Britain’s expansion beyond its own territorial
waters is generally thought to have begun during the “Age of Discovery”, which
is said to have started during the 15th century, most notably with
the voyages of John Cabot in 1497 and continuing with the likes of Drake,
Raleigh and Cook in the following centuries. The seaborne exploration of the
globe was said to have been preceded by entirely land based expeditions, from
Europe through to Asia, many of which were led by Italian explorers, who were
often privately employed by the heads of the various medieval Italian city
states. The most famous of these explorers, Marco Polo, was reported to have
travelled throughout Asia during the 13th century and became a guest
of the great Chinese leader Kublai Khan. His experiences, many of which were
recorded at the time as personal travel logs were thought to have been read
widely throughout Europe and helped to give impetus to other north European
adventurers to explore the wider, but still relatively unknown world.
As an island kingdom, surrounded by water on all
sides; and with no direct land route to the European continent, British
exploration of the lands beyond its native shores was thought to have been
entirely limited by the naval technology of the age. Unlike its foreign
counterparts, many of whom had ready access to the profitable eastern trade
routes first laid down by the Mongol traders of the 13th century,
Britain was still thought to be a consumer of the rare and exotic products that
originated in the far east, rather than a supplier; and it was only with
development of bigger and faster ocean going vessels that finally allowed
British merchants and traders to explore the wider world; and thus seek out new
commercial opportunities. Another major factor that was said to have helped
inhibit the widespread exploration of the Asian trade routes, was thought to be
their domination by the emerging Turkish Ottoman Empire in the late 15th
century, which was determined to protect its virtual monopoly of the valuable
spice and silk trades, by preventing other competing trading nations from
gaining access to these generally isolated manufacturing centres.
The first north European nation to attempt to break
this Ottoman monopoly of the Spice and Silk routes were thought to be the
Portuguese, who launched a number of sea-borne expeditions, most of which were
said to have been authorised and financed by their Prince, Henry the Navigator,
at the beginning of the 15th century. Prior to this, the Portuguese,
in common with most other northern European countries were thought to have been
limited to trading within their own territorial waters, as well as in the more
northerly seas, which had been known to them and their predecessors for
generations. However, with the ascendancy and insistence of their ruler Prince
Henry, Portuguese seafarers were said to have pushed out from their traditional
trading routes, discovering the Madeira Islands in 1419 and the Azores in 1427,
both of which they subsequently went on to settle. Despite these new
territorial acquisitions however, Henry’s main interest was thought to have
been in gaining access to the highly lucrative slave and gold markets of West
Africa, which were reported to have run through the western Sahara Desert and
been controlled by a number of generally hostile Muslim states based in North
Africa. By searching for alternative sea routes, Henry hoped to bypass these
largely unfriendly Arabic tribes and still gain access to the lucrative markets
of the Indian Ocean and the Far East. Having received permission from the Pope,
to establish a trade monopoly on these newly accessed lands and market places,
for his part, Prince Henry was said to have promised the Pontiff that he would
ensure the spread of Christianity to the native peoples of these newly
discovered lands, thereby helping to extend the church’s influence well beyond
its traditional European kingdoms.
Within twenty years of having sent out his first
ships, Henry’s explorers were said to have discovered a new sea route, which
essentially by-passed the Arab Muslim states and created a new trade in both
African slaves and native gold, bringing great wealth to their country and
their royal rulers. Later, more extensive explorations by the Portuguese was
thought to have seen them establish new trading posts in what is now both
modern day Senegal and the Congo by 1482; and within another five years they
were said to have discovered yet another trade route, this time around the
southern tip of Africa, giving their country free access to the Indian Ocean
and its limitless supplies of spices, silks and much, much more. Portugal’s
Iberian neighbour, the kingdom of Castile, which later merged with the kingdom
of Aragon to form what would later become modern day Spain, did not begin to
explore the wider world until the latter part of the 15th century,
although up until 1492 was regularly trading in African goods with the Moorish
kingdom of Granada.
However, following the conquest of Granada by the
merged Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, virtually all of this trade was
reported to have been lost, leaving the rulers of Spain with little option but
to begin looking for their own new trading opportunities, much the same as
Portugal had done more than half a century before. As a result of their need to
replace these earlier trading routes, the joint monarchs of Spain were said to
have funded a number of expeditionary voyages, including that of Christopher
Columbus, which they hoped might give them access to Asia from the west, rather
than from the traditional eastern routes that were now dominated by their
Portuguese neighbours. However, rather than discovering a new route to the well
known Asian markets, Columbus ultimately discovered a “New World”, which eventually
evolved into the modern day regions of South, Central and North America, which
in later years would be fought over by most of Europe’s leading nation states.
The Portuguese too had begun to look west at around
the same time; and in 1500 an explorer called Cabral was reported to have
discovered and explored new lands in what is now modern day Brazil. With both
countries seeking out new lands and trading opportunities to the west, there
was always the possibility that conflicts might arise between Portugal and
Spain, over who owned particular trading rights and lands, so in 1494 a Papal
Treaty was agreed and signed between the two countries. Portugal was granted
exclusive rights over Asia, Africa and Brazil, whilst Spain was granted control
over everything to the west, much of which was still undiscovered, as well as
the islands of the largely unexplored Pacific Ocean. Ultimately, the Spanish
were probably the most fortunate of the two great explorer nations, as once
they began to explore the interior of the Americas and most notably that of the
modern day South America, they discovered a number of native Empires, including
the Aztecs in Mexico and the Inca’s in Peru, both of which they exploited for
their treasures and natural resources. In exchange the Spanish “conquistadors”
were said to have given the people of these great native civilisations a number
of European diseases, which ultimately devastated the indigenous tribesmen and
led to their society’s almost inevitable collapse and destruction.
As for the Portuguese, in May 1498 their mariners
were said to have reached India and within a decade were reported to have
conquered the region of Goa. In the west, around 1500, their seafarers were
thought to have sighted the coast of Brazil; and in 1501 a Portuguese ship was
said to have discovered Madagascar, in 1506 Ceylon was reached and in 1507
Mauritius was first discovered by their seamen. Under the Portuguese monarch,
Manuel I, they were said to have opened up new sea lanes and trade routes throughout
Africa and the Far East, establishing trading forts and military outposts along
the Gold Coast, Mozambique, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Calcutta, Goa, Bombay, Macau and
Timor. Mainland China and Japan were also reported to have been reached by 1514
and in the following year they were said to have seized ports in the Persian
Gulf region, thereby establishing a trading relationship with Persia, the
historic name for modern day Iran. In 1521 the Portuguese were thought to have
conquered Bahrain, beginning an 80 year rule there and in 1522 a ship commanded
by one of Portugal’s most famous sons, Ferdinand Magellan, was reported to have
been the first vessel to complete a voyage around the world.
It is worth pointing out however that Magellan
himself was said to have been killed before this feat was accomplished and as
he had previously taken on Spanish citizenship, he was therefore technically in
the pay of the Spanish Crown, rather than in the employment of his native
Portugal. These achievements by the two competing Iberian neighbours did not
come without a cost however; and despite the terms of the Papal Treaty of 1494,
the exploration of and discoveries made in the Pacific Ocean region was said to
have led to almost a decade of squabbling and military skirmishes between the
two nations, as they both fought for control of the newly discovered lands and
the riches that they were thought to possess.
Although English merchant adventurers were thought
to have been rather late in launching their sea-borne expeditions beyond their
traditional home waters, the first of these journeys was recorded to have been
commanded by the seasoned Italian seafarer John Cabot in 1497. Sailing west,
Cabot was reported to have been searching for a fabled Northwest Passage that
was said to link the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, but ultimately he only
succeeded in discovering the east coast of the New World, at a place he chose
to call “Newfoundland”. Despite his failure to find the elusive sea passage,
linking the world’s two great oceans, this first voyage of Cabot seems to have
given England’s merchant adventurers the necessary impetus to launch themselves
and their ships into the vast expanse of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and to
challenge the existing trading monopolies of their Southern European
competitors, Portugal and Spain. Cabot was said to have been employed by King
Henry VII of England in March 1496 and “given free authority, faculty and
power to sail to all parts, regions and coasts of the eastern, western and
northern seas under our banners, flags and ensigns, with five ships or vessels
of whatever burden and quality they may be; and with so many and with such
mariners and men as they may wish to take with them, in the said ships and at
their own proper cost. We further charge them to find, discover and investigate
whatsoever islands, countries, regions and provinces of heathens and infidels
in whatever part of the world, which before this time was unknown to all
Christians”
According to some sources, Henry’s decision to
employ men like Cabot was as a result of the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494,
which had been authorised by the Pope and that had divided the globe between
Portugal and Spain. Having received his Royal Warrant, Cabot was said to have
travelled to Bristol, at that time England’s second largest seaport, where he
hoped to find additional financial backers for his expedition and by May 1497
was reported to have found a number of interested merchant adventurers and set
sail with them on the ship “Matthew”. Sailing due west, past Ireland and into
the Atlantic, the Matthew and its crew were thought to have encountered few
real problems and according to most reports were thought to have reached land
on June 24th 1497, although exactly where they landed is still a
matter of some debate, more than 500 years later.
Depending on whose accounts you prefer, the Matthew
was said to have landed its crew at St John’s in Newfoundland, in Nova Scotia,
Labrador or possibly at Maine in the United States, although according to both
Canadian and British official accounts, the crew first came ashore at Cape
Bonavista in modern day Newfoundland. Whichever place is right however, most
sources agree that this landing was thought to be the first time that North
Europeans had set foot on American soil since the age of the Vikings. Landing
only to take on fresh supplies of food and water, Cabot and his companions were
said to have formally claimed these new lands for King Henry VII and the Holy
See, before embarking aboard the Matthew once again to map the coastline of
these new territories. Having completed this task, the crew were then reported
to have set a course for home, content that their first expedition had been
entirely successful, although poor navigation on the return leg of the journey
resulted in them landing at Brittany in France, rather than their home port of
Bristol, which they finally reached in August 1497.
Cabot was said to have undertaken a second maritime
expedition in May 1498, this time with a fleet of five ships, although
according to some sources, this journey was largely unsuccessful, with one ship
damaged during a storm and forced into an Irish port, whilst the remaining
four, including Cabot’s own vessel were reported to have been lost in the
Atlantic. However, other reporters suggest that Cabot and his remaining ships
actually did make a second successful landing in North America; and then spent
the next year or so exploring the interior of the country, before returning
home to England in 1499. Although there is some uncertainty as to whether or
not Cabot actually returned to England in 1499, the fact that his pension was
still being paid up until that year, suggests that he did indeed complete the
return journey, but died in England a short time later. Although Cabot has long
been credited with being the first Northern European to set foot in North
America since the age of the Viking’s, the first Englishman to achieve that
feat is thought to be a merchant adventurer called William Weston, a
contemporary of Cabot’s, who was reported to have led an expedition to the
Americas in 1499, once again supported by the English monarch Henry VII.
England was not alone is reaching out beyond its
own shores, as the Age of Discovery also saw the emergence of both French and Dutch
influence throughout the wider world, who like England, were equally anxious to
acquire new lands and free access to the new foreign markets. As well as
exploring the vastness of the largely undiscovered Pacific Ocean, these three
leading European nations were said to have taken the lead in challenging Spain
and Portugal’s trading monopolies in and around the Indian Ocean; and as they
grew in strength and influence, so the former two trading superpowers saw their
power wane. This was thought to have been especially true of the Portuguese,
who found their historically valuable holdings constantly threatened and
reduced by the growing maritime and military strength of the English, French
and Dutch Empires.
England’s first steps towards what would later become
a worldwide Empire is thought to have its foundations during the reign of King
Henry VIII, the monarch who is widely credited with creating the basis for
England’s first professional navy, which would ultimately play such a pivotal
role in the early development of what would eventually become the all powerful
British Empire. No doubt brought about by Henry’s own decision making
processes, which were based almost entirely on his own personal whims and
desires, he was thought to have had little choice, but to have his kingdom sink
or swim in its dealings with the wider world and especially those countries
that were allied to the church in Rome, most notably Spain and Portugal. Even
after Henry’s own death, the antipathy between England and her two main European
rivals, France and Spain, along with their mother church did not abate, but in
fact worsened, following the execution of the Roman Catholic monarch Mary Queen
of Scots, by the English Queen, Elizabeth I. This act alone was thought to have
set the seal on centuries of conflict between the two states, which England
would eventually win, but only by becoming the leading sea power of the age. It
was also thought to be through this need for a strong naval deterrent, which
saw the inexorable rise of the professional English seafarer, rather than the
wealthy amateur, men who saw the world as a mysterious place; and were
determined to discover its untold riches, for the good of England; and of
course, for their own personal enrichment.
One of those early leading adventurers that helped
to forge England’s maritime reputation during the 16th century was
said to have been Sir Francis Drake, who was born at Tavistock in Devon in 1540
and who died off the coast of Panama in 1596. He has been variously described
as a Sea Captain, Privateer, Explorer and Slave Trader, as well as being a
leading political figure of the Elizabethan era. Regarded by the Spanish as
little more than a common pirate, who regularly raided their treasure ships
that were crossing the Atlantic, to and from the New World, Drake was generally
seen by the English populace as a heroic sea commander, who was deservedly
knighted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1581.
However, according to other sources, Drake’s
military actions against Spanish interests were reported to be as the result of
the personal antipathy he felt towards Spain generally, rather than the more
obvious and far simpler patriotic fervour that has sometimes been attributed to
him. According to some historic reporters, Drake had first visited the New
World in 1563 and five years later, on an entirely separate raiding expedition,
he and his men had been trapped by the Spanish forces that were stationed
there. Although it isn’t entirely clear, exactly what happened to affect him so
badly, it was said to be after this incident that Drake’s personal feelings
towards his Spanish adversaries radically changed, turning from a simple
dislike, to an intense burning personal hatred.
In 1572 Drake was reported to have led yet another
raid against the Spanish Main, the historic name for modern day Panama, the
place where the Spaniards loaded their looted gold, silver and other treasures
onto galleons that were destined for Spain. His attack on the base was
initially a success, but sheer bad luck, illness and bad weather all conspired
to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, leaving Drake and a large part of
his crew fortunate to escape with their lives, let alone a portion of the
Spanish treasure. It was only through Drake’s daring leadership and natural
seamanship that he and crew were able to rejoin their ship and sail back to
England, with enough treasure to make them all wealthy men.
Five years later, in 1577, Drake was reported to
have undertaken yet another naval expedition, this time against the Spanish
holdings on the Pacific west coast of South America. Landing first at San
Julian, now in modern day Argentina, Drake and his three surviving ships were
thought to have remained ashore for a significant period of time, before
setting out for the Magellan Straits at the southern tip of South America.
However, by the time his small flotilla had made its way into the Pacific
Ocean, only his own ship, The Pelican, was fit enough to continue the voyage
and so, renaming it the Golden Hind, he sailed north along the west coast of
the New World, attacking Spanish ports and bases along the way, relieving them
of their stores and treasure. It was said to be during this particular raiding
campaign that Drake attacked and sacked the Spanish port of Valparaiso in
modern day Chile, capturing two Spanish treasure ships, one of which, the Caca
Fuego, was reported to have been laden down with gold, silver and jewels
destined for Spain’s national treasury.
With the Golden Hind loaded down with the stolen
Spanish treasure, Drake was then said to have headed west across the Pacific,
stopping first at the Molucca’s Islands, now Indonesia, before beginning the
slow and exhausting journey towards the east coast of Africa. Having rounded
the Cape of Good Hope, the Golden Hind was reported to have stopped once more,
this time in Sierra Leone, where Drake and his crew were reported in July 1580.
Within a matter of weeks however, they were said to have been back on English
soil, with an enormous bounty for the Queen’s treasury, one that was said to
have equalled the Crown’s entire income from all other sources and enhancing
Drake’s personal reputation throughout the country. Awarded a knighthood by
Queen Elizabeth I, ostensibly for being the first English sea commander to
successfully circumnavigate the globe, Drake was now such a wealthy and
influential figure in England that he was thought to have purchased Buckland
Abbey in Devon and settled down to become a leading politician of the age.
Unfortunately, despite his hopes for a much quieter
personal life, in 1585 he was reported to have been drawn back to the sea,
following the outbreak of war between England and Spain, which saw the highly
experienced Drake returning to the Americas and attacking the various Spanish possessions
there. He was reported to have sacked the ports of Santo Domingo and Cartagena
and on his way back to England also captured the Spanish fort of San Augustin
in Florida, actions which were thought to have encouraged the outraged King
Philip of Spain to plan for the full-scale military invasion of England.
Elizabeth and her closest advisers were said to
have been fully aware of the Spanish plans for the invasion of her kingdom by
sea; and in a daring move Drake and his ships were reported to have sailed into
both Cadiz and La Coruna, two of Spain’s main shipping ports and destroyed a
large number of the military and supply vessels that were being prepared for
the attack on England. Although these pre-emptive raids did not stop the
Spaniard’s preparations for the invasion of England, they did however, delay
the threat for well over a year, giving the English navy time to prepare for
the battle that was to come.
In the meantime, English commanders like Drake were
reported to have continuously patrolled along the Iberian coastline, seeking
out, seizing and often destroying any Spanish controlled vessels that they
happened to come across. The two fleets would eventually meet in battle in July
1588, with the English forces commanded by Lord Howard of Effingham and with
Drake’s own ships in close attendance. Although there was no out-and-out sea
battle as such, a combination of good fortune, poor weather conditions and the
smaller, much more manoeuvrable English ships helped Elizabeth’s fleet to
disperse the Spanish galleons, essentially putting an end to any invasion plans
that King Philip may have held. In the year following the defeat of the Armada,
Drake and Sir John Norrey’s were thought to have been ordered to hunt down and
destroy any surviving Spanish ships that remained at sea, a task that they were
more than happy to perform.
By 1595 Drake was said to have returned to the
Americas, where once again he began raiding any and all Spanish interests that
he came across in the region. Less successful than in earlier times, Drake was
reported to have suffered at least two notable defeats during his final
expedition, at both San Juan and Puerto Rico, which may have been as the result
of his own failing health. In 1596, while his ship was anchored off the coast
of Porto Belo in Panama, Drake was thought to have been struck down by a severe
case of dysentery from which he subsequently perished. Perhaps typically of the
man, before breathing his last, he was said to have insisted that he was to be
buried at sea and in full fighting armour, with his body being placed within a
lead coffin and buried off the coast of Panama.
Drake was also reported to have played a minor part
in the first attempted British settlement of America in around 1585, although
his role seems to have been limited to helping with the evacuation of the
colony’s surviving settlers, during one of his intermittent raids against the
Spanish ports and bases in the region. It was actually thought to be his fellow
Englishman and explorer, Sir Walter Raleigh, who was the main driving force
behind the colonisation of Roanoke Island in 1585, a small islet located off
the coast of modern day North Carolina. The man in overall charge of the
expedition, Sir Richard Grenville, a relative of Raleigh’s, was said to have
appointed a Master Ralph Lane to take charge of the new settlement, while he,
Drake and the rest of the fleet returned to England. The intention seems to
have been that Grenville and a supply ship would return on a regular basis to
bring new settlers and provisions to the Roanoke Colony, but war with Spain had
prevented this from happening and the colony was eventually abandoned by the
English settlers. Fortunately for those that did manage to survive the fairly
arduous conditions, Drake was said to have been campaigning in the region and
was able to rescue them from their perilous situation and return them to
England aboard his own ships.
However, despite the failure of this first English
colony and the obvious hardships that future settlers were likely to face, in
1587 Grenville was said to have tried once again to establish an English colony
on Roanoke, on much the same basis as the first. Sometime after this second
colony had been established, a member of the community was said to have
returned to England, with the intention of bringing back much needed supplies
to the settlement, but once again their return was said to have been delayed by
a shortage of ships, most of which were being used in the ongoing war with
Spain, so no contact with the Roanoke colony was made until 1590, when the
whole settlement was found to be deserted, with no trace of the inhabitants
ever being found. Although it was suggested that the colonists may well have
left the island through their own choice, no conclusive evidence of their fate
was ever found and they eventually became known as the “Lost Colony” a title
which continues through to the modern day.
Even though Walter Raleigh is often regarded as one
of England’s most successful Elizabethan seafarers, in reality most of his
naval expeditions ultimately proved to be failures and it was his own personal
involvement in the courtly politics of the day that not only made him a leading
figure of the age, but also led to his unpopularity and relatively early death.
Born sometime around 1553 in Devon, Raleigh was said to have been the youngest
of five sons born to Catherine Champernowne, who was also the mother of yet
another notable Elizabethan mariner and explorer, Humphrey Gilbert, making the
two men half brothers. Brought up as an ardent Protestant, Raleigh was said to
have developed a hatred of the Roman Catholic religion during his formative
years, creating a personal intolerance that would shape his future dealings
with the majority population of Ireland during the latter part of the 16th
century when Raleigh was posted to Ireland during the Desmond Rebellions of the
early 1580’s.
He was alleged to have played a major part in the
massacre of unarmed Italian and Spanish troops in Ireland following the Siege of
Smerwick in 1580, where some several hundred papal soldiers and Irish Roman
Catholics were systematically beheaded by English forces, before their
decapitated bodies were thrown into the sea. As a reward for his service in
Ireland, Raleigh was reported to have been granted several thousand acres of
land in Munster, although his inability to attract sufficient numbers of
English settlers there, was thought to have resulted in the property remaining
unprofitable, to the point that in 1602, he was said to have sold the
properties to Richard Boyle, the 1st Earl of Cork.
As previously mentioned, in both 1584 and 1587,
Raleigh was said to have been the main driving force behind early English
attempts to colonise the New World, specifically in the region that was then
known as Virginia, now represented by the modern day American states of
Virginia and North Carolina. Both of these unsuccessful English colonies were
centred on Roanoke Island, off the eastern seaboard of North America, although
each of them in turn were thought to have failed to survive, largely due to the
hardship of the terrain, the ferocity of the local tribes and the inability of
the settlers to fully adapt to life in the Americas. Ultimately, the failure of
what later became known as “The Lost Colony” of Roanoke was said to have proved
to be costly for Raleigh, not only financially, but also for his general
reputation, although as a personal favourite of the English monarch, Queen
Elizabeth I, the failure of these expeditions were not thought to have hurt his
standing at court.
Awarded several titles by the monarch, Raleigh was
said to have become a significant figure of the age, both as a Member of
Parliament and as a military officer, being appointed as Vice Admiral in two
separate counties, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall and Warden of all the mines
within Cornwall and Devon. No doubt as a result of his well paid and
prestigious appointments, Raleigh was said to have personally commissioned the
construction of a brand new warship called the “Ark Raleigh”, which was later
purchased by the Crown and renamed as the “Ark Royal”, a famous name which has
been carried by several vessels within the Royal Navy, from the time of Queen
Elizabeth I, right through to the modern day.
In 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, unlike
Drake, Frobisher, Newport and Adams, who were preparing to defend England at
sea, Sir Walter Raleigh was reportedly ordered to organise the kingdom’s
southern coastal defences, in readiness for the planned Spanish barges and ships
that were expected to try and land on England’s shores. However, thanks largely
to good fortune and bad weather the great Spanish fleet ultimately failed to
safely navigate its way through the English Channel and collect the thousands
of Spanish troops, which had been assembled to attack England. With Elizabeth’s
kingdom safe; with the Spanish Armada largely dispersed and the English fleet
victorious, at least in the short term, life in the English Court was reported
to have returned to normal, with Walter Raleigh resuming his role as a
favourite of the increasingly confident Tudor Queen.
Unfortunately for Raleigh, his later romantic
entanglement with one of Elizabeth’s own ladies in waiting contrived to rob him
of his most favoured status, especially after Raleigh secretly married,
Elizabeth Trockmorton, without having first obtained the permission of the
Queen, who was said to have been so outraged by the secret and unauthorised
marriage that she dismissed Bess Throckmorton from her court and ordered Raleigh
to be imprisoned for his deliberate transgression. Although he was subsequently
released from prison on Elizabeth’s order, Raleigh remained out of favour at
court and so contented himself with managing his vast estates and involving
himself in English politics, as well as settling down to raise his and Bess’
two young sons.
However, in 1594, Raleigh was reported to have come
into possession of a written account about a golden city called Manoa, which
was said to have been located in the region of South America, now marked by the
modern day states of Guyana and Venezuela, causing him to travel to the
Americas in pursuit of this mythical “El Dorado”. Unfortunately, having spent
some time there and uncovered no conclusive evidence relating to the mythical
golden city, Raleigh was said to have returned home to simply write about his
great adventures in these faraway lands, reportedly helping to create the myth
of the city of El Dorada, which thousands of treasure seekers would pursue over
succeeding centuries. Back in England though, he was said to have returned to
royal favour, being appointed as the Governor of Jersey where he set about
refortifying the island’s defences and building a new defensive fortress,
Elizabeth Castle, although as his work there came to an inevitable end, Queen
Elizabeth I was reported to have died, leaving Raleigh with little if any
support in the English court and making him susceptible to the scheming of
those courtiers who had envied him his apparent closeness to the former Tudor
queen.
Elizabeth’s royal successor, James VI of Scotland,
was the son of the Roman Catholic monarch Mary Queen of Scots, a choice of heir
that Raleigh was said to be instinctively opposed to, given his own personal
hatred towards Catholicism in general. Although the new James I of England had
been brought up in the Protestant faith and vowed to protect it as part of his
royal oath, the new king was thought to be far more forgiving towards the
Catholic Church than men such as Raleigh and was therefore more likely to be
less tolerant of the rabid anti-Catholic rhetoric as practiced by the likes of
Raleigh and others. As a new Scottish born monarch, it was always likely that
James would be suspicious of the English royal court and its officials,
including those that had previously served, or who had found favour with
Elizabeth and who James would almost certainly replace or displace, as soon as
he took his rightful place on the combined English, Scottish and Irish thrones.
According to most sources, James had always intended to try and reduce the
historic and costly religious tensions that had previously existed between
Protestant England and its main Catholic neighbours, France and Spain, a policy
that did not find favour with the likes of Raleigh, who had spent much of their
lives fighting against these two enemy European states.
It was thought to be because of his own personal
antipathy towards King James that Raleigh’s enemies tried to implicate him in a
number of plots against the new English monarch, the most serious of which was
said to be the Main Plot of 1603, a conspiracy that was supposedly aimed at
removing James from the English throne and replacing him with his cousin, the
Roman Catholic heiress Arabella Stuart. Although the idea of the staunchly
Protestant Raleigh becoming involved in a plot to put a Roman Catholic on the
English throne would appear to be completely absurd, all the same, Raleigh was
charged with being involved with the conspiracy and forced to defend himself
against the accusations. However, despite the lack of any real evidence against
him in terms of the Main Plot itself, it was thought to be Raleigh’s own
personal dislike of James I and his public grumbling about the new king, which
ultimately helped to convict him of the charges and led to him being sentenced
to death.
Fortunately, King James I himself was not so
convinced of Raleigh’s guilt and refused to confirm the death sentence passed
by the court, although the nobleman was said to have been imprisoned for the
next decade or more, during which time he remained in the Tower of London. It
was only in 1616 that James I finally ordered his release and only then, so
that he could lead a second English expedition in search of the fabled, gold
rich city of El Dorado, which Raleigh still believed existed along the banks of
the Orinoco River. However, before being despatched on his voyage to South
America, Raleigh was said to have been given explicit instructions to avoid any
sort of direct military conflict with Spanish forces that he and his men might
encounter, thereby ensuring that the peaceful relations between the two
countries, promoted by James himself, would remain undisturbed. With these
instructions clearly understood, Raleigh and his English expedition, which
included Raleigh’s own son, who was also called Walter, set out on their search
for the mythical South American city, arriving in the region of Guiana later in
the same year.
Unfortunately, having anchored off the coast of
Guiana, Raleigh himself was reported to have been taken ill and was therefore
obliged to allow one of his lieutenants, Lawrence Keymis, along with his son
Walter to lead the English expedition upstream, requesting that they simply
reconnoitre the region before reporting their findings back to him. As they
made their way further into the hinterland, occasionally stopping to
investigate particular sites that might be suitable for mining, the English
party were thought to have found little of value, leading to a growing
frustration amongst both the men and their leaders. At some point along the way
the Englishmen were said to have encountered the Spanish held settlement of San
Tome’ de Guyana along the banks of the Orinoco, where, for some unknown reason
the two sides came into conflict with one another, resulting in Raleigh’s son
Walter being killed, along with a number of other men, both English and
Spanish. Eventually, Keymis was able to safely lead his party back to Raleigh’s
headquarters, where he informed the English commander about the death of his
son and the conflict with the Spanish outpost. For Raleigh personally, the
expedition had proved to be a complete disaster, as he not only lost his eldest
son, but his men had also engaged in combat with the Spanish, in clear defiance
of King James’ instructions. Even though he had not been present at San Tome’,
as the overall commander of the English expedition, it had been his
responsibility to ensure that such an action did not take place and knew that
he was certain to face the consequences upon his return to England. Things
might well have been different, if Raleigh and his men had actually managed to
discover the supposedly lost golden city of El Dorado, although given that no
such place was ever thought to have existed, he and his men were subsequently
forced to return to England with little to show for their endeavours, or indeed
for their losses.
By the time Raleigh and his men returned to England
in 1618, news of the attack on the Spanish outpost at San Tome’ had already
reached Europe, with the Spanish Ambassador in London, Count Gondomar, angrily
demanding Raleigh’s execution in reprisal for the unwarranted English attack on
his country’s settlement. Unfortunately for Raleigh, the question of his own
culpability in relation to the events at San Tome’ became a part of a much
larger political intrigue, with Gondomar and the Howard family lobbying for a
much more pro-Catholic approach to England’s European alliances, causing
Raleigh’s fate to become inextricably linked to a continuing peace with Spain,
something that James I was desperate to maintain.
Having previously and erroneously been found guilty
of treason in 1603, Raleigh was said to have carried the suspended death
sentence over his head for nearly thirteen years, before the Spanish Ambassador
called for James I to implement the sentence, in response to the San Tome’
incident. Eager to ensure future peaceful relations between England and Spain;
and no doubt at the instigation of his closest pro-Catholic advisers,
eventually and perhaps a little grudgingly King James was said to have signed
Raleigh’s death warrant, condemning him to be executed on 29th
October 1618. According to legend, in the hours before his death on the
scaffold at Whitehall, Raleigh was said to have been relatively calm about his
impending demise, an attitude that was no doubt influenced by the earlier death
of his eldest son in Guiana, a personal loss that was thought to have had a
significant affect on the English nobleman’s character.
Following his execution, Raleigh’s decapitated head
was reported to have been embalmed and presented to his wife, Elizabeth, who
was said to have displayed it to the numerous friends, visitors and supporters
who frequented her family home in later years. It was also reported that many
influential people of the time were extremely unhappy about the way in which
Sir Walter Raleigh had been dealt with, making their feelings known, especially
to the likes of Count Gondomar and others who had actively lobbied for the
nobleman’s death, with pamphlets and posters being produced, publicly
condemning their actions. Nearly thirty years after his execution and following
Elizabeth Frockmorton’s own demise, Raleigh’s severed head and body were
finally reunited, being reinterred in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, where
it remained as a site of special interest and religious pilgrimage. Somewhat
interestingly, it was thought to be only after his death that Raleigh began to
achieve the level of public recognition that has helped to turn him into something
of a national icon, which in reality is probably undeserved, given that some of
his credited actions and innovations had little to do with him in the first
place.
Despite the earlier failures at colonisation in the
Americas, English explorers and settlers continued to be carried across to the
New World in the hope of finding new lands and trading opportunities, which
might benefit not only themselves, but also the English Crown. The first
successful English colony to be formally founded in these new lands was said to
be Jamestown in Virginia, both of which were named after successive English
monarchs, Virginia after the “Virgin Queen” Elizabeth I and Jamestown after
King James I, Elizabeth’s royal successor. One of the men responsible for the
discovery, establishment and ultimately the commercial success of Jamestown,
was thought to be the English privateer and adventurer, Christopher Newport,
the captain of the “Susan Constant”, one of the three English ships that
carried these first permanent settlers to the New World.
Born in London in 1561, Newport was said to have
spent most of his adult life as a sailor and privateer, primarily raiding the
Spanish and Portuguese ships that regularly travelled between Europe and the
New World, carrying supplies and treasures across the Atlantic, to and from
Spain and Portugal’s far flung outposts. Although Newport was thought to have
achieved some notable success in his role as English privateer, for the most
part, many of the ships that he managed to capture were often carrying general
cargoes, either supplies for the individual colonies, or commodities being sent
back to Europe for sale. However, in 1592, Newport and his crew were reported
to have captured the Portuguese treasure ship, the “Madre de Deus”, which was
said to have contained one of the largest treasure cargoes ever seized by an
English privateer, an estimated five hundred tons of valuables, including
spices, gemstones and precious metals.
Even though his share of the treasure would have
allowed Newport to retire in some comfort, given that he was still a
comparatively young man, it was perhaps no surprise that he chose to continue
his seafaring career, accepting a commission from the Virginia Company of
London in 1605 to establish a new settlement in the Americas. Beginning their
journey in December 1606, Newport and the crews of the “Susan Constant”, the
“Godspeed” and the “Discovery” were reported to have set sail across the
Atlantic and in April 1607 made landfall at what later became known as Cape
Henry in the area of Chesapeake Bay. Over the next few weeks, Newport and newly
appointed council member, Captain John Smith, along with a number of other
English colonists were said to have set out to identify a likely spot for their
new settlement, eventually choosing what later became known as Jamestown
Island, although not for the most obvious reasons.
Initially choosing the site for its location, which
was highly defendable, rather than for its more vital resources, such as a
ready supply of fresh water, plentiful game and access to good growing land,
ultimately the site chosen for the new settlement would prove to be an
ill-fated decision for many of the early colonists. However, by June 1607
Newport and his ship “Constant Susan”, along with the “Godspeed” were reported
to have departed for England, taking with them a cargo of various minerals that
had been discovered in the area, including Iron Pyrite, or Fools Gold, a poor
return for the financial investments and human losses that the venture would
eventually cost before the settlement finally became a commercial success in
later years. Over the next year and a half, Newport was said to have made two
return journeys to the new English settlement, ostensibly to re-supply the
colony, which was reported to have been struggling to survive in the generally
harsh and unfriendly conditions. Newport’s third supply voyage to America in
1609 proved to be his most arduous and life threatening, as his fleet of nine
ships was said to have been struck by an enormous tropical storm that not only
dispersed his fleet, but also damaged his own ship, the “Sea Venture”, forcing
the leader of the expedition Sir George Somers to order the ship grounded on
the then uninhabited island of Bermuda. Despite attempts to repair the ship,
Somers and Newport were compelled to cannibalise the “Sea Venture” in order to
construct two smaller vessels, the “Deliverance” and the “Patience”, which were
both subsequently used to carry the survivors onto Jamestown, where they found
the settlement devastated by a shortage of food, disease and Indian attacks.
With very few food stores between them, finally the decision was made to
abandon the new settlement entirely and return to England onboard the two newly
built, but generally unsuitable ships, the “Deliverance” and Patience”.
Fortunately, just as the ships were about to begin
their journey downstream to the Atlantic Ocean, they were said to have sighted
a supply fleet under the command of a new English Governor, Baron de la Warre, who
was said to have been accompanied by more colonists, food supplies and a
doctor, much to the enormous relief of Newport, Somers and the surviving
Jamestown settlers. Although De la Warre’s carried a significant amount of
stores to maintain his own ships crews and passengers, the additional demands
of the Jamestown survivors and Newport’s own seamen meant that these supplies
would not last for very long. Consequently, Newport and Somers were compelled
to sail back to Bermuda where the supplies from the ill-fated “Sea Venture”
were said to have been stockpiled immediately after the ship was beached on the
local reefs. Somers was thought to have subsequently perished on Bermuda,
reportedly as a result of eating too much meat, although Newport was still said
to have recovered many of the much needed stores but also those few survivors
from the “Sea Venture” who had been left behind on Bermuda, returning them all
to Jamestown a few weeks later, thus ensuring the survival of the English
colony there.
It has also been reported that one of the people
that Newport rescued from Bermuda was a man called John Rolfe, a Norfolk
businessman with a particular interest in tobacco, a crop that he intended to
grow in the New World. Although Rolfe was said to have lost both his wife and
baby daughter during the arduous journey across the Atlantic and been forced to
bury them together on Bermuda, eventually he did continue his journey to
Jamestown, carrying the vitally important tobacco seeds on which the colony
would build its future prosperity. This journey to Jamestown, proved to be the
final such voyage for the English seafarer Christopher Newport, who was said to
have returned to England a short time later, never to visit the settlement
again. However, he did return to the sea, taking employment with the emerging
East India Trading Company, which had just begun regular trading expeditions to
Asia and the Indian subcontinent, including the island of Java, where Newport
was reported to have died in 1618, at fifty seven years of age.
At around the same time that Christopher Newport
was involved in establishing England’s first colonial settlement in Jamestown,
one of his contemporaries, Henry Hudson was said to be leading an expedition
financed by the Muscovy Company to discover a northern route from Europe to the
Pacific, allowing western sea traders to reach the Spice Islands, via what was
commonly referred to as the North East Passage. Reportedly born in London
sometime around 1565, Hudson was thought to have been born into a family of
merchants, with his grandfather, who was also called Henry Hudson, said to have
been a founding member of the Merchant Adventurers Company that was first
established in 1551. Later evolving into the Muscovy Trading Company, this
particular merchant company was reported to have been granted exclusive trading
rights with Russia, under the terms of which, the company was said to have
sought the elusive North East Passage that might link Europe with the faraway
lands of China and Japan.
Although little evidence of his early life remains
today, for most historians it seems likely that Hudson would have received a
relatively good education and might well have spent his formative years working
as a cabin boy on one of his family’s ships, learning his trade and working his
way up to the rank of captain, following which he would have been given his own
command. Certainly by 1607 he was reported to have achieved that rank, as it
was in that year that Hudson was given the task of trying to find the passage,
via the North Pole, to Japan and China, having been given command of the
“Hopewell”, a relatively small vessel that was reported to be old by the time
he received command of it. However, despite the age and condition of the ship,
on 1st May 1607, Hudson and his ten man crew were reported to have
left Gravesend, reaching Greenland in the following month. Sailing north
towards the Arctic Circle, the “Hopewell” were thought to have encountered
large numbers of whales on their journey, although the presence of heavy pack
ice soon prevented them from travelling further north, forcing them to turn
south and return to England, arriving in Tilbury in September 1607, some four
months after they had left.
Despite failing to find the North East Passage, in
the April of 1608 Hudson once again took command of the “Hopewell”, which was
thought to have been re-provisioned and repaired for a new attempt to find the
northern channel, with the ship reportedly departing from St Katherine’s Dock
in London, in April of that year. Sailing northward, Hudson steered his ship
past Norway and towards Russia, although increasingly severe weather
conditions, which caused his crew to threaten mutiny, forced Hudson to abandon
the attempt and turn south again, returning to Gravesend in August 1608. In
spite of his earlier failures however, Hudson was determined to try once again
to find the elusive northern passage, although by this time English financiers
were said to be unwilling to back a further expedition, leaving Hudson with little
option but to seek financial support elsewhere.
Fortunately for him, the Dutch were also said to be
actively seeking a similar sea route to Asia, so in January 1609 Hudson was
said to have signed an agreement with the Dutch East India Company, under the
terms of which the English sea captain would supply them with full details of
his expedition and any discoveries that he made during his journey.
Unfortunately, the Dutch merchants were thought to have been as miserly, or as
unconvinced about the expedition as their English counterparts, supplying
Hudson with the “Half Moon” (or Halve Maen), an equally ancient and
inappropriate vessel as the “Hopewell”. Sailing with a mixed English and Dutch
crew, Hudson was reported to have sailed the ship northward towards Norway and
Russia, but once again the bitter weather conditions and the crews growing
antagonism over their perilous situation caused the English sea captain to
abandon this attempt at finding the northerly route to Asia.
However, rather than face the ignominy of having to
return home with little to show for his voyage, Hudson was said to have turned
the “Half Moon” westward towards the marginally warmer waters of the North
American territories of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. By July 1609 Hudson and his
crew were said to have arrived off the North American coast, where he and his
men went ashore to explore the region and to trade with the local Indian
tribesmen, who Hudson later described as savages, despite there having been
quite friendly negotiations between them. After a few days the captain and his
crew were reported to have embarked on the ship once again, moving south
towards the Delaware River, which Hudson attempted to explore but found some
stretches too shallow to navigate. Moving on again the “Half Moon” and its crew
proceeded to the mouth of the Hudson River, where they passed what would later
become known as Statten and Coney Islands, claiming all these previously
unknown territories for his new masters in Holland. Throughout much of September
1609 Hudson and his crew were reported to have continued upstream, navigating
the river, surveying the lands and making occasional contact with the local
Indian tribes, who for the most part he found to be friendly and trusting,
although in one instance a skirmish was said to have ensued and one of his
English crewmen was killed.
By the beginning of October 1609 and having logged
an extraordinary amount of information for his employers back in Holland,
Hudson decided to set course for home, but rather than sailing to a Dutch port
was reported to have sailed the “Half Moon” back to the English port of
Dartmouth, from where he sent a communiqué to his Dutch backers asking them to
finance a second expedition. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the Dutch East India
Company were not so easily inclined to meet his request, but instead demanded
that Hudson and his crew return to Holland immediately, but before he could
respond to their message he had been arrested by the English authorities for
sailing under a Dutch flag.
Charged with exploring to the detriment of his own
country, although the “Half Moon”, its Dutch crew and Hudson’s logs were
subsequently returned to Holland, the English sea captain himself was prevented
from doing so and he never visited the country again. However, as a result of
his reports and charts the Dutch East India Company were reported to have
despatched more of their ships into the region and along the length of the
Hudson River, eventually settling the lands that would later become known as
New Amsterdam and later still, the British held territory of New York. Even
though he was brought before the king, James I, for his seemingly unpatriotic
behaviour, by 1610 Hudson’s personal reputation was thought to have been
generally restored and the Muscovy Company once again decided to appoint him as
Captain of one of their ships, the “Discovery”, which was to set sail in April
1610, departing from the River Thames. This time however, Hudson was ordered to
search for a North West Passage to Asia, as opposed to the earlier North East
channel which had previously eluded him, requiring the “Discovery” and its crew
to travel north of Greenland, Iceland and into the perilous regions towards the
Arctic Circle.
Having left England and travelled past Northern
Canada, the ship and her crew were said to have become trapped in thick pack
ice in Hudson Bay, a situation that resulted in their having to cope with some
of the very worst winter conditions and creating a great deal of antagonism
between Hudson and his crew. As the “Discovery” was finally released from the
ice, the majority of the crewmen onboard wanted to return home, although Hudson
insisted that they should continue on in search of the sea passage that they
had been ordered to find. Perhaps recognising that mutiny was their only
logical course, on the 22nd June 1911 the crew of the “Discovery”
were reported to have cast Hudson, his young son John and eight loyal members
of the crew into an open boat and cast them adrift, essentially condemning them
to almost certain death. With their captain abandoned, the remaining crew were
then reported to have set sail for England, where they arrived back in London
in October 1611, although surprisingly there seems to have been little action
taken against them, despite the best efforts of the Muscovy Company directors.
It was only in 1618, some seven years after the event that the surviving
mutineers were brought to trial on charges of murder, rather than mutiny, but
with little evidence against them and any potential prosecution witnesses
already dead, the trial was quickly done with and the men subsequently
acquitted.
Whilst Christopher Newport and Henry Hudson were
sailing north and west to settle the New World, or discover the almost mythical
Northwest Passage, other English mariners, such as Sir James Lancaster were
reported to be undertaking some of the earliest voyages eastward, taking the
more conventional route around the southern tip of Africa and into the Indian
Ocean. Although reportedly born in Basingstoke, for much of his early life,
Lancaster was said to have lived and worked as a trader in Portugal, one of
Europe’s main centres of exploration and international trade, which allowed him
to gain significant experience in international trade. However, by the second
half of the 16th century he was thought to have returned to England
and served under Sir Francis Drake in his battle with the Spanish Armada in
1588, commanding the English ship the “Edward Bonaventure” during the conflict.
Three years later, in April 1591, Lancaster was
said to have led a fleet of three ships, the “Edward Bonaventure”, the
“Penelope” and the “Merchant Royal” on the first formal voyage to trade with
the East Indies, an expedition that would last for some three years, from 1591
to 1594. However, having rounded the Cape of Good Hope an outbreak of sickness
amongst the crews of all three English ships was said to have resulted in the
“Merchant Royal” having to return to England with all of the incapacitated
crewmen on board, leaving the “Edward Bonaventure” and the “Penelope” to
continue on to their final destination. By February 1592, the two ships were
said to have reached the island of Zanzibar, where they were able to refit and
re-provision the vessels before continuing on with their journey. By May of
1592, Lancaster’s two ships were reported to have rounded the southern tip of
India, arriving at Penang on the Malay Peninsula in the following month, where
they began trying to trade with the local merchants.
Unfortunately, their main cargo of English
Broadcloth, proved to be highly unpopular with the local population, who found
it to be far too heavy for their needs, leaving Lancaster with little to trade
with and facing the real possibility of the expedition turning into a complete
commercial disaster. However, according to some sources the English sailors
subsequently overcame this problem by raiding other European ships, such as
Portuguese and Dutch vessels that were operating in the region, relieving them
of their cargoes, which the English crews could then trade for various exotic
goods that could be taken back to England. Having managed to complete a fairly
successful trading expedition to the East Indies, Lancaster had intended to
spend some more time in the region, although owing to the length of the voyage
and the serious depletion of his crew due to sickness and disease, in September
1592 he was reported to have set sail for England, reaching his home port of
Rye in May 1594. Opinions differ, as to whether or not Lancaster’s initial
voyage to the East Indies was a financial success or not, given that he was
said to have lost so much in terms of the expeditions actual monetary cost.
However, from the point of view of establishing England’s first trading links
with this largely unknown, but potentially valuable region, then James
Lancaster’s original expedition proved to be highly successful, regardless of
its initial financial outcome.
It was said to be almost entirely as a result of
Lancaster’s voyage in the Edward Bonaventure that in 1596 another fleet of
three English ships was despatched to the region, although all of them and
their crews were subsequently lost at sea. Despite this catastrophe however,
investors and merchants remained convinced of the potential riches that awaited
them if they could establish regular trade routes between England and the East
Indies. Consequently, two years later, in September 1598, English merchants and
their financial backers once again raised a substantial amount of money in
order to form a trade corporation that might finance future expeditions to the
eastern regions. Convinced that their efforts would eventually prove to be
successful, in December 1600, members of the new merchant company requested
permission from the monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, to grant them a Royal Charter,
guaranteeing them a trading monopoly in these new territories for a period of
fifteen years. With little to lose and much to gain, on the 31st
December 1600 the queen was said to have granted the new, Governor and Company
of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies, their fifteen year patent,
marking the birth of the trading organisation that would subsequently evolve
into the British East India Company. With this new royal charter in their
possession and having previously purchased more ships especially for the
purpose, it simply remained for the company to provision and man their new
vessels, as well as appoint their expedition’s leader, with James Lancaster,
the only English navigator to have successfully performed the task, being
assigned to lead this new naval expedition in April 1601.
Commanding the flagship, “Red Dragon”, Lancaster’s
small trading flotilla was reported to have included the “Hector”, “Ascension”,
“Susan” and a small supply ship called the “Gift”. The outward journey for the
small fleet was reported to have been both harsh and slow, ostensibly because
of adverse weather conditions and the regular occurrence of scurvy and other
contagious illnesses amongst the crew, although Lancaster was said to have
reduced the instances of scurvy amongst the crew of the “Red Dragon” by
ensuring that they took regular doses of lemon juice. Having reached the
southern tip of Africa, the fleet was said to have remained anchored there for
several weeks, allowing the crew to acquire new supplies and to regain their
strength after the arduous voyage, in preparation for the second half of the
voyage to the East Indies. Even though a significant number of sailors were
thought to have been lost during the first part of the journey, by the time the
fleet left southern Africa the remaining crews were thought to have been
reasonably well, having been allowed time to recuperate during their stopover
in southern Africa, although Lancaster was forced to order yet another layover
on the island of Madagascar in December 1601, after members of the crew began
suffering from scurvy once again. Despite these unexpected delays however, by
June 1602 the English fleet was reported to have arrived off the coast of
Sumatra, where Lancaster began negotiations with the local native ruler, who
agreed to waive all of the usual custom charges, although the region failed to
offer sufficient goods for the English traders to fill their holds. Despite
this, over the next few weeks Lancaster’s ships were reported to have acquired
additional cargoes from waylaying passing Portuguese merchant vessels,
transferring their goods to his own ships, before allowing the Iberian traders
to go on their way. Having collected a sufficient amount of cargo, Lancaster
then loaded it all aboard the “Ascension” which was then ordered to return to
England, loaded down with its rich cargo of exotic textiles and spices. A short
time later the “Susan” was similarly ordered to set sail for home, laden with a
cargo of peppers and spices, whilst Lancaster took the “Red Dragon”, “Hector”
and the “Gift” further north, towards Java.
Arriving at the Javanese port city of Bantam in
what is now modern day Indonesia, in December 1602; Lancaster immediately
presented himself to the local ruler who was said to have warmly welcomed the
English traders, allowing them to trade freely and establish their first
trading factory on the islands. Over the next few months the few remaining
English goods brought with them from home were thought to have been exchanged
for local produce, including bags of peppers and spices, which were
subsequently loaded aboard the three remaining ships ready for their return
journey. In February 1603 the three English ships began their homeward voyage loaded
down with fresh provisions and their cargoes of exotic spices and peppers, as
well as a letter of friendship from the ruler of Bantam to Queen Elizabeth I of
England. Apart from the loss of a rudder, which might have resulted in the loss
of Lancaster’s flagship, but which was subsequently repaired, the journey home
was thought to have been relatively straightforward, apart from a stopover at
the island of Saint Helena, where repairs were made to the ships and fresh
provisions brought on board. Arriving back in England in September 1603,
although the expedition was judged to be both a commercial and national
success, in that the voyage had achieved all of its initial objectives, such
was the volume of products brought back by the fleet that much of the cargo
failed to sell, making the voyage a financial failure. For Lancaster
personally, despite there being little by way of monetary reward for all of his
efforts, such was the national acclaim that the journey had caused in England
itself, he was subsequently knighted by Elizabeth I for his diplomatic and
commercial endeavours. For much of his later life Lancaster was reported to
have remained involved with the fledgling British East India Company, largely
as a company director and as a proponent of future commercial expeditions, both
to the East Indies and in search of the highly elusive Northwest Passage. At
least one of these exploratory journeys, under the command of William Baffin
resulted in the naming of the northern waterway, now known as Lancaster Sound,
in celebration of the expedition’s supporter, Sir James Lancaster, in July
1616.
In the same year that Queen Elizabeth I had granted
her royal charter to the Merchants of London trading with the East Indies,
initiating the trade links that would ultimately lead to Britain’s control of
the Indian subcontinent, another Englishmen, William Adams, was reportedly
arriving in the relatively undiscovered island kingdom of Japan. Born on 24th
September 1564, in Gillingham, Kent, Adams was reported to have been orphaned
at a fairly young age and as a result was apprenticed to a shipbuilder, who
trained the young William for a career at sea. At the time of the Spanish
Armada in 1588, when he was around twenty four years old, Adams was said to
have commanded a supply ship attached to Sir Francis Drake’s naval force and
was a notable witness to England’s subsequent military victory over the Spanish
fleet. For the next decade the young mariner was thought to have been
constantly employed at sea, participating in various arctic expeditions in
search of the fabled Northeast Passage and commanding vessels that were
travelling between England and the northern states of Africa, for the English
based Barbary Company. However, reportedly anxious to extend both his knowledge
and his experience, in 1598 Adams was said to have resigned his position with
the Barbary Company and accepted the post of Pilot Major with the Dutch East
India Company, who were planning a five ship expedition to the Far East, a
region that the thirty four year old English captain was eager to explore and
experience. Embarking on the Dutch ship “Hoope”, Adams was said to have
departed Rotterdam in June 1598, with the fleet sailing due south, along the
west coast of Africa, where they were forced to take on fresh supplies from one
of the outlying islands.
Crossing the Atlantic, the Dutch East India fleet
was reported to have been scattered by a series of storms, so that by the time
the first of the vessels reached the tip of South America, ready for their
voyage through the Magellan Straits, only three of the five ships had managed
to survive the journey intact. First discovered by the navigator Ferdinand
Magellan in 1520, these straits were said to have offered the safest route
between the world’s two great oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, as well as
providing an alternative link between Europe and Asia. One of the Dutch ships
was said to have been captured by the Spanish, whilst another was forced to
return to Holland with a much reduced crew, the majority of its men having died
through sickness and disease. Two of the ships, the “Hoope” and the “Liefde”
were said to have anchored off the Chilean coast in the first part of 1599,
whilst they waited for the other ships to arrive in the region, during which
time Adams was thought to have transferred from the “Hoope” to the “Liefde”, a
move that would later prove to be a lifesaver for the English mariner.
Despite losing a number of crewmen to native
attacks on the outlying Chilean islands, the two vessels were thought to have
continued with their voyage, navigating the Magellan Straits and entering the
Pacific in the first half of 1599, from where they travelled to what were
described as “certain islands”, where a small number of the crew were reported
to have deserted the expedition. Having repaired and re-supplied the ships, the
two vessels were then said to have sailed on with the intention of reaching
Japan, where they hoped to sell their surviving cargo for silver, before moving
on to the Spice Islands. Unfortunately, a severe tropical storm was thought to
have caught the two remaining Dutch ships at sea, resulting in the loss of the
“Hoope” and her entire crew, a disaster that caused Adams to give thanks for
his earlier decision to swap ships before travelling through the Magellan
Straits. However, even though the “Liefde” had managed to survive the tropical
typhoon, it was thought to have not only sustained major damage, but also
suffered substantial losses amongst its crew, with only a handful of them
surviving through to April 1600, when the vessel finally anchored off the
Japanese island of Kyushu.
For those Portuguese traders and missionaries who
had already established themselves in Japan, the sudden and unexpected
appearance of a Dutch ship, along with its small and bedraggled crew was
generally seen as posing a real threat to their own positions, causing them to
accuse William Adams and his surviving crewmates of being pirates, largely in
the hope that they would then be executed by the local authorities. Fortunately
for the English seafarer and his Dutch comrades, the Japanese authorities were
thought to be curious about their new foreign visitors and rather than simply
take the Portuguese word for their being pirates, arranged for Adams and his
shipmates to be held in Osaka Castle where they might be questioned more
thoroughly. Their principal inquisitor was reported to be Tokugawa Ieyasu, the
royal guardian of Japan’s young ruler, who would seize control of the country
later in the same year and who held power in the country right through to his
death in 1616. Seemingly fascinated by Adams’ knowledge of navigation,
mathematics and shipbuilding, Ieyasu was said to have ignored the Portuguese
demands for Adams and his comrades to be executed, perhaps recognising that
these calls were entirely motivated by personal antagonisms, rather than for
any other rational or lawful reason.
Ordering that Adams’ ship be removed to Edo, which
is now known as Tokyo, the capital of Japan, the “Liefde” was said to have
barely survived her final voyage, as having finally been sailed into Edo
harbour, the by now rotten and heavily damaged vessel was thought to have
simply sank beneath the waters of the Japanese port. In the meantime, Adams and
his comrades were thought to have become subjects of interest for the Japanese
Shogun, Ieyasu, who saw the advantages of exploiting their knowledge and
expertise, particularly in the areas of shipbuilding, navigation and
seamanship, subjects that he was keen to develop amongst his own people,
allowing Japan to become independent of other foreign traders, including the
Portuguese. Finally, some four years after Adams and his few surviving comrades
had come ashore in Japan; Ieyasu ordered the Englishmen and his shipmates to be
taken to the port of Ito where they would help design and construct a new
western style sailing ship, which could be employed by the Japanese navy.
Although relatively small in scale, this first vessel was thought to have been
such a success that the Shogun ordered a larger version to be built, which was
also well received by the Japanese ruler, who subsequently came to regard Adams
as a trustworthy adviser and confidante, whilst the other surviving members of
the “Liefde’s” crew were also thought to have been treated extremely well by
their Japanese hosts.
Clearly recognising Adams’ value, not only as a
skilled navigator and shipbuilder, but also as an adviser on foreign affairs
and trading matters, it was perhaps little surprise that Ieyasu was reluctant
to allow the Englishman to leave, even though most of the Dutch crewmen had
been given permission to leave the country by 1605. However, despite not being
allowed to leave Japan, Adams was reported to have been treated extremely well
and with great courtesy by the Japanese Shogun, who bestowed on the Englishman
a number of titles and offices that gave him an elevated status within the
native community. Having spent so many years at the royal court, Adams
eventually became fluent in the Japanese language, becoming the Shogun’s
official interpreter in matters of trade and foreign affairs and was often
employed as Japan’s chief negotiator with various merchant companies that
arrived in Japan to trade. It was also around the same time that Adams was said
to have been elevated to the status of a Samurai, was granted substantial
estates by the Japanese Shogun and even took a Japanese woman as his wife,
despite already having a wife back in England, who he continued to support and
communicate with up until his death in 1620. It was thought to be largely as a
result of his high status and personal relationship with Ieyasu that Adams was
able to contact agents of the Dutch East India Company in an attempt to develop
Japan’s international trade, as well as reduce the influence of the Portuguese
traders, who had previously controlled much of the country’s overseas trade,
often to their own advantage.
Arriving in Japan in 1609 the Dutch agents had to
negotiate with Adams for equitable terms, although in a short space of time the
two sides were reported to have reached an agreement, which would allow the
Dutch merchant company to establish their first trading post in Japan, at
better rates than were being offered to the Portuguese, ostensibly because of
Adams’ personal involvement in the negotiations.
However, even though Adams had arrived in Japan as
a servant of the Dutch East India Company and therefore owed them his
commercial loyalty and allegiance, he was first and foremost an Englishman and
would therefore have been inclined to help his fellow countrymen to establish
new trading links with his adopted Japanese homeland. According to some
sources, it was said to be the presence of a formal English trading settlement
in Indonesia that initiated contact between Japan and the British East India
Company, after Adams had requested the English traders to pass along messages
to his family in England, as well as advising them about the establishment of
Dutch trading interests in Japan. As a result of his first communiqué, the
British East India Company was said to have despatched one of their ships,
under the command of Captain John Saris, to visit Japan and begin negotiations
for trade between the two countries. Arriving at Hirado in Japan in 1613,
Captain Saris’ initial impressions of Adams were thought to have been
negatively affected by the Englishman’s decision to meet them wearing
traditional Japanese clothing, his refusal to stay in English accommodations
and his reported exaltation of everything “Japanese”, which Saris felt made
Adams appear more native than European.
However, despite such early and plainly obvious
reservations on the part of the English trade delegation, Adams was reported to
have shown them every kindness and even took the time to show Saris and his
officers some of the most notable sights in Japan, before accompanying them to
a meeting with the Japanese Shogun, Ieyasu and his son Hidetada. As a result of
these meetings, the British East India Company was said to have been granted
significant trading rights in Japan, as well as managing to retain the services
of Adams himself, which they were said to be willing to pay handsomely for,
reportedly at twice the normal rate of pay. Despite the best efforts of Adams
however, for the most part the British East India Company was said to have sent
few commercial shipments to Japan and those that they did were reported to be
of poor quality and of little interest to Japanese consumers, who preferred to
trade with neighbouring China, leaving Adams to try and support the English
trading post through his own commercial enterprise.
For the final few years of his life, Adams was
reported to have spent much of his time trying to organise various exploratory
expeditions, both for the British East India Company and for himself, although
always with the interests of his adopted Japanese homeland in mind. Trading
with Siam, China and other neighbouring Asian states, Adams continued to try
and make the English trading post a success, although much of the profit
generated by the company’s Japanese factory was largely the result of Adams and
the resident English traders own efforts rather than through any help they
received from England. When his employer and friend, the Japanese Shogun,
Ieyasu, died in 1616, it was feared that much of Adams’ status and authority
might disappear, but Ieyasu’s successor, Hidetada reaffirmed all of the
Englishman’s earlier titles and offices, ensuring that Adam’s could continue
with his commercial activities as before. However, at the age of fifty five and
having lived a highly arduous life, in May 1620 Adams suddenly became ill and
was reported to have died on the 16th of that month at Hirado in
Japan. In his will, the English mariner, shipbuilder and royal adviser was said
to have left his estate to be equally divided between his two families, the one
in England and the one in Japan, with all of his Japanese trading rights being
conferred on his son, Joseph, who was born out of Adams’ marriage to his
Japanese wife Oyuki.
Read British Empire: Expansion
& Exploration Part II HERE
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