But nothing can detract from what our generation may describe as their eccentric genius in combining navigation with piracy and naval and military art.  Talk about “human vision”!  What is the good of it if it turns out nothing but unrestrained confusion?  The men of the period I am writing about had real “vision,” and applied it with accuracy without disorganizing the machinery of life and making the world a miserable place to live in.  They were all for country and none for self.

After the capture of the Spanish ship and the appropriation of her cargo of fish, Drake’s fleet went lounging along towards Vigo.  In due course he brought his ships to anchor in the harbour, and lost no time in coming in contact with Don Pedro Bendero, the Spanish governor, who was annoyed at the British Admiral’s unceremonious appearance.  Don Pedro said that he was not aware that his country was at war with Britain.  Drake quickly disillusioned him, and demanded, “If we are not at war, why have English merchants been arrested?” Don Pedro said an order had come for their release.  Drake landed forthwith a portion of his force, and seeing that he meant business that foreboded trouble, the governor sent him wine, fruit, and other luxurious articles of food in abundance.  The ships were anchored in a somewhat open roadstead, so Drake resolved to take them farther up the waterway where they would lie comfortably, no matter from what direction the threatening storm might break.  But he had another shrewd object in view, which was to make a beginning in acquiring any of the valuable and treasured possessions adorning the churches.  A trusted officer who was in his confidence, and a great admirer of his wisdom and other personal qualities, was sent to survey the passage and to find a suitable anchorage.  He was a man of enterprise, with a strong dislike to the Roman Catholic faith, and never doubted that he was perfectly justified in relieving the churches of plate and other valuables.  These were, in his eyes, articles of idolatry that no man of puritanic and Protestant principles could refrain from removing and placing under the safe keeping of his revered chief, who was no more averse to robbing a church than he was to robbing a ship carrying gold or fish.

As the vessel in charge of this intrepid officer, whose name was Carlile, approached the town where it was proposed to anchor the fleet the inhabitants fled, taking with them much of the church plate and other things which the British had covetously thought an appropriate prize of theirs.  Carlile, being a man of resource, soon laid hold of other church treasure, which amply compensated for the loss of that which was carried off by the fleeing inhabitants at the mouth of the harbour.  The day following Christopher Carlile’s satisfactory survey the fleet was anchored off the town.  The sight of it threw the whole district into panic.  A pompous governor of Galicia hastened to Vigo, and on his arrival there