294 THE SEA. 



"a gentleman of noble birth, well stricken in year?, well spoken, of comely personage, of 

 good stature, but of hard fortune. Twice he had been taken prisoner by the Moors and 

 ransomed by the king ; and he had been wrecked on the coast of Sof ala, in a carrack 

 which he commanded, and having escaped the sea danger, fell into the hands of infidels 

 ashore, who kept him under long and grievous servitude/' The prisoners were allowed to 

 carry off their own valuables, put on board one of Cumberland's ships, and sent to their 

 own country. Unfortunately for them, they again fell in with other English cruisers, who 

 robbed them without mercy, taking from them 900 diamonds and other valuable things. 

 Aboiit 800 negroes on board were landed on the island of Corvo. Her cargo consisted 

 of jewels, spices, drugs, silks, calicoes, carpets, canopies, ivory, porcelain, and innumerable 

 curiosities; it was estimated to amount to 150,000 in value, and there was considerable 

 haggling over its division, and no little embezzlement; the queen had a large share of it, 

 and Cumberland netted 36,000. The carrack created great astonishment at Dartmouth 

 by her dimensions, which for those days were enormous. She was of about 1,600 tons 

 burden, and 165 feet long; she was of "seven several stories, one main orlop, three close; 

 decks, one forecastle (of great height) and a spar deck of two floors apiece." Her main- 

 mast was 125 feet in height, and her main-yard 105 feet long. " Being so huge and 

 unwieldly a ship/' says Purchas, " she was never removed from Dartmouth, but there laid 

 up her bones." 



In 1594 the earl set forth on his eighth voyage, with three ships, a caravel, and a 

 pinnace, furnished at his own expense, with the help of some adventurers. Early in the 

 voyage they descried a great Indian ship, whose burden they estimated at 2,000 tons. 

 Her name was the Cinco Chagas (the Five Wounds), and her fate was as tragical as her 

 name. She had on board a number of persons who had been shipwrecked in three vessels, 

 which, like herself, had been returning from the Indies. When she left Mozambique for 

 Europe, she had on board 1,400 persons, an enormous number for those days; on the 

 voyage she had encountered terrible gales, and after putting in at Loanda for water and 

 supplies, and shipping many slaves, a fatal pestilence known by the name of the "mal Ce 

 Loanda/' carried off about half the crew. The captain wished to avoid the Azores, but a 

 mutiny had arisen among the soldiers on board, and he was forced to stand by them, and 

 by this means came into contact with the Earl of Cumberland's squadron off Fayal. The 

 Portuguese had pledged themselves to the ship at all hazards, and to perish with her in the 

 sea, or in the flames, rather than yield so rich a prize to the heretics. Cumberland's ships, 

 after harassing the carrack on all sides, ranged up against her; twice was she boarded, 

 and twice were the assailants driven out. A third time the privateers boarded her, one of 

 them bearing a white flag; he was the first of the party killed, and when a second hoisted 

 another flag at the poop it was immediately thrown overboard. The English suffered con- 

 siderably, more especially among the officers. Cumberland's vice-admiral, Antony, was killed ; 

 Down ton, the rear-admiral, crippled for life; and Cave, who commanded the earl's ship, 

 mortally wounded. The privateers seem, in the heat of action, almost to have forgotten 

 the valuable cargo on board, and to have aimed only at destroying her. "After many 

 bickerings," says the chronicler, " fireworks flew about interchangeably ; at last the vice- 

 admiral, with a culverin shot at hand, fired the carrack in her stern, and the rear-admiral 



