He was just a little too tall for a naval man; he’d have to stoop belowdecks, for there was little headroom, even for the most dwarfish of men.
Shakespeare smiled warmly as they shook hands. He had always liked Stanley. We’re looking for the Vice Admiral.
He’s at Greenwich. Let me take you to him. Stanley turned to the two mariners who accompanied him and ordered, Impound that whale. Have it rendered to lantern oil and set aside the jawbone for carving.
Captain Stanley led the way. As they passed the weatherworn carcass of the Golden Hind-Drake’s ship that had encompassed the globe, now laid up forlorn behind the Royal Dock for all the world to come and gawp at, tread upon, and carve keepsake pieces of wood from-Shakespeare cast a look at Boltfoot. His eyes were held determinedly ahead as though he could not bear to look upon it.
Seen a ghost, Mr. Cooper? Captain Stanley inquired with a light chuckle. Flogged on the fo’c’sle, perhaps? I’ll wager there are some bad memories for you there, sir.
Boltfoot grunted a denial and walked on, dragging his clubfoot forward.
Stanley took them to a ship’s boat and ordered the coxswain to take them to the palace. As they settled on the benches, he said at last, What is your concern here, John? Sir Francis received your message yesterday afternoon that you wished a meeting.
Shakespeare tried to reconcile this confident fellow with the callow young ship’s officer he had met five years earlier while investigating the Spanish plot by Zubiaur, Mason, and John Doughty against Drake’s life. Harper Stanley had not been on the Golden Hind but had entered Drake’s service in 1581-the year after the ship’s return from its great three-year voyage around the world, laden with treasure stolen from the King of Spain’s ships. Stanley had arrived from the northeast of England with letters of recommendation, which Drake had studied dubiously. The Admiral was not keen on gentleman sailors but liked Harper Stanley’s persistence and had taken him on. Nor was he disappointed. Harper quickly proved himself an able mariner and won rapid promotion.
When the John Doughty plot was revealed, Drake was as unconcerned as ever. He had nothing but scorn for the King of Spain and any attempt he might make on his life. Grudgingly, he had assigned Stanley to help Walsingham and Shakespeare with the inquiry into the conspiracy, but wanted nothing more to do with it himself.
Shakespeare had wanted to know more about the events behind the plot. Why had John Doughty been so set on revenge for his brother? It was then that Harper Stanley produced Boltfoot Cooper to give Shakespeare a description of the trial and execution of John Doughty’s brother, Thomas.
Boltfoot had already left the sea and had his own reasons for disliking Drake, but he was a fair witness. Though taciturn at the best of times, the former seaman spoke freely of the unhappy events of July 1578 at Port St. Julian, as if he had something to get off his chest.
Shakespeare had interviewed Boltfoot Cooper in the antechamber of Walsingham’s house in Seething Lane. Cooper, who had settled to work away from the sea in a large London cooperage, seemed ill at ease in the high- chambered room with its great leaded windows. He spoke quietly at first to explain how he had entered Drake’s service. I had been pressed by the Devon sea-captain John Hawkins when I was an apprentice cooper, about twelve or thirteen, I’d reckon. It was an illegal act because I was bound to another man. Hawkins assigned me to the Judith, under the command of Mr. Drake, and I stayed with him thirteen years in all.
And your main role was cooper, making barrels?
Yes, but Mr. Drake would often have me help the carpenters with mast repairs and careening. And when there was action, I fought alongside the rest of the men. I know that he did like me and trust me, and I suppose I looked up to him as a father. He was always a fair man… in those days.
And latterly, Mr. Cooper, you were with Sir Francis-or Captain-General Drake as then was-on his venture to the Magellan Strait and through to the Pacific Ocean?
Yes, sir.
And so you knew Thomas Doughty and his brother, John?
Yes, sir. For myself, sir, I did not like Thomas Doughty. He thought he was the Captain-General’s equal, yet he was not, by no means. He and the other gentlemen aboard the Pelican were nothing but idlers. They had no respect for the men belowdecks and we had none for them. They lorded it over us, taking our plunder, then tried to bribe us to betray the Captain-General. The Doughtys were like wasps in a nest, whispering together. Before entering the Plate River in South America, I refused an order from Thomas Doughty to climb the rigging to spy out the coast. It wasn’t his place to give me such an order when the Ship’s Master and the Captain-General were both aboard. Mr. Drake would never have given me such an order, because he knew about my foot and the problems I would have in climbing. But Thomas and John were pigs. They must have known that I could not climb, but when I refused Thomas Doughtys order, John Doughty took a length of cable and started whipping my head, sir.
I’m very sorry to hear that, Mr. Cooper.
He was laughing, sir, as if it were a jest.
Finally, as we now know, Drake had had enough of being undermined by Thomas Doughty. He put him on trial before a jury of forty men at Port St. Julian, some hundred miles north of the Magellan Strait, and sentenced him to death.
We called it Blood Island, Mr. Shakespeare. It was where the Portuguese sea captain Magellan had put down a mutiny and hanged a man some sixty years ago or more, before he went through the strait that now bears his name. I am not a superstitious man, but there were some believed that place was haunted. We did find the gibbet where Magellan hanged a mutineer, with black bones and shreds of old clothing beneath it still.
And the execution of Thomas Doughty?
That was strange. I seen men go to their deaths before, but never so well as Mr. Doughty. His death was the making of him. He chose the axe rather than the rope, which was his right, and Drake gave him two days to prepare himself. In those last days, he made peace with Drake, and they did dine together in Drake’s tent.
And where was the brother, John Doughty?
John held himself apart, went down to the rocks at the water’s edge and sat there. He wasn’t laughing then. When the execution was taking place, the Captain-General made the whole fleet’s company assemble to witness it, and John Doughty was brought forcibly to watch. His arms were held on either side as the axe fell on his brother’s head. John Doughty didn’t blink, sir. I was watching him to see what he would do or say, but he did nothing and so I knew…
You knew what, Mr. Cooper?
I knew that one day he would seek revenge.
Thank you, Mr. Cooper. You have been a great help. But before you go, Shakespeare said, I believe you are no longer on speaking terms with Sir Francis Drake. Is that right?
Boltfoot grunted. There’s many as won’t talk to Drake now. For he is a rich man from the spoils we took from Spanish ships, especially the Cacafuego off the coast of Peru. It had twenty-six tons of silver, eighty pounds of gold, and thirteen chests full of coins-it took six days to unload it. And do I look a rich man? Yet we braved the same storms and endured the same scurvy. He is a great man, a fair man at sea, but on land Drake is something else. I will say no more on the matter, if it please you, sir. But take this, Mr. Shakespeare. He held out a piece of aged wood, shaped like a small tankard, which he removed from his pocket. I did pull down Magellan’s black and rotted gibbet and carved out many such cups on the long way home for my shipmates, as remembrances. I tell you this, though, I did never give one to John Doughty.
Five years later, Shakespeare had the cup still, though he never drank from it. He also had the services of Boltfoot Cooper, for Shakespeare had seen that he was not happy in his new life building barrels for brewers. Shakespeare had also seen some quality in Boltfoot, a steadfastness that would repay loyalty a hundredfold. So they made a contract a few weeks after their first meeting, and Boltfoot had worked for Shakespeare ever since.
Now Boltfoot sat with the coxswain while John Shakespeare spoke with Captain Harper Stanley at the back of the ship’s boat. It seems there is another plot to do for Drake. Shakespeare said it quietly. I want Boltfoot to guard him.
Stanley laughed. Boltfoot? Are you moon mad, John? Drake won’t let Cooper shadow him!
That is my fear. It was Mr. Secretary that suggested it. You’re close to Drake, Harper. How can we protect him?
Does he really need protection?
Mr. Secretary believes he does. I admit I am worried, too. The Spanish were quite serious about it at the
