tracted with the corporation of Plymouth 'to bring the river Meavy to the town, which, being in length about twenty-five miles, he with great care and diligence effected,' December 1590 to April 1591 (Hist. MSS. Comm., 9th Rep. App. pt. i. p. 278; Trans. of the Devonshire Assoc. 1884, p. 530); and having finished this 'he set in hand to build six mills,' four of which were finished and grinding corn before Michaelmas. In 1593 he represented Plymouth in parliament, where he was again on the committee for regulating the Plymouth water supply, and is also (ib. p. 646) said to have spoken and voted in favour of strong measures and liberal support for carrying on the war, and at Plymouth itself was a good deal engaged in measures for 'walling and fortifying' the town. Towards the end of 1594 he was again ordered by the queen to take command of an expedition to the West Indies, with his old and trusty kinsman and friend, Sir John Hawkyns, under him as vice-admiral. The expedition seems to have been unfortunate from the beginning. Though ordered in November 1594, it was not ready for sea till August 1595, during which time its strength and probable destination were fully discussed in the Spanish settlements. It consisted of 27 sail and 2,500 men all told, the soldiers under the command of Sir Nicholas Clifford. It left Plymouth on 28 Aug., but did not arrive at Great Canary till 26 Sept. An ill-judged and unsuccessful attempt on this island delayed them nearly a month, and permitted fullest intelligence of their approach to be sent to the West Indies. On 29 Oct. they anchored at Guadeloupe, where they watered, and sailed on 4 Nov. for Porto Rico, where a very large treasure had been collected. On the 11th they anchored before the town, and almost as they did so Hawkyns died. The same evening a shot from the shore killed Clifford and some other officers. The town had been, in fact, put in a fair state of defence, and the next day, when the fleet attacked, it was beaten off. From Porto Rico they went to La Hacha, Rancheria, and Santa Marta on the main, and finding no booty nor ransom set them on fire. Nombre de Dios, being equally empty, they also burnt. They then attempted to march to Panama, but a number of forts blocked the way and compelled them to return. Everywhere preparations had been made for their reception; treasure had been cleared out and batteries had been thrown up and armed. Drake had been for some time suffering from dysentery; disappointment and vexation probably enough aggravated the disease, and it took a bad turn. When he got on board his ship, the Defiance, he was almost spent, and off Porto Bello, a few days later, 28 Jan. 1595-6, he died. On the 29th his body, enclosed in a leaden coffin, was committed to the deep a few miles to seaward; or, in the words of an anonymous poet quoted by Prince (Worthies of Devon, p. 243),
The waves became his winding-sheet; the waters were his tomb;
But for his fame, the ocean sea was not sufficient room.
In 1883 a paragraph went the round of the papers to the effect that an attempt was about to be made to recover the body by dredging. It is not at all likely that such an attempt could have been successful; but the idea, if ever seriously entertained, was happily relinquished.
Drake was so entirely a man of action that by his actions alone he must be judged. In them and in the testimony of independent witnesses he appears as a man of restless energy, cautious in preparation, prompt and sudden in execution; a man of masterful temper, careful of the lives and interests of his subordinates, but permitting no assumption of equality; impatient of advice, intolerant of opposition, self-possessed, and self-sufficing; as fearless of responsibility as of an enemy; with the force of character to make himself obeyed, with the kindliness of disposition to make himself loved. Stow, summing up his characteristics, has described him as 'more skilful in all points of navigation than any that ever was before his time, in his time, or since his death; of a perfect memory, great observation, eloquent by nature, skilful in artillery, expert and apt to let blood and give physic unto his people according to the climates. He was low of stature, of strong limbs, broad breasted, round headed, brown hair, full bearded; his eyes round, large, and clear; well favoured, fair, and of a cheerful countenance' (Annals, p. 808). That, judged by the morality of the nineteenth century, Drake was a pirate or filibuster is unquestioned; but the Spaniards on whom he preyed were equally so. The most brilliant of his early exploits were performed without the shadow of a commission; but he and his friends had been, in the first instance, attacked at San Juan de Lua treacherously and without any legitimate provocation. In the eyes of Drake, in the eyes of all his countrymen, his attacks on the Spaniards were fair and honourable reprisals. According to modern international law the action of the Spaniards would no more be tolerated than would that of Drake; but as yet international law could scarcely be said to have an existence. That from the queen downwards no one in England considered Drake's attack on Nombre de Dios
