_Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, in 1585, to the West Indies_[334].
Upon the knowledge of the embargo laid by the king of Spain in 1585,
upon the English ships, men, and goods found in his country, having no
means to relieve her subjects by friendly treaty, her majesty authorised
such as had sustained loss by that order of embargo to right themselves
by making reprisals upon the subjects of the king of Spain; for which
she gave them her letters of reprisal, to take and arrest all ships and
merchandises they might find at sea or elsewhere, belonging to the
subjects of that King. At the same time, to revenge the wrongs offered
to her crown and dignity, and to resist the preparations then making
against her by the king of Spain, her majesty equipped a fleet of
twenty-five sail of ships, and employed them under the command of Sir
Francis Drake, as the fittest person in her dominions, by reason of his
experience and success in sundry actions.
[Footnote 334: Church. Collect. III. 155.]
It is not my intention to give all the particulars of the voyages
treated of, but merely to enumerate the services performed, and the
mistakes and oversights committed, as a warning to those who may read
them, to prevent the like errors hereafter. As this voyage of Sir
Francis Drake was the first undertaking on either side in this war, for
it ensued immediately after the arrest of our ships and goods in Spain,
I shall deliver my opinion of it before I proceed any farther.
![South America - A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume 7 - By Robert Kerr
- - _Hakl._
SECTION II.
_Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, in 1585, to the West Indies_[334].
Upon the knowledge of the - Page 583](../images/travel.jpg)
