A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Vii Part 14

"Although the Portuguese were the first who set on foot discoveries by sea, and carried them on for many years before any other European nation attempted to follow their example; yet, as soon as these voyages appeared to be attended with commercial gain, the English were ready to put in for a share. The Portuguese discovered Guinea about the year 1471; and only ten years afterwards we find the English making preparations to visit the newly discovered coast[176]. In the year 1481, John Tintam and William Fabian were busy in fitting out a fleet for the coast of Guinea; but whether on their own account in whole or in part, or solely for the Duke of _Medina Sidonia_ in Spain, by whose command they are said to have done this, cannot be now determined. It is possible, as the Spaniards were excluded by the Papal grant in favour of the Portuguese from trading to the East Indies, that they might endeavour to elude this authority by employing Englishmen in that navigation. However this may have been, _Joam_ or John II. king of Portugal, sent two persons on an emba.s.sy to Edward king of England, to renew the ancient league of friends.h.i.+p between the crowns, and to move him to hinder that fleet from putting to sea. The Portuguese amba.s.sadors had orders to acquaint the king of England with the t.i.tle which the king of Portugal derived from the Pope, to the exclusive sovereignty and navigation of Guinea, and to demand that Edward should prohibit his subjects from sending any s.h.i.+ps to that country. This was accordingly done, and the purposes of that intended voyage were frustrated. This is an authentic testimony of the early attempts of the English, which is related at length by _Garcia de Resende_, in the life of Joam II. Ch.

33[177]. To this, or some similar circ.u.mstance, it may have been owing that the English desisted so long from sailing to the southwards, and turned their endeavours to the discovery of a pa.s.sage to India by some other way.

[Footnote 176: The French pretend to have traded with Guinea from 1364 till 1413, being 107 years before it was discovered by the Portuguese.--Astl. I. 138, a.]

[Footnote 177: Cited by Hakluyt, Vol. II. Part 2. p. 2]

"It appears by a memorandum or letter of _Nicholas Thorn_, senior, a considerable merchant in Bristol, of which Hakluyt gives the contents[178], that in 1526, and from circ.u.mstances for a long time previous, certain English merchants, among whom were _Nicholas Thorn_ and _Thomas s.p.a.cheford_, had frequently traded to the Canary islands. In that letter or memorandum, notice was given to _Thomas Midnal_ his factor and _William Ballard_ his servant; residing in St Lucar in Andalusia, that the Christopher of Cadiz bound for the West Indies, had taken on board several packs of cloth of different fineness and colours, together with packthread, soap, and other goods, to be landed at Santa Cruz in Teneriffe. They are directed to sell these goods, and to send back returns in Orchil[179], sugar, and kid skins.

[Footnote 178: Id. ib. p. 3.]

[Footnote 179: A species of moss growing on high rocks, much used in these days in dying.--Astl. I. 138. d.]

"At length, about the middle of the _sixteenth_ century, the English spirit of trade, meeting with favourable circ.u.mstances, began to exert itself, and to extend its adventures to the south as well as the north.

About the year 1551, Captain Thomas Windham sailed in the s.h.i.+p Lion for Morocco, whither he carried two Moors of the blood-royal. This was the first voyage to the western coast of Africa of which we have any account, and these are all the particulars to be found respecting it; except that one Thomas Alday, a servant to Sebastian Cabot, in a letter inserted in Hakluyt's Collection[180], represents himself as the first promoter of this trade to Barbary, and observes that he would have performed this voyage himself, with the sole command of the s.h.i.+p and goods, had it not been that Sir John Lutterel, John Fletcher, Henry Ostrich, and others with whom he was connected, died of the sweating sickness, and he himself, after escaping that disease, was seized by a violent fever, so that Thomas Windham sailed from Portsmouth before he recovered, by which he lost eighty pounds.

[Footnote 180: Vol. II. p. 7.]

"In the next year, 1552, Windham made a second voyage to _Zafin_ or _Saffi_ and Santa Cruz without the straits, which gave so much offence to the Portuguese, that they threatened to treat the English as enemies if found in these seas. Yet in the year following, the same Thomas Windham, with a Portuguese named Antonio Yanez Pinteado, who appears to have been the chief promoter of the attempt, undertook a voyage to Guinea, with three s.h.i.+ps having an hundred and forty men; and having traded for some time on the coast for gold, they went to Benin to load pepper: But both the commanders and most of the men dying of sickness, occasioned by the climate, the rest returned to Plymouth with one s.h.i.+p only, having burnt the other two for want of hands, and brought back no great riches. In 1554, Mr John Lok made a voyage with three s.h.i.+ps to the coast of Guinea, whence he brought back a considerable quant.i.ty of gold and ivory. These voyages appear to have been succeeded by others almost every year. At length, upon application to Queen Elizabeth, two patents were granted to certain merchants. One in 1585, for the Barbary or Morocco trade, and the other in 1588, for the trade to Guinea between the rivers Senegal and Gambia[181]. In 1592, a third patent was granted to other persons, taking in the coast from the river _Nonnia_ to the south of Sierra Leona, for the s.p.a.ce of 100 leagues, which patents gave rise to the African company. In all their voyages to the coast of Africa they had disputes with the Portuguese. Several of these voyages have been preserved by Hakluyt, and will be found inserted in this chapter, as forerunners to the English voyages to the East Indies.

[Footnote 181: The former for twelve years, was granted to the Earls of Leicester and Warwick, and certain merchants of London, to the number of 32 in all. The other for ten years to eight persons of Exeter, London, and other places. By this latter patent, it appears that this trade was advised by the Portuguese residing in London, and one voyage had been made before the grant. See Hakluyt, II. part 2. pp. 114 and 123.--Astl.

I. 139. a.]

"The views of the English extending with experience and success, and finding the long attempted north-east and north-west pa.s.sages to India impracticable, they at length determined to proceed for that distant region round Africa by the same course with the Portuguese. In 1591, that voyage was undertaken for the first time by three large s.h.i.+ps under the command of Captain Raymond; and in 1596, another fleet of three s.h.i.+ps set out on the same design under Captain Wood, but with bad success. In the mean time several navigators were employed to discover this course to the East Indies. At length in 1600, a charter was obtained from Queen Elizabeth by a body of merchants, to the number of 216, having George Earl of c.u.mberland at their head, under the name of the _Company of Merchant Adventurers_, for carrying on a trade to the East Indies. From this period s.h.i.+ps were sent there regularly every two or three years; and thus were laid the foundations of the English East India commerce, which has subsisted ever since under exclusive chartered companies.

"Long before the English sailed to India in their own s.h.i.+ps, several English merchants and others had gone to India from time to time in the Portuguese s.h.i.+ps, and some overland; from a desire to pry into and to partic.i.p.ate in the advantages of that gainful commerce. Of those who went by land, several letters and relations remain which will be found in the sequel: But of all who performed the voyage as pa.s.sengers in the Portuguese vessels, we know of only one who left any account of his adventures, or at least whose account has been published; viz. Thomas Stephens. To this may be added the account by _Captain Davis_ of a voyage in the Dutch s.h.i.+p called the _Middleburgh Merchants_ in 1598, of which he served as pilot, for the purpose of making himself acquainted with the maritime route to India, and the posture of the Portuguese affairs in that country. Both of these journals contain very useful remarks for the time in which they were made, and both will be found in our collection.

"Although the first voyages of the English to the East Indies are full of variety, yet the reader is not to expect such a continued series of new discoveries, great actions, battles, sieges, and conquests, as are to be met with in the history of the Portuguese expeditions: For it must be considered that we made few or no discoveries, as these had been already made before; that our voyages were for the most part strictly commercial; that our settlements were generally made by the consent of the natives; that we made no conquests; and that the undertakings were set on foot and carried on entirely by our merchants[182]. On this account it is, probably, that we have no regular history extant of the English Voyages, Discoveries, and Transactions in the East Indies, as we find there are many such of the Portuguese and Spanish. It may be presumed, however, that as the East India Company has kept regular journals of their affairs, and is furnished with letters and other memorials from their agents, that a satisfactory account of all the English Transactions in India might be collected, if the Company thought proper to give orders for its execution[183]."--_Astley_.

[Footnote 182: These observations are to be considered as applying entirely to the earlier connection of the English with India. In more modern days there has been a sufficiently copious series of great actions, battles, sieges, and conquests; but these belong to a different and more modern period than that now under review, and are more connected with the province of political military and naval history, than with a Collection of Voyages and Travels. Yet these likewise will require to be noticed in an after division of this work.--E.]

[Footnote 183: A commencement towards this great desideratum in English History has been lately made, by the publication of the early History of the English East India Company, by John Bruce, Esquire, Historiographer to the Company.--E.]

SECTION I.

_Second Voyage of the English to Barbary, in the year 1552, by Captain Thomas Windham_[184].

Of the first voyage to Barbary without the straits, made by the same Captain Thomas Wyndham, the only remaining record is in a letter from James Aldaie to Michael Locke, already mentioned in the Introduction to this Chapter, and preserved in Hakluyt's Collection, II. 462. According to Hakluyt, the account of this second voyage was written by James Thomas, then page to Captain Thomas Windham, chief captain of the voyage, which was set forth by Sir John Yorke, Sir William Gerard, Sir Thomas Wroth, Messieurs Frances Lambert, Cole, and others.--E.

[Footnote 184: Hakluyt, II. 463. Astley, I. 140.]

The s.h.i.+ps employed on this voyage were three, of which two belonged to the River Thames. These were the Lion of London of about 150 tons, of which Thomas Windham was captain and part owner; and the b.u.t.tolfe of about 80 tons. The third was a Portuguese caravel of about 60 tons, bought from some Portuguese at Newport in Wales, and freighted for the voyage. The number of men in the three s.h.i.+ps was 120. The master of the Lion was John Kerry of Minehead in Somersets.h.i.+re, and his mate was David Landman. Thomas Windham, the chief captain of the Adventure, was a gentleman, born in the county of Norfolk, but resident at Marshfield Park in Somersets.h.i.+re.

The fleet set sail from King-road near Bristol about the beginning of May 1552, being on a Monday morning; and on the evening of the Monday fortnight we came to anchor in the port of Zafia or Asafi on the coast of Barbary, in 32 N. where we landed part of our cargo to be conveyed by land to the city of Marocco. Having refreshed at this port, we went thence to the port of Santa-Cruz, where we landed the rest of our goods, being a considerable quant.i.ty of linen and woollen cloth, with coral, amber, jet, and divers other goods esteemed by the Moors. We found a French s.h.i.+p in the road of Santa-Cruz, the people on board which being uncertain whether France and England were then at peace or engaged in war, drew her as near as possible to the walls of the town, from which they demanded a.s.sistance for their defence in case of need; and on seeing our vessels draw near, they shot off a piece of ordnance from the walls, the ball pa.s.sing through between the main and fore masts of the Lion. We came immediately to anchor, and presently a pinnace came off to inquire who we were; and on learning that we had been there the year before, and had the licence of their king for trade, they were fully satisfied, giving us leave to bring our goods peaceably on sh.o.r.e, where the viceroy, Sibill Manache came shortly to visit us, and treated us with all civility. Owing to various delays, we were nearly three months at this place before we could get our lading, which consisted of sugar, dates, almonds, and mola.s.ses, or the syrup of sugar. Although we were at this place for so long a time during the heat of summer, yet none of our company perished of sickness.

When our s.h.i.+ps were all loaded, we drew out to sea in waiting for a western wind to carry us to England. But while at sea a great leak broke out in the Lion, on which we bore away for the island of Lancerota, between which and Fuertaventura we came to anchor in a safe road-stead, whence we landed 70 chests of sugar upon the island of Lancerota, with a dozen or sixteen of our men. Conceiving that we had come wrongfully by the caraval, the inhabitants came by surprise upon us and took all who were on sh.o.r.e prisoners, among whom I was one, and destroyed our sugars.

On this transaction being perceived from our s.h.i.+ps, they sent on sh.o.r.e three boats filled with armed men to our rescue; and our people landing, put the Spaniards to flight, of whom they slew eighteen, and made the governor of the island prisoner, who was an old gentleman about 70 years of age. Our party continued to chase the Spaniards so far for our rescue, that they exhausted all their powder and arrows, on which the Spaniards rallied and returned upon them, and slew six of our men in the retreat. After this our people and the Spaniards came to a parley, in which it was agreed that we the prisoners should be restored in exchange for the old governor, who gave us a certificate under his hand of the damages we had sustained by the spoil of our sugars, that we might be compensated upon our return to England, by the merchants belonging to the king of Spain.

Having found and repaired the leak, and all our people being returned on board, we made sail; and while pa.s.sing one side of the island, the Cacafuego and other s.h.i.+ps of the Portuguese navy entered by the other side to the same roadstead whence we had just departed, and shot off their ordnance in our hearing. It is proper to mention that the Portuguese were greatly offended at this our new trade to Barbary, and both this year and the former, they gave out through their merchants in England, with great threats and menaces, that they would treat us as mortal enemies, if they found us in these seas: But by the good providence of G.o.d we escaped their hands. We were seven or eight weeks in making our pa.s.sage from Lancerota for the coast of England, where the first port we made was Plymouth; and from thence sailed for the Thames, where we landed our merchandise at London about the end of October 1552.

SECTION II.

_A Voyage from England to Guinea and Benin in 1553, by Captain Windham and Antonio Anes Pinteado_[185].

PREVIOUS REMARKS.

This and the following voyage to Africa were first published by Richard Eden in a small collection, which was afterwards reprinted in 4to, by Richard Willes in 1577[186]. Hakluyt has inserted both these in his Collection, with Eden's preamble as if it were his own; only that he ascribes the account of Africa to the right owner[187].

[Footnote 185: Astley, I. 141. Hakluyt, II. 464.--The editor of Astley's Collection says _Thomas_ Windham; but we have no evidence in Hakluyt, copying from Eden, that such was his Christian name, or that he was the same person who had gone twice before to the coast of Morocco. In Hakluyt, the Voyage is said to have been at the charge of certain merchant adventurers of London.--E.]

[Footnote 186: Hist. of Travayle in the West and East Indies, &c. by Eden and Willes, 4to, p. 336.--Astl. I. 141. b.]

[Footnote 187: So far the editor of Astley's Collection: The remainder of these previous remarks contains the preamble by Eden, as reprinted by Hakluyt, II. 464.--E.]

"I was desired by certain friends to make some mention of this voyage, that some memory of it might remain to posterity, being the first enterprised by the English to parts that may become of great consequence to our merchants, if not hindered by the ambition of such as conceive themselves lords of half the world, by having conquered some forty or fifty miles here and there, erecting certain fortresses, envying that others should enjoy the commodities which they themselves cannot wholly possess. And, although such as have been at charges in the discovering and conquering of such lands, ought in good reason to have certain privileges, pre-eminences and tributes for the same; yet, under correction, it may seem somewhat rigorous and unreasonable, or rather contrary to the charity that ought to subsist among Christians, that such as invade the dominions of others, should not allow other friendly nations to trade in places nearer and seldom frequented by themselves, by which their own trade is not hindered in such other places as they have chosen for themselves as staples or marts of their trade[188]. But as I do not propose either to accuse or defend, I shall cease to speak any farther on this subject, and proceed to the account of the first voyage to those parts, as briefly and faithfully as I was advertised of the same, by information of such credible persons as made diligent inquiry respecting it, omitting many minute particulars, not greatly necessary to be known; but which, with the exact course of the navigation, shall be more fully related in the second voyage. If some may think that certain persons have been rather sharply reflected on, I have this to say, that favour and friends.h.i.+p ought always to give way before truth, that honest men may receive the praise of well-doing, and bad men be justly reproved; that the good may be encouraged to proceed in honest enterprizes, and the bad deterred from following evil example.

[Footnote 188: Richard Eden here obviously endeavours to combat the monopoly of trade to the Portuguese discoveries, arrogated by that nation; although the entire colonial system of all the European nations has always been conducted upon the same exclusive principles, down to the present day.--E.]

That these voyages may be the better understood, I have thought proper to premise a brief description of Africa, on the west coast of which great division of the world, the coast of Guinea begins at Cape Verd in about lat. 12 N. and about two degrees in longitude _from the measuring line_[189]; whence running from north to south, and in some places by east, within 5, 4, and 3-1/2 degrees into the equinoctial, and so forth in manner directly east and north, for the s.p.a.ce of about 36 degrees in longitude from west to east, as shall more plainly appear in the second voyage[190].

[Footnote 189: Evidently meaning the first meridian pa.s.sing through the island of Ferro, one of the Canaries, from which Cape Verd is about 2 W.--E.]

[Footnote 190: These geographical indications respecting the coast of Guinea, are extremely obscure, so as to be almost unintelligible.--E.]

_Brief Description of Africa, by Richard Eden_[191].

In the lesser Africa are the kingdoms of Tunis and Constantina, which latter is at this day subject to Tunis, and also the regions of Bugia, Tripoli, and Ezzah. This part of Africa is very barren, by reason of the great deserts of Numidia and Barca. The princ.i.p.al ports of the kingdom of Tunis are, Goletta, Bizerta, Potofarnia, Bona, and Stora. Tunis and Constantina are the chief cities, with several others. To this kingdom belong the following islands, Zerbi, Lampadola, Pantalarea, Limoso, Beit, Gamelaro, and Malta; in which the grand-master of the knights of Rhodes now resides. To the south of this kingdom are the great deserts of Lybia. All the nations of this lesser Africa are of the sect of Mahomet, a rustical people living scattered in villages.

[Footnote 191: This brief description of Africa is preserved, rather for the purpose of shewing what were the ideas of the English on this subject towards the end of the sixteenth century, than for any excellence.--E.]

The best of this part of Africa is Mauritania, now called Barbary, on the coast of the Mediterranean. Mauritania is divided into two parts, Tingitana and Cesariensis. Mauritania Tingitana is now called the kingdoms of Fez and Marocco, of which the capitals bear the same names.

Mauritania, Cesariensis is now called the kingdom of Tremessan, the capital of which is named Tremessan or Telensin. This region is full of deserts, and reaches to the Mediterranean, to the city of Oran with the port of Mersalquiber. The kingdom of Fez reaches to the ocean, from the west to the city of Arzilla, and Sala or Salee is the port of this kingdom. The kingdom of Marocco also extends to the ocean, on which it has the cities of Azamor and Azafi. Near to Fez and Marocco in the ocean are the Canary islands, anciently called the Fortunate islands.

To the south is the kingdom of Guinea, with Senega, Jalofo, Gambra, and many other regions of _the black Moors_, called Ethiopians or Negroes, all of which regions are watered by the river Negro, called anciently the Niger[192]. In these regions there are no cities, but only villages of low cottages made of boughs of trees, plastered over with chalk and covered with straw; and in these regions there are great deserts.

[Footnote 192: In the text the Senegal river is to be understood by the Negro, or river of the Blacks. But the ancient Niger is now well known to run eastwards in the interior of Nigritia, having no connection whatever with the Senegal or with the sea.--E.]

The kingdom of Marocco includes seven subordinate kingdoms, named Hea, Sus, Guzula, Marocco proper, Duccula, Hazchora, and Tedle. Fez has an equal number, as Fez, Temesne, Azgar, Elabath, Errif, Garet, and Elcair.

Tremessan has only three, being Tremessan, Tenez, and Elgazair; all the inhabitants of all these regions being Mahometans. But all the regions of Guinea are peopled by Gentiles and idolaters, having no religion or knowledge of G.o.d except from the law of nature.

Africa, one of the three great divisions of the world known to the ancients, is separated from Asia on the east by the river Nile, and on the west from Europe by the Pillars of Hercules or the Straits of Gibraltar. The entire northern coast along the Mediterranean is now called Barbary, and is inhabited by the Moors. The inner part is called Lybia and Ethiopia. Lesser Africa, in which stood the n.o.ble city of Carthage, has Numidia on the west and Cyrenaica on the east.