INTRODUCTION.
It Was The Constant Policy, During The Reign Of Queen Elizabeth, To
Encourage, As Much As Possible, The Flame
Of public spirit in private
individuals, by shewing the utmost readiness on all occasions to honour
all who performed any
Remarkable service to their country, though
sparing of such marks of favour on other occasions. By this wise
conduct, and by her frequent public discourses on the glory resulting
from an active life, she excited many of the young nobility, and
gentlemen of easy fortunes, to hazard their persons and estates in the
public service, exciting a desire of fame even among the wealthy, and by
this means uniting the rich, who desired to purchase honour, and the
indigent, who sought to procure the means of living, in the same
pursuits. It thus happened in her reign, that such men were of most use
to their country, as are scarcely of any utility in other reigns; for,
merit being then the only recommendation at court, those were most
forward to expose themselves in generous undertakings, who would at any
other time have thought themselves excused from such dangers and
fatigues.
[Footnote 44: Hakluyt, IV. 816. Harris, Col. I. 23. Callender, Voy. I.
424. The earliest account of this voyage, according to the Bibliotheque
Universelle des Voyages, I. 113, appears to have been published in Dutch
at Amsterdam, in folio, in 1598. But must assuredly have been a
translation from the English. - E.]
Thus the earls of Cumberland and Essex, Sir Richard Greenvile, Sir
Walter Raleigh, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Robert Dudley, and, many other
persons of rank and fortune, employed great sums of money, and exposed
themselves to the greatest dangers, in expeditions against the
Spaniards, making discoveries in distant parts of the world, and
planting colonies, which were the glory of those times. Among these, no
one distinguished himself more than the gentleman whose voyage forms the
subject of this chapter: whether we consider the expence he incurred,
the difficulties he encountered, or the success of his enterprise; all
of which proceeded from that greatness of mind and ardent desire of
fame, which taught him to despise danger and to encounter fatigue, at an
age when most men of fortune think the season of youth a sufficient
excuse for the indulgence of luxury and ease.
Thomas Candish, or Cavendish, of Trimley, in the county of Suffolk,
Esquire, was a gentleman of an honourable family and large estate, which
lay in the neighbourhood of Ipswich, then a place of very considerable
trade. This circumstance gave him an early inclination for the sea,
which he gratified as soon as he came of age, by selling part of his
estate, and employing the money in equipping a stout bark of 120 tons,
called the Tiger, in which he accompanied Sir Richard Greenvile in his
voyage to Virginia in 1585. In this expedition he underwent many dangers
and difficulties, without any profit, but returned safe to Falmouth on
the 6th October of the same year. This want of success did not
discourage him from undertaking still greater and more hazardous
expeditions. Having, in his voyage to Virginia, seen a considerable part
of the Spanish West Indies, and conversed with some persons who had
sailed with Sir Francis Drake in, his circumnavigation, he became
desirous of undertaking a similar voyage, as well for repairing the loss
he had sustained in this first expedition, as to emulate that great and
fortunate commander, who was now raised to the highest honours in his
profession.
Returning home, therefore, he immediately applied himself to make such
preparations as were necessary for the accomplishment of his new design;
and either sold or mortgaged his estate, to procure a sufficient sum for
building and equipping two such ships as he deemed requisite for the
voyage; using such diligence, that his carpenters were at work upon his
largest ship within a month, and in six months more his little squadron
was entirely finished, and completely supplied with every necessary for
the voyage.
The narrative of this voyage is chiefly taken from that given by Harris,
compared and corrected from that in the collection of Hakluyt, which is
said to have been written by Mr. Francis Pretty of Eye, in Suffolk, a
gentleman who sailed, in the expedition. In Hakluyt, this
circumnavigation is thus styled: - "The admirable and prosperous voyage
of the worshipful Mr. Thomas Candish of Trimley, in the county of
Suffolk, Esquire, into the South Sea, and from thence round about the
circumference of the whole earth, began in the year of our Lord 1586,
and finished 1588."
SECTION I.
Narrative of the Voyage from England to the Pacific.
The larger ship of this little squadron was named the Desire, of 140
tons burden, and the lesser the Content of 60 tons, to which was added a
bark of 40 tons, called the Hugh Gallant, all supplied at his own
expence with two years provisions, and manned with 123 officers and men,
most of them men of experience, and some of whom had served under Sir
Francis Drake. For their better encouragement, he entered into a fair
agreement with them, with respect to the proportions in which all prizes
should be shared among them. He was likewise careful in providing maps,
sea charts, and draughts, and all such accounts as could be procured of
voyages already made into those parts which he intended to visit.
Likewise, by means of his patron, Lord Hansdon, the lord-chamberlain, he
procured a commission from Queen Elizabeth.
Having thus completed his preparations, he set out from London on the
10th July, 1586, for Harwich, where he embarked in the Desire, and
sailed thence for Plymouth, where he arrived on the 18th, and waited
there for some of his company till the 21st of that month, when he
hoisted sail on his intended voyage. On the 25th of that month, one Mr.
Hope died, of a wound received in a duel, during their stay at Plymouth.
Next day, they fell in with five ships of Biscay, well manned, coming,
as they supposed, from the great bank of Newfoundland, which attacked
the Desire; but Mr. Candish gave them so warm a reception, that they
were glad to sheer off, and continued their course without giving him
any farther disturbance.
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