Sir Humphrey Gilbert
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He was accompanied by Raleigh; but heavy storms and Spanish war-ships destroyed one of his vessels, and the remainder were compelled to turn back. Gilbert was too much impoverished to undertake another expedition until four years afterwards, when Raleigh and his friends fitted out a small squadron, which sailed from Plymouth under the command of Gilbert. The Queen, in token of her good-will, had sent him as a present a golden anchor, guided by a woman. The flotilla reached Newfoundland in August, and entered the harbor of St. John, where Cartier had found La Roque almost fifty years before. There, on the shore, Gilbert set up a column with the arms of England upon it, and in the presence of hundreds of fishermen from western Europe, whom he had summoned to the spot, he took possession of the island in the name of his Queen. Storms had shattered his vessels, but, after making slight repairs, Gilbert proceeded to explore the coasts southward. Off Cape Breton he encountered a fierce tempest, which dashed the larger vessel, in which he sailed, in pieces on the rocks, and about 100 men perished. The commander was saved, and took refuge in a little vessel (the Squirrel) of ten tons. His little squadron was dispersed, and with the other vessel (the Hind), he turned his prow homeward. Again, in a rising September gale, the commander of the Hind shouted to Gilbert that they were in great peril. The intrepid navigator was sitting abaft, with a book in his hand, and calmly replied, " We are as near heaven on the sea as on land." The gale increased, and when night fell the darkness was intense. At about midnight the men on the Hind saw the lights of the Squirrel suddenly go out. The little bark had plunged beneath the waves, and all on board perished, Sept. 9, 1583. Only the Hind escaped, and bore the news of the disaster to England. |
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