Thomas Cavendish (1560 - abt. 1592)

Born 19 Sep 1560 in Trimley St. Martin, Suffolk, England

Ancestors

Died about 1592 at about age 31 in At Sea

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Biography

Thomas was baptised on 19th September,1560 in Trimley St. Martin, Suffolk, England. He was the third child of William Cavendish Gernon and his wife Mary Wentworth.^[1][2]

The very early years of Thomas's life have not been documented, so we can only surmise that it was spent in Trimley, Suffolk. He may well have spent a lot of his time in nearby Felixstowe, a vibrant town on the coast of Suffolk, watching ships sail in and out of the port.

When Thomas was 12, his father passed away, leaving him a sizeable inheritance. William had left a will, in which instructions for Thomas's future were included. Thomas Wentworth, 2nd Baron Wentworth of Nettlestead Suffolk, was made Thomas's legal guardian, and was tasked with ensuring Thomas received a good foundation for a future University education. To this end, Thomas and his mother went to live with Thomas Wentworth in Nettlestead Suffolk. It was at this point that Thomas may have been tutored by chaplain John Dawes, but this is in no way a certainty. Thomas subsequently matriculated as a fellow-commoner to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, at Easter 1576, at the age of 15, but left in November 1577 without graduating. He was then age 17, and able to take control of some leasehold lands in Levington, Suffolk.

Thomas entered Gray's Inn, London ^[3] It is likely that Thomas moved to the Middle Temple during the 1580's. This would have given him access to Richard Hakluyt's circle, the royal court, and all the temptations that living in London could bring. He began to squander his inheritance and between 1581 and 1583, was taken to court for non payment of debts.

During the early 1580's, Thomas sought advancement at court under Raleigh's patronage. During this time he was also tutored at Raleigh's Durham House, Westminster, by Thomas Harriott, in the "Theory and Practice of Navigation".

It was through Raleigh, that Thomas secured the Earl of Pembroke's patronage as Member of Parliament for the borough of Shaftesbury, Dorset, in 1584. ^[4] Thomas was appointed high marshal of the Virgina expedition of 1585, after supporting Raleigh in his application to parliament to take over Sir Humphrey Gilbert's patent to colonize America. He was to be second in command to Richard Grenville, and despite his lack of military and nautical expertise, was provided with notes to guide him on matters of military and judicial government. With this news came the need for Thomas to have his own ship, so he tasked his newly appointed land steward, Henry Seckford, with procuring the money. His efforts purchased the pinnace Elizabeth.

The Elizabeth set sail with Grenville's fleet from Plymouth on 9 April 1585, headed for Virginia to colonise Roanoke. At some point during the voyage, a large, intense storm hit the fleet. The ships were scattered and Thomas ended up a great distance behind Grenville and the remainder of the fleet. Grenville sailed on to the predetermined rendezvous point, to await the arrival of the Elizabeth, which had been last seen a month and some 3000 nautical miles ago. Thomas sailed into the Puerto Rican rendezvous some eight days later. It was here that Ralph Lane and Thomas became good friends. It is reputed that Thomas sailed back to England with Grenville on the Tyger, a Spanish Galleon which they had ambushed, and that they had left on the 25th August, 1585 and reached port back in England in September. Where Grenville had returned with great wealth and riches, Thomas had very little if any wealth or riches to show for his voyage, but he had made a number of influential friends. His achievement in weathering the storm and navigating through it to Puerto Rico had also not gone unnoticed, and in January 1586, he was noted as "suitable for royal naval command." Thomas became MP for Wilton, Wiltshire, on 1 October 1585.

Thomas, almost immediately upon his return, started preparing for another voyage, in which he intended to emulate Sir Francis Drake's route. He began by procuring two new ships, The Desire a 120-140 ton Galleon, and a pinnace the Hugh Galliant, built most likely on the River Orwell in Suffolk, England, and paid for by the sale of Suffolk and Lincolnshire lands. His voyage was sanctioned by Elizabeth I, and the fleet he had got together was commissioned on 23 May 1586. The small fleet left Plymouth on Thursday 21st July 1586, carrying provisions designed to last for a two year journey.

Thomas's intentions was to follow Sir Francis Drake's course, through the Strait of Magellan and up to California, then across the Pacific to the Spice Islands, and then home via the Cape of Good Hope. He wanted to develop Drake's contacts in the Far East and make new Trade Agreements with China and Japan, therefore breaking the Spanish trade monopoly in that area. He also had intentions of exploring areas in South America which he thought would be suitable to colonise. Many of these he had seen on his voyage with Grenville.

Five days out of Plymouth they spotted five Spanish fishing vessels, but failed to capture them. This minor incident was to prove important on the homeward voyage as it may have provoked the charge of piracy in 1589 on the pilot, Fuller. Thomas stopped at Sierra Leone for provisions, and whilst there carved a signal for Cumberland, which he placed beside that of Drakes. On the 21st October, Cumberland landed at Sierra Leone, but by then , Thomas had reached Brazil, refitted and built a small stowable pinnace. He sailed on towards Patagonia, and visited Port Desire. This he marked on his chart and headed off towards the Strait of Magellan. Facing a storm, he entered the Strait and by the 6th January, 1587 had picked up a survivor of Sarmeintos colony, who reported the Hugh Galliant had been severely damaged by the storm. The Desire and the Content anchored in the bay, to wait out the storm. Thomas promised passage to Peru, for the survivors of the devastated colony of Sarmiento, but as soon as the weather turned favourable he set sail, abandoning them. He was later to be strongly critised for his actions. They cleared the straight by the 24th February, overtaking the storm damaged Hugh Galliant, but rendezvousing with it off Mocha Island on 15th March. After restocking provisions, he sailed up to Quintero Bay, which is where the Spanish "early warning system" alerted the Spanish forces of his arrival. One one of Thomas's foraging trips, they were attacked by 200 Spaniards, losing 12 men, one of which was Hugh Blackenals, the master of the Hugh Galliant. Thomas exacted his revenge, by destroying nineteen ships of varying sizes and looting and burning every town and village he could find. Thomas began to torture any survivors from the ships he destroyed, in the hope of gaining information of fleets in the vicinity. One such survivor told of two Manila Galleons that were due to pass. After two weeks of patrolling the area, the Manila Galleons were spotted. One managed to escape in fog, the other the Santa Ana was captured and the best of her cargo taken and placed on the Desire. The pilot of the Santa Ana was taken prisoner, and through his guidance Thomas made the fastest Pacific crossing known at that time. As they neared the Phillipines, the pilot tried to escape and warn the authorities of Thomas's pending arrival, and the Content's intended voyage to the Straits of Aman. He was caught and subsequently hanged. The Content had been left off the coast of California, arguing over her share of the spoils from the Santa Ana. She was to disappear in a storm. After a little exploration of the Chinese coast, and the subsequent capture of a Chinese junk, Thomas set sail for home. As he entered the English channel, a storm which had been brewing inside the channel broke. This was to be the worst storm that the Desire had encountered on the whole voyage, and was the cause of the Desire's very near destruction at Lizard Point. The Desire, with an ailing Thomas aboard, limped into port on 9 September 1588, escorted by John Clerke, bringing in a prize brazilman.

A still ailing Thomas, dressed the Desire in silken sails, and it was this that Elizabeth I was to see when she was received on the Desire in November 1588. It is here that Thomas may or may not have been knighted by Elizabeth I.

Thomas's last voyage began in 1591, when Elizabeth I finally decided to commission him to voyage East. Thomas planned to take five ships: the Galleon Leicester which had been Fulton's ship, the Fly boat Roebuck', a 700 ton ship which he had purchased in Plymouth some two years previously, the Desire, and the Black Pinnace, and one unnamed pinnace. His choice of vessels would provide fire power and storage capacity in the Leicester and Roebuck, and in shore work in the Desire and Black Pinnace. Unfortunately his plans for the unnamed pinnace were thwarted before the voyage began, as it went down in the River Thames with all hands. With hindsight, this was the beginning of the problems which would befall the intended voyage. Thomas looked for support from the courts and London Merchants but the financial support was not very forthcoming, so he had to share the financial burden with a rather reluctant John Davis, who himself was an Arctic explorer. He also had to share the leadership and promise to hand over a pinnace once the Pacific had been reached, so Davis could continue his voyage in search of the North West Passage. In April, Thomas Andrewes was imprisoned for accidently killing a cooper. He was to supply good quality rigging and provisions. Thomas lost £1500 to absconding sailors, and their replacement put his departure back further.

On 26th August 1591, Thomas and his fleet finally set sail, but because of the length of delay, Thomas made his first bad decision, to head directly for Brazil. The fleet was becalmed in the doldrums for twenty seven days, and with no fresh supplies, the crew succumbed to scurvy and dissent started to settle in. Quarrels began after a foray off the Brazilian Coast, which caused Davis to load his ship Daintie with a cargo of sugar, disguise it as a trader and set it to sail back home. Thomas ordered a two month delay, so they could build a replacement stowable pinnace, which they named the Crow. More arguments ensued, with accusations of negligence and treachery bandied about. The fleet set sail once more, but as they neared the River Plate, the encountered unusually strong winds. The Crow was lost, Leicester and Roebuck collided, both losing ships boats, and the Leicester lost crews clothing and began taking on water. Roebuck, escorted by Desire limped into Port Desire, and was soon joined by Thomas and his rebellious crew on the Leicester. After the winds had reverted back to normal, they set sail for the strait of Magellan, but Winter soon set in. Men perished as they fought to find supplies. Thomas then made a decision to turn back towards the Phillipines, a decision that was not received with any sort of enthusiasm from anyone. Thomas's crew moved their rebellion up a notch to near mutiny. Thomas resorted to violence to keep some sort of order, as they headed for Santos, but the strain of constantly having to assert himself to maintain the compliance of his crew was taking its toll, and Thomas was beginning to feel suicidal. He gathered a few men together and got them to witness his dictated will. This will was to cause much discontent, numerous arguments and a number of challenges before it was settled.

Thomas passed away aboard the Leicester during May or June, 1592, whilst at sea. The Leicester limped into port at Plymouth, almost a year later in March 1593.

Thomas Cavendish sold the Grimston Hall manor and its lands in Trimley St Martin, Suffolk, to Charles Cornwallis just prior to Thomas's last and fatal voyage.^[5]

Research Notes

Much of Thomas's life and voyages, have not been included in this biography, but can be read at the sources listed below. There are conflicting views as to whether Thomas received a knighthood, and to the cause of his death. ^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ “Thomas Cavendish | English Navigator and Explorer.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed May 9, 2018. Thomas Cavendish
2. ↑ BNF authorities
3. ↑ “Gray’s Inn.” Wikipedia, April 30, 2018. Gray's Inn.
4. ↑ “Thomas Cavendish.” Wikipedia, December 11, 2017. Thomas Cavendish
5. ↑ https://archive.org/details/manorsofsuffolkn03copiuoft/page/98/mode/2up
6. ↑ “Cavendish, Thomas (Bap. 1560, d. 1592), Explorer | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.” Accessed May 20, 2018. ODNB

• See also:
• “CAVENDISH, Thomas (1560-92), of Trimley St. Martin, Suff. | History of Parliament Online.” Accessed May 20, 2018. History of Parliament
• “Thomas CAVENDISH (Sir).” Accessed May 20, 2018. Tudor Place
• “Thomas Cavendish - English Explorer.” Accessed May 20, 2018. Famous Explorers
• Collins, Arthur, and Sir Egerton Brydges. Collins’s Peerage of England: Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical. F.C. and J. Rivington, Otridge and Son, 1812.
• Lives of the British Admirals: George Clifford. Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake. Thomas Cavendish. Sir Richard Hawkins. Sir Richard Greenville. Longman, 1834.
• Fish, Shirley. The Manila-Acapulco Galleons : The Treasure Ships of the Pacific: With an Annotated List of the Transpacific Galleons 1565-1815. AuthorHouse, 2011.
• Quinn, DavidBeers. The Roanoke Voyages, 1584-1590: Documents to Illustrate the English Voyages to North America under the Patent Granted to Walter Raleigh in 1584. Routledge, 2017.
• Venn, J. A., comp.. Alumni Cantabrigienses. London, England: Cambridge University Press, 1922-1954. Thomas Cavendish. Retrieved from Ancestry.com. Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.