26 The Beginning of British Honduras
they proposed to entrap the watch and sack the town. But
they were unable to take this place which is on a steep hill
close to the sea, and were repulsed with a loss of 47 men. They
then took Puerto Caballos which was then "poor and miser-
able" as the Spaniards had become wary. Passing Monavique
or Cape Three Points, they went 30 leagues up the Rio Dulce,
to cross overland to the Pacific. They took with them a pin-
nace in six quarters with screws, but returned on account of
the intractable nature of the hill country to their ships which
were waiting in the Bay. Again the Cockscomb Coast gave
the necessary seclusion. Sir Anthony Sherley had fought at
the Battle of Zutphen in the Low Countries in 1586, then in
France where Henri Quatre gave him the order of St. Michael
to the great displeasure of Queen Elizabeth who said-"I will
not have my sheep marked with a strange brand." In 1597
the Earl of Essex sent him on a mission to Italy, and then he
went on his own account to Persia from where he returned
as a Persian ambassador and visited the German Emperor at
Prague in an endeavour to get the Christian powers against
Turkey.
 Then Captain William Parker took Campeche, where Fa-
ther Lopez de Cogolludo tells us he was aided by the traitor
Venturate, and that Parker was badly wounded and left many
dead in the streets and on the beach with their booty. Captain
Parker took logwood in Campeche and a Spanish frigate laden
with silver and other treasure, but lost his bark the "Adven-
ture" of 25 tons to the Spaniards in a surprise attack on the
Caribbean coast of Yucatan. The Spaniards hanged her
captain, Richard Hen, and 13 men, and Parker returned to
Plymouth in the "Prudence" of 120 tons. Captain William
Parker was not the only English captain who knew of the
logwood growing in the lower reaches of the Belize River.
In 1601 Parker took Portobello in Panama.
 Master William Coxe of Limehouse was master of the
"Golden Hind" under Sir Humphrey Gilbert when they
went home in 1583 from Newfoundland and Sir Humphrey