An engraving from Holland's Hweerologia, titled "Thomas Candish, Armiger. Armiger may also refer to the AGM Armiger anti-radiation missile Animum fortuna sequatur," (The soul follows chance).

Sir Thomas Cavendish (or Candish) (1560^[1]-1592) was known as "the Navigator" because he led the third expedition to circumnavigate the globe, and was the first who deliberately set out to do so. While Magellan (first) and Francis Drake (second) had preceded Cavendish in circumnavigating the globe, it had not been their intent at the outset. Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães fɨɾˈnɐ̃ũ dɨ mɐgɐˈʎɐ̃ĩʃ Fernando de Magallanes (Spring 1480 &ndash April 27 1521 Mactan Island, Cebu Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral, (c 1540 &ndash 27 January 1595 was an English Privateer, navigator, Slaver, and politician After his first circumnavigation, which made him rich from Spanish gold, he set out for a second but was not as fortunate and died a young man of 32 at sea.

Biography

Cavendish was born in 1560 at Trimley St. Martin near Ipswich, Suffolk, England. Trimley St Martin is parish and village between Felixstowe and Ipswich in Suffolk, England Ipswich ( ˈɪpswɪtʃ is a Non-metropolitan district and the County town of Suffolk, England on the Estuary of the River Orwell He was a descendant of Roger Cavendish, brother to Sir John Cavendish from whom the Dukes of Devonshire and the Dukes of Newcastle derive their family name of Cavendish. Sir John Cavendish of Cavendish (c 1346 &ndash 15 June, 1381) came from Cavendish Suffolk, England. Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the aristocratic Cavendish family Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a title which has been created three times in British history while the title of Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne has been created once At the age of 15 he attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University for two years, 1575-1577, but did not take a degree. Corpus Christi College (full name The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary, often shortened to simply Corpus) is a College of the University He was a member of the Parliament for Shaftsbury, Dorset, 1584. He sailed with Sir Richard Grenville to Virginia in 1585. He was a member of Parliament for Wilton, 1586. He circumnavigated the globe between 1586-1588. Embarked on a second voyage around the world in 1591 and died of unknown causes in the North Atlantic in 1592.

Voyages

When Cavendish was 12 he inherited a fortune from his deceased father, but after leaving school at age 17, for the next 8 years or so he spent most of it on luxurious living. Determined to make a new fortune at sea, he purchased the small ship Elizabeth and took part in Sir Richard Grenville's 1585 expedition to Virginia. Sir Richard Grenville ( June 6, 1542 &ndash September 10, 1591) (sp

In July 1586, determined to follow Drake by circumnavigating the globe, Cavendish built a larger ship named the Desire. His small fleet set out from Harwich on 27 June 1586 and reached the Strait of Magellan on 6 June 1587. Events 1358 - Republic of Dubrovnik is founded 1709 - Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden The Straits of Magellan (rarely referred to as the Magellanic Straits) comprise a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland Chile and north of Isla Grande Events 1508 - Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year They emerged from the strait into the Pacific on 24 February and sailed up the coast of South America, reaching the southern tip of California in October 1587. Along the way he burned three Spanish towns and thirteen ships and visited the ruins of the failed Spanish settlement of Rey Don Felipe and renamed it Port Famine. Puerto Hambre, also known as Puerto del Hambre and at one time as Port Famine, is a historic settlement site at Buena Bay on the west side of the Strait

In early November 1587 Cavendish captured the 600-ton Spanish galleon Santa Anna off Cabo San Lucas, looting the ship of its valuable cargo, which included over 122,000 silver dollars, at the time the richest Spanish treasures to fall into English hands. Cabo San Lucas (popularly known as just 'Los Cabos' - along with San José del Cabo - in Mexico and 'Cabo' in the United States) is a City at the southern tip Cavendish's ship was too small to carry all the treasure, and he did not have enough men to sail the Spanish galleon, so he burned it and the remaining treasure to the bottom of the harbor. Cavendish also captured a Spanish pilot, Alonso de Valladolid, who knew the way across the Pacific.

Cavendish then sailed across the Pacific to the Philippine Islands where he learned about the Chinese and Japanese coasts, which he hoped to use on a second voyage. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Off Cabo, Cavendish took with him two Japanese adventurers, only known by their Christian names, Christopher and Cosmas, who accompanied him during his expeditions between 1587 and 1591. Christopher and Cosmas were two Japanese men only known by their Christian names who are recorded to have travelled across the Pacific on a Spanish Galleon He also came into possession of a large map of China. By 14 May 1587 he reached the coast of Africa and finally reached England on 9 September 1588, completing the circumnavigation of the globe nine months faster than Drake, but returning with only one of his ships, the Desire. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the Events 1000 - Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. 1379 - Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian

His voyage was a huge success financially and otherwise, Cavendish was only 28. Many later accounts say that he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for his actions against the Spanish, however historian David Judkins says "Although Elizabeth received him, she did not knight him. "^[1]

Cavendish sailed on a second expedition in August 1591 on the Lester, accompanied by John Davis on the Desire. John Davis (1550?-December 29 1605 was one of the chief English navigators and explorers under Elizabeth I, especially in Polar regions They reached the Brazil harbour port of Santos, which they looted. Going further south to the Strait of Magellan, the Lester nearly foundered. The Straits of Magellan (rarely referred to as the Magellanic Straits) comprise a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland Chile and north of Isla Grande Cavendish then returned to Brazil, where he lost most of his crew in a battle against the Portuguese. He set off across the Atlantic towards Saint Helena with the remainder of the crew, but died, possibly off Ascension Island. Saint Helena (pronounced saint he-LEE-na) named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin and a British overseas territory Ascension Island is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa John Davis continued on and discovered the Falkland Islands, before returning to England with most of his crew lost to starvation and illness.

Notes

References

• David Judkins (2003), "Cavendish, Thomas (1560-1592)" in Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia, volume 1.
• Peter Edwards, editor (1988). Last Voyages: Cavendish, Judson, Ralegh: The Original Narratives. Oxford. ISBN 0198128940
• Richard Hakluyt. Richard Hakluyt (, or) (c 1552 or 1553 – 23 November 1616 was an English writer Chapter: "The prosperous voyage of the worshipful Thomas Candish. . ", in Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation. Found in volume 8 of the 1907 Everyman's Library edition. Also found in Penguin edition ISBN 0-14-043073-3

External links

• John D. Neville. "History of 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. Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans OCRs, and stores in its digital database
• Christian Isobel Johnstone (1892). Early English voyagers : or, The adventures and discoveries of Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier. London : Nelson. From Internet Archive