Thomas Cavendish
His first trip and successful circumnavigation made him rich from captured Spanish gold, silk and treasure from the Pacific and the Philippines.
[4] Cavendish returned to England in August aboard the Tyger without profit from his investments but he did gain important experience and several close friends.
Cavendish determined to follow Sir Francis Drake by raiding the Spanish ports and ships in the Pacific and circumnavigating the globe.
After extensive exploration of the many inlets, labyrinths, and intricate channels of the islands and broken lands of Tierra del Fuego and its environs they emerged from the strait into the Pacific on 24 February and sailed up the coast of South America.
A pilot from one of the captured Spanish ships revealed that a Manila galleon was expected in October or November 1587 and usually stopped at Cape San Lucas on the Baja California peninsula before going on to Acapulco.
After a several hour chase the English ships overhauled the Santa Ana—which conveniently had no cannons on board, in order to carry the added cargo.
After several hours of battle during which Cavendish used his cannon to fire ball and grape shot into the galleon while the Spanish tried to fight back with small arms, the Santa Ana, now starting to sink, finally struck her colours and surrendered.
Because of the great disparity in size the Content and Desire had to pick and choose what rich cargo they wanted to transfer to their ships from the much larger Santa Ana.
Cavendish kept with him two Japanese sailors, three boys from Manila, a Portuguese traveller familiar with China and a Spanish pilot (navigator).
They loaded all the gold (about 100 troy pounds/37.3 kilograms or 122,000 pesos worth) and then picked through the silks, damasks, musks (used in perfume manufacture), spices, wines, and ship's supplies for what they could carry.
While burning, the Santa Ana drifted onto the coast where the Spanish survivors extinguished the flames, re-floated the ship and limped into Acapulco.
On further landings in the Philippines, Java and other islands, he traded some of his captured linen and other goods for fresh supplies, water and wood, and collected information about the Chinese and Japanese coasts.
By 14 May 1588 Cavendish reached the coast of Africa and returned to England by way of the Cape of Good Hope, stopping at the island of Saint Helena for supplies.
[7] Going further north, they lost most of the crew in a battle against the Portuguese at the village of Vitória, today the capital of the State of Espirito Santo.
The last letter of Cavendish, written to his executor a few days before his death, accuses John Davis of being a "villain" who caused the "decay of the whole action".
