THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



The Indies work in the open for the overthrow of Spain. The 

 J ^^^^ ^ change is well seen in the equipment of his expedition 

 of 1585. In place of the two or three small ships 

 which had hitherto sufficed him, he sailed from Ply- 

 mouth in command of twenty-one ships and eight 

 pinnaces, with a force of more than two thousand men. 

 Frobisher was Vice-Admiral, and their destination was 

 the West Indies, there to waylay the Plate fleet laden 

 with the wealth of Peru. 



After an armed demonstration off the harbours of 

 Portugal the fleet reached Santiago, which was taken 

 Defects of the and sacked, but yielded little treasure. The same dis- 

 s-^stem. appointment awaited them in the West Indies. Despising 



smaller game, they took and held for a time San 

 Domingo, the oldest town in the Indies, and Carthagena, 

 the capital of the Spanish Main. The moral effect of 

 these exploits was no doubt great, but the material profit 

 was less than had been expected, and Drake, in order to 

 indemnify the Queen and the other promoters of the 

 expedition, exacted a large ransom in either case for 

 the evacuation of the town. It had been a part of the 

 original plan to seize Havana, but losses from sickness 

 and war caused the expedition to turn homeward, not 

 without a fair share of plunder. St. Augustine, on the 

 coast of Florida, was looted on the way, and the miserable 

 colonists of Virginia were visited and taken home. It is 

 difficult and presumptuous to criticise Drake's plan of 

 action. In his later expeditions he was hampered by the 

 instructions of the Government and the opinions of 

 others, as he had not been hampered earlier. He had 



Lack of a proposed in 1581 to seize Terceira, and make it a naval 



naval base. 1 r i_ • j 1 j • c • l 



base for harassmg and plundermg Spanish commerce. 



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