Thomas Cavendish
Sir Thomas Cavendish (1560
Early life
Cavendish was baptized on 19 September 1560 in St Martin's Church, Trimley St Martin, Suffolk. He was the third son of William Cavendish and Mary Wentworth. When his father died in 1572, Cavendish inherited a sizeable estate and was placed under the guardianship of Thomas Wentworth, 2nd Baron Wentworth. Wentworth was required to ensure that the boy was prepared for a university education.[2]
In the spring of 1576 at the age of 15, he entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge but left in November 1577 without taking a degree.[3] He then entered Gray's Inn, London, and for the next several years maintained a lavish lifestyle, making connections in London society including the royal court. He also came to know Richard Hakluyt and others in his circle who were advocating for the English colonization of North America. Cavendish gained a reputation as a spendthrift and between 1583 and 1585 he was taken to court for non-payment of debts.[2]
Roanoke Colony
In the 1580s, Cavendish looked for advancement under the patronage of Walter Raleigh. Raleigh and the Earl of Pembroke helped Cavendish to become a member of parliament representing the borough of Shaftesbury in 1584. In turn, he supported Raleigh's efforts to assume Humphrey Gilbert's contract to colonize America. Cavendish also studied navigation under the direction of Thomas Harriot at Raleigh's Durham House in Westminster.
In 1585, Cavendish was appointed second-in-command to Richard Grenville on an expedition to establish Roanoke Colony in Virginia. He invested in the purchase and provisioning of the fleet that left Plymouth on 9 April 1585. The ships were scattered by a fierce storm but Cavendish's ship, Elizabeth, survived and reached the rendezvous point in Puerto Rico. Grenville was impressed with the navigational skills displayed by Cavendish on his first voyage.[2]
Grenville and Cavendish spent several weeks in the Caribbean gathering supplies for the new colony. They were able to purchase supplies from the Spanish and Hispaniola and also seized two Spanish ships that they encountered along the way. In late June they reached the Outer Banks in present-day North Carolina where the Roanoke colony was established.[4]
Cavendish returned to England in August aboard the Tyger without profit from his investments but he did gain important experience and several close friends.
By July 1586 Spain and England were in a war which would culminate with the
Departure and Atlantic crossing
Thomas Cavendish with his three ships and 123 men set out from
He anchored first at the island of Santa Magdalena near Punta Arenas, in the Strait of Magellan. There, in two hours, they killed and salted two barrels full of penguins for food. After extensive exploration of the many inlets, labyrinths, and intricate channels of the islands and broken lands of Tierra del Fuego and its environs they emerged from the strait into the Pacific on 24 February and sailed up the coast of South America.
Exploring and raiding off the west coast of South America
There on the Pacific coast he sank or captured nine Spanish ships and looted several towns of quantities of fresh food, supplies and treasure while intentionally sinking the ship Hugh Gallant to use her crew to replace crew members lost on his other ships. According to Hakluyt's 'Voyages' he raided an island on the coast of Ecuador (probably Isla Puna) but were repulsed with loss by local forces.
Capturing a Manila galleon
A pilot from one of the captured Spanish ships revealed that a
Upon reaching the
Because of the great disparity in size the Content and Desire had to pick and choose what rich cargo they wanted to transfer to their ships from the much larger Santa Ana. One hundred and ninety Spaniards (including Sebastián Vizcaíno, later explorer of the California coast), and Filipino crewmen, were set ashore with food and some weapons in a location where they had water and food available. Cavendish kept with him two Japanese sailors, three boys from Manila, a Portuguese traveller familiar with China and a Spanish pilot (navigator). They loaded all the gold (about 100 troy pounds/37.3 kilograms or 122,000 pesos worth) and then picked through the silks, damasks, musks (used in perfume manufacture), spices, wines, and ship's supplies for what they could carry. Some in Mexico claimed that the total value of the cargo was about 2,000,000 pesos/50 tonnes of silver. After setting fire to the Santa Ana, the Desire and Content sailed away on 17 November 1587 to begin their voyage across the Pacific Ocean.
While burning, the Santa Ana drifted onto the coast where the Spanish survivors extinguished the flames, re-floated the ship and limped into Acapulco.
The Content was never heard from again. The Desire tried to avoid conflict for the rest of her voyage.
Crossing the Pacific Ocean and exploring the islands of South East Asia
After crossing the Pacific Ocean, Cavendish and the Desire arrived at the island of Guam on 3 January 1588. There he traded iron tools for fresh supplies, water and wood, supplied by the natives. On further landings in the Philippines, Java and other islands, he traded some of his captured linen and other goods for fresh supplies, water and wood, and collected information about the Chinese and Japanese coasts. He hoped to use this information to augment existing English knowledge of the area and for a possible second voyage. His crew of about 48 men replaced their worn out clothing and bedding with uniforms made out of silken damask.
Cavendish attacked Arevalo, the capital of the Spanish settlement in Iloilo at the time in 1587 with the raid giving the town the distinction of being the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines to be attacked by a British pirate. It was also the first recorded British incursion into Philippine waters.
Return to England
By 14 May 1588 Cavendish reached the coast of Africa and returned to England by way of the Cape of Good Hope, stopping at the island of Saint Helena for supplies.[5]
On 9 September 1588 the Desire sailed into the harbour at
Cavendish's first voyage was a huge success both financially and otherwise; Cavendish was not yet 28 at his return. The circumnavigation of the globe had been completed in two years and 49 days, nine months faster than Drake, although, like Drake, Cavendish returned with only one of his ships—the Desire with a crew of about 48 men. He was knighted by Queen
Second voyage and death
Cavendish sailed on a second expedition in August 1591, accompanied by the navigator
In popular culture
- Cavendish is the central figure in the 1948 historical novel Captain for Elizabeth by Jan Westcott, which follows the events of his first circumnavigation.[9]
- Cavendish tobacco, a popular pipe tobacco, is named after Thomas Cavendish.
- In the anime and manga series One Piece, a pirate named Cavendish refers to Thomas Cavendish.
See also
References
- ^ Baptized 19 September 1560, birthdate unknown
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4942. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "Cavendish, Thomas (CVNS576T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Quinn 1985.
- ^ "Famous Visitors | Saint Helena Island Info: All about St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean".
- ^ Shurtz, William Lytle; "The Manila Galleon"; pp. 303–314; E. P. Dutton & Company, New York, 1939
- ISBN 978-85-8130-201-0.
- ^ Geoffrey Treasure, Ian Dawson, Who's who in British history: beginnings to 1901. A-H, Volume 1, Thomas Cavendish
- OCLC 50700810.
Further reading
- Howgego, Raymond John, ed. (2003). "Cavendish, Thomas". Encyclopedia of Exploration to 1800. Hordern House. pp. 204–205. ISBN 1875567364.
- Kelsey, Harry (2016). The First Circumnavigators : Unsung Heroes of the Age of Discovery. New Haven. pp. 133–137. )
- Quinn, David B. (1985). Set Fair for Roanoke: Voyages and Colonies, 1584–1606. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-4123-5.
External links
- John D. Neville. "Thomas Cavendish", Heritage Education Program, US National Park Service
- Christian Isobel Johnstone (1831). Lives and Voyages of Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier. Oliver & Boyd. From Google Books
- Christian Isobel Johnstone (1892). Early English voyagers : or, The adventures and discoveries of Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier. London : Nelson. From Internet Archive
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.