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Home , Richard Hakluyt, Thomas Cavendish

The frontispiece of ’s The The Principal Navigations, first published in 1589. The Victorian historian JA Froude hailed this massive account of English exploration as Tudor guide “the prose epic of the modern English nation” ir Humphrey precursors of the Victorian expansionist Gilbert was hailed spirit. In fact, so in thrall to Hakluyt’s a hero – not so works were the Victorians that they much for the way named a society after him – founded in to colonising he lived, but the 1846 by William Desborough Cooley way he died. In June – which has continued his work of S 1583, the explorer, editing travel accounts of trade, soldier and half-brother of Sir Walter exploration and adventure ever since. the world Ralegh led a fleet of five ships from But perhaps no one summed up the to explore and colonise 19th-century acclaim for Hakluyt better North America under the terms of a than the historian JA Froude, when he Letters Patent granted by in wrote in an 1852 article for the Cannibalism, plunder, starvation 1578. Unfortunately, it was to be his last The Westminster Review that the and murder… they all appear in adventure, for on 9 September 1583 The Principal Navigations was much poor Gilbert drowned when his ship, admired as “the prose epic of the an epic Tudor account of English the Squirrel, was lost on the return leg modern English nation”. from Newfoundland. So who was this man, Richard voyages of discovery, compiled by According to the eyewitness report Hakluyt, who collected and published a man who rarely left the country. of Edward Hayes, captain of the Golden hundreds of accounts of travels and Hind, when Gilbert’s fleet encountered exploration? Hakluyt the Younger, as he Claire Jowitt hails one of a violent storm near the Azores, he is known to distinguish him from his refused to cousin, the lawyer history’s greatest travel books abandon his small Richard Hakluyt An engraving showing the Golden Hind engaging the pinnace and In the heyday of the – who was also Spanish ship Cacafuego. This episode features prominently transfer to the , his active in the world in The Principal Navigations’ account of Sir ’s relative safety of of trade and epic of the world from 1577–80 Hayes’s ship. tales of derring-do exploration – Gilbert was last was born in seen on deck were greatly admired Hertfordshire in reading a book – 1552 or 1553, the

NEAR TH ED P R OMO S .COM/drea m s t i e LL I MO RE WWW.U SARA H DA m ages/ Bridge m an/akg-i probably either More’s Utopia or son of another Richard, a member of Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations. His final the Skinners’ Company (one of the Richard Hakluyt, depicted in a words, which Hayes claimed to hear, livery companies of the City of stained-glass window in Bristol were: “We are as neare to heaven, by sea ), and his wife, Margery. Cathedral. Few Englishmen did as by land.” more to defend his country’s Hayes’s account of Gilbert’s Well-connected ‘right’ to a Protestant empire dramatic demise is a colourful one, and Hakluyt the Younger was educated it certainly had a lasting impact back at as a Queen’s home in – some 300 years after Scholar and, in 1570, went on to Christ the event, late 19th and early 20th- Church, Oxford. Ordained as a century English writers were praising clergyman, between 1583 and 1588 Gilbert for his Christian fortitude and he was and secretary to Sir imperial ambitions. Yet the account Edward Stafford, English ambassador may have been lost to posterity had it at the French court. He was then not appeared in one of the most employed in a number of clerical roles, important travel books ever written culminating with his appointment as –The Principal Navigations, Voyages, prebendary (a type of canon) of Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Westminster from 1602 until his death Nation… published in 1589 by a man in 1616. He was also well connected, called Richard Hakluyt. serving as personal chaplain to Sir Hakluyt’s name may mean little to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who most people now, but back in the was principal secretary of state to both ABOVE: Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s world map, published in heyday of the British empire, his tales of Elizabeth I and James VI and I. 1576. The soldier and explorer drowned in 1583 on a return derring-do – of which Gilbert’s death Hakluyt’s interest in exploration journey from a mission to colonise the New World was just one – were greatly admired as dated back to his youth. In the preface LEFT: A portrait of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Thanks to The Principal Navigations’ account of his death, Victorians 52 were praising Gilbert’s courage some three centuries later BBC History Magazine 53 Exploration

When editing his travel books, Hakluyt employed a network of correspondents and acquaintances from across Europe. Among about global geography and trading information that was to grace his works them was the renowned cartographer and By dint of prior discovery, The mathematician Gerard Mercator, who opportunities, within the framework from a multitude of different produced this map of South America Principal Navigations claimed the of the reformed Protestant religion. eyewitnesses – not to mention a host of Apart from a visit to Paris as part manuscripts and printed sources. It was New World for the English of Stafford’s household, Hakluyt never then that he put his own individual travelled himself – though in a letter mark on them, editing, translating and to The Principal Navigations he recalls of 1584 to Sir , then shaping them into a published text. a visit to the chambers of his cousin Queen Elizabeth’s principal secretary of He would have been a familiar sight Richard, where “I found lying open state, he writes of his readiness to “goe at the quays and the inns of London upon his board certain books of myself in the action” under Gilbert’s and Bristol’s docks, talking to travellers cosmography, with an universal patent for American exploration. Then, returning from long journeys. But he Mappe”. His cousin “began to instruct over 20 years later, in 1606, he was had other sources of information too, my ignorance” by showing him recent granted a licence to serve as chaplain for not least a network of correspondents geographical discoveries on the map, the Jamestown colony, but sent a from all over Europe. These included and describing the commodities and substitute in his place. the geographer Emanuel van Meteren, valuable trade resulting from them. So, instead of drawing on his own the cartographer Gerard Mercator, the The two Richard Hakluyts then experiences, Hakluyt gathered the French royal cosmographer André discussed the relationship between the new geography and Christian belief, studying Psalm 107 from the Bible, “where I read, that they which go downe to the sea in ships, and occupy by the great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and his woonders in the deepe”. It “formed so deep an impression,” Hakluyt tells us that “I constantly resolved […] I would by God’s assistance prosecute that This c1587 map shows Sir Francis Drake’s knowledge and kinde of literature.” voyage around the world (1577–80). Political and commercial sensitivities – ie a concern not to In this encounter the seeds were reveal too much information about the voyage to sown for Hakluyt’s life work, the the Spanish – almost kept Hakluyt’s account of circulation of practical information Drake’s exploits out of The Principal Navigations

Hakluyt on... English Cannibals

In 1536 Richard Hore cannibalism. According to embarked with two ships, the Hakluyt’s informant, Oliver Trinity and the Minion, on a Dawbeny, who was on the voyage to Newfoundland, Minion, one of the group possibly hoping to explore the “killed his mate while he Gulf of St Lawrence in the stooped to take up a roote for wake of recent French his relief, and cutting out voyages to the region. pieces of his bodie whom he Hakluyt on... In the second edition of had murthered, broiled the The Principal Navigations, same on the coles and The Greatest Ever Drake’s story was nearly Hakluyt described Hore as “a greedily devoured them”. English Voyage left out of the first edition of man of goodly stature and of Further cannibalism was The Principal Navigations due to great courage and given to the prevented only by the arrival Francis Drake’s celebrated Indonesia), returning its politically sensitive nature studie of Cosmographie” who of a French ship, which the circumnavigation of the world with a king’s ransom in – it described unmerciful and had brought together a group English seized and used to (1577–80) possessed all the (Spanish) . highly profitable plundering. of gentleman “desirous to see return to England, finally elements required to capture According to Hakluyt’s At the last minute Francis the strange things of the arriving, much emaciated, the English popular account, when Drake captured Walsingham relented and world”. However, the ships in late October 1536. imagination. Travelling west the Spanish ship Nuestra allowed Hakluyt to include became separated near the Hakluyt’s account was the to go east, and sailing for Señora de la Concepción, ‘The Famous Voyage of Sir Strait of Belle Isle. Hore’s first published version of the much of the time in Spanish- colloquially called Cacafuego Francis Drake into the South ship, the Trinity, managed to story. He describes how he controlled waters, he pulled or ‘Shitfire’, the ship Sea, and There Henceabout A copperplate from 1603 shows return safely to England. The rode 200 miles to interview off the feat of navigating the contained “great riches, as the Whole Globe of the Earth, the at the men on the other ship were William Butts, the last Strait of Magellan, landing on jewels and precious stones, Begun in the Yeere of our southern tip of South America, not so fortunate; it became remaining survivor, because the west coast of North 13 chests full of royals of Lord, 1577’. The piece was which was defended by a fort stranded on the coast of he particularly wanted to America at ‘Nova Albion’, and plate, foure score pound printed on six unpaginated built to repel English attacks Labrador, resulting in include his eyewitness heading back to England via weight of gold, and sixe and leaves and inserted between led by Sir Francis Drake m ages akg-i starvation, murder and account of the voyage. the Moluccas (modern twentie tunne of .” b ridge m an pages 643 and 644.

54 BBC History Magazine BBC History Magazine 55 Exploration

to the emergence of England as a contains 64 documents about travels off the coast of the and merchants, and to colonial power. Not only did it span to the south and south-east. The continent in 1492. his literary successors. every area of English activity and final, largest, volume included nearly So, by dint of prior He wrote reports about aspiration – from Muscovy to America, 200 reports of travel and their discovery, The Principal commodities, potential from Africa to the near east, and India supporting documents. Navigations claimed the for trade, and local to and – it also offered the The large number of surviving New World for the inhabitants – all relating most up-to-date information available, copies of each edition, the range and English, at a sweep to a variety of designed to stimulate ambitious plans scope of contemporary references to negating Iberian claims geographical regions. for future trade and settlement. the text, and the frequent use of the for exclusive territorial He also assessed the By any standards, it is a massive information it contained suggest that rights in the region. possibility of finding This engraving shows ‘England’s Famous Discoverers’, book. The 1589 edition, which is one The Principal Navigations circulated At the turn of the new navigable routes, including Sir Walter Ralegh, navigator Sir Hugh large volume of approximately 700,000 widely. Hakluyt’s most recent 16th century, England particularly a North- Willoughby, Captain John Smith, who was rescued words, was divided into three sections. biographer, Peter Mancall, writes that was not a global power. West Passage, for the by Pocahontas, and Arctic explorer An expanded 1598–1600 edition, which “[c]opies of it became a fixture on When Elizabeth I inherited English East India comprised a total of more than 1.75m board ships bound for distant parts,” the kingdom in 1558, it Jodocus Hondius’s c1590–92 engraving of Company and the Virginia Thevet, and the merchant and explorer entitled ‘A Particuler Discourse words, was divided into three too. suggesting that its utility as a possessed no foreign , explorer and . Company. Étienne Bellenger. Concerninge the Greate Necessitie and In the 1589 edition the text is split practical guide for exploration territory. Even Calais, the Cavendish was one of a distinguished band of He encouraged others adventurers – including the legendary Hakluyt also gained access to the Manifolde Commodyties That are Like into English travels to the east and to was fully recognised. last remaining continental medieval Welsh prince Madoc – to be to translate into English, extensive London library of Lord to Growe to this Realme of England by the north, with the final section outpost, had been celebrated in The Principal Navigations and hence make Lumley, as well as becoming adept at the Westerne Discoveries Lately focusing on “all the corners of the vaste Future trade humiliatingly lost during important texts about locating manuscripts and Attempted’ (widely known as and new world of America”. Hakluyt The Principal Navigations is also an the reign of Elizabeth’s particular regions gaining permission to copy them. ‘Discourse of Western Planting’), important political and ideological sister, Mary. accessible to a wide readership – all As van Meteren put it: “He [Hakluyt] is forcefully makes the case for statement, establishing an apparent By the end of Elizabeth’s reign, in with the aim of stimulating trade. John the most skilled man in research that I developing English New World Hakluyt’s book is of fundamental tradition of ‘English’ activities that 1603, the nation was not significantly Pory, for example, acknowledged have ever known.” settlements, despite Spanish claims importance to the emergence of stretched as far back as Hakluyt more successful. It had established, and Hakluyt’s influence in his decision to to the region based on papal bulls could go in his recovery of lost, a colony on Roanoke Island in translate Leo Africanus’s history of Colonial expansion conferring ownership rights. England as a colonial power antiquarian records. present-day North Carolina in the Africa. , Hakluyt’s Prior to publishing The Principal Hakluyt presented a copy of this Hakluyt began the third ‘American’ – this was later refounded at closest literary successor as the Navigations, Hakluyt contributed two manuscript to Elizabeth I in the also included an account of Francis section of the first edition with the story Jamestown in 1607 – and had made 17th-century editor of various other significant, though more modest, autumn of 1584. No record survives Drake’s 1577–80 circumnavigation of of the ocean voyages of the Welsh various efforts to exert control over compendious collections of travel and additions to the history of English of the queen’s reaction though, with the globe, and a report about Thomas prince Madoc to the New World. Ireland through military campaigns exploration, also hailed Hakluyt’s overseas exploration. The first, Anglo-Spanish relations at a low point, Cavendish’s newly returned voyage of Madoc’s voyages placed the English, via and the establishment of plantations. impact in the field of travel writing. He Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie it is perhaps unsurprising that she did circumnavigation of 1586–88. their Welsh ancestors, in America more However, what did change during the had been “as Admirall, holding out the of America (1582), was a collection of not immediately follow Hakluyt’s The first volume of the second than three centuries before Columbus’s Elizabethan period, in no small part light unto me in these Seas, & as ll ery t i o na l po r rai ga

travel accounts that aimed to promote recommendation that England directly edition includes 39 voyages to the b ridge m an/a l a y na first footfall on the islands due to Hakluyt’s work, was that diligent a guide by land”. the legitimacy of plans for English confront in the New World. north; the second volume propagandist colonial discourses When Hakluyt died he was buried colonial expansion in North America. The Principal Navigations is a began to appear, justifying, defending in Poets’ Corner in . The second, a 1584 manuscript publication of fundamental importance and proving England’s Protestant No marker survives there to him, right to empire. but even at the time of his death in After the publication of the second 1616 his true monument was already edition of The Principal Navigations, apparent. That was placing the ‘English’ Hakluyt on... Hakluyt continued to be active in in the forefront and centre of English overseas endeavours, international exploration and trade The Frozen North translating Mare liberum, the Dutch – both in deeds and in texts. jurist ’s argument about In both editions of voyage was delayed by bad example of the power of the freedom of the seas, into English. Claire Jowitt is professor of English at The Principal Navigations, weather, and by mid- understatement. After telling He also worked on an English-language Southampton University. With Daniel Carey, Hakluyt included accounts of September the fleet had his readers about the notes of Gothard Arthus’s series she is general editor of The Principal a 1553 voyage in search of the become separated. written on the outside of the t is h l i b rary- AKG ydeside i m ages/Bri Navigations (1598–1600), to be published North-East Passage, on which Willoughby’s journal recounts journal stating its purpose and of dialogues in and Malay, a text by Oxford University Press from 2016 Sir Hugh Willoughby and his that, as the storms worsened, the ship’s location, Hakluyt’s that aimed to enable the English to

men on the Bona Speranza and on 18 September he decided text ends on a telling, and yes. com / cl challenge Portuguese and Dutch journeys

Bona Confidentia all died. to winter in a bay near Varzina chilling, note: “It appeareth by b mo trading interests in the East Indies. However, his pilot, Richard on the Kola Peninsula. a Will found in the ship that Hakluyt is also listed in April 1606 Books Chancellor, and his men in the Willoughby’s last entry was Sir Hugh Willoughbie and most as one of the recipients of a patent E The Origins of Empire: British Edward Bonaventure survived about unsuccessful searches of the company were alive in granted by King James VI and I to Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the and established direct, and made in three directions for January 1554.” North American lands in Virginia, a Seventeenth Century ed by Nicholas Canny (OUP, 1998) highly lucrative, trade with help. It was not until the Willoughby and his men foundational document in the history Muscovy for the first time. following spring that the two had clearly survived many E Richard Hakluyt and Travel Writing in In the first edition, Hakluyt ships with the bodies of the weeks frozen in the ship of the Virginia Colony. Early Modern Europe ed by Daniel Carey included an account of a young crews, including Willoughby before they died. Hakluyt’s But perhaps his most important and Claire Jowitt (Ashgate, 2012) scholar, Clement Adams; in and his journal, were found by matter-of-fact tone and the contribution to Jacobean exploration E Hakluyt’s Promise: An Elizabethan’s the second he added an Russian fishermen. brevity of his comments force was through the advice and Obsession for an English America account by Chancellor, as well Hakluyt’s framing of his readers to imagine the experience he could offer to by Peter C Mancall ( Yale University as Willoughby’s log. The Willoughby’s death is an agonies of their final days. An illustration showing members of Sir Hugh Willoughby’s new generations of explorers Press, 2007) doomed voyage of 1553, in the Norwegian Sea. Hakluyt’s understated reference to the crew’s demise served to 56 BBC History Magazine BBC History Magazine encourage readers to imagine the agony of their final days 57