Thomas Cavendish

Who was Thomas Cavendish?

Sir Thomas Cavendish (1560 – May 1592) was an English explorer and privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first to deliberately attempt to emulate Sir Francis Drake, raiding Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and then returning by circumnavigating the globe. He was the third son of William Cavendish and Mary Wentworth. When his father died in 1572, Cavendish inherited a sizeable estate and was placed under the guardianship of Thomas Wentworth, 2nd Baron Wentworth. It made him rich from captured Spanish gold, silk, and treasure from the Pacific and the Philippines, with his richest prize being the 600-ton Manila galleon Santa Ana (also called Santa Anna). He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England after his return. He later set out for a second raid and circumnavigation but was not as fortunate and died at sea in 1592, at the age of 31.

Cavendish was baptized on 19 September 1560 in St Martin's Church, Trimley St Martin, Suffolk. It made him rich from captured Spanish gold, silk, and treasure from the Pacific and the Philippines, with his richest prize being the 600-ton Manila galleon Santa Ana.

Historical significance

Though Magellan-Elcano, Loaísa, Drake, and Loyola had all preceded him in circumnavigating the globe, Cavendish's own successful voyage, between 1586 and 1588, was the first deliberately planned circumnavigation.