Page 21 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

THE DAWN OF THE EMPIRE 21

but in abandoning his mad purpose he took up with another
scheme equally futile and in its results more mischievous,
Instead of prosecuting the voyage to the East he con­
ducted a semi-piratical raid along the coast of Brazil.
One of his smaller vessels suffered shipwreck oil the mouth
of the River Plate, and the crew manning it were seized
and sent prisoners to Lima. The remaining vessels, after
a brush with a Spanish fleet, directed their course to Eng­
land, which they reached on June 27, 1583. When the
fleet dropped anchor in the Downs Hawkins was a close
prisoner in irons. He afterwards gave out that Fenton
had attempted his life to prevent the exposure of his folly.
Fenton’s own story, of course, was different; but the
fiasco in which the enterprise had resulted was too com­
plete to be explained away by any failings of a subordinate.
Fenton, after the facts had been investigated, dropped
into obscurity. What became of Hawkins is an interesting
problem of history. He is identified by some authorities
with a notable commander in the employ of the East India
Company who will be met with further on in this narrative.
But the connexion has by no means been satisfactorily
established. The strong probability appears to be that
he shared the disrepute which attached to the expedition
to the extent of not again being entrusted with an impor­
tant command at sea.
In the year following Fenton’s fruitless essay in explora­
tion Raleigh conducted the first of the series of memorable
expeditions which resulted in the foundation of the Colony
of Virginia and the establishment of the English connexion
with the North American Continent. His achievements
in that region constitute a brilliant page in English history.
But more to the immediate purpose of this work was the