Chapter XL: Introduction

On the present occasion we are principally guided in our selection by chronological order, owing to which this _Chapter_ may have an anomalous appearance, as containing the early voyages of the English to the Western or Atlantic coast of Africa, while the title of the _Book_ to which it belongs was confined to the Discoveries and Conquests of the Portuguese, and other European Nations, in India; yet the arrangement has been formed on what we have considered as sufficient grounds, more especially as resembling the steps by which the Portuguese were led to their grand discovery of the route by sea to India. Our collection forms a periodical work, in the conduct of which it would be obviously improper to tie ourselves too rigidly, in these introductory discourses, to any absolute rules of minute arrangement, which might prevent us from availing ourselves of such valuable sources of information as may occur in the course of our researches. We have derived the principal materials of this and the next succeeding chapter, from Hakluyt's Collection of the Early Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries of the English Nation, using the late edition published at London in 1810, and availing ourselves of the previous labours of the Editor of Astleys Collection, published in 1745. Mr John Green, the intelligent editor of that former collection, has combined the substance of the present and succeeding chapters of our work in the second book of his first volume, under the title of The First Voyages of the English to Guinea and the East Indies; and as our present views are almost solely confined to the period which he embraces, we have thought it right to insert his introduction to that book, as containing a clear historical view of the subject[175]. It is proper to mention, however, that, while we follow his steps, we have uniformly had recourse to the originals from which he drew his materials; and, for reasons formerly assigned, wherever any difference may occur between our collection and that of Astley, we shall subjoin our remarks and references, at the place or places to which they belong.--E.

[Footnote 175: Astley's Collection, Vol. I. p. 138, 140.]

"Although the Portuguese were the first who set on foot discoveries by sea, and carried them on for many years before any other European nation attempted to follow their example; yet, as soon as these voyages appeared to be attended with commercial gain, the English were ready to put in for a share. The Portuguese discovered Guinea about the year 1471; and only ten years afterwards we find the English making preparations to visit the newly discovered coast[176]. In the year 1481, John Tintam and William Fabian were busy in fitting out a fleet for the coast of Guinea; but whether on their own account in whole or in part, or solely for the Duke of _Medina Sidonia_ in Spain, by whose command they are said to have done this, cannot be now determined. It is possible, as the Spaniards were excluded by the Papal grant in favour of the Portuguese from trading to the East Indies, that they might endeavour to elude this authority by employing Englishmen in that navigation. However this may have been, _Joam_ or John II. king of Portugal, sent two persons on an embassy to Edward king of England, to renew the ancient league of friendship between the crowns, and to move him to hinder that fleet from putting to sea. The Portuguese ambassadors had orders to acquaint the king of England with the title which the king of Portugal derived from the Pope, to the exclusive sovereignty and navigation of Guinea, and to demand that Edward should prohibit his subjects from sending any ships to that country. This was accordingly done, and the purposes of that intended voyage were frustrated. This is an authentic testimony of the early attempts of the English, which is related at length by _Garcia de Resende_, in the life of Joam II. Ch. 33[177]. To this, or some similar circumstance, it may have been owing that the English desisted so long from sailing to the southwards, and turned their endeavours to the discovery of a passage to India by some other way.

[Footnote 176: The French pretend to have traded with Guinea from 1364 till 1413, being 107 years before it was discovered by the Portuguese.--Astl. I. 138, a.]

[Footnote 177: Cited by Hakluyt, Vol. II. Part 2. p. 2]

"It appears by a memorandum or letter of _Nicholas Thorn_, senior, a considerable merchant in Bristol, of which Hakluyt gives the contents[178], that in 1526, and from circumstances for a long time previous, certain English merchants, among whom were _Nicholas Thorn_ and _Thomas Spacheford_, had frequently traded to the Canary islands. In that letter or memorandum, notice was given to _Thomas Midnal_ his factor and _William Ballard_ his servant; residing in St Lucar in Andalusia, that the Christopher of Cadiz bound for the West Indies, had taken on board several packs of cloth of different fineness and colours, together with packthread, soap, and other goods, to be landed at Santa Cruz in Teneriffe. They are directed to sell these goods, and to send back returns in Orchil[179], sugar, and kid skins.

[Footnote 178: Id. ib. p. 3.]

[Footnote 179: A species of moss growing on high rocks, much used in these days in dying.--Astl. I. 138. d.]

"At length, about the middle of the _sixteenth_ century, the English spirit of trade, meeting with favourable circumstances, began to exert itself, and to extend its adventures to the south as well as the north. About the year 1551, Captain Thomas Windham sailed in the ship Lion for Morocco, whither he carried two Moors of the blood-royal. This was the first voyage to the western coast of Africa of which we have any account, and these are all the particulars to be found respecting it; except that one Thomas Alday, a servant to Sebastian Cabot, in a letter inserted in Hakluyt's Collection[180], represents himself as the first promoter of this trade to Barbary, and observes that he would have performed this voyage himself, with the sole command of the ship and goods, had it not been that Sir John Lutterel, John Fletcher, Henry Ostrich, and others with whom he was connected, died of the sweating sickness, and he himself, after escaping that disease, was seized by a violent fever, so that Thomas Windham sailed from Portsmouth before he recovered, by which he lost eighty pounds.

[Footnote 180: Vol. II. p. 7.]

"In the next year, 1552, Windham made a second voyage to _Zafin_ or _Saffi_ and Santa Cruz without the straits, which gave so much offence to the Portuguese, that they threatened to treat the English as enemies if found in these seas. Yet in the year following, the same Thomas Windham, with a Portuguese named Antonio Yanez Pinteado, who appears to have been the chief promoter of the attempt, undertook a voyage to Guinea, with three ships having an hundred and forty men; and having traded for some time on the coast for gold, they went to Benin to load pepper: But both the commanders and most of the men dying of sickness, occasioned by the climate, the rest returned to Plymouth with one ship only, having burnt the other two for want of hands, and brought back no great riches. In 1554, Mr John Lok made a voyage with three ships to the coast of Guinea, whence he brought back a considerable quantity of gold and ivory. These voyages appear to have been succeeded by others almost every year. At length, upon application to Queen Elizabeth, two patents were granted to certain merchants. One in 1585, for the Barbary or Morocco trade, and the other in 1588, for the trade to Guinea between the rivers Senegal and Gambia[181]. In 1592, a third patent was granted to other persons, taking in the coast from the river _Nonnia_ to the south of Sierra Leona, for the space of 100 leagues, which patents gave rise to the African company. In all their voyages to the coast of Africa they had disputes with the Portuguese. 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.]