New World, Inc.

by John Butman

  John Hawkins commanded a fleet of five ships and Drake captained one of them. They headed for Africa’s Gold Coast, where they loaded around five hundred Africans into the miserably cramped holds of their ships. Then, they sailed west, crossed the Tordesillas line, and reached the Spanish-occupied islands of the West Indies. They engaged in some profitable trading there and were preparing to sail home when an early August storm whipped up a frothing, violent sea. Hawkins did not wish to jeopardize his cargo—which he valued at an astonishing £1.8 million—so the fleet took refuge on the island of San Juan de Ulúa, near the Mexican port of Veracruz.3 Once in the harbor, Hawkins sought to buy victuals for the journey home and secured permissions from the Spanish to do so. Then, to his surprise and alarm, the great treasure fleet sailed into harbor. For two days, all was quiet as Hawkins traded for supplies. But then, with no warning, the Spanish attacked.4 Most of Hawkins’s men who were doing business ashore were slain “without mercy.” In the sea battle, Hawkins lost all but two of his ships and most of the cargo.5 Drake, captaining the Judith, managed to slip away without engaging in battle. Hawkins followed in his wake in the Minion. Both made it home. The catastrophe at San Juan de Ulúa left Drake burning for revenge against the Spanish.

  WHEN DRAKE’S MESSENGER arrived at court, he informed Christopher Hatton of the sea captain’s safe return and the huge bounty in the hold of the Golden Hind. Until then, the investors had received only patchy reports of Drake’s activities during the three years he had been at sea. One report came back with John Winter, Drake’s vice-admiral and nephew of Sir William, who was forced to return after his ship separated from the fleet in a storm near the islands of Tierra del Fuego. Also, a few sporadic notices of Drake’s activity had been included in the official protests made to Spanish viceroys by victims of his plundering in the Pacific. But the news was unreliable and out of date by the time it reached England.

  Delighted by what Drake’s messenger had to say, Hatton sent him back with orders for Drake to make his way to London. Before long, the news had swept through the court, and while awaiting Drake’s arrival Elizabeth’s inner circle debated what should be done with the spoils. Not surprisingly, William Cecil and the doves among the privy councillors argued that the treasure should be returned to its rightful owners. But Francis Walsingham spoke for the hawks who wanted to keep the treasure, rebuff the protests of the Spanish, and divide up the spoils. These included Hatton, Robert Dudley, John Hawkins—who had invested five hundred pounds in the voyage—and the Winter brothers, Sir William and George, who together had invested £1,250.6 On both sides, there was frustration, anger, and resentment among Elizabeth’s councillors. As Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, noted, “The Councillors who are not concerned in the enterprise have become jealous that the others should enjoy the profit.”7

  As news spread about Drake’s treasure, Cecil called an emergency meeting of the Privy Council, but only five councillors—all close to Cecil—attended. They drafted a letter ordering that the treasure be sent to the Tower of London for safekeeping. But for the letter to be official, three more signatures were needed: those of Walsingham, Leicester, and Hatton. These three, as investors in the Drake voyage, refused to sign until they had spoken with the queen.8

  All eyes turned to Elizabeth. The final decision was to rest with her. As she considered her next step, she met with Drake, who had arrived from Plymouth. According to Mendoza, the queen and the captain spent six hours together, Drake regaling Elizabeth with accounts of his extraordinary adventures. Much of what he had to say was classified, and Elizabeth quickly realized that it had so much value to England that she ordered anyone who knew anything about the voyage to keep silent, under pain of death.9

  Drake had returned with something even more valuable than the glittering cargo: knowledge of the New World. He brought the queen three new pieces of information—three secrets—that could significantly change England’s position in the world.

  WHEN DRAKE SET sail in December 1577, his destination had not been publicly disclosed. It was said that even Cecil, Elizabeth’s trusted adviser, was in the dark about the purpose of the voyage. Ostensibly, it was a commercial venture to the Mediterranean port of Alexandria, the ancient trading center at the western end of the great Silk Road. But Drake’s actual mission was far more ambitious: he was to sail for the southern tip of South America and seek any commercial and colonial opportunities he could find. Although the Spanish and Portuguese had a dominant presence throughout much of South America, there was a large expanse of land below 30 degrees south—the northern border of present-day Uruguay—that the Spanish had not colonized.

  Drake sailed south with his fleet of five ships, reached the Magellan Strait in late August 1578, and navigated through it in just sixteen days—less than half the time it took the great Portuguese navigator himself to make it through.10 He then explored the islands of the region. On one of the islands—which Francis Fletcher, the fleet’s chaplain and official chronicler of the voyage, called the “utmost” of them—Drake erected a stone engraved with Elizabeth’s name and the date. For a few moments, the captain lay prostrate on the sand, overcome by the gravity of his achievement: no European had ever ventured so far south. Meanwhile, members of his crew, in search of food and other supplies, slaughtered some three thousand of the flightless birds they found nesting on the islands—pen gwynns, or “white heads,” as the Welshmen on board called them.11

  Drake dubbed these the Elizabeth Islands, and his exploration of them yielded important cosmographical and navigational information. Many cartographers of the day believed there was a great southern landmass, Terra Australis, that connected to South America and extended toward the underside of the world. In an attempt to locate this land, Drake sailed south through the constellation of islands known as Tierra del Fuego and reached open ocean—with no sign of a connected continent. This made it clear to him not only that Terra Australis, if it existed, was not connected to South America but also that it was possible to sail around the tip of South America—instead of passing through the tricky Magellan Strait—and into the Pacific. Although this route was longer than going through the Strait, it might be a welcome alternative because it would enable English ships to avoid the treacherous conditions of the Magellan Strait and, just as important, stay well beyond the reach of Spain. It is still known as Drake’s Passage.

  This finding was Drake’s first secret.

  Once Drake had completed his reconnaissance of the far extent of South America, he had intended to return to England, passing once again through the Magellan Strait, this time west to east. But he ran into ferocious winds and chose to steer north instead, along the west coast of South America. As he went, he plundered Spain’s unprotected colonial ports, whose inhabitants were incredulous that an English vessel had reached the southern part of the Pacific Ocean.

  Off the coast of Panama, Drake encountered a Spanish treasure ship, Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, known colloquially as Cacafuego, or “shitfire.” Almost certainly, it was on its way from Peru to Panama City, where it would transfer its cargo of silver for transport across the isthmus to Nombre de Dios, to be picked up by the treasure fleet. In an act of rampant opportunism, Drake captured the ship and its treasure, including eighty pounds of gold, twenty-six silver ingots, and several chests of silver reales. It took six days to transfer the hoard from the Cacafuego to the Golden Hind.12

  Because of his plundering—the Spanish called it piracy and christened him El Draque, the “dragon”—Drake assumed the Spanish would soon come after him. So he decided to continue sailing north, along the west coast of New Spain (Mexico) and North America. He may have been hoping to locate the mouth of the Strait of Anian—the northern channel described by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in his Discourse of 1576, that was believed to be the western entry to the Northwest Passage. This would provide the quickest way home to England and was the discovery that Cabot, Frobisher, and Gilbert had hoped to make during their voyages.
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  Drake avoided Spanish ships as he traveled north but eventually ran into a different torment: the weather. According to contemporary accounts, Drake and his crew encountered the “most vile, thick, and stinking fogs” as well as “gusts of winds” of “such extremity and violence” that they could not fight against them.13 The crew was “grievously pinched” with the cold and complained about the “extremity thereof.” The farther they sailed, the colder it got.14

  How far north Drake traveled is unknown. He may have reached about 48 degrees north, in the vicinity of present-day Seattle.15 At any rate, after spending several weeks in the area, the crewmen were “utterly discouraged” by the cold, and Drake came to the conclusion that “either there is no passage at all through these Northern coasts (which is most likely) or if there be, that yet it is unnavigable.”16

  Drake’s fleet reversed direction. For the next twelve days, they coasted south until they came upon “a convenient and fit harbor” at roughly 38 degrees north, in the vicinity of present-day San Francisco.17 Here, Drake and his crew tarried for five weeks. While there, they had many encounters with the local Indians—members of the coastal Miwok people—who seemed to believe that the English were visiting deities. “Nothing could persuade them, nor remove that opinion, which they had conceived of us, that we should be Gods,” remarked Fletcher.18 A local king went so far as to swear allegiance to Drake, as Elizabeth’s ambassador—at least, that is how the English interpreted the ceremony. Apparently, the king offered to grant Drake the “right and title to the whole land” and even “become his subjects.” The Indians sang, set a crown on Drake’s head, and honored him “by the name of Hioh.”19

  Drake had no experience of such people or such situations. He did not want to cause offense, nor did he want to forego whatever “honor and profit it might be to our country.” So, in the name of her Majesty, Drake “took the scepter, crown, and dignity of the said country into his hands” with the wish that “the riches and treasure thereof might so conveniently be transported to the enriching” of Her Majesty’s “kingdom at home.”20

  Then, to leave his mark and establish “her Majesty’s right and title” to the land, Drake had a plate fashioned from brass or lead and engraved with his name, the queen’s name, and the date and year of their arrival. He attached to the plate a sixpence piece—showing Elizabeth’s face and coat of arms—and nailed it “upon a fair great post” for all to see.21

  Drake bestowed a name on the land that he believed the Indians had given him and that he had claimed for Elizabeth: Nova Albion, or New England. The land’s “white banks and cliffs” were reminiscent of the cliffs of England’s south coast, while the word “Albion,” deriving from the Latin for “white,” was the ancient name for England.22

  This, then, was the second secret that Drake conveyed to Elizabeth: he had gained for England a toehold on the western shore of the American continent, a little bit of empire.

  Toward the end of July, Drake left Nova Albion behind, concluding that the only way home was across the Pacific—the route taken by Victoria, Magellan’s ship, sixty years earlier. But, unlike Magellan, Drake had the benefit of navigating with charts snatched from vessels of the Spanish silver fleet plying the route between Mexico and the Philippines. After sixty-eight days out of sight of land, they reached an island called Ternate, in a group of islands called the Moluku—better known as the Moluccas. These were the fabled Spice Islands, offering the goods that had been the object of English dreams and ventures for more than eighty years. Not quite Cathay, perhaps, but fantastically rich with potential.

  Drake arrived at an opportune moment for England. Relations between the local people and the Portuguese, who had first established a trading presence in the islands in 1511, had turned sour. As a result, Drake received word from the local sultan that he would be “wondrous glad” to welcome the Englishman. Drake sent the sultan a velvet cloak as a token of goodwill and evidence of the fine merchandise the English were prepared to offer in trade. In return, the sultan sent Drake six tons of cloves, as well as rice, chickens, and sugar cane.23

  With a bond established, Drake was able to negotiate a trade agreement with the sultan. He agreed to support the ruler in his conflict with the Portuguese in return for the monopoly of the spice trade. As evidence of his good faith, Drake gave the Sultan a coat of armor, a helmet, and a gold ring set with precious stones. For the first time, the English believed they had an ally—commercial and political—in the East Indies.

  This was the last one of Drake’s three secrets. Not only had he located a new passage around the Spanish and claimed a new realm for Albion, he had forged a trade deal in the Spice Islands.

  BACK IN ENGLAND, Drake’s treasure haul was anything but a secret. To keep it safe, some of it was dispatched to the Tower of London. The rest was placed under lock and key at Trematon castle in Saltash near Plymouth, where it was guarded by forty soldiers. All told, the officially registered treasure amounted to some £126,000, approximately half the queen’s annual revenue.24

  Meanwhile, Elizabeth continued to ponder what to do with the booty. Should she side with Cecil or Walsingham? There was no doubt that her instinct was to keep the treasure and resist the increasingly threatening demands of the Spanish for its return. In an attempt to ease the tension, Elizabeth tried to downplay the significance of Drake’s treasure haul, calling for a rumor to be spread that he “had not brought much money” back with him.25 But the evidence to the contrary was plain for all to see. Drake was reportedly “squandering more money than any man in England.”26 No wonder: Elizabeth had allowed him £10,000 for his personal use.27

  Also, in a calculated act of defiance, Elizabeth took every opportunity to be seen with Drake. “The Queen frequently has him in her cabinet, and never goes out in public without speaking to him,” reported Mendoza, before adding that she “often” took to “walking with him in the garden.” By contrast, she refused to meet Mendoza and hear Philip II’s protests.28

  On April 4, 1581, six months after Drake had returned home, Elizabeth finally came to a decision about the disposition of the treasure. At Deptford, where the Golden Hind was moored, she dined with Drake. She teased him by drawing a gilded sword and threatening to cut off his head for his audacious deeds. Then she asked the ambassador of France—no friend to Spain—to take the sword and knight Drake. This single action represented a decisive moment that set Elizabeth on a new collision course with Philip. She had, in essence, endorsed Drake’s hostile action against Spain.29

  The Spanish, however, persisted in their efforts to recover the stolen goods. Mendoza continued to seek an audience with Elizabeth to register his protest, but she snubbed him time and time again. He warned the Spanish Company merchants that Spain would seize their ships and property in Seville if Drake’s plunder were not returned. Hearing this, the merchants sent a delegation, led by John Marshe, governor of the Spanish Company, to meet with Walsingham. But even though he was a member of the company, Walsingham could not be persuaded to exert influence on the queen to change her mind. He advised the merchants to “do very little trade” with Spain that year.30 Later, when they continued to press their case, he told them that, if they did suffer losses at the hands of the Spanish, there was “plenty here to pay for it.”31

  As Mendoza issued threats, the Privy Council attempted to buy him off, or so he claimed: “They resolved to delay matters and tempt me by saying that, if I softened my tone towards Drake’s voyage I might count upon for myself, or for any other person I might appoint, 50,000 crowns profit.” Mendoza, of course, refused. On another occasion, Drake himself vainly sought to woo Cecil, Lord Burghley, who was urging the queen to compromise. “He offered to Burghley ten bars of fine gold worth 300 crowns each,” noted Mendoza. But Cecil reportedly refused the golden gift, “saying that he did not know how his conscience would allow him to accept a present from Drake, who had stolen all he had.”32

  In October 1581, a year after Drake’s return,
Mendoza at last got his audience with Elizabeth. He tried flattering her, saying she was “so beautiful, that even lions would crouch before her.” He tried threatening her, warning that, if the treasure was not returned, Philip would seize all English goods in his dominions and use the takings “to reimburse” his subjects.33

  Elizabeth, however, stood resolute: the treasure would not be returned.

  DRAKE’S DAZZLING ACHIEVEMENT unleashed a torrent of activity in England, even more intense than the gold fever that erupted after Frobisher’s first voyage. Leading merchants and courtiers scrambled to organize a follow-up to Drake’s venture and capitalize on the trade deal he made in the Spice Islands. “There is hardly an Englishman who is not talking of undertaking the voyage, so encouraged are they by Drake’s return,” Mendoza observed.34

  As early as January 1581, four months after Drake’s return, there were reports that Elizabeth had authorized a new voyage for him. He would command a fleet of ten ships this time, bound for the Moluccas and possibly Nova Albion. The terms of a “project of corporation” were drawn up, and the queen was asked to grant the new group privileges similar to those enjoyed by the Muscovy Company. Drake was to become the governor of the company and receive a tenth of its profits. The crown was to receive a fifth of the profits of any gold and silver mines that he discovered in the new territories.35 Drake promised investors a return of seven pounds for every pound invested. This was such an alluring offer and had “so great an influence over Englishmen,” Mendoza noted, “that everybody wants to have a share in the expedition.”36