They carried between them a
hundred men, and ample room had to be provided besides for the blacks.
There may have been a difference in the measurement of tonnage. We
ourselves have five standards: builder's measurement, yacht measurement,
displacement, sail area, and register measurement. Registered tonnage is
far under the others: a yacht registered 120 tons would be called 200 in
a shipping list. However that be, the brigantines and sloops used by the
Elizabethans on all adventurous expeditions were mere boats compared
with what we should use now on such occasions. The reason was obvious.
Success depended on speed and sailing power. The art of building big
square-rigged ships which would work to windward had not been yet
discovered, even by Mr. Fletcher of Rye. The fore-and-aft rig alone
would enable a vessel to tack, as it is called, and this could only be
used with craft of moderate tonnage.
The expedition sailed in October 1562. They called at the Canaries,
where they were warmly entertained. They went on to Sierra Leone, where
they collected 300 negroes. They avoided the Government factories, and
picked them up as they could, some by force, some by negotiation with
local chiefs, who were as ready to sell their subjects as Sancho Panza
intended to be when he got his island.
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