صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Sir John Hawkins died; and was succeeded in his command, by Sir Thomas Barkerville. The next day, Sir Francis made a desperate attack on the shipping in the harbor of Porto Rico: but, obtaining little advantage, he proceeded to the main, and took the towns of Rio de la Hache, Rancheria, St. Martha and Nombre de Dios. Sir Thomas Barkerville now marched, with seven hundred and fifty men, for the reduction of Panama; but the Spaniards having had notice of his design, had strongly fortified themseves, and he was obliged to abandon the enterprize.

Sir Francis Drake, proceeding to Nombre de Dios, died on his passage, between the island of Escudo and Porto Bello, on the 28th of January. His remains were, according to naval custom, sunk in the sea, very near the place where he first laid the foundation of his fame and fortune. The fleet anchored at Porto Bello, the same day; but the inhabitants fled at the approach of the English, carrying away their goods.

Sir Walter Raleigh, at his own expense, fitted out two vessels, under Lawrence Keymis, who made further discoveries in Guiana. In the following year, he sent thither Leonard Berne, in a pinnace. This man entered into a friendly correspondence with the natives, and returned to England.

Sir Anthony Shirley, commanding an English squadron, landed at Jamaica on the 29th of January, and marched six miles into the island, to the principal town. The inhabitants submitting to his mercy, he resided there about five weeks, and then sailed for Honduras, and took Puerto de Cavallos.

The earl of Cumberland having received a commission from the queen, to attack and destroy the territories

of her enemies, took the island of Porto Rico, and carried off eighty pieces of cannon, eighty ships, and much wealth; but the expedition was disastrous; for about six hundred men were lost by the bloody flux, sixty slain in battle, and about forty cast away on the return of the fleet.

Monsieur de Pointis appeared, with a squadron, before Carthagena, and forced it to capitulate; but his soldiers, in breach of the capitulation, pillaged the town.

Charles Leigh, a merchant of London, made, this year, a voyage to cape Breton and the island of Ramea. Having given umbrage to the French, in the latter place, by taking the powder and ammunition from a vessel, supposed to belong to Spain, but which proved to belong to the subjects of the French king, two hundred Frenchmen assembled, and planted three peices of ordnance on the shore, against the English, and discharged on them, one hundred small shot from the woods. There were also, in readiness to assail them, about three hundred Indians. On a parley, however, the contest subsided. In this voyage, Leigh obtained a considerable quantity of codfish and train oil, and had some traffic with the natives.

France, after fifty years of internal commotions, having recovered her tranquility, was enabled to renew her enterprizes for the colonization of Canada. Henry IV, gave to the Marquis de la Roche, a commission to conquer that country, and other countries in America, not possessed by any Christian prince. The marquis took with him, a Norman named Chetodel, as his pilot, and a number of convicts out of prison. He landed forty of these men on the isle of Sable, and proceeded to Acadia, made researches in that region, and returned to France,

N. CARO. 6

[blocks in formation]

without attempting to make any settlement, or having it in his power to carry back those miserable outcasts, whom he had set on shore. He was prevented, b various misfortunes, from returning to America, and died of vexation.

His patent was renewed in the following year, in favor of Monsieur de Chauvin, who now made a voyage up the river St. Lawrence, to Tadoussac, two hundred and seventy miles from the sea. He returned home with a load of furs, leaving some of his people, who were enabled, by the kindness of the natives, to encounter the severity of the climate. He made a second voyage, the next year, with the same good fortune; and sailed up the St. Lawrence, as high as the place on which the town of Trois Rivieres has since been built.

This year, William Parker sailed from Plymouth, in England, with two ships, one pinnace, and two shallops, to Cumana; and having taken the pearl fishery in that island, with the governor of Canada, who was there with a company of soldiers, he received five hundred pounds, in pearl, for the ransom of the whole; proceeding to Porto Bello, he made himself master of it, remained on it one day, plundered, and left it, without injury to its buildings.

Although the disastrous effect of Raleigh's attempt, to effect a settlement in America, together with the war with Spain, checked the spirit of colonization, it was now revived: Bartholomew Gosnold sailed, in a small bark, from Falmouth, with thirty-two persons, for the northern ports of Virginia, with the design of beginning. a plantation. One is surprised, at the smallness of the means, which were depended upon, for the establishment of the English colonies in America. Of the thirty

two persons who embarked with Gosnold, eight were "mariners and sailors; twelve purposed, after the discovery of a proper place for a plantation, to return with the ship to England; the rest, in all twelve persons, were to remain there for population." Instead of making the usual circuit, by the Canaries and West Indies, he steered, as near as the wind would permit, due west, and was the first Englishman who came in a direct course, to this part of America. After a passage of seven weeks, he discovered land on the American coast; and soon after, met a shallop, with sails and oars, having on board eight Indians. These people first hailed the English: after signs of a friendly disposition, and a long speech made by one of the Indians, they jumped on board: they were "all naked, having loose deer skins about their shoulders, and near their waiste, seal skins tied fast, like Irish dinmic trowsers." One of them, who seemed to be their chief, wore a waistcoat, breeches, cloth stockings, shoes, and a hat; one or two others, had a few things of European fabric; and these, “with a piece of chalk, described the coast thereabouts, and could name Placentia, of Newfoundland: they spoke divers Christian words." Their vessel was supposed to have belonged to some unfortunate fishermen, from Biscay, wrecked on the coast. Sailing along the coast, captain Gosnold discovered, on the next day, ahead, land, in the latitude of forty-two degrees, where he came to anchor; and taking a great number of cod, he called it cape Cod. On the following day, he coasted the land southerly, and in attempting to double a point, he came suddenly into shoal water, and called the place Point Care; Dr. Belknap supposes this to have been the point, now called Malesbarre, or Sandy

Point, the southern extremity of the county of Barnsta stable, in Massachusetts: he proceeded southerly, as far as an island, which, in honor of the queen, he called Elizabeth island, a name which it still retains: he found on it, a pond of fresh water, two miles in circumference, in the centre of which, is a small, rocky, isle, on which he began to erect a fort and store house. In the year 1797, Dr. Belknap visited this spot, and discovered the remains of the cellar of this house, the stones of which were, evidently, taken from the neighbouring beach, the rock of the isle being less moveable, and lying in ledges. While the men were occupied in this work, Gosnold went to the main land, to traffic with the natives, who dwelt on the banks of the river, on which the town of New Bedford now stands. In nineteen days, the fort and house were completed; but, discontents arising among those who were to remain in the country, the design of a settlement was abandoned, and the whole of the company returned to England.

Sir Walter, although he had no longer, any particular interest in the colony of Virginia, made a further effort for the discovery and relief, of the men left there by governor White. He purchased, and fitted out a bark, and despatched Samuel Mace, an able seaman, from Weymouth, who left that port in the month of March, fell on the American coast, in about the thirty-fourth degree of north latitude, and proceeded along it, but returned home without effecting the object of his mission. This was the fifth attempt of Sir Walter, to succour his colonists, since the year 1587. "At this last time, to avoid all excuse, he bought a bark, and hired all the company, for wages by the month; but they fell forty leagues to the southward of Hattaracke, in thirty

« السابقةمتابعة »