314 THE SEA. 



an anchor might not be employed to draw the ship off, but the water all round was very 

 deep, no bottom being- found. Three tons of cloves, eight guns, and certain stores were 

 thrown overboard, but to no purpose. Fuller says quaintly, that they " threw overboard 

 as much wealth as would break the heart of a miser to think on 't ; with much sugar, 

 and packs of spices, making a caudle of the sea round about. Then they betook them- 

 selves to their prayers, the best lever at such a dead lift indeed, and it pleased God that the 

 wind, formerly their mortal enemy, became their friend. "* To the. joy of all, the Hinde 

 glided off the rocks, and almost uninjured. On the way home they visited Barateva, 

 Java, the Cape, and Sierra Leone, being singularly fortunate in avoiding the Portuguese 

 and Spanish ships. The Hinde arrived safely at Plymouth on September 26th, 1580, 

 having been nearly three years on her eventful voyage. Drake was received with great 

 honour, and was knighted by the queen. She gave orders that his little ship should be 

 laid up at Deptford, and there carefully preserved as a monument of the most remarkable 

 voyage yet made. Elizabeth honoured Drake by banqueting on board, and his fame 

 spread everywhere through the kingdom. The boys of Westminster School set up some 

 Latin verses on the mainmast, of which Southey gives the following free translation 



" On Hercules' Pillars, Drake, thou may'st plus ultra write full well, 

 And say, I will in greatness that great Hercules excel." 



And again 



" Sir Drake, whom well the world's end knows, which thou didst compass round, 

 And whom both poles of heaven once saw which north and south do bound, 

 The stars above will make thee known if men here silent were ; 

 The sun himself cannot forget his fellow-traveller." 



Drake's series of victories over the Spaniards, and the repulse which occurred just before 

 his death are details of history which would fill a volume. He received a sailor's funeral 

 at Puerto Bello, his body being committed to the deep in a leaden coffin, with the 

 solemn service of the English Church, rendered more impressive by volleys of musketry, 

 and the booming of guns from all the fleet. A poet of the day says 



" The waves became his winding sheet, the waters were his tomb ; 

 But for his fame the ocean sea was not sufficient room." 



No single name in naval history has ever attained the celebrity acquired by Drake. 

 The Spaniards, who called him a dragon, believed that he had dealings with the devil ; 

 " that notion," says Southey, " prevented them from feeling any mortification at his 

 successes, * * * and it enhanced their exultation over the failure of his last expedition, 

 which they considered as the triumph of their religion over heresy and magic. " The 

 common people in England itself, more especially in the western counties, believed any 

 quantity of fables concerning him, some of them verging on childishness. He had only 

 to cast a chip in the water when it would become a fine vessel. " It was not by his skill 

 as an engineer, and the munificent expenditure of the wealth which he had so daringly 

 obtained, that Drake supplied Plymouth with fresh water ; but by mounting his horse, 



* Fuller's " Holy State." 



