liminary words. Francis Drake was
a Devonshire man, like Hawkins himself and Raleigh and Davis and
Gilbert, and many other famous men of those days. He was born at
Tavistock somewhere about 1540. He told Camden that he was of mean
extraction. He meant merely that he was proud of his parents and made no
idle pretensions to noble birth. His father was a tenant of the Earl of
Bedford, and must have stood well with him, for Francis Russell, the
heir of the earldom, was the boy's godfather. From him Drake took his
Christian name. The Drakes were early converts to Protestantism.
Trouble rising at Tavistock on the Six Articles Bill, they removed to
Kent, where the father, probably through Lord Bedford's influence, was
appointed a lay chaplain in Henry VIII.'s fleet at Chatham. In the next
reign, when the Protestants were uppermost, he was ordained and became
vicar of Upnor on the Medway. Young Francis took early to the water, and
made acquaintance with a ship-master trading to the Channel ports, who
took him on board his ship and bred him as a sailor. The boy
distinguished himself, and his patron when he died left Drake his vessel
in his will. For several years Drake stuck steadily to his coasting
work, made money, and made a solid reputation. His ambition grew with
his success. The seagoing English were all full of Hawkins and his West
Indian exploits. The Hawkinses and the Drakes were near relations.
Hearing that there was to be another expedition, and having obtained his
cousin's consent, Francis Drake sold his brig, bought the _Judith_, a
handier and faster vessel, and with a few stout sailors from the river
went down to Plymouth and joined.

De Silva had sent word to Philip that Hawkins was again going out, and
preparations had been made to receive him. Suspecting nothing, Hawkins
with his four consorts sailed, as before, in October 1567. The start was
ominous. He was caught and badly knocked about by an equinoctial in the
Bay of Biscay. He lost his boats. The _Jesus_ strained her timbers and
leaked, and he so little liked the look of things that he even thought
of turning back and giving up the expedition for the season. However,
the weather mended. They put themselves to rights at the Canaries,
picked up their spirits, and proceeded. The slave-catching was managed
successfully, though with some increased difficulty. The cargo with
equal success was disposed of at the Spanish settlements. At one place
the planters came o