292 THE SEA. 



shortly afterwards again on the high seas with the Ticfory, one of the queen's ships, and 

 three smaller vessels. Tne earl was not very scrupulous as regards prize-taking, and 

 captured two French ships, which belonged to the party of the League. A little later he 

 fell in with eleven ships from Hamburg and the Baltic, and fired on them till the captains 

 came on board and showed their passports; these were respected, but not so the property 

 of a Lisbon Jew, which they confessed to have on their ships, and which was valued 

 at 4,500. Off the Azores, he hoisted Spanish colours, and succeeded in robbing some 

 Spanish vessels. The homeward-bound Portuguese fleet from the East Indies narrowly 

 escaped him ; when near Tercera some English prisoners stole out in a small boat, having 

 no other yard for their mainsail than two pipe-staves, and informed him that the 

 Portuguese ships had left the island a week before. This induced him to return to Fayal, 

 and the terror inspired by the English name in those days is indicated by the fact that the 

 town of about 500 houses was found to be completely empty; the inhabitants had 

 abandoned it. He set a guard over the churches and monasteries, and then calmly waited 

 till a ransom of 2,000 ducats was brought him. He helped himself to fifty-eight pieces 

 of iron ordnance, and the Governor of Graciosa, to keep on good terms with the earl, sent 

 him sixty butts of wine. While there a Weymouth privateer came in with a Spanish prize 

 worth 16,000. Next we find the earl at St. Mary's, where he captured a Brazilian sugar 

 ship. In bringing out their prize they were detained on the harbour bar, exposed to the 

 enemy. Eighty of Cumberland's men were killed, and he himself was wounded; a his 

 head also was broken with stones, so that the blood covered his face/' and both his face 

 and legs were burnt with fire-balls. The prize, however, was secured and forwarded to 

 England. 



Cumberland himself held on his course to Spain, and soon fell in with a ship of 400 

 tons, from Mexico, laden with hides, cochineal, sugar, and silver, " and the captain had with 

 Aim a venture to the amount of 25,000 ducats," which was taken. They now resolved to 

 return home, but " sea fortunes are variable, having two inconstant parents, air and water," 

 and as one of the adventurers* concisely put it, " these summer services and ships of 

 sugar proved not so sweet and pleasant as the winter was afterwards sharp and painful." 

 Lister, the earl's captain, was sent in the Mexican prize for England, and was wrecked off 

 Cornwall, everything being lost in her, and all the crew, save five or six men. On the 

 earl's ship, contrary winds and gales delayed them so greatly that their water failed ; they 

 were reduced to three spoonfuls of vinegar apiece at each meal; this state of affairs lasting 

 fourteen days, except what water they could collect from rain and hail-storms. " Yet was 

 that rain so intermingled with the spray of the foaming sea, in that extreme storm, that 

 it could not be healthful : yea, some in their extremity of thirst drank themselves to death 

 with their cans of salt water in their hands." Some ten or twelve perished on each of 

 as many consecutive nights, and the storm was at one time so violent that the ship was 

 almost torn to pieces ; " his lordship's cabin, the dining-room, and the half deck became all 

 one," and he was obliged to seek a lodging in the hold. The earl, however, constantly 

 encouraged the men, and the small stock of provisions was distributed with the greatest 



* Sir "William Monson : Churchill's " Collertion of Voyages." 



