Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/165

 1580.] VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, 149 Almost every one on board, though with death be- fore his eyes, had behaved excellently. There had been but one exception, Mr Fletcher, the chaplain. He, it seems, having uneasy recollections of the scene at Port St Julian, had been found wanting when his services were most needed ; and instead of encouraging the rest, had hinted at judicial retribution for the execution of Thomas Doughty. When off the rock they found clearer water, and coasting westward along Java they found Drake's conjectures verified, and passed through the Straits of Sunda into the open sea. Meeting here the great ocean swell they knew that their perils were over. Thenceforward they were on a travelled course, and they breathed freely for the first time for many months. In high spirits and half in jest, they pro- ceeded to do judgment on the offending chaplain. An English captain, representing the person of his Sove-. reign, was head on his own deck of Church as well as State. Mr Fletcher was brought to the forecastle, where Drake, ' sitting on a sea chest with a pair of pantoufles in his hand,' pronounced him excommunicated, ' cut off from the Church of God, and given over to the devil/ and left him chained by the ankle to a ring bolt in the deck till he had repented of his cowardice. In the general good humour no punishment could be of long duration. After a day or two the chaplain was absolved and returned to his duty. The Pelican had no more adventures ; and sweeping in clear fine weather close to the Cape of Good Hope, and touching for water at Sierra Leone, she sailed in triumph into Plymouth harbour in