Cavendish, Sir Thomas, an adventurous seaman, the second Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, was born at Grimston Hall, Trimley, St. Martin Parish, Suffolk county, England, 1564; he equipped a ship at his own expense and sailed with Sir Richard Grenville on the voyage to Roanoke Island in 1585; afterwards mortgaged his estates and fitted out a fleet to prey on Spanish commerce, and embarking from Plymouth, July 21, 1586, crossed the Atlantic, ran down the coast of South America, cleared the straits of Magellan and heading northward ravaged the seaboard of Chili, Peru and New Spain. He captured a galleon laden with valuable merchandise and 122,000 Spanish dollars. He went as far as Cape Lucas, on the coast of California, and then sailed for England by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, reaching Plymouth, September 9, 1588, after an absence of two years, one month and nineteen days. On his return home Queen Elizabeth knighted him. His share of the spoils was "rich enough to purchase a fair earldom." In three years he planned another voyage of the same scope, but his good genius deserted him. His plans were rendered abortive by tempestuous weather, sickness, hunger and desertion, and being compelled to turn homeward died at sea in the summer of 1592, heartbroken from want, anguish and fatigue.
