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ART. V.-COMMERCIAL VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES.

CHAPTER V.

EARLY VOYAGES OF THE ENGLISH-WINDHAM-CHARTERS GRANTED BY ELIZABETH-VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN LOK TO THE COAST OF GUINEA-VOYAGES OF WILLIAM TOUERSON, MERCHANT, OF LONDON-LIST OF GOODS USED IN THE GUINEA TRADE.

AMONG the earliest to follow in the footsteps of the adventurous Portuguese, were the English. As soon as it was known that the voyages to the coast of Africa were profitable, preparations were made to take a share in it. The first attempt was made by John Fentam and William Fabian in 1481, who commenced fitting out a fleet of vessels for the Guinea trade. Upon the representations, however, of the king of Portugal, who sent a special embassy to the English monarch, the expedition was prohibited from leaving the English ports, and the design was accordingly abandoned. It was supposed that the projected voyage was principally on Spanish account. The Duke Medina Sidonia was said to have been largely interested and to have taken this way of evading, through the help of the English, the exclusive grant made by the pope of the African coast to the Portuguese.

For some time after this, the English gave up all attempts at infringing what were represented to be Portuguese rights, and exerted themselves to discover some other passage to the east. They however extended their voyages to the south as far as the Canaries. In Hakluyt is preserved the contents of a letter written by Nicholas Thorne, merchant in Bristol, in 1526, apprising Thomas Mindal, his factor residing at St. Lucas in Spain, that the Christopher, of Cadiz, bound to the West Indies, had on board several packs of cloth, with packthread, soap, and other goods, which she was to land on the way at Teneriffe, to be exchanged for orchilla sugar and kid-skins. From this it would seem that a trade of the kind had been carried on for some time previous.

In 1551, Captain Thomas Windham made a voyage to Morocco, the only notice of which is in a letter written by James Alday preserved in Hakluyt's collection. The year after, Windham made a voyage to the same ports, Saffe and Santa Cruz. This excited the anger of the Portuguese, who were loud in their threats of violence if they caught the English again in that quarter. Notwithstanding which, Windham in the succeeding year conducted an expedition of three ships and a hundred and forty men to the coast of Guinea. The adventure was however very unfortunate, Windham and most of his men dying from the effects of the climate.

A profitable voyage was made in 1554, by John Lok, who succeeded in obtaining a quantity of gold, ivory, &c., which soon induced others to enter into the trade, which was conducted in defiance of the Portuguese authorities, with whom the adventurers were continually at strife.

In 1585, Queen Elizabeth issued a patent creating a company for the Barbary trade; in 1588, another for the Guinea; and in 1592, another charter was granted for the coast in the neighborhood of Sierra Leone. Under the influence of these charters, which ultimately gave rise to the Royal African Company, the trade with Guinea began to be flourishing and important. Voyages were made, regular narratives of a number of which have been preserved in Hakluyt and other collections. Our space

will enable us to abridge and condense only a few of the most interesting.

About the year 1572 was published a small volume by Richard Eden, containing an account of two voyages made to the coast of Africa; one of which was the unfortunate voyage of Windham, which we have mentioned, and which has been republished at length in Hukluyt, Astley, and others; the other was the voyage of Captain John Lok, made in 1554.

This expedition was fitted out at London, and consisted of the Trinity of 140 tons, the Bartholomew of 90, and the John Evangelist of 140. On the 11th of October, 1554, they set sail from the Thames, but did not quit the shores of England until the 1st of November. On the 17th they came within sight of Madeira, and on the 19th they saw the Canaries and were becalmed under the Peak of Teneriffe-a very usual thing at the present day. From the Canaries they steered for the coast of the continent, and descried it in the neighborhood of Cape Barbas. Running down the coast, touching and trading at several points, they remained until the 13th of February, when they started for home, where they safely arrived, with a cargo consisting of four hundred ounces of gold, more than twenty-two carats fine, thirty-six butts of grains, and two hundred and fifty elephant's teeth, some of which measured by Mr. Eden, astonished him by their size of nine spans in length, and weight of one hundred and twenty pounds apiece. In the account of the voyage are interspersed notices of natural phenomena, winds and currents, descriptions of places with their latitudes, which last, however, are very incorrectly given.

In 1555, William Touerson made his first voyage as captain (he had previously been several times in other capacities,) to Guinea, an account of which written by himself, is to be found in Hakluyt and others. His vessels were the Hart and the Hind of London, with John Ralph and William Carter sailing-masters. After a tedious passage in which they saw Porto Santo, Madeira, and the Canaries, the appearances of which are noticed at length, they arrived on the coast at a point now occupied by our colony of Liberia. Having overshot the river Sestos, the port that they wished to make, they came to anchor off the mouth of the St. Vincent, a few leagues to the east of the Sestos. In the morning they loaded their boat with basins and other goods, and went into the river, where they soon commenced a trade with the natives who came flocking around them. "They took that day one hogshead and one hundred weight of grains, and two elephant's teeth at a reasonable rate. They sold them both manillios and margarets, but they liked basins best. For each of which they had about thirty pounds weight of grains, or Guinea pepper, and for an elephant's tooth of thirty pounds weight, they gave six basins." The next morning the natives had increased so much in their prices, at the same time affecting to underrate the English goods, that no trade could be had with them.

Going on shore, the English were well received and treated. "Divers of the women, to divert their visitants, danced and sung after their manner, which was not very agreeable to the ear. There was Sakere, Sakere, ho! ho! Sakere, Sakere, ho! ho! Leaping and clapping their hands all the while." But all this, although gratifying to the curiosity, did not promote trade, and the natives continuing too exorbitant in their demands, they weighed anchor and stood along the coast. Occasionally having communication with the negroes, they doubled Cape Palmas, and coasted

along for one hundred leagues to Cape Tres Puntas, beyond which they expected to find a large town and a market for their cloth.

Arrived at a large negro town, they anchored, and after sending a present to the governor, tried to come to some agreement as to the terms upon which the trade should be conducted. But he would suffer his people to buy only the basins; so that morning they disposed of seventy-four brass basins for half an angel weight of gold apiece, and nine white basins for quarter of an angel.

measures.

"The next morning they manned their boats and went ashore. They were presently accosted by the same young man who had first came off to the ships, and who seemed to have dealt before with the Portuguese, for he could speak that language a little and was perfect in weights and He offered, as he had done before, one angel and two grains for four ells, making signs that if they would not take that, they might depart; which they did after offering him three ells of rotten cloth for that The ships being a league off sent back again weight, which he refused. for sand and ballast. The governor perceiving that the boats brought no merchandise, and that their intention was to sail away in earnest, made signs again to know if they would not give the four ells; and when they saw the boats ready to depart they came and gave the weight of the angel and twelve grains, and made signs that if the boats would return again they would take three ells. For quicker despatch, Mr. Touerson and John Savill went ashore in one boat, and the master and Richard Curligin in the other. The first took fifty-two ounces and the other boat eight ounces and a half.

"The next day Mr. Touerson went on shore and took three pounds nineteen ounces by noon, when they had sold most of the cloth they carried. and many of the people were departed. While they were on shore they sold thirty-nine basins and two small white saucers for three ounces apiece, which was the most they made by basins."

Leaving this place they stood on to the east, touching at various points, and trading with the natives in the manner we have seca, without any adventures of much interest, until their cargo was exhausted and they set sail for home. On the 14th of May they entered the port of Bristol, hav ing made a very successful voyage.

In 1556, Touerson made a second voyage. Arrived on the coast, the English saw three sail of ships, and made preparations for an engagement. The strange squadron Both fleets manœuvred for the weather-gage. having put themselves in order, tacked and came up in gallant style, with pendants flying and the sound of trumpets.

"When both fleets met they had the weather of ours, which being deThis they stoutly termined to fight, waved them to come under their lee. They said refusing, the English demanded of them whence they were. of France, and being told that our ships were of London, they asked what The answer was, none but fishermen. They Portuguese we had seen. said that there were certain Portuguese ships gone to the gold coast to defend it, and that they had met with another at the river Sestos of two hundred tons which they had burned, having saved none but the master, two or three negroes, and a few others grievously burned, whom they left ashore there."

The Frenchmen proposed that instead of fighting they should club their forces against the Portuguese and proceed together to the gold coast to

trade. The French admiral offering to supply the English ships with the water and provisions they stood in need of; and in fact, to furl his flag and come under the direction of Touerson. After several conferences and dinners, an arrangement was made by which they were to go together without attempting to injure each other's market, for which purpose, it was agreed that one boat should be sent on shore to settle the prices for both the squadrons, and then only one boat from each ship be allowed to trade. In this way they continued their trade at various points upon the coast, taking a good quantity of gold unmolested by the Portuguese, who, although they had castles and small forts at almost every accessible place, were unable to prevent them. But one day while the boats were ashore, five sail of Portuguese were descried in the offing. The boats were ordered aboard and sail made, but night prevented a fight. The next evening the Portuguese were discovered at anchor and preparations were made to attack them, the English giving their men white scarfs, so that the French might distinguish them if it came to boarding. But again night intervened, and the united squadrons came to anchor not far from the Portuguese.

The next morning both fleets weighed anchor and stood out, the united fleet getting to windward, when the Portuguese tacked to shore and the French and English pursued. "When they were so near the shore that they could not well run any further, they tacked about again and lay to the seaward. Our ships tacked at the same time, and being ahead of them, took in their topsails and waited for them. The first that came up was a small bark that carried good ordnance and sailed so fast that she valued nobody. She shot at the Tiger, Touerson's ship, but overshot her, and then let fly at the French admiral, and shot him through in two or three places. After this she went ahead of the English, because they were in their fighting sails. Then came up another caravel under the Tiger's lee, and shot both at her and the Frenchman. She hurt two of his men and shot him through the mainmast. Next came up the admiral under the lee of the Tiger also, but he was not able to do them so much harm as the small vessels, because he carried his ordnance higher; neither was the Tiger able to make a good shot at any of them, because she was so weak in the side as to lay all her guns under water! Mr. Touerson therefore resolved to lay the great ship aboard. But as soon as the French admiral next wore with him, he fell astern and could not fetch him. After that he fell astern two caravels more, and in short could fetch none of them, but fell to leeward of them all, and tacking about to the shore left the English to shift for themselves. The other Frenchman kept the wind also and would not advance. The Hart was astern, so that she could not come up to them. For all this the Tiger hoisted her topsails and gave the enemy chase. After she had followed them two miles to seaward, they tacked about again towards shore, thinking to pay her off as they went by, and to get the wind of the French admiral. Running by and firing at the Tiger, who tacked and followed them, they stood in for the French admiral, while the other English and French ships stood out to sea. Being come up with the French admiral, they poured into him several broadsides, but did not dare board him for fear of the Tiger, which was bearing down upon them from windward.

"When the Frenchman was clear of them he lay as near to the wind as he could, and seeing the Tiger follow them still towards the shore, ran to

sea after the rest, and left her all alone. The Portuguese perceiving this, turned about with her and she with them, to keep the wind. But they shot not at her, because she had the weather of them and they saw they could do her no hurt. Thus they followed one another until night, and then she lost them. As for all the rest of the ships, they crowded all the sails they could and ran to sea, praying for the Tiger, as they confessed, which was all the help they designed her."

The next day Touerson fell in with his consorts, but they had no great mind for a continuance of the fight, and were therefore not displeased that the Portuguese, having probably arrived at the same conclusion, did not The trade on the coast continued with conshow themselves any more.

siderable success, but not without disputes and difficulties between the allied parties, and even between the English themselves. Coming home they encountered another Portuguese fleet of ships. The English were alone, but the gallant commander would have attacked them had it not been for the master of the Hart, who manœuvred so as to compel the Tiger to give up; for which he was reprimanded by Touerson. Taking offence at which, the Hart separated in the night from her consort and left the Tiger to make her way alone.

"On the

On the fifth of May they reached the latitude of the Azores. twenty-third they spied a ship on the weather of them, which proved to be a Frenchman of ninety tons, who came up very boldly; and judging the Tiger to be weak, as indeed she was, because they perceived she had been upon a long voyage, and thought to have laid her on board, some of his men appearing in armor commanded them to strike. They answered them with cross-bows, chain-shot, and arrows, so thick that it made the upper works of the ship fly about their ears, and spoiled the captain, with many of his men; in short, they tore his ship miserably with their great ordnance. This cooling his courage, he began to sail astern and to To show their love crowd on his sails to get away as fast as he could.

further, our folks gave him four or five good balls more for his farewell, and thus they were rid of the Monsieurs, who did them no harm at all. There was aboard the Tiger a French trumpeter, who being sick in bed, yet on this occasion took his trumpet and sounded till he could sound no more, and so died."

A few days after they arrived in safety at Plymouth.

A third and last voyage was made by Touerson in 1557, with three ships. On their way out they captured two Hamburg ships, with French property on board, which was taken out and the ships dismissed.

On the tenth of March they fell in with the coast of Guinea, near the mouth of the river Sestos. Here they received news that three French ships had gone on down the coast. Shortly after they were encountered and attacked by a fleet of five Portuguese ships, but without suffering much damage. They resolved next day to continue the fight, but not finding the Portuguese, they made search for the Frenchmen, one of which, the Mulet, they succeeded in capturing. She proved to be a fine prize, as she had fifty pounds five ounces of gold.

Continuing the trade for some time with various success, burning several towns where the negroes refused to trade, they at length set sail for England. On their way home they were compelled to abandon the old Tiger, from her leaky condition, after removing her goods and stores. Narrowly escaping being wrecked by a violent storm in the Channel, they

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