The Oregon Territory, Its History and Discovery. Travers Twiss
had received the English original from one of his vassals, who had sailed with Drake; but the most ingenious interpretation of his words will not warrant us in inferring that the donor was likewise the author of the work.
It may be not unworthy of remark, that Purchas, in the fifth volume of his Pilgrims, (p. 1181,) gives a list of persons known to the world as the companions of Drake, in which the name of Francis Pretty is not found. “Men noted to have compassed the world with Drake, which have come to my hands, are Thomas Drake, brother to Sir Francis, Thomas Hood, Thomas Blaccoler, John Grippe, George, a musician, Crane, Fletcher, Cary, Moore, John Drake, John Thomas, Robert Winterly, Oliver, the gunner, &c.” It would be a reflection upon the well-known pains-taking research of Purchas, to suppose that he would have omitted from his list the name of the author of the Famous Voyage, had he been really one of Drake’s crew.
The other narrative, which is far more full and complete than the Famous Voyage, is entitled the “World Encompassed.” It was published under the superintendence of Francis Drake, a nephew of the Admiral, if not compiled by him; the foundation of it, as stated in the title, seems to have been the notes of Francis Fletcher, the chaplain of Drake’s vessel, “compared with divers others’ notes that went in the same voyage.” Fleurieu, in speaking of this work, says: “Celleci est le récit d’un témoin oculaire: et la fonction qu’il remplissait à bord du vaisseau amiral pourrait faire présumer que, s’il n’était pas l’homme de la flotte le plus expérimenté dans l’art de la navigation, du moins il devait être celui que les études exigées de sa profession avaient mis le plus à portée d’acquérir quelques connaissances, et qui pouvait le mieux exprimer ce qu’il avait vu.” (Recherches sur les terres australes de Drake, p. 227.)
Fleurieu, in further illustration of the probable fitness of Fletcher for his task, refers to the excellent account of Anson’s Voyages, written by his chaplain, R. Walter, and to the valuable treatise on naval evolutions, compiled by the Jesuit Paul Hoste, the chaplain of Tourville.
The earliest edition of “The World Encompassed” appeared in 1628, and a copy of this date is to be found in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford. It was printed for Nicholas Bourne, as “the next voyage to that to Nombre de Dios, in 1572, formerly imprinted.” A second edition was printed in 1635, and is in the King’s Library at the British Museum. A third edition was published in 1652, and may be found in the Library of the British Museum. It was therefore impossible not to feel surprise at Mr. Greenhow’s deliberately stating, that this work was not published before 1652, the more so as Watt, in his Bibliotheca Britannica, refers to the first edition of 1628. It is the coincidence of this second error, which warrants the supposition that Mr. Greenhow has placed too implicit a faith in the writer of the article upon Drake, in the Biographie Universelle. M. Eyriés, the author of that article, there writes, “Un autre ouvrage original est celui qui fut composé sur les mémoires de Francis Fletcher, chapelain sur le vaisseau de Drake. Ces mémoires furent comparés et fondus avec ceux de plusieurs autres personnes qui avaient été employées dans la même expédition; le résultat de ce travail parut sous ce titre: The World Encompassed, by Sir F. Drake, collected out of the notes of Master F. F., preacher in this employment, and others. Londres, 1652, 8vo.” There is another slight error in this statement, as the work is a small 4to, not an 8vo.
It has been deemed the more necessary to point out carefully the errors of Mr. Greenhow, in regard to these two narratives, because he contrasts them expressly (p. 74) as “the one proceeding entirely from a person who had accompanied Drake in his expedition, and published in 1589, during the life of the hero; the other compiled from various accounts, and not given to the world until the middle of the following century.”
In respect to the narrative of the World Encompassed, Mr. Greenhow thus expresses himself:—“It is a long and diffuse account, filled with dull and generally absurd speculations, and containing moreover a number of statements, which are positive and evidently wilful falsehoods; yet it contains scarcely a single fact not related in the Famous Voyage, from which many sentences and paragraphs are taken verbatim, while others convey the same meaning in different terms. The journal, or supposed journal of Fletcher’s, remains in manuscript in the British Museum: and from it were derived the false statements above mentioned, according to Barrow, who consulted it.”
Mr. Greenhow’s opinion of the length and diffuseness of the narrative, and of the dulness and general absurdity of the speculations, will probably be acquiesced in by those who have read the World Encompassed, but the rest of his observations have been made at random. The World Encompassed does not profess to be an original work, but to be a compilation from the notes of several who went the voyage. It is therefore highly probable that the compiler had before him “The Famous Voyage” amongst other narratives, and we should be prepared to find many statements alike in the two accounts. But it seems hard to suppose with Mr. Greenhow, that, where the World Encompassed differs from the Famous Voyage, the statements are “positive and evidently wilful falsehoods.” There are several statements, for instance, where the two narratives differ, and where the World Encompassed agrees with Nuño da Silva’s account, or with Cliffe’s narrative.
For instance, on the second day after clearing the Straits of Magellan, on Sept. 7th, a violent gale came on from the northeast, which drove Drake’s three vessels, the Golden Hind, the Elizabeth, and the Marigold to the height of 57° south according to Cliffe, and about 200 leagues in longitude west of the strait, according to the Famous Voyage. They could make no head against the gale for three weeks, and during that interval there was an eclipse of the moon, which is alluded to in all the narratives. According to Nuño da Silva, they lay driving about, without venturing to hoist a sail till the last day of September, and about this time lost sight of the Marigold. The Elizabeth still kept company with the Golden Hind, but on or before October 7th, Drake’s vessel parted from her consort. We now come to a very important event in Drake’s voyage, which would seem to be one of the supposed “positive and evidently wilful falsehoods,” to which Mr. Greenhow alludes.
The Famous Voyage conducts Sir F. Drake in a continuous course north-westward, after losing sight of the Elizabeth, to the island of Mocha, in 38° 30′ south, whereas the World Encompassed says, that “Drake, being driven from the Bay of the Parting of Friends out into the open sea, was carried back again to the southward into 55° south, on which height they found shelter for two days amongst the islands, but were again driven further to the southward, and at length fell in with the uttermost part of land towards the South Pole,” in about 56° south. Here Fletcher himself landed, and travelled to the southernmost part of the island, beyond which there was neither continent nor island, but one wide ocean. We altered the name, says Fletcher in his MS. journal, from Terra Incognita, to Terra nunc bene Cognita. Now this account in the World Encompassed, varying so totally from that in the Famous Voyage, is fully borne out by the positive evidence of Nuño da Silva, who says, that after losing sight of another ship of their company, the Admiral’s ship being now left alone, with this foul weather they ran till they were under 57°, where they entered into the haven of an island, and stayed there three or four days. The Famous Voyage would lead the reader to suppose, that after leaving the Bay of Severing of Friends, the Elizabeth and Golden Hind were driven in company to 57° 20′ south; but it is altogether contrary to probability that Cliffe should have omitted the fact of the Elizabeth having been in company with Drake when he discovered the southernmost point of land, had such been the case. The author of the Famous Voyage has evidently mixed up the events of the gale in the month of September with those of the storm after the 8th of October. This is a very striking instance of the truth of Captain W. Burney’s remark, “that the author of the Famous Voyage seems purposely, on some occasions, to introduce confusion as a cloak for ignorance.”
Again, the World Encompassed mentions that Drake was badly wounded in the face with an arrow by the natives in the island of Mocha, about which the Famous Voyage is altogether silent, but Nuño da Silva confirms this statement. Other instances might be cited to the like purport.
Mr. Greenhow, at the end of his note already cited, says, “The journal, or supposed journal of Fletcher, remains in MS. in the British Museum, and from it were derived the false statements above mentioned, according to Barrow, who consulted it.” Mr. Greenhow has nowhere particularised what these false statements