T q toyoit, on the C nd on the ph or Neve s beating up and door c. For a, th Kreat prize how in it. It 小 deks, Sats, ad d. ave dish ratter obstina OL shor こ fight em, a CAVENDISH (b. 1555? d. 1592). THOMAS CANDISH or CAVENDISH, a gentleman of Suffolk, who had not only squandered the savings of his minority, but had dissipated the substance of a large fortune, in the extravagances of Elizabeth's Court, bethought him of repairing his shattered means by American adventure. He first made acquaintance with the New World as the commander of one of the vessels in Raleigh's expedition to 'Virginia' in 1585 (p.52). He returned with Greenville in the same year, and in the next planned an expedition modelled on the Famous Voyage of Drake. In July, 1586, he left Plymouth with three vessels, following Drake's track by way of the Canaries and the Guinea Coast to the shores of Brazil, which was reached in December. Early in the next year (1587) Cavendish made the Straits of Magellan, which it took him over six weeks to traverse, and coasted along the western shore of South America in search of plunder. His success was quite equal to his expectations. Before he reached the coast of California he had sunk many Spanish vessels, and collected a considerable cargo of silver and American produce. Cavendish had resolved to strike a yet more daring blow for fortune. He proposed to await, on the Californian coast, the arrival of the annual galleon from the Philippines, laden with the wealth of Asia; and on the 4th of November, 1587, while Cavendish was beating up and down off the headland of California, the great prize hove in sight. It was the Santa Anna, having on board 120,000 dollars in gold, besides large quantities of Oriental silks, satins, and damask, and rich spices and perfumes. Cavendish speedily laid her aboard, and captured her after an obstinate fight of several hours. Having put her crew on shore, emptied her of all her treasures, and burnt her to the water's edge, Cavendish sailed due west across the Pacific, and reached the Philippines in the middle of January, 1588. He touched at several islands of the Malay archipelago, and visited Java, where he took pains to obtain exact information as to the condition and resources of the island, and found the natives and the Portuguese equally ready to welcome a deliverer from the despotism of Spain. Thence, after a run of nine weeks across the Indian Ocean, he made the Cape of Good Hope. Cavendish landed on the Island of St. Helena, of which the narrative gives an interesting description. Two months from St. Helena brought him back to Plymouth, after a voyage which had lasted over two years. Three years elapsed before Cavendish sailed on his second expedition. It was as disastrous as the first had been prosperous. He was late in the season, and unusually bad weather prevented him from making the Straits until April, 1592. Cavendish did not reach the Pacific. The Desire, commanded by Davis, was forced back up the Straits by stress of weather, and followed the Admiral back to the coast of Brazil; and, after months of unexampled suffering and distress, her crew reached the coast of Ireland. Cavendish himself was spared the mortification of an inglorious return; for he died at sea before his ship reached home. Cavendish was the second English circumnavigator of the globe. The brilliant successes of his first expedition, and the tragic failure of the second, fixed both firmly in the public mind. They served to stimulate and confirm the spirit of English enterprise in the American and East Indian seas; and the name of the bold and unfortunate Suffolk gentleman-adventurer will always occupy a place on the roll of English worthies. |