re to belong to the adventurers; the remaining
third was to be divided among the men employed in the expedition.

Drake's armament of 1585 was the greatest that had ever crossed the
Atlantic. After plundering some vessels at the Vigo river, he sailed for
the West Indies by way of the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands, hoisted
the English flag over Santiago and burnt the town, crossed the Atlantic
in eighteen days, and arrived at Dominica. At daybreak, on New Year's
Day, 1586, Drake's soldiers landed in Espanola, a few miles to the west
of the capital, and before evening Carlile and Powell had entered the
city, which the colonists only saved from destruction by the payment of
a heavy ransom. Drake's plan was to do exactly the same at Carthagena
and Nombre de Dios, and thence to strike across the isthmus and secure
the treasure that lay waiting for transport at Panama. Drake held St.
Domingo for a month, and Carthagena for six weeks. He was compelled to
forego the further prosecution of his enterprise. A deadly fever, which
had attacked the men during the sojourn at Santiago, still continued
its ravages. In existing circumstances, even had Nombre de Dios been
successfully attacked, the march to Panama was out of the question;
and after consultation with the military commanders, Drake resolved on
sailing home at once by way of Florida. He brought back with him all
the colonists who had been left by Sir Richard Greenville in 'Virginia.'
Drake had offered either to furnish them with stores, and to leave them
a ship, or to take them home. The former was accepted: but a furious
storm which ensued caused them to change their minds. They recognized
in it the hand of God, whose will it evidently was that they should no
longer be sojourners in the American wilderness; and the first English
settlement of 'Virginia' was abandoned accordingly.

Ten years afterwards (1595) Drake was again at the head of a similar
expedition. The second command was given to his old associate Hawkins,
Frobisher, his Vice-Admiral in 1585, having recently died of the wound
received at Crozon. This time Nombre de Dios was taken and burnt, and
750 soldiers set out under Sir Thomas Baskerville to march to Panama:
but at the first of the three forts which the Spaniards had by this time
constructed, the march had to be abandoned. Drake did not long survive
this second failure of his favourite scheme. He was attacked by
dysentery a fortnight afterwards, and in a