15. Elizabeth's Sailors 15. Elisabeths Matrosen 15. Los marineros de Isabel 15.エリザベスの船員たち 15. Os marinheiros de Isabel 15. Моряки Елизаветы 15. Моряки Єлизавети 15.伊丽莎白的水手

"Brave the captain was; the seamen Made a gallant crew, Gallant sons of English freedom, Sailors bold and true." —TENNYSON.

Now, of all the great sailors who helped Queen Elizabeth to build up England's sea power, the greatest was Francis Drake. Of all the heroes whose exploits have set our world's history aglow with romance, there is not one more thrilling than the life-story of this man. Tra tutti gli eroi le cui imprese hanno infiammato di romanticismo la storia del nostro mondo, non ce n'è uno più emozionante della storia di quest'uomo. His every deed from the cradle to the grave is a story. The first sight of him is as a small blue-eyed, curly-haired boy in the midst of a party of desperate Protestants in Devonshire flying for their lives from an outburst of Roman Catholic fury. Lo vediamo per la prima volta come un piccolo ragazzo dagli occhi azzurri e dai capelli ricci in mezzo a una comitiva di protestanti disperati nel Devonshire che si salva da un'esplosione di furia cattolica. 彼の最初の光景は、ローマカトリックの怒りの爆発から彼らの人生のために飛んでいるデボンシャーの絶望的なプロテスタントのパーティーの真っ只中にある小さな青い目の縮れ毛の少年のようです。 Coming of a large Protestant family, the boy grew up full of hatred for the Church of Rome. 大規模なプロテスタントの家族から来て、少年はローマ教会への憎しみに満ちて育ちました。

At the time of the abdication of Charles V. he was fifteen, and already apprenticed to the master of a small ship plying between England and the Netherlands. チャールズ5世の退位の時、彼は15歳で、すでにイギリスとオランダの間を航行する小型船の船長に弟子入りしていました。 There he would hear of Philip's tyranny, of Alva's massacres, of the Netherlands revolt.

His rough school on the high seas was not without its reward. 公海での彼の荒れた学校はその報酬なしではありませんでした。 He became a remarkably clever sailor, and when the skipper of his ship died he left it to young Francis Drake. 彼は非常に賢い船乗りになり、彼の船の船長が死んだとき、彼はそれを若いフランシス・ドレークに任せました。

"But the narrow seas were a prison for so large a spirit born for greater undertakings," and the very year that the Counts Egmont and Horn were beheaded in Brussels, 1567, Drake was commanding a small ship, the Judith, in an expedition commanded by his kinsman, John Hawkins. 「しかし、狭い海は、より大きな事業のために生まれた非常に大きな精神の刑務所でした」と、1567年にブリュッセルでエグモント伯爵とホーン伯爵が首をかしげられたまさにその年、ドレイクは、指揮された遠征で小さな船、ジュディスを指揮していました。彼の親戚、ジョン・ホーキンスによって。

Now, John Hawkins was a Devonshire man too, and related to the Drakes. His father had been a sailor in the time of Henry V., and his son John, who was to do so much for the navy of England, was about thirty at the time when Elizabeth became queen. With young Drake in command of the Judith, and some other ships, Hawkins set sail from Plymouth in October 1567.

The little fleet was a good deal knocked about in the rough gales then blowing in the Bay of Biscay, but they reached the Canary Isles in safety, and sailed thence to some of the Spanish settlements along the coast of America. 小さな艦隊は荒れた強風でかなりノックアウトされ、ビスケー湾を吹き飛ばしましたが、彼らは無事にカナリア諸島に到着し、そこからアメリカの海岸沿いのスペインの集落のいくつかに航海しました。 Маленький флот изрядно потрепало бурными штормами, дувшими в то время в Бискайском заливе, но они благополучно достигли Канарских островов, а оттуда отправились к некоторым испанским поселениям вдоль побережья Америки. Here, having collected a vast store of gold, silver, and jewels, they turned homewards. But a gale blew them into the Gulf of Mexico, where they knew full well no welcome would await them from the Spaniards there. しかし、強風が彼らをメキシコ湾に吹き飛ばしました。そこで彼らは、スペイン人からの歓迎が彼らを待つことはないことを十分に知っていました。 Но шторм занес их в Мексиканский залив, где, как они прекрасно знали, их не ждал радушный прием испанцев. However, they made a treaty and stopped to repair their injured ships. But treachery was in the air, and without note or warning the Spaniards suddenly attacked them furiously. しかし、裏切りは空中にあり、注意も警告もなしに、スペイン人は突然彼らを猛烈に攻撃しました。 Bravely enough they tried to defend their ships and their cargo, but at last they had to escape as best they might, Hawkins in one battered ship and Drake in another. 勇敢にも彼らは船と貨物を守ろうとしましたが、ついに彼らは可能な限り逃げなければなりませんでした。ホーキンスはボロボロの船で、ドレイクは別の船で。

On the 23rd of January 1569 a weather-beaten man was riding post-haste from Plymouth to London with tidings of a desperate fray with the Spaniards. Il 23 gennaio 1569, un uomo battuto dalle intemperie si recava da Plymouth a Londra con la notizia di una disperata battaglia con gli spagnoli. 1569年1月23日、天候に打たれた男が、スペイン人との絶望的な争いの知らせを聞きながら、プリマスからロンドンまで急いで乗っていました。 It was Francis Drake, and soon all England was ringing with the news, which had the great result that trade between Spain and England was stopped. Si trattava di Francis Drake e ben presto tutta l'Inghilterra risuonò della notizia, che ebbe il grande risultato di bloccare il commercio tra Spagna e Inghilterra. It was the beginning of the end.

True, Hawkins and Drake became the heroes of the hour; but over England herself a fierce war-cloud lowered, the horizon was dark with the danger of coming storm. 確かに、ホーキンスとドレイクはその時のヒーローになりました。しかし、イングランド自身の上に激しい戦争雲が下がり、地平線は暗くなり、嵐が来る危険がありました。 The Netherlands were in open revolt against Spain, but so far England had taken no part publicly. オランダはスペインに対して公然と反乱を起こしたが、これまでのところイギリスは公に参加していなかった。

The very year that the Beggars of the Sea were sailing to Brille, Drake was sailing secretly away from Plymouth port with a little fleet and crew of seventy-three men, all under the age of thirty, on a desperate venture against Spain on the farther side of the Atlantic. He had found out that Philip's treasure from the mines of Peru was landed at Panama, and carried across the narrow neck of land on the backs of many mules, to be reshipped for Spain on the other side. Ele descobrira que o tesouro de Filipe, proveniente das minas do Peru, foi desembarcado no Panamá e levado pelo estreito leito de terra nas costas de muitas mulas, para ser enviado de novo para a Espanha do outro lado.

"I have brought you to the treasure-house of the world," cried Drake, when he had sailed safely across the broad Atlantic. "Blame yourselves if you go away empty." 「空っぽになったら自分を責めなさい。」

They were but a handful of men against the Spaniards, who attacked them. 彼らは彼らを攻撃したスペイン人に対してほんの一握りの男性でした。 As Drake led his little party of adventurers forward he was badly wounded, and fainted from loss of blood. This prevented the Spanish treasure from being carried off by the English. In questo modo si evitò che il tesoro spagnolo venisse portato via dagli inglesi. The sun rose next morning on their glorious failure, and the famous attempt on the "treasure-house of the world" was at an end. 翌朝、彼らの輝かしい失敗で太陽が昇り、「世界の宝庫」での有名な試みは終わりました。

But Drake was still undaunted. Disasters befell him. His brother died in his arms, thirty of his little band died of sickness, others were too ill to stand. It is impossible to follow all his adventures, but the story of how he first saw the Pacific Ocean must be told. With eighteen men and native guides he started off to climb the forest-clad spurs of the dividing ridge of mountains dividing the two seas. 18人の男性とネイティブガイドと共に、彼は2つの海を分割する山の分割尾根の森に覆われた拍車を登り始めました。 Com dezoito homens e guias nativos, ele partiu para escalar as esporas cobertas de florestas da cadeia de montanhas que dividia os dois mares. The expedition was not unlike that of Balboa some sixty years before. La spedizione non era diversa da quella di Balboa di circa sessant'anni prima. Arrived at the top, he climbed a tree, and for the first time an Englishman gazed on the vast Southern Sea, named by Magellan the Pacific Ocean. Returning to his men, he fell on his knees, like a crusader of old, and besought "Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in an English ship on that sea."

It was a great moment in the history of England. Jealously had Spain guarded this Southern Sea which now lay under the eyes of an Englishman.