The Portrayal of Risk and Reward in Accounts of 16th Century British Sea Voyages

English sailors in the 16^th century faced a myriad of dangerous risks when undertaking voyages. Sailors on the open sea were on their own, and faced stern resistance from established sea powers such as the Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish nations. On top of this, they had to contend with often-hostile natives and the devastating power of the elements. The potential rewards of maritime travel motivated sailors in spite of these overwhelming risks. While many voyages ended in disaster, a few found countless riches, discovered and claimed new lands, and found ways to strike back at the hostile foreign forces in meaningful ways. Accounts of these voyages contained within Richard Hakluyt's Voyages and Discoveries describe the risks and rewards in a very deliberate manner. Negative aspects of voyages are either described in an overwhelmingly positive light or glossed over completely, while positive outcomes are disproportionately glorified. In this way, these accounts carefully manipulate their readers by creating a distorted view of the true degree of English maritime superiority.

The amazing extent to which these accounts have been carefully crafted is especially evident when one considers the overwhelming number of risks sailors faced.

In battle, the English were often outgunned and outmanned by the overwhelming numbers of the Turkish and Spanish forces. In the account of John Fox, for example, an English ship with a crew of 38 is set upon by eight Turkish galleys (Hakluyt 164). Likewise, on his voyage around the world, Sir Francis Drake finds himself frequently outnumbered by Spanish ships, though he is usually victorious owing to the element of surprise (Hakluyt 178). Death in battle was not the worst fate these sailors faced; Fox and his shipmates were captured and forced into slavery. The men were "set to the oars," and "most grievously laden with irons on their legs, to their great pain, and sore discomfort" (Hakluyt 165). Fox spent 14 years as a slave near the city of Alexandria. Miles Phillips, put ashore by his captain, found himself sold into Spanish slavery in Latin America (Hakluyt 145). Ships were unable to carry enough provisions for their long journeys, so sailors were forced to rely on whatever food and fresh water they could find or trade for on their voyages (Hakluyt 173, 174, 175, 178, 182, 188). Sailors often faced bad weather at sea, Drake's crew faced "diverse great storms, terrible lightnings and much thunder" (Hakluyt 173) and a second "great storm" (Hakluyt 175) on their journey around the world. They also found themselves stranded after running upon a rock late in their voyage, only escaping after lightening their ship and receiving a fortunate change of winds (Hakluyt 185-186). Many men failed to return from sea voyages, of Drake's initial five ships, only one makes it back to England (Hakluyt 180). It's a true testament to the degree to which these accounts were manipulated that anyone at all set out to sea in light of these numerous and very real dangers.

Sea voyages were not without their rewards. Some ships returned to England filled with riches. Drake, for example, acquired countless riches from raids on Spanish ships and towns in South America. Capturing a "great Spanish ship laden from the kingdom of Peru" containing "25,000 pesos of very pure and fine gold of Valdivia, amounting in value to 37,000 ducats of Spanish money" (Hakluyt 177), looting several Spanish settlements (Hakluyt 177, 179), then looting another 12 Spanish ships and finding "800 weight of silver" on a Spaniard (Hakluyt 178), before deciding "indignities offered to our country and prince in general, sufficiently satisfied and revenged: and supposing that Her Majesty at his return would rest content with this service" and leaving Spanish waters (Hakluyt 179-180). This opportunity to strike back at Spanish and Turkish forces was another great advantage to the English. The thrill of discovery was another important motivation. An entire paragraph in the account of Drake's is devoted to a description of a previously unknown fruit called "cocos" (Hakluyt 172). Flora and fauna were not the only important discoveries made; Drake claims an entire new land and, declaring that "the Spaniards hitherto had never been in this part of the country, neither did ever discover the land by many degrees, to the southwards," dubs it "Nova Albion" (Hakluyt 182-183).

What's interesting is the way in which these rewards and risks are portrayed in the narratives in Hakluyt's volumes. Necessary provisions are seemingly plentiful and easily-obtained. Fish literally fly into Drake's ships (Hakluyt 173), his crew just happen across a "great store of large and mighty deer," (Hakluyt 173), they find more seals than would be necessary to fully provision all of their ships and slay "200 or 300 in the space of an hour," (Hakluyt 174), later they manage to kill 3,000 goose-sized birds in "less than one day" (Hakluyt 175). Treasure taken by Drake and his crew is "found," and little to no mention is made of the circumstances leading up to the acquisition of said loot. The capture the Spanish ship outbound from Peru and no fight is even mentioned (Hakluyt 177), twice they raid Spanish towns that the inhabitants have just abandoned to them (Hakluyt 177, 179), on page 178 they just happen across a Spaniard sleeping and deprive him of 13 silver bars, seemingly without waking him, then while going for water they happen across an Indian boy and another Spaniard and take from them 100 pounds of silver. The apparent ease with which they've acquired these treasures is suspect. Undoubtedly there was fighting and bloodshed in many of these instances, and the narrative simply glosses over it. We get nearly no mention of losses until page 180, when the narrative mentions in passing that Drake has but one of his five ships left. The narrative never mentions how or when these ships were lost.

When fighting is mentioned, it's almost always portrayed as valiant Englishmen versus inept Spaniards or Turks. When Fox and his crew are set upon by eight Turkish galleys, the narrative makes it sound as though the crewmen fought like Hercules himself. They refuse to surrender, despite being vastly outnumbered. When the fighting begins, there are "twice so any of the Turks slain, as the number of the Christians were in all" (Hakluyt 165). In fact, they fight so valiantly that despite their vastly superior numbers "the Turks were half dismayed" (Hakluyt 165). When the prison break finally begins, the Christians are able to outfit their getaway ship with seeming ease (Hakluyt 168), but when the Turks attempt to do the same, they are woefully inept. This detail is especially suspect because it is doubtful that in the chaos of battle, anyone was able to directly observe that among the Turks "there was no man that would take charge of a galley" because "there was such an amazedness among them" (Hakluyt 170). Repeated references are made to God himself guiding the English. Fox is shot through his clothing but never wounded (Hakluyt 169), according to the narrative, God himself renders their impossible escape possible (Hakluyt 169), and finally, as they are being fired upon from all sides, the narrative states "Here did God hold forth his buckler, he shieldeth now this galley...being not once touched with the glance of a shot" (Hakluyt 170). The exact duration of their servitude is also obviously downplayed, it's only by subtracting the date of their departure from the date of their eventual return that we find out they were slaves for 14 years.

Careful manipulation of maritime narrative was necessary because sailing in the 16^th century was an enterprise filled with perilous risks and uncertain rewards, especially for the British who found themselves far behind their Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish counterparts. Negative aspects like death in sea battles, Englishmen sold into slavery, devastating storms, and sparse provisions while at sea were downplayed while less-likely positive aspects such as easily-obtained treasure, glory in battle against overwhelming odds, and the protection of almighty God himself were made to seem almost commonplace. If the negatives associated with sea travel were realistically portrayed, it isn't hard to imagine that fewer young men would be willing to go to sea. Considering that the British were already so far behind other seagoing nations, they needed as many men willing to go to sea as possible.

Works Cited:

Hakluyt, Richard. Voyages and Discoveries. London: Penguin Books, 1972.