The
Queen lent the _Jesus_, a large ship of her own, of 700 tons. Formal
instructions were given that no wrong was to be done to the King of
Spain, but what wrong might mean was left to the discretion of the
commander. Where the planters were all eager to purchase, means of
traffic would be discovered without collision with the authorities. This
time the expedition was to be on a larger scale, and a hundred soldiers
were put on board to provide for contingencies. Thus furnished, Hawkins
started on his second voyage in October 1564. The autumn was chosen, to
avoid the extreme tropical heats. He touched as before to see his
friends at the Canaries. He went on to the Rio Grande, met with
adventures bad and good, found a chief at war with a neighbouring tribe,
helped to capture a town and take prisoners, made purchases at a
Portuguese factory. In this way he now secured 400 human cattle, perhaps
for a better fate than they would have met with at home, and with these
he sailed off in the old direction. Near the equator he fell in with
calms; he was short of water, and feared to lose some of them; but, as
the record of the voyage puts it, 'Almighty God would not suffer His
elect to perish,' and sent a breeze which carried him safe to Dominica.
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