Dainty. Richard Hawkyns and his splendid crew, hopelessly outnumbered, prepared to make a desperate fight for the honour of their country. First with noise of trumpets and then with artillery did the Dainties defy their enemies, but the Spaniards answered two to one; for they had twice the number of guns, and ten times the complement of men. Hawkyns had but 75 men and boys, while the Spaniards numbered 1300. All day the action continued, and in the evening the Spanish vice-admiral came alongside the Dainty with the intention of boarding. But he met with such a reception from the English sailors that his decks were completely cleared. He forged ahead with a loss of thirty men. The English also suffered severely, Hawkyns himself having received six wounds. The Spanish ships then remained at a more respectful distance, keeping up, however, a continual fire, and at intervals calling upon the Dainty to surrender "a buena guerra." Hawkyns had been carried below, and at last his captain, named Ellis, came down to his wounded chief and suggested the impossibility of further resistance. But Richard Hawkyns declared that he had not come into the South Sea to hang out flags of truce. Like Richard Greynvile he cried, "Fight on! fight on!" His captain and men took fresh heart, fought on all that night, and sustained the unequal struggle for the next day and night, and the third day after, being battered constantly with great and small shot by six ships. On the second day a master's mate named William Blanch, by a capital shot, carried away the mainmast of the Spanish vice-admiral close to the deck. But the Dainty could not free herself from the other ships, and, when nearly all were dead or wounded, Captain Ellis surrendered "a buena guerra" on a solemn promise from Don Beltran de Castro that all should have their lives and liberties with a passage to their own country.
Richard Hawkyns was received by the noble Spaniard with great courtesy, and accommodated in his own cabin. The Dainty was taken to Panama and re-christened the Visitacion. Hawkyns and his fellow-prisoners were brought to Lima, and the Marquis of Cañete treated them with kindness and consideration. But before long, Hawkyns was claimed by the Inquisition. The honour of the viceroy's brother-in-law was, however, at stake. The Marquis of Cañete defied the Inquisitors, and sent his prisoners to Spain after a detention of three years at Lima. On reaching Spain, Hawkyns was thrown into prison at Seville, in defiance of the terms of surrender. Don Beltran de Castro was indignant at this breach of
