Hawkins, therefore, ordered a shot to be fired at the admiral's flag, and this producing no effect, a second; upon which the Spaniards came to, and hauled down their colours. The Admiral then despatched one of his chief officers in a boat, to desire an explanation; when the Captain, through the medium of a subaltern, haughtily directed him to inform his principal, that as he had neglected the customary honours, especially with so large a fleet under his command, it gave room to suspect some hostile design, and that in consequence he insisted on his departure in twelve hours, otherwise he should treat him as an enemy.' This gallant behaviour gave rise to a visit from the Spanish Admiral himself, who desired to know, if the two crowns were at war?' Captain Hawkins replied, No; but that possibly this affront might occasion one, as he was determined to communicate to the Queen by express what had passed.' The Spaniard, at first, pretended not to understand the nature of his offence; but being finally convinced of his error, Hawkins agreed to let the matter rest, and with the first fair wind the delinquent fleet set sail for the coast of Flanders.

In October, 1576, Captain Hawkins embarked on a third trading expedition to the coast of Guinea and the West-Indies, accompanied by five other ships, one of which was commanded by Captain (afterward Admiral) Drake; and having taken on board about five hundred negroes, proceeded to the Spanish settlements. Rio de la Hacha was the first place, where he attempted to trade; but being refused permission, he landed his men, and (probably, by collusion) took possession of the town, after which he

disposed of great part of his cargo: * with the remainder he sailed for Carthagena, and there completed his commercial transactions. Upon his return homeward, stormy weather obliged him to put into the harbour of St. John de Ulloa in the bay of Mexico. The inhabitants, imagining his squadron was part of their own fleet then expected from Spain, readily came on board, and were extremely terrified when they discovered their mistake. But Hawkins entertained them with great civility, and to dispel their fears assured them, that he wanted nothing except provisions; neither did he attempt any thing against twelve merchant-ships, then lying richly laden in the port. For his own security, however, he detained two persons of rank as hostages, till the return of an express sent to Mexico with an account of his arrival. The next day, the Spanish fleet appeared, having on board the new viceroy, on his way to his government. In this delicate situation, Hawkins was at a loss how to act: for while he was apprehensive of his Sovereign's displeasure, if he should prevent their entrance into the harbour, especially as the storms continued with unabating severity; he at the same time strongly suspected, that some treachery would be practised against him, as soon as their ships were in security. He therefore took the precaution to insist upon such conditions from the viceroy, before he would admit him into the harbour, as were best calculated to guard against latent perfidy; stipulating that the English fleet

* It is to be observed, that at this time no open war subsisted between the two nations; but the English claimed a right of free trade in virtue of treaties with Charles V., which the Spaniards refused to admit,

should be supplied with provisions on paying for them, that hostages for keeping the peace should be given by both parties, and that the island with the cannon on the fortifications should be put into his hands during his stay.' The viceroy, at first, rejected these proposals with disdain; but being told that Captain Hawkins considered himself as the representative of the Queen of England, and therefore of a rank equal to his own,' he vouchsafed to negociate the matter with him in person, and solemnly promised in every particular to fulfil the stipulations.

A conspiracy, however, was at this time forming to attack the English; not less than a thousand men being mustered on shore, and the people of the town having agreed to support the operations of the fleet. Unusual manœuvres were observed on board the Spanish ships; their small arms being shifted from one vessel to another, and their ordnance pointed at the English squadron. A larger number of men than usual, likewise, were seen upon the decks; and this with other circumstances alarming Captain Hawkins, he sent to inquire the meaning of these extraordinary motions: when, in order to carry on the deception, the viceroy assured him, that if the inhabitants should attempt any violence against the English, he would give them his protection and assistance.' Hawkins, however, notwithstanding these asseverations, ordered his people to stand upon their defence; and shortly afterward, suspecting that a considerable land-force was concealed in one of the enemy's vessels, he again demanded a categorical answer upon the subject: upon which the viceroy, unable any longer to mask his project, ordered the trumpet to sound, as the signal for falling upon the English fleet.

Hawkins was at dinner, when he heard the trumpet;

and in the same moment Don Augustine de Villa Neuva, a Spaniard whom he had treated with the utmost courtesy, felt in his sleeve for a dagger to assassinate him but one Chamberlayne, who waited at table, perceived the motion in time to stop his hand. Having secured his treacherous guest, he instantly flew upon deck, and perceiving the Spanish troops boarding one of his ships, exclaimed with ardour, "God and Saint George fall upon these traitors, and rescue the Minion: I trust in God the day shall be ours." Upon which his crew boarded the Minion, drove out the Spaniards, and fired a shot into the viceadmiral, which it is imagined passed through the powder-room, as three hundred Spaniards on board were blown up. Another shot set fire to the Spanish Admiral, which continued burning for half an hour. But this dreadful havock was unhappily retaliated upon the English on shore, of whom three only escaped by swimming to their ships. Hawkins, though overpowered, continued the engagement even after the ordnance of the fort had sunk his small vessels, at the peril of his life; telling his men to fear nothing, for God who had preserved him in the midst of the enemies' shot, would also deliver them all from those traitors and villains the Spaniards.' At length, the masts and rigging of his own ship, the Jesus, being so shattered by the artillery of the fort that it was impossible to bring her off, it was resolved to place her as a screen to the Minion till night, and subsequently to abandon her. But soon afterward two Spanish fire-ships bearing down upon the latter, the crew, without waiting for orders, hove away from the Jesus with so much precipitation, that it was with extreme difficulty Hawkins was received on board. Of his followers, a few only reached the

Minion, the rest falling victims to the cruelty of the foe.

The Spanish fleet suffered greatly in the action. The admiral and vice-admiral were rendered unfit for service, and four other ships were totally destroyed. Of the English, the Minion, crowded with hands from the Jesus and some of the other ships, remained at sea, in want of provisions and water for their numerous complement till the eighth of October, 1569, when they entered a creek in the bay of Mexico in search of refreshments. This was near the mouth of the river Tampico, and here upward of a hundred of the crew-requested to be put on shore, preferring the doubtful result of barbarian hospitality* to the apparent certainty of perishing by famine before the ship could reach a friendly port.

Captain Hawkins with the remainder of his men, consisting likewise of about one hundred, sailed through the Gulf of Florida about the latter end of October; and after incurring the risk of being seized at a Spanish port, which they were obliged to enter for provisions, got safe to Vigo, where they met with

* These unhappy people endured every species of human misery. A few of them were killed, and others wounded, by the Indians on their march up the country; but when the savages found they were not Spaniards, they treated them kindly, and directed them to the port of Tampico. Here, they divided; and the major part unfortunately marching westward fell into the hand of the governors of different Spanish settlements, by whom they were inhumanly treated and sold to slavery. Some were burnt, and others tortured, as heretics; and out of sixty-five persons, we have no certain account of the return of any to their native country, except that of Job Hortop gunner of the Jesus, who after a long imprisonment in the dungeons of the Inquisition arrived in England in 1590, having endured incredible hardships for twenty-three years.