ygold bark, of 30; and the Christopher, a pinnace, of 15 tons.
The united crews of these vessels amounted to only 164, gentlemen and
sailors.

The gentlemen went with Drake "to learn the art of navigation." After
various adventures along the South American coast, the little fleet
passed through the Straits of Magellan, and entered the Pacific Ocean.
Drake took an immense amount of booty from the Spanish towns along the
coast, and captured the royal galleon, the Cacafuego, laden with
treasure. After trying in vain to discover a passage home by the
North-eastern ocean, though what is now known as Behring Straits, he
took shelter in Port San Francisco, which he took possession of in the
name of the Queen of England, and called New Albion. He eventually
crossed the Pacific for the Moluccas and Java, from which he sailed
right across the Indian Ocean, and by the Cape of Good Hope to England,
thus making the circumnavigation of the world. He was absent with his
little fleet for about two years and ten months.

Not less extraordinary was the voyage of Captain Cavendish, who made
the circumnavigation of the globe at his own expense. He set out from
Plymouth in three small vessels on the 21st July, 1586. One vessel was
of 120 tons, the second of 60 tons, and the third of 40 tons--not much
bigger than a Thames yacht. The united crews, of officers, men, and
boys, did not exceed 123! Cavendish sailed along the South American
continent, and made through the Straits of Magellan, reaching the
Pacific Ocean. He burnt and plundered the Spanish settlements along
the coast, captured some Spanish ships, and took by boarding the
galleon St. Anna, with 122,000 Spanish dollars on board. He then
sailed across the Pacific to the Ladrone Islands, and returned home
through the Straits of Java and the Indian Archipelago by the Cape of
Good Hope, and reached England after an absence of two years and a
month.

The sacred and invincible Armada was now ready, Philip II. was
determined to put down those English adventurers who had swept the
coasts of Spain and plundered his galleons on the high seas. The
English sailors knew that the sword of Philip was forged in the gold
mines of South America, and that the only way to defend their country
was to intercept the plunder on its voyage home to Spain. But the
sailors and their captains--Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Howard,
Grenville, Raleigh, and the rest--could not altogether interrupt the
enter