s odds, were glad to
escape with two shattered vessels and the loss of L100,000 treasure.
After a voyage of terrible suffering, Drake, in the "Judith," succeeded
in reaching England on 20th January 1569, and Hawkins followed five days
later.[48] Within a few years, however, Drake was away again, this time
alone and with the sole, unblushing purpose of robbing the Dons. With
only two ships and seventy-three men he prowled about the waters of the
West Indies for almost a year, capturing and rifling Spanish vessels,
plundering towns on the Main and intercepting convoys of treasure across
the Isthmus of Darien. In 1577 he sailed on the voyage which carried him
round the world, a feat for which he was knighted, promoted to the rank
of admiral, and visited by the Queen on board his ship, the "Golden
Hind." While Drake was being feted in London as the hero of the hour,
Philip of Spain from his cell in the Escorial must have execrated these
English sea-rovers whose visits brought ruin to his colonies and menaced
the safety of his treasure galleons.

In the autumn of 1585 Drake was again in command of a formidable
armament intended against the West Indies. Supported by 2000 troops
under General Carleill, and by Martin Frobisher and Francis Knollys in
the fleet, he took and plundered San Domingo, and after occupying
Cartagena for six weeks ransomed the city for 110,000 ducats. This
fearless old Elizabethan sailed from Plymouth on his last voyage in
August 1595. Though under the joint command of Drake and Hawkins, the
expedition seemed doomed to disaster throughout its course. One vessel,
the "Francis," fell into the hands of the Spaniards. While the fleet was
passing through the Virgin Isles, Hawkins fell ill and died. A desperate
attack was made on S. Juan de Porto Rico, but the English, after losing
forty or fifty men, were compelled to retire. Drake then proceeded to
the Main, where in turn he captured and plundered Rancherias, Rio de la
Hacha, Santa Marta and Nombre de Dios. With 750 soldiers he made a bold
attempt to cross the isthmus to the city of Panama, but turned back
after the loss of eighty or ninety of his followers. A few days later,
on 15th January 1596, he too fell ill, died on the 28th, and was buried
in a leaden coffin off the coast of Darien.[49]

Hawkins and Drake, however, were by no means the only English privateers
of that century in American waters. Names like Oxenham, Grenville,
Raleigh and Clifford, and