguay. Drake and his comrade Richard Ferrel were seized, sent across the continent to Arica and thence to Lima, where they were tried by the tribunal. They professed conversion ”

“ But it is always the way with our government. They care more for her enemies than for England! (He walks aside with his hands up in great indignation) .
John Drake. What would please you in the way of Government, Jack?
Oxenham (with great energy) . To get up a fleet, man it with true British tars, rovers and volunteers I mean; give the command to Hawkins or Drake, then let Philip see how long his galleons could keep the sea, (exultingly) . We would soon transfer the Indies with all their wealth to the crown of England.
Moon. Suppose Jack you were in authority, as King of England. ”

“ The country swarmed with conies, hogs, deer, and fowl, so that the men lived upon fresh meat, or upon the fish in the creeks, "whereof there was great plenty." The woods were full of wholesome fruits, though, perhaps, the water of the neighbouring rivers was not quite all that could be wished. They stayed in this pleasant haven for fifteen days, at the end of which Drake took his two pinnaces, leaving John Drake behind in charge of the Pascha and the remaining pinnace, and sailed away along the coast to explore the Rio Grande. ”

“ While the Captain had been cruising up the Magdalena, his brother, John Drake, had been westward along the coast with Diego, "the Negro aforesaid," in his pinnace. Diego had landed on the coast to talk with "certain of the Cimmeroons," who exchanged hostages with Drake's party, and agreed upon a meeting-place at a little river midway between the Cabezas, or "Headlands," and the anchorage. Drake talked with these hostages as soon as he arrived from the seas. He found them two "very sensible men," most ready to help him against the common enemy. ”

“ Drake was so entirely a man of action that by his actions alone he must be judged. In them and in the testimony of independent witnesses he appears as a man of restless energy, cautious in preparation, prompt and sudden in execution; a man of masterful temper, careful of the lives and interests of his subordinates, but permitting no assumption of equality ”

“ George Drake, the most respected man in Highfield, the sole gentleman, the fearless idler, was now a homeless fellow, a destitute person, without a scrap of inheritance he could call his own. The Drake whom they had honoured as a swan was hardly worth the price of a goose.
A gentleman was not defined by the worthies of Highfield as a man of good birth, but as one who declined all labour. ”

“ HOME AGAIN Drake well knew that delay and idleness would soon spoil the spirits of his men, so he at once divided them into two companies, under himself and John Oxenham, to go roving in the two pinnaces in different directions and seek for food and plunder. Some of the Maroons were dismissed with gifts, and the rest remained with a few men on board ship. The Governor of Panama had warned the towns so well that it was useless to attempt them at present. Drake, in the Minion, took a frigate of gold and dismissed it, somewhat lighter, to go on its way. ”

“ Drake blew a blast upon his whistle; the men formed up into their accustomed marching order, and tramped away from Venta Cruz, across the Chagres bridge, just as the dawn set the parrots screeching and woke the monkeys to their morning song. They seem to have expected no pursuit; but Drake was not a man to run unnecessary risks. His men, including the Maroons, were "grown very valiant," yet they were granted no further chance to show their valour. Drake told them that they had now been "well near a fortnight" from the ship, with her company of sick and sorry sailors. ”

“ Those who had picked up a little booty in the raid were only too glad of an excuse to get to the boats, while those who were most eager to break the treasure-house, would not allow Drake to put his life in hazard. Drake, poor man, was spent with loss of blood, and could not reason with them, so that, "with force mingled with fair entreaty, they bare him aboard his pinnace, and so abandoned a most rich spoil for the present, only to preserve their Captain's life." ”

“ The next morning, the 16th August, the squadron bore away for the Gulf of Darien, to find some secret harbour where they might leave the ship at anchor, "not discoverable by the enemy," who thereby might imagine them quite departed from the coast. Drake intended to take two of the pinnaces along the Main as soon as they had hidden away the Pascha, for he was minded to go a cruise up the Rio Grande, or Magdalena River. In his absence John Drake was to take the third pinnace, with Diego, the negro, as a guide, to open up communications with the Cimmeroons. ”

“ Twelve men were left to keep the pinnaces and ensure a safe retreat. Drake’s brother, with John Oxenham and sixteen other men, went round behind the King’s Treasure-house, and entered the eastern end of the market-place. Drake, with the rest, passed up the broad street into the market-place, with sound of drum and trumpets. They used fire-pikes, or long poles with metal points, to which torches of blazing tow were fastened, and served both to frighten the enemy and to light Drake’s men, who could see quite well by them. The terrified townsfolk imagined an army was marching upon them. ”

“ The Indians have just that skill in handling cattle which the negroes have in handling mules. They did Drake this service willingly, "because our Captain, according to his custom, contented them for their pains with such things as they account greatly of." He left them in high good humour, promising him that if he came again he should have what he desired of them. Drake left the shore as soon as his pinnaces were laden with fresh meat, and sailed on up the coast till he reached the lesser, or western, mouth of the Rio Grande, "where we entered about three of the clock." ”

“ This isn't Windsor Castle," stammered Miss Yard. "Has he called for a subscription? Gentlemen who come here always want subscriptions. Does he want to hide? I do hope there's not a revolution. Go and show him into a cupboard, Nellie, and tell him how loyal we are."
"My dear lady," laughed Nellie, "you are clean muddled, confoozled, and astern of the times. This gentleman is your much respected relative, George Drake."
"Why couldn't you say so at once, without talking a lot of wicked rubbish about a revolution and the Royal Family hiding on Dartmoor?" demanded Miss Yard snappishly. ”

“ Miss Yard's memory underwent all manner of shocks, when she found herself installed in the parlour of Windward House. She perceived her sister clearly enough, but where was Nellie, and what was George? She had completely forgotten Captain Drake until she turned her spectacles towards the Egyptian mummy; and then she asked questions which caused Mrs. Drake to use her smelling salts.
"This is George, our nephew. He does nothing for a living," said the widow severely. ”

“ Another brother, John, who was killed in the Nombre de Dios voyage, married Alice Cotton, to whom, in dying, he bequeathed all his property (Add. MS. 28016, ff. 68, 357) ; but apparently neither he nor any of the brothers, except Thomas, had any children. Several other Drakes, brothers or sons of Sir Bernard Drake of Ash, are mentioned in close connection with Drake's career. Richard, Bernard's brother, had the charge of his important prisoner, Don Pedro de Valdes, by whom he is markedly described as Drake's kinsman (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. iii. 25; State Papers, Dom., Elizabeth, ccxv. 36) ”

“ Drake heard the muttered talk going up and down the shed, and promptly told the men that he had brought them to the mouth of the Treasure of the World, and that if they came away without it they might blame nobody but themselves. ”

“ Drake appears to have spent the next year in seeking to obtain compensation for his losses; but 'finding that no recompense could be recovered out of Spain by any of his own means or by her majesty's letters, he used such helps as he might by two several voyages into the West Indies (the first with two ships, the one called the Dragon, the other the Swan, in the year 1570; the other in the Swan alone in the year 1571) to gain such intelligences as might further him to get some amends for his loss. ”

“ His ship was a fine craft of more than eighty tons, manned by seventy men and boys. He asked Drake to take him into partnership, so that they might share the next adventure.
The offer was not very welcome to Drake, for the French company was more than double the strength of the English. Drake had but thirty-one men left alive, and he regarded Tetû with a good deal of jealousy and a good deal of distrust. Yet with only thirty-one men he could hardly hope to succeed in any great adventure. ”

“ Make a nation of these Symerons, but the gold and pearls first.
Drake. I can see farther, John. I mean to ascend the heights and behold the other ocean—what Spain is doing. The source of all her wealth lies there.
Indians, loaded with provisions, proceed up the precipitous rock at the side; others armed with lances and bows mingle with the English, and prepare to accompany them. Chiruca approaches Drake.
Chiruca. Friend Drake! We wait for you; the sun is above the mountains, and warns us that time passes (Drake takes him by the arm and points forward) . ”

“ But just as Sir John Norreys, the most expert professional soldier in England, was made Chief of the Staff to the Earl of Leicester ashore, so Drake was made Chief of the Staff to Howard afloat, which meant that he was the brain of the fleet.
A directing brain was sadly needed—not that brains were lacking, but that some one man of original and creative genius was required to bring the modern naval system into triumphant being. Like all political heads, Elizabeth was sensitive to public opinion; and public opinion was ignorant enough to clamor for protection by something that a man could see ”

“ What is it he does for a living?"
"Nothing whatever," said Mrs. Drake.
"I've got a weak back," George mumbled.
"He's got a weak back, Maria. He must try red flannel and peppermint plasters," said Miss Yard with barbaric simplicity.
"Stuff and nonsense! He's got the back of a whale, if he'd only use it. This is not Percy, our real nephew, who for some reason never comes near me, but my nephew by marriage. He's not your nephew really." ”

“ Drake's boats then got ashore upon the sands, not more than twenty yards from the houses, directly under a battery. There was no quay, and no sea-sentry save a single gunner, asleep among the guns, who fled as they clambered up the redoubt. Inside the little fort there were six great pieces of brass ordnance, some demi- some whole culverin, throwing shot of 10-18 lbs. weight for a distance of a mile. It did not take long to dismount these guns, and spike them, by beating soft metal nails into the touch-holes, and snapping them off flush with the orifice. ”

“ The upper half of his sharp dogged visage seems of brick-red leather, the lower of badger's fur; and as he claps Drake on the back, and, with a broad Devon twang, shouts, “be you a coming to drink your wine, Francis Drake, or be you not?—saving your presence, my lord;” the lord high admiral only laughs, and bids Drake go and drink his wine; for John Hawkins, admiral of the port, is the patriarch of Plymouth seamen, if Drake be their hero, and says and does pretty much what he likes in any company on earth ”

“ Drake sailed from the port the following morning, in slightly better weather, hoping to get fresh provisions at the Rio Grande, where he had met with such abundance a few days before. The wind was still fresh from the west, so that he could not rejoin his ship nor reach one of his magazines. He took two days in sailing to the Magdalena, but when he arrived there he found the country stripped. "We found bare nothing, not so much as any people left," for the Spaniards had ordered everyone to retire to the hills, driving their cattle with them, "that we might not be relieved by them." ”

“ Drake inquired.
"Yes, Aunt," said George, who was busy designing locomotives. "She asked me the way—at least the driver did. They were both strangers to me."
"Quite a young gal, warn't she, Mr. George?" appealed Kezia.
"Not more than eighteen, I should think. But she wore a wedding ring; I saw it distinctly."
"Yes, mum; I saw her drive past, so bold and staring. They say she's an actress, mum."
"How awful! I suppose she's his wife."
"Well, mum, us all hopes she is."
"The wretched young man! How can he be so wicked!"
"Is anybody wicked?" asked Miss Yard vacantly.
"Never mind, Sophy. ”

“ You know, Nellie, you were rather too cross about mother, and—and I lost my temper because you wouldn't trust me, and I made up my mind you should."
"You are nearly as bad as George Drake," she declared.
"Nearly isn't quite."
"And who are you, please?"
"Oh, we are not of vast importance. My full name is Arthur Sidney Stanley. It was a shame to give me such names, as I can't possibly put my initials on anything. That little beast, Teenie, always calls me ass. We're not exactly paupers, as we own a big share in a number of stores all over the south. There's one at Drivelford." ”