He is said to have been baptised at Henham on 30 January 1568; but the circumstances of his later career, and the fact that he is unmentioned during the war with Spain or for twelve years after its close, suggest that he was born at a later date.

He remained with Raleigh at the mouth of the river; but putting into Kinsale, on the way home, the ship was seized by order of the Lord Deputy of Ireland, and in London he himself was thrown into prison.

The ships were ready on 11 April; but when the owners and captains understood that they were to be called on to serve against the French Protestants, they showed very clearly that they would not do so, and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the vice-admiral of the fleet, absented himself till compelled to appear by threats of imprisonment.

On 3 August he arrived at Dieppe; on the 5th he handed over the Vanguard to the French, and the other ships — except that of Gorges — a day or two later; but the men refused to serve, and were sent home.

On the impeachment of Buckingham, in the following year, it was stated that Penington, by firing on these other ships, had compelled them to surrender; but of this there is no contemporary evidence, and the fact is improbable.

The determination of Richelieu to make France a maritime power was held to be an insult to the supremacy of England; and on the 24th Penington was directed to go to Le Havre, where eight ships which the French king had lately bought from the Dutch were lying.

Penington insisted that the two enemies should respect the neutrality of the roadstead; but he had a very insufficient force, and the orders he received from the king were confused and contradictory.

Oquendo, the Spanish admiral, and Tromp had both, in fact, appealed to King Charles, who, hardly pressed for money by reason of the Scottish war, hoped to make some advantage out of one or the other, but was unable to decide which would pay the better; and before he could make up his mind, Tromp, probably on a hint from Richelieu, took the matter into his own hands, and on 11 October, having been joined by large reinforcements from Holland, attacked the Spanish fleet, drove many of their ships on shore, pursued those that fled, and captured or sank the greater part.

The hesitation in the fleet when Warwick assumed the command was largely nominal (resistance being confined to five captains, of whom three promptly submitted[4]), and, with Penington's rejection, the navy declared itself on the side of the parliament.

[2] Older sources claim that Penington played a negligible role in the Civil War, a titular Lord High Admiral of England without any fleet to command.