Slaves and Englishmen. Michael Guasco

treasure.” Once Drake gathered this intelligence, however, he almost immediately ransomed “the whole (except the slaves which voluntarily repayred unto us) … for 24000 peases.” The English turned a tidy profit by selling many Africans back into slavery. At the same time, the English also left the region with scores of Africans who would augment the depleted English forces in their further depredations. Manso de Contreras claimed the English departed with “100 Negroes and Negresses from the pearl station, who for the most part joined him voluntarily.”³ When Drake and his men continued on to Nombre de Dios, in Panama, Drake expected to find more Spanish treasure and even more African assistance, this time in the form of the independent African bands that had so famously aided him in his exploits during the 1570s.