en Hawkins was planning this
voyage, but in unknown waters all law stopped; and it was not
infrequent for Spanish and English vessels to fall afoul of each other
with little or nothing said about it afterward in the Courts or
Embassies. Queen Elizabeth hated the Spaniards and was glad to do them
all the mischief she could, but she did not dare to go to war with them
at that time or to give too open encouragement to her sea captains.
They knew, none the less, that the sight of Spanish gold under English
hatches was pleasant to good Queen Bess, and likely to result in honor,
wealth and preferment for themselves.

It was on Drake's first expedition to the West Indies that he conceived
a hatred for the Spaniards that was to last all his life as the result
of the black treachery they played on Hawkins. After cruising along the
western coast of what is now Florida, and being unable to find a proper
harbor there, Hawkins set sail for Mexico and dropped anchor at a
Spanish port in that country. While he was riding at anchor a large
fleet of Spanish vessels arrived, and finding the English in possession
and holding a strong position, agreed to let them sail away unmolested.
Later, however, when the English had consented to these terms and after
the Spanish Admiral had entertained the English officers in his own
cabin, the Spaniards treacherously attacked the English, killing a
number that had gone ashore before they could regain their boats and
engaging in a sea fight with Hawkins' squadron, in which the English
lost all but two of their ships, the _Judith_, Drake's vessel, and the
_Minion_, on which Hawkins happened to be when the fight commenced.
These two ships escaped and made their way back to England separately,
Drake vowing vengeance against the Spaniards. And indeed they had made
a dangerous enemy in this bold sailor, who very shortly paid them in
full for the base treatment they had given him.

As soon as he was in England Drake commenced fitting out two vessels as
raiders for the purpose of harrying Spanish ships in the waters of the
West Indies, and if possible to capture the Spanish holdings on land
and place them beneath the English flag. Particularly did he desire to
get his fingers into the rich heaps of gold that were conveyed by great
Spanish ships or galleons back from the New World to the treasury of
King Philip.

With these ends in view, Drake landed his men secretly on the coast of
Central America near th