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 passages 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 ships under
the command of Captain Raymond; and in 1596, another fleet of three
ships 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 Cumberland at their head, under the name of
the _Company of Merchant Adventurers_, for carrying on a trade to the
East Indies. From this period ships 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 ships, several
English merchants and others had gone to India from time to time in the
Portuguese ships, and some overland; from a desire to pry into and to
participate 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 passengers 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 ship 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 ships 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 Buttolfe 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 ships was 120. The master of the
Lion was John Kerry of Minehead in Somersetshire, and his mate was David
Landman.
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