The Pirate Queen (38 page)

The problem for Drake was both ships had silver and not gold, making his choice of which one to go for more difficult. Callao was nearest, so he plumbed for the port, reasoning that the overland couriers hadn’t reached there yet. Quite late in the night of February 15, 1579, Drake snuck into the harbor of Callao between the island of San Lorenzo and the mainland. The port was full of sail, and all seemed quiet. He ordered his pinnace to steal between the ships at anchor and have his men see if they were laden with treasure, and he was disappointed to learn that all of the ships had not as yet taken their cargoes on board. Rather than attack the customs house carrying an estimated 200,000 pesos in silver and risk word leaking out to Lima quickly, he gave the order to cut the cables of all the ships and hack down the main masts of the two largest vessels in harbor, escaping only with some silk and a chest containing some Spanish
reals
.
¹⁰
They would instead, he resolved, give chase to the
Cacafuego
.

But while they were amassing their plunder, another ship sailed innocently into harbor. The
San Cristobal
had arrived from Panama with her merchandise for Peru. The customs officials boarding the
San Cristobal
first noticed the activity aboard the
Hind
, and rowed across, hailing to her to identify herself. A Spanish voice replied from the
Hind
that she was Miguel Angel’s ship from Chile (the one that had made a narrow escape in Arica). As the customs officer hauled himself aboard, he stared directly into the mouth of an English brass culverin. He immediately realized his mistake, fell back into his boat, and rowed as fast as he could to save his life. The crew of the
San Cristobal
saw—and, importantly, heard—what had happened, but before they could do anything, Drake’s pinnace had captured her. Her crew either swam to safety, or escaped in lowered boats, allowing Drake’s rovers to invade and take control.

The
Hind
’s sails filled and she tacked about. While the militia was being raised in the town, witnesses could see the
San Cristobal
in the distance being plundered by the pirates. But before they could attack, Drake and his pirates had sailed after the
Cacafuego
. All along the coast northward, they had news of their prey. From their next prize they learned that she was three days ahead of them. When they raided the port at Paita, the
Cacafuego
’s lead had been cut to two days. Their next two vessels attacked brought the rovers gold, silver, food, and new ships’ tackle that its owner later valued at 24,000
pesos de oro
($3.31 million or £1.79 million today).
¹¹

A golden reward was offered to the first mariner to spot the
Cacafuego
on the horizon. On March 1st at around three in the afternoon, young John Drake, aloft in the crow’s nest, claimed the gold chain, spying their prey around four leagues to the south. Naturally, the
Cacafuego
had no knowledge whatsoever of the danger she was in. In order not to scare her into flight, it would be impossible to strike the sails, so Drake ordered pots to be filled with water, tied to ropes, then thrown astern. This would put a great drag on the
Hind
and lull the
Cacafuego
into believing that the
Hind
was just a small merchantman on the same heading, and moving at a normal speed for a Spanish ship.

The Spanish ship’s owner and captain, San Juan de Anton, spied the
Hind
and thought at first she might be from Chile. According to Drake’s plan, they gained slowly on the
Cacafuego
without her taking fright. By nine in the evening, when the
Hind
was virtually alongside, her captain rang a salute, but there was no answer from the strange vessel. Anton came over to the side to investigate. But by then it was too late.

The English were already grappling alongside from the pinnace. Drake’s drum and trumpet sounded the attack from the opposite side. After this, Drake’s narrative reports that:

what seemed to be about sixty harquebuses were shot, followed by many arrows, which struck the side of the ship, and chainballs shot from a heavy piece of ordnance carried away the mizzen [mast] and sent it into the sea with its sail and lateen yard. After this the English shot another great gun, shouting again, “Strike sail!” and simultaneously a pinnace laid aboard to port and about forty archers climbed up the channels of the shrouds and entered [the] ship while, at the opposite side, the English ship laid aboard. It was thus that they forced San Juan’s ship to surrender…they seized him and carried him to the English ship where he saw the corsair Francis Drake, who was removing his helmet and coat of mail. Drake embraced [him] saying “Have patience, for such is the usage of war,” and immediately ordered him to be locked up in the cabin in the poop.
¹²

And what a prize she was! Much needed fresh fruits, conserves, sugars, meal, and other victuals were pounced upon by Drake’s ravenous men. The general himself, with his masters, went immediately below to see the reason for the
Cacafuego
’s slow sailing. There was “a certain quantity of jewels and precious stones, 13 chests of
reals
of plate, 80 pounds weight in gold, 26 tons of uncoined silver, two very fair gilt silver drinking bowls, and the like trifles, valued in all at about 360,000 pesos.”
¹³
This represents $49.62 million or £26.82 million today. An estimated half of the prize had belonged to Philip of Spain. It took them six days to secure the booty aboard the
Hind
, before leaving San Juan de Anton and his crew behind to beat a path to Panama to sound the alarm.

Drake knew that he hadn’t fooled any of the Spaniards into believing that he would be stupid enough to return along the South American coast through the straits to home, but he tried to dissemble with them anyway. What the Spaniards hadn’t realized was that Drake had promised the queen, Hatton, Leicester, and Walsingham that he would search for the western entry to the fabled Strait of Anian, mark the entry to the Northwest Passage, and, if possible, head back to England that way. But Drake knew better than anyone that if he hugged the coast, it would mean suicide. So his first move was to strike out to sea again, heading in a northwesterly direction “by guess and by God.” But by the time they had reached somewhere around modern Vancouver they had been so engulfed in icy fogs and fierce northwesterlies that the
Hind
, squatting badly on the seas with her spectacular treasure, began leaking. They had been at sea again for fifty days, and food and fresh water were once more running low. There was no alternative but to turn back. Finally, they reached a haven somewhere between 38
^o
and 48
^o
north.
¹⁴

The
Hind
was finally hauled ashore for careening and trimming around June 5, 1579. The natives, immediately friendly toward the Englishmen, were obviously intrigued by their vessel, clothing, trinkets, and skin color. Evidently, it was their first encounter with Europeans. On June 29, 1579, the tribal chief came down the mountain, followed by hundreds of men and women all dancing and singing in celebration, and bearing gifts for the English. The chief bade them all to be silent while he made a speech, which, of course, Drake and his men were unable to understand, but they surmised that “it was their intent, the king himself, with all the singing a song, set a crown upon his [Drake’s] head, enriched his neck with all their chains, and offering unto him many other things, honoured him by the name
Hyóh
…because they were not only visited of the gods (for so they still judged us to be), but the great and chief God was now become their God, their king and patron….”
¹⁵

Drake, duly crowned God, was now expected to speak. And so, he raised his newly hewn scepter and proclaimed this land New Albion, on behalf of Her Most Excellent Sovereign Majesty. After that, they begged their new God, Drake, to heal their sick or infirm with his “royal touch.” All the English could do was to apply the same balms they ministered to themselves, and from that day until their last ashore, in what many assume to be modern day Drake’s Bay, their devoted “subjects” rarely left them.

Before leaving the coast, Drake says that a “plate of brass” was struck and “fast nailed to a great and firm post whereon is engraven her Grace’s name, and the day and year of our arrival there, and of the free giving up of the province and kingdom, both by the king and people, into Her Majesty’s hands.”
¹⁶

On July 23, 1579, Drake struck out into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, singularly ill prepared for the voyage ahead in the
Golden Hind
, which was after all a tiny ship measuring no more than a hundred feet in length and twenty in the beam, and heavily laden with fabulous treasure. While their number had dwindled to about sixty-five, the bare minimum Drake believed necessary to attempt a voyage around the world, he was certain it was the only course left to steer. His men had become well disciplined under his strict command, and they wanted only to get home safely to enjoy their new wealth. But Drake was no fool, and he realized
that the length of time they might spend out of sight of land could lead to anything. The charts and sailing directions he had purloined showed him that the distance was greater than any shown on any map that had been made available to him previously. He therefore provisioned the ship for a longer voyage to stave off any privation or talk of mutiny, and kept his discovery to himself. Drake was thus able to avoid the problems that beset Magellan.

For sixty-eight days they sailed west, out of sight of land or man. Fortunately the winds and seas were favorable. Yet all they could hear was the swishing of the bow as it plowed through the ocean, the creaking of the
Hind
’s rigging and timbers, and the steady whir of the wind in its sails. The English made landfall in Micronesia, somewhere in the Carolinian archipelago on September 30, 1579. Naturally, they were glad to see land again, and apparently relieved at the “friendly” reception that awaited them. Hordes of natives in their dugout canoes paddled out to greet them, chattering and smiling, then clambering aboard the
Hind
. But all was not as it seemed. Soon they began arguing among themselves, taking the Englishmen’s possessions when they refused to trade with them. Drake fired a warning shot, but that only scattered them temporarily. Though he was saddened and ashamed by it, he was compelled to fire directly at an approaching canoe, and blew it and its occupants to smithereens. Meanwhile, the order had been given to tack about, and the
Hind
and her men sailed away from the isle that Drake had already named the “Island of Thieves.”
¹⁷
It was the ancestors of these same natives who had killed Magellan.

They next touched briefly at Mindanao in the Philippines, and sailed on to the legendary Spice Islands of the Moluccas. We can hardly imagine the tremendous sense of accomplishment Drake felt as he reached the Far Eastern frontier of the Spanish and Portuguese empires, for in that single moment, he had fulfilled the dreams of all explorers and navigators since Columbus more than eighty years earlier.

All his Spanish maps were now utterly useless. This was Portuguese territory, and Spain had relinquished her claim to the precious Spice Islands fifty years earlier. It also meant that Drake should change his tactics, especially if he wanted to create a toehold for his queen in the East. Fortunately for Drake, the bulk of the rich
trade in cloves was in the hands of the Sultan of Ternate when he arrived. And the sultan had not been enamored with the Portuguese. Drake was assured of a warm welcome by the sultan’s emissary.

The sultan was true to his word. The English were met with tremendous pomp and ceremony, with the
Hind
being towed into the best anchorage by the sultan’s galley. The sultan himself, Babu, accompanied by three galleys rowed by eighty oarsmen each and soldiers lining the decks armed to the eyeballs, boarded the
Hind
to extend his personal welcome to Drake and his men. Babu, statuesque and imperious, bedecked in cloth of gold and red leather shoes with jewels strewn about his person, greeted the sea weary, stocky redheaded West Country Englishman as an equal. Drake ordered some of their treasure on deck so that he could show Babu that they truly were in possession of a fortune. The formalities at an end, Drake followed Babu to his fortress, where an agreement was hammered out for England to expel Portugal from the area if Babu would concede his trade in cloves to the Queen of England. In exchange, Drake gave his word that within two years “he would decorate that sea with ships for whatever purpose might be necessary…and gave [Babu] a gold ring set with a precious stone, a coat of mail, and a very fine helmet.”
¹⁸

Drake, of course, had no power to commit the queen to such an undertaking and the complications in international diplomacy it could unleash, but it did “buy” him six tons of top quality cloves that were laden into the
Hind.
Still, Drake certainly didn’t trust Babu’s effusion, nor did Babu completely trust Drake.
¹⁹
Three days later, with even more treasure—this time spices—in its hold, the
Hind
set out into the Indian Ocean. Somewhere off the northeastern coast of the Celebes, they found an uninhabited island with abundant wood and water, and all the victuals they could want. There Drake left three Negroes, including a woman named Maria, who had been brought from South America and had conceived a child aboard ship. By the narratives, and contrary to Drake’s many detractors’ theories, it seems that they wanted to establish a colony there, since it was “rich in all the necessities of life.” Drake’s faithful friend, Diego, of course, remained at his master’s side.