After a strenuous tussle with the Spaniards, Drake
in the _Judith_, followed some time afterwards by Hawkins in the
_Minion_, got away. The condition of Hawkins's crew, unprepared as was
this ship for the voyage, was pitiful. A lengthy spell of contrary winds
served to accentuate the terrible dearth of provisions which prevailed.
The following is a contemporary account of some of the incidents. The
vessel had wandered about the ocean
"tyll hunger inforced us to seek the lands for birdes were thought
very good meate, rattes, cattes, mise and dogges, none escaped that
might be gotten, parrates and monkayes that we had in great prise
were thought then very profitable if they served the tourne one
dinner."
The return home in this instance was truly a sorry one, for the
survivors had left not only gold behind them, but the corpses of so many
brave comrades.
On the whole, the exploits of Hawkins were considerably overshadowed by
those of his young relative, Sir Francis Drake, who had begun to
adventure on his own account in 1570, and who haunted the Spanish
Indies, determined to avenge the treatment he and his comrades had
received at San Juan de Ulloa.
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