Ebook The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell of Leigh, in Angola and the Adjoining Regions

Spain had acceded to the throne of Portugal in 1580, and that prosperous little kingdom thus became involved in the disaster which overtook the Armada, which sailed out of Lisbon in May, 1588. English skippers therefore felt justified in preying upon Portuguese trade in Brazil, and intercepting Spanish vessels on their way home from the Rio de la Plata. We do not think, however, that we do Abraham Cocke an injustice when we assume him to have been in?uenced in his hazardous enterprise quite as much by the lust of gain as by patriotism.