by Jenny Barden
The setting for Mistress of the Sea is supported by such sources as there are, principally the reports of Christopher Ceely, Ellis Hixom and other members of Drake’s crew, on the basis of which Drake’s chaplain, Philip Nichols, compiled an account which was annotated and approved by Drake and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth for presentation to her on New Year’s Day, 1593. This account was later published as Sir Francis Drake Revived by Drake’s nephew (also Sir Francis Drake) in 1628. In conjunction with this, I have made use of the Spanish first-hand accounts which were translated by Irene A Wright and published in 1932 by the Hakluyt Society in Spanish Documents Selected from the Archives of the Indies at Seville. The degree of consistency between both English and Spanish accounts gives credibility to much of the story of Drake’s 1572-3 venture as set out in Sir Francis Drake Revived, even allowing for some fairly flagrant elements of exaggeration and dissembling.
For the evidence of what really took place at San Juan de Ulúa I have consulted the eye-witness reports of the gunner, Job Hortop, and the page, Miles Philips, which first appeared in Richard Hakluyt’s seminal work: The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation first published in 1589. Also in this collection was John Hawkins’s own account of his ‘unfortunate voyage’ of 1567-8. All three narratives are excellent not only for the information they contain, but also for giving the reader a real feel for the mindset, language and habits of these Elizabethan seafarers from diverse social backgrounds. Again, I have looked at the Spanish sources, and back in 1961, Rayner Unwin wrote a superb description in The Defeat of John Hawkins.
But this novel is not faction; it is not primarily concerned with dramatising and retelling the known and probable history. Mistress of the Sea is unashamedly fiction; the characters of Ellyn, Will and Kit are all imaginary, and their adventures are products of my own invention, set within the framework of the evidence for what actually happened at the time, so far as I have been able to ascertain it.
Francis Drake and John Hawkins were giants of the age, and I have tried to be faithful to the historical records concerning them both as regards what they did and said, and as regards their characters. Some of the things Drake says in Mistress of the Sea come directly from the early sources, for example, several of Drake’s responses to the Spanish ‘gentleman soldier’ on the Isla Bastimentos, after the failed attack on Nombre de Dios, are taken from Sir Francis Drake Revived, an account that Drake presented as his own. He may well not actually have made any remark to the effect that, before he departed, ‘He meant to reap some of the harvest which they [the Spaniards] get out of the earth, and sent into Spain to trouble all the earth!’ (meaning the gold and silver), but there is little doubt that this is the kind of remark Drake felt he should have made.
Drake, the man, as I found him described in the first sources, was not quite the avuncular hero who has come to be revered as Drake, the icon. He was a man of superhuman achievement, from humble beginnings, but the Drake I got to know was quintessentially ruthless. This was a leader who, by his own admission, scuttled his brother’s ship in secret so his men could not sail back home, then watched his brother labour in vain to try and save it, who almost certainly lied about the treasure he had found at Nombre de Dios (we know from the Spanish accounts that it was most unlikely there would have been any bullion left in the city at the time of the raid), and who later infamously hanged two innocent friars in retaliation for the mortal wounding of a black messenger boy after the capture of Santo Domingo, and then threatened to execute two prisoners a day until the murderer was punished or surrendered (the culprit was eventually hanged by the Spanish). The Drake who came alive for me in the accounts would stop at nothing to get what he wanted – and he would never give up. This is the Drake I portrayed in Mistress of the Sea: the kind of man who would always put the success of his venture before any individual concern, but who inspired absolute confidence and devotion.
Amongst the many non-fiction books about Drake and his ventures, some of the most useful I found were: Sir Francis Drake by John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, The Queen’s Pirate by Harry Kelsey, The Pirate Queen by Susan Ronald and the nicely illustrated and compact Sir Francis Drake by Peter Whitfield.
There are other characters in Mistress of the Sea whose names appear in the records, but about whom little is known: those such as Ellis Hixom and Thomas Sherwell for example. With these players I have envisaged them almost from scratch. Others, such as Capitán Gonzalo de Bastidas, are inventions derived from just a smidgen of fact. There was no officer in command of the garrison at Nombre de Dios by the name of Bastidas, but there really was a Rodrigo de Bastidas (the grandfather of Capitán Bastidas in the story) who sailed with Christopher Columbus and then led his own expedition to the New World and discovered Panama, as well as claiming much of the Columbian coastline for Spain (and how could I resist a name like that?!).
A book I found invaluable in tracing the early colonial history of Panamá was Old Panama and Castillo Del Oro, published in 1914 by CLG Anderson (and read in one sitting at the British Library). For the Elizabethan history of Plymouth, I would recommend A History of Plymouth by CW Bracken (1931) (bought second hand from a bookshop by Sutton Harbour), as well as Plymouth – An Illustrated History by Crispin Hill, and I still keep referring to Liza Picard’s wonderful Elizabeth’s London for information on daily life for townsfolk in the era. Of the numerous reference works I consulted on sailing in the Age of Discovery, probably the most helpful for my purposes were: Galleons and Galleys by John F Guilmartin Jr (lavishly illustrated), Sailing Ships of War 1400-1860 published in 1979 by Dr Frank Howard, Spain’s Men of the Sea by Pablo E Pérez-Mallaína and also The Mary Rose, a gem of a little handbook, from the Mary Rose Exhibition in Portsmouth. This brings me to the guides and maps, the notes and museum displays, the Elizabethan House run by Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery, Panamá la Vieja, the remains of the Camino Real and Las Cruces Trail in Panamá – the resources that bring the sensory experiences of time and place that much closer – because for me these are just as important as the text books.
As soon as I had the idea of writing a story with Drake’s raid on the Spanish bullion supply as a backdrop, I was determined to get to know the places involved, to walk some of the unspoilt terrain that my characters would have covered, to understand the climate and gain a feel for what it would have been like to be bitten by sandflies on a shadeless, oven-hot beach, or trudge up and down mountains, heavily burdened, through thick rainforest in near hundred per cent humidity. In this respect there was no better guide for me than Michael Turner’s In Drake’s Wake: the Early Voyages, because this series faithfully traces Drake’s journeys over sea and land in superb pictorial and topographical detail. ‘Espero que encuentres lo que quieres,’ Michael wrote in the flyleaf to his book in my possession, now extremely battered after numerous treks and thumbings. Well, I did find what I wanted, and his book was a huge help; for anyone interested in following in Drake’s footsteps, I would heartily recommend it.
Did a woman ever accompany Drake on one of his early Caribbean voyages? There’s no evidence that this happened – and there’s no evidence that it did not. For me, it would perhaps have over-stretched credulity to construct a story on the premise that a woman sailed aboard the Pascoe or the Swan in 1572 when that voyage is so well documented, but there are hardly any records relating to the two earlier Caribbean voyages that we know Drake made. What if a woman had been aboard then? . . . What if? . . .
‘What if?’ is how many a story begins . . .
Glossary
Ambergris – A wax-like substance used in making perfume, secreted by the sperm whale, and often found floating in the sea
Arquebus (also harquebus) – A muzzle-loaded, long-barrelled handgun, which was a precursor to the musket, often supported on a rest
Astrolabe – An instrument used to measure the altitude of stars and planets as a navigational aid
Black powder – Gunpow
der (though ‘black powder’ was descriptive at the time)
Bladderball – A ball made from an inflated animal bladder
Bowsprit – A large spar projecting from the bow of a vessel on which the foremost stays are fastened
Bo’sun – A ship’s officer responsible for the crew and equipment aboard, effectively the deck foreman (from a contraction of ‘boatswain’ or ‘boat man’)
Breech (of a gun or cannon) – The closed part furthest away from the muzzle. (The best cannon were cast in bronze, which was called brass; cast iron was much cheaper, but if the casting was not skilfully done then the firing chamber could burst at the breech)
Bride-laces – Long ribbons of lace used to bind the sprigs of rosemary traditionally worn by a bride and her party
Bridecup – A cup or bowl full of sugared fruit or spiced wine which would be handed round at the wedding feast
Bulwarks – The raised sides of a vessel above the level of the deck
Caballero – A Spanish knightly gentleman or mounted soldier
Caliver – An improved form of arquebus, being light enough to be fired without the support of a rest (originally of standard calibre and deriving from that word). (Calivers were the principal firearms used in Drake’s Caribbean voyage of 1572-3)
Carcanet – A jewelled collar or necklace
Caravel – A light and fast sailing ship, used by the Spanish and Portuguese, typically with a broad beam, moderately high deck at the stern and lateen rig, i.e. triangular sails
Carrack – A large and potentially cumbersome three or four-masted sailing ship used by the English and others sailing in the Baltic and Atlantic. It had a high forecastle and sterncastle, and was usually square rigged on the foremast and mainmast (i.e. with square sails) and lateen rigged on the mizzenmast (i.e. with triangular sails at the stern). The equivalent Spanish ship was the nao
Caulk – To pack the seams between the planks of a hull with waterproof material, typically oakum sealed with pitch, to prevent leakage
Cawle – A cap or net for the hair worn by women
Churl – A peasant
Cimaroon (Spanish: cimarrón, plural: cimarrones) – A runaway slave, typically of African-Negro origin, who banded together with other fugitives and lived in the mountain wilderness (probably from Spanish for summit: cima and dirt: roña). (The Cimaroons allied with Francis Drake and gave him invaluable support in his attacks on the Spanish)
Coif – A close-fitting cap
Coxcomb – A vain and foppish man (from the cap, resembling a cock’s comb, worn by a jester)
Cresset – A metal basket, mounted on a pole, filled with flammable material such as wood and pitch and set alight for illumination
Cuirass – Armour consisting of a breastplate and backplate fastened together
Culverin – A large cannon with a length of about 10-13 feet, capable of firing shot weighing 17-20 lbs fairly accurately
Duenna – An older woman acting as a chaperone to a girl or young lady, especially in Spain
Farthingale – A framework of hoops, usually of willow or rope, worn under a woman’s skirts to extend and shape them
Fore (mast or sail) – A mast or lowest and largest sail at the fore or front of a ship
Fighting top – A large platform on a mast equipped with guns designed to fire down at the decks of enemy ships. (Typically, masts were made up of three sections, and a basket-style platform or ‘top’ would be at the upper end of the first section)
Forecastle – A raised structure at the bow of a ship, originally castle-like and providing a high base for firing at the enemy
Frigate – A relatively small and fast sailing ship
Fustian – A kind of coarse woollen cloth
Galliard – A quick and spirited dance characterised by leaps and jumps
Gibbet – A structure resembling a gallows on which the bodies of executed criminals were left hanging as a warning to others
Gimmel ring – One with several hoops or links that fit together to form a composite ring, typically used in betrothals where the engaged couple would wear one hoop each and rejoin them as a wedding ring
Goffer – To press wavy pleats into a frill or ruff using heated irons
Gorget – A piece of armour protecting the throat
Grapple (in warfare) – To secure with a grappling iron, i.e. a hooked claw or grapnel at the end of a rope
Gun carriage – A mobile support for a piece of artillery, typically with two heavy wheels at the front and a wheel-less wooden trail at the back. English gun-carriages used aboard ships often had four small wheels, or ‘trucks’, with ropes allowing for recall after firing and repositioning.
Gunwale – The upper edge of the side of a ship or boat
Halberd – A weapon like a spear and battleaxe combined, having a long shaft with an axe blade and a pick topped by a spearhead
Hautboy – An early form of oboe
Hawser – A thick rope used for mooring or towing a ship
Hornbook – A teaching aid usually displaying the alphabet, the ten digits and the Lord’s Prayer, mounted on a wooden tablet and protected by a thin plate of horn
Hose – Male clothing for the legs consisting of ‘upper hose’ or breeches (typically short padded ‘trunk hose’ or loose ‘slops’), and ‘nether hose’ or close-fitting stockings, usually made out of wool, which could reach down to the ankles or cover the feet as well
Huguenot – A French Calvinist or follower of the minority Protestant Church in France
Hulk (ship) – The body of a dismantled unseaworthy ship retained in use as a store-vessel or for other purposes
Jackanapes – A cheeky person (deriving from a man whose behaviour resembles that of a tame ape)
Jennet – A small Spanish riding horse
Journeyman – A worker who could charge for each day he worked, who had completed an apprenticeship and was competent to practice a trade or craft, but who had not yet been admitted as a master to a guild (from Old French for a day or day’s work: jornee)
Kirtle – A woman’s skirt or outer petticoat
Lackey – A servant or hanger-on
Lawn – Very fine linen fabric
Lee – The side or part that is away from the wind (hence ‘leeward’: on the sheltered side)
Lighter (boat) – A flat-bottomed boat used for transporting cargo especially in loading or unloading a ship
Lychgate – A roofed gate to a churchyard
Main (mast or sail) – The chief mast or sail of a ship, between the fore and mizzen masts of a three-masted ship, and usually the largest
Mantilla – A large light veil or scarf worn by Spanish women over the head and shoulders
Marry! – An expression of surprise or outrage (from Mary, the mother of Jesus)
Mastiff – A breed of massive, powerful, short-haired dog, usually fawn or brindle with a dark mask. The dogs were prized for blood sports such as bear and bull-baiting
Match cord – A length of hemp or flax cord treated to make it burn slowly
Matchlock – A mechanism for firing a handgun in which a piece of smouldering match-cord held in a clamp on a lever is used to ignite priming powder in a flash pan and thence the main charge in the gun barrel. The word can also refer to a gun with this type of firing lock
Medlar – A small bushy tree with brown apple-like fruit, which are only edible after they have begun to decay
Mizzen (mast or sail) – A mast or lowest and largest sail aft or behind the mainmast
Morion – A curved brimmed helmet without a visor usually having a crest from front to back
Nosegay – A small bunch of sweet-smelling flowers
Oakum – Loose fibre from unravelled old rope used for caulking ships’ seams
Palfrey – A light docile saddle horse much favoured by women riders
Palisade – A fence of wooden stakes forming a defensive enclosure
Pallet – A crude bed, often having a straw-filled mattres
s
Partlet – A woman’s covering for the upper chest worn when the bodice had a low neckline
Pinnace – A boat, typically with sails and oars, carried aboard merchant and war ships to serve as a tender, or for scouting and raiding. (Drake took three pinnaces on his 1572-73 venture, which were carried disassembled and in pieces in the holds of his ships; they were put together and made seaworthy in a matter of days)
Placer – A deposit in the bed of a stream or river containing particles of gold or other valuable minerals (probably from Spanish for pleasure: placer)
Plate corselet – Protective armour comprising metal plates covering the upper body
Primer – Gunpowder placed in the pan of a firearm to ignite a charge after itself being ignited by a spark or friction
Quoit – A lump of crudely processed gold or silver formed into a rough disc that was thickest in the centre and tapering towards the edges. (Much of the bullion from the mines in Peru was transported by the Spanish in these disc-shaped ingots as well as in the form of bars and coins)
Rapier – A thin, light sharp-pointed sword used for thrusting
Rubbing strake – A projecting line of planking extending from stem to stern along the side of a ship which acts as a crude bumper
Saltpetre – Potassium nitrate: a crystalline substance typically found in decayed manure from old stables and chicken coops
Scriptorium – A room set apart for writing, especially one in a monastery where manuscripts were copied