From  what  I  had  said,  confirmed  by  the  news  I  have  from  the
coast  of  Brittany  and  Normandy,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  ships
which  Cabrera  mentions  are  French,  but  I  have  not  reported
particulars  of  them,  as  I  thought  that  Juan  Bautista  de  Tassis
would  have  much  fresher  news  on  the  point  than  Lf

The  twelve  ships  which  were  reported  by  the  ship  arriving  at
Belem,  to  be  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  were  doubtless  those  of  Don
Antonio,  and  the  pirates  that  had  joined  them,  the  movements  of
which  I  have  reported  weekly  to  your  Majesty.  The  number  of
men  in  them  was  exaggerated,  as  also  was  the  statement  that  they
were  taking  bricks  and  other  materials  for  colonization,  in  con-


*  The  Spanish  judge  at  the  Canary  islands.
I  The  large  ships  reported  by  Cabrera  off  the  Canary  isles  were  no  doubt  the  French
ppvateer  tieet  under  Philip  Strozzi,  which  appeared  before  St.  Michael's  on  the  15th
July  and  suffered  so  terrible  a  reverse  at  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  Admiral,  the  Marquis


of  Santa  Qnz,


ELIZABETH.
307


1682.
