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| Sir Humphrey Gilbert |
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| Gilbert's Coat of Arms |
A strong-headed adventurer
A stubborn
and quick-tempered adventurer, Humphrey Gilbert was a colorful but also controversial
character.
Undoubtedly
a cultured man, he displayed during his lifetime toughness and tenacity, able
to convince any audience by his unwavering faith in the colonization of the New
World and his way of giving a scientific lighting to what were only fancies. He
never stood out, however, as a skillful seafarer, blaming too often on bad luck what was
more stubbornness than judicious choices. He was mostly regarded as an optimistic
visionary, deceived by his illusions and audacity.
Born in
Greenway, Devonshire, about 1537, he was the second son of wealthy landowners.
Through his mother, he was also the half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, a
kinship which would decide for a large part in his destiny.
1558-1561 -
He probably studies at Eton and Oxford where he learns in particular French and
Spanish before improving himself in one of the prominent Inns settled in London next to the Court.
It was arguably that it was the time when he entered
young Princess Elizabeth's household. She will moreover know to remember it
once become the Queen.
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| Havre-de-Grâce (France) in 1563 |
September 1562 - Serving in the army under Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, Humphrey Gilbert is sent to Le Havre (Havre-de-Grâce) on the Norman coast to defend the town assigned to the English by French Huguenots, according to the Treaty of Hampton Court.
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| Queen Elizabeth |
By signing
this treaty, Queen Elizabeth was committed to send to France 3000 soldiers to
protect the Protestants. Half of them were garrisoned in Le Havre and Dieppe.
June 1563 -
Humphrey Gilbert is wounded on his way back to England.
Weakened by disease, the English army mustered little resistance. The Earl of Warwick gave back Le Havre to the French on
July 27 and ordered the withdrawal of his remaining forces to England. Once back
home, sick soldiers spread plague through London where the death toll
reached soon 21 000.
Feeling betrayed by Huguenots, the Queen proved
hereafter reluctant to send English troops on the continent.
It was probably during his recovery that Gilbert
listened closely to French seamen who had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and made
stopover in America. In his return, he began studying geography to see how to
find a Northwest passage through the American continent to reach Asia. It is as
well certain as he was influenced by French Huguenot Jean Ribault who, staying
at the same time in London, was publishing his first experience of the North
American colonization after founding shortly before a settlement in South
Carolina.
April 1566
- Humphrey Gilbert makes a plea to the Queen allowing him to sail in search of the Northwest Passage.
His obstinacy eventually earned him her
approval and encouraged him to write a treaty entitled " A Discourse of a
Discovery for a New Passage to Cathay " supposed to prove its existence.
Despite a good knowledge in geography and although he was driven by the
certainty of reaching Asia through North America, his work was merely the
result of adventurous speculations. He demonstrated however, and the idea was
interesting, that a colony "in halfway" could be founded next to the
" Sierra Nevada ", northwest of the continent, and that trade with
the Natives would be rather gainful.
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| Shane O'Neill |
He subdued several rebellions and became
especially famous for his hasty judgments and ruthless ferocity. He revealed
during this campaign his sense of authority and some military skills but also
much shadier sides of his personality. Plagued by frequent temper tantrums,
Humphrey Gilbert showed an often unjustified cruelty to his subordinates but
especially the Irish Lords of whom he consented surrender after real abuse.
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| Sir Richard Grenville |
This project was on the way to be approved by London when the people of Munster revolted against the English army (Desmond Rebellions). These were brutally subdued and especially by Humphrey Gilbert who took an active part in the crackdown, not hesitating to kill women and children, leaving after passing a land of sadness. He introduced a genuine climate of terror by ordering in particular series of beheadings intended to adorn with heads the entrance of his tent.
The project to colonize Munster as envisioned
Gilbert never had to be born, the Crown considering its too high cost given the
low expected results. He decided then to perform in North America what he could
not do in Ireland, focusing so obsessively on the colonization of this
continent, led by the idea that it was first essential to eradicate all Native
peoples.
September
1569 - Gilbert is upgraded Colonel of the army in Munster and appointed
military Governor of the province.
December 1569 - Gilbert comes with a 500-men army to secure the surrender of the main Irish rebels.
January 1570 - Humphrey Gilbert is rewarded for services by being knighted in Drogheda by Lord Deputy Sir Phillip Sidney.
Back in England, he married Ann Aucker, a wealthy heiress to the Earls of Kent’s family who would give birth to seven children.
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| Sir William Cecil |
1571 - Elected to the Plymouth Parliament,
Gilbert soon becomes unpopular through his committed support to the Queen, earning him the firm opposition of many parliamentarians.
The Queen's support and his good relations with Sir William Cecil, Earl of Leceister enabled him to be appointed Receiver General of the fines on illegal games while he became associated with Secretary of State Thomas Smith in a fanciful alchemical project to turn iron into copper, antimony, lead and mercury.
July-November
1572 - Gilbert heads an English army of about 1100 volunteers
coming to help the Dutch States rebelling against the Spanish occupiers.
This expedition benefited secretly from royal
support but having failed, Gilbert was blamed for only showing poor military skills.
The Queen remaining since aloof towards him, he got
then absorbed in the study of a reorganization of the government in Ireland and
devised a reform to modernize education by teaching modern languages, science
and applied mathematics.
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| The Northwest Passage |
1576 -The release of his treatise allows Gilbert to be thought as an authority on the subject and he does everything he can to become one.
The likelihood of his Discourse on the Northwest Passage strongly interested explorers Michael Lock and Martin Frobisher whose project was to create a company intended to run the supposed way.
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| Martin Frobisher (painting by Cornelis Ketel, 1577) |
Based on Humphrey Gilbert's works , Martin Frobisher had managed to convince the members of the Muscovy Company, disappointed to have been unable to find the Northeast passage, that he would discover the Northwest one. The backing of the expedition allowed him to charter three ships among whom the Gabriel and the Michael about 20-25 tons each. He left England with 35 crewmen.
Having abandoned the Michael and lost the third
bark in a storm, he reached the Labrador coast on July 27. Frobisher continued
to the west and cast anchor in Baffin Island on August 18 from where he sent 5
of his men as scouts accompanied with native Inuits. As they were seen no more, Frobisher kept in hostage the Inuit guide who had advised him and
returned to England. He arrived in London on October 9, yielding a sample of a
supposed gold stone.
1577 -
Gilbert prepares an anti-Spanish plan intending to take hold of a large island
in the West Indies, seize foreign vessels anchored in Newfoundland and arm a
fleet of privateers.
Having received in return no support from the Court, he proposed then a more practical plan which finally convinced the Queen.
July 11,
1578 - Sir Humphley Gilbert is granted by Queen Elizabeth letters patent
allowing him to discover and occupy over the next six years all the lands that
would have never been previously owned by Europeans.
It was clear, however ,that the fact of being allowed to expel every intruder who would settle down less than 600 miles from the colony compelled him to make North America his primary objective. He could rule by himself the colonized area or entrust it to others but only on the Crown's behalf, given that the laws in this colony had to be in agreement with those of England.
Under the new rights conferred, Gilbert was
able to devote to an ambitious project across the Atlantic Ocean. He received
for it the guidance of John Dee, who was particularly involved in the search of
a way to Asia as well as geographer Thomas Hakluyt who advocated the settlement
of an English colony in territories located between the 35th and the 40th parallels.
Gilbert was besides on good terms with Secretary of State Sir Francis
Walsingham. It is also likely that he selected Anthony Parkhurst's idea to found a settlement in Newfoundland. There is no doubt that Gilbert planned
also to come alongside and plunder all the Spanish ships that he would have met, implying to make a detour to the Caribbean before heading northwards to the
American coast.
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| Queen Elizabeth & Sir Francis Walsingham |
The expedition cost urged him to sell the major part of his wife’s fortune and her estates in Kent.
Gilbert set sails from Dartmouth to the New
World but trouble began early in the journey. Most sailors were actually pirates
who had escaped the death penalty by serving under him.
One of them, former Member of Parliament Henry Knollis, a gentleman well known
for many acts of piracy against the Spaniards and famous for his proud character, was
clearly unwilling to be placed under Gilbert's command to whom he quickly
opposed, drawing to himself a part of the crew. Given this disagreement, the
fleet had to go back to Plymouth in order to find a solution.
September
26, 1578 - Bad weather quickly disperses the fleet, some ships being
diverted up to the Isle of Wight.
October 15,
1578 - After the failed first start, Gilbert's fleet gets together in
Plymouth.
November
18, 1578 - Henry Knollis leaves the expedition and sails with his ship for his
own privateering campaign sided with two other boats.
His ship, the 150-ton Elephant, carried 100 crewmen. They left with foods for at least one year. The other two boats were the Fame, a frigate captained by Edward Denye with 30 men on board and a French 30 ton-vessel, the Francis commanded by Gregory Fenton with 30 crewmen.
November
19, 1578 - the seven remaining ships set sail from Plymouth. Driven by the desire to
go to sea, Gilbert denies, on winter's eve, the obvious failure of such expedition.
Gilbert commanded the Ann Ager, the admiral 250 ton-vessel carrying 126 gentlemen, soldiers and sailors. His motto was "Quid non?" that Gilbert has inscribed on his coat-of-arms.
The other boats were:
- The 160-ton Hope, with Gilbert’s brother
Carye Raleigh as captain and 80 men.
- The
HMS Falcon, a 100 ton-ship having belonged to the Queen, captained by Sir
Walter Raleigh with master Simon
Ferdinando (Simao Fernandes), 70 men.
- The Red Lyon, 110 tons, Myles Morgan,
captain, 53 men.
- The Gallion, 40 tons, Richard Veall, captain, 28 men.
- The Swallow, 40 tons, John Vernye, captain,
26 men.
- The
Squirrel 8 tons, 8 men.
The expedition started with beef for 3 months,
biscuits, fish, peas and bones for a year.
After sailing a few days, Gilbert lost his way
in the fog off Land's End, allowing questions about his actual skills at sea.
The fleet had then to make stopover in Cork due to waterleaks in the Ann Ager
and the Falcon. They were also problems with food stores. What happened to the
fleet during winter remains curiously a mystery. Gilbert indeed made no account
of his trip but presumably never reached the American coast. There is no
doubt, however, that the Red Lyon was lost in a storm.
It is
possible that Humphrey Gilbert was engaged in some privateering but there is
no proof even if the Spanish authorities expressed repeatedly doubts and made
protests to England. Some even pretended that he fought in joint operations with
Knollis.
April 1579
- Gilbert's fleet sails back to Dartmouth.
Only the Falcon captained by Sir Walter Raleigh
with first mate Simon Fernandes (aka Simon Ferdinando, a Portugese coxswain
captured in the Carribean and sold to Gilbert by Walsingham) reached Canary
Islands but they didn't go further and were back to Plymouth in May. The
expedition resulted in a complete failure, revealing serious misjudgments and
especially Gilbert's gaps in command. The hardest thing for him was that he had
lost in this misadventure a part of his personal and wife's fortune.
June, 1579
- Gilbert receives from Lord deputy of Ireland William Drury, the command of a
small 3-boat squadron with mission to block the Spanish ships bringing help to the
rebels of Munster.
He commanded the Anna Ager, his admiral 250
ton-vessel (perhaps named after his wife), the Relief and the Squirrel, a small 8-ton frigate .
Once again, Gilbert could not follow his route
during a storm and got lost in the Bay of Biscay while a Spanish supply ship
entered triumphantly Dingle Harbour in Ireland. It was a slight to the English
government, involving Gilbert's seafaring skills. Further to this new
disappointment, he went back to his American plans. The mishap of 1578 had the
effect of rejecting the idea to make the detour by the Caribbean in
concentrating only on the New World.
He fitted to this end his small frigate, the
Squirrel. Including only 10 crewmen under the command of Simon Fernandes, it made a
round trip towards America in barely three months. The place where they landed
remains unknown but it is likely that they reached the Maine coasts. At the
same moment, Dr John Dee has convinced Gilbert that the ultimate aim should be
the Norumbega River, the famous Refugio discovered by Giovanni Verazzano in
1524 (Naragansett Bay, R.I.), whereas he acquired for himself rights on all
territories north of the 50th parallel including Northern Newfoundland, a large
part of the St Lawrence valley, Labrador and the Northwest Passage as indicated
by a map dated 1580. This would seem to imply that Gilbert planned to settle
further south.
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| John Dee & Queen Elizabeth |
Spring 1581
- Gilbert sits in the Parliament of Kent. He is foreseen as President of Munster
but however not confirmed in this duty.
Over the years, he had to fulfill his settlement project before the expiry of his 6-year license planned in 1584. To attract volunteers, Gilbert asserted that there were over there huge and fertile lands, good climate and it lacked only Englishmen, promising, to this end, ownership of vast estates.
Those who showed the most interest
were gentlemen remained loyal to the Roman Catholic Church, regarded as
renegades as long as they refused to comply with the Church of England but who, so far, did not want to be exiled on the continent. Sir George Peckham of Denham
(Bucks.) and Sir Thomas Gerrard of Bryn (Lancs.) came as the spokesmen for this
group and did their utmost to bring their co-religionists behind Gilbert.
April 1582
- Sir Francis Walsingham's son-in-law Christopher Carleill, on whom depended
in wide part the tolerance granted in high places to Gilbert’s project, is
about to set up his own expedition.
Benefiting from the commitment of the Bristol merchants and the Muscovy Company, he had planned to found a 100-men settlement near the 40th parallel and to build a fishery and a warehouse to trade with Indians. Carleill agreed however that Gilbert started first.
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| Richard Hakluyt |
This book consisted of a number of printed stories and handwritten sources introducing documents as the the letters patent granted to John Cabot in 1496, the narrative of Verazzano's journey in 1524 and Ribault's report on the Florida colony in 1562, up to the list of products found in America and various opinions on colonization. David Ingram, Simon Fernandes and some John Walker who had just achieved a round trip to Penobscot were also consulted by Walsingham and others.
Humphrey Gilbert studied the detailed map of
North America drawn by John Dee for the Queen which resumed all the knowledge
of the time. He also acquired from Dee a world map made especially for him.
These items had a significant influence on his geographical conceptions. Dee
was convinced that the passage across the continent would be found at temperate
latitudes sailing up the St Lawrence or Norumbega Rivers.
Humphrey Gilbert got a set of instructions for
mapping out the coasts and make an inventory of natural resources, including
wildlife, flora and Indians that he gave to some Thomas Bavin. The
discovery of these instructions suggests that Gilbert’s draft had a scientific
level, until then admitted, even if his ambition was certainly out of
proportion compared to available resources .
June 1582 -
Gilbert has granted the catholic gentlemen no less than 8.5 millions acres of
land in America in the area located around the Norumbega River and the bay of
the five nearby islands.
Gilbert also summoned gentlemen from south
and southwestern England (the city of Southampton being even granted a monopoly
on trade with the future colony), promising them land and additional benefits.
However, the Catholic group lost soon most of his members further to pressure from clergy and Spanish agents, threatening to make them guilty for betraying their religion. Consequently, no ship in the Catholic banner was to set sail in
early 1583 contrary to what was originally planned.
March 1583
- Queen Elizabeth goes back on her refusal to let Humphrey Gilbert sail, up to
there considered as hapless at sea, and sends him a message of support.
June 11,
1583 - The fleet gathered by Humphrey Gilbert leaves Plymouth to Newfoundland.
It consists of five ships carrying 260 men including:
- The Delight, the 120 ton-admiral vessel
commanded by Humphrey Gilbert himself and Master William Winter.
- The Bark Raleigh, 200 tons, vice-admiral
commanded by Sir Walter Raleigh, Master Butler, captain.
- The Golden Hind, 40 tons, captain Edward
Hayes and William Cox, master.
- The Swallow, 40 tons, Maurice Browne, captain
- The Squirrel, 10 tons, William Andrews,
captain. This frigate, already famous for the round trip achieved four years earlier
by Simon Fernandes was especially useful for the coastal and inlet exploration
but could hardly withstand the rigors of sea.
Disputes arose from the outset on the route to be followed. Most of the crew were not true sailors but men used to drink and living
on poor jobs.The gentlemen on-board had from their part only a little sailing
experience. None of them was paying to receive orders and indiscipline ruled.
Some wanted to sail south, sure to have a better weather, others
preferred the more direct north route. This shortest one was finally
chosen.
June 13,
1583 - Having suffered a gale right from the start, it turns out that most men are already
sick.
According to captain Edward Hayes, some of the
crew fell sick before leaving and quickly spread disease on board.
Believing to be unable to carry on with the expedition, Sir Walter Raleigh prefered
to sail back to Plymouth.
June 15-28,
1583 - Despite fair winds, the four remaining ships trudge between fog and
rain.
July 20,
1583 – The lasting bad weather scatters Gilbert's fleet. The Swallow and the
Squirrel get lost in the fog.
July 27,
1583 - The Gilbert expedition meets the first icebergs.
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| The coast of Newfoundland |
It seemed at once inhospitable. There were only sad dark rocks rising from the sea and bare hills where grew no tree.They met these wingless birds called penguins and entered Conception Bay where they found the Swallow already at anchor with her whole crew. They learned that her members had taken advantage of the dispersal of the fleet to be engaged in privateering against fishermen. They soon found that the Squirrel cast anchor a little farther.
August 3,
1583 - Gilbert enters St John's harbour discovering with some surprise the
presence of 36 fishing boats, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
They first denied access to Humphrey Gilbert, believing that he was trying to get hold some ships engaged in piracy but decided otherwise having learnt that he was Lord Paramount and came to claim the land on the Queen of England's behalf. Gilbert intended to make a grand entrance in the port but the Delight was suddenly driven by currents towards rocks into which she would have smashed if the fishermen's boats had not quickly gone to her help.
August 4,
1583 - Humphrey Gilbert lands in St John's harbor, a place of the
most rustic where grow fragrant roses and many raspberry bushes.
most rustic where grow fragrant roses and many raspberry bushes.
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| Sir Humphrey Gilbert takes possession of Newfoundland |
Taking possession of the territory on the Queen's behalf was rather welcomed by the fishermen who felt actually hardly concerned by the land and used St John's harbor only a few months, the time of their fishing campaign. They were clearly unimpressed by the show in which was engaged Sir Humphrey Gilbert, realizing that despite his haughty position, he would not change habits taken for years.
The Natives remained meanwhile altogether
unseen. The most disappointed were the gentlemen who, apart from the fact that
Gilbert reminded them that the English laws would be relentlessly applied in this
new country, did not feel charmed by an area that had nothing to do with what
was promised. Gilbert had granted them vast portions of land but they were
eager to leave this thankless territory to more hospitable skies.
August 28,
1583 - After a few days of quiet sailing, Gilbert's ships face a sudden storm
during which the Delight is wrecked on shoals not far from Sable Island. On 100
men aboard, 80 perish drowned in front of the powerless crew of the Golden Hind
whereas the remaining 20 succeed in climbing aboard a pinnace. Most supplies
are lost.
Gilbert had just decided to set sail to Sable Island, unsuccessfully colonized by the Portuguese in 1520. They had left there horses and hogs which since had multiplied. He thought the place would therefore be convenient to a settlement.
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| "We are as near to heaven by sea as by land" |
The fleet
sails off Cape Race, at the extreme tip of Newfoundland.
September 2, 1583 - Gilbert is welcomed aboard the Golden Hind in order to have an injured foot treated, after stepping on a nail. He decides however to re-board the Squirrel despite the advice of his men.
September 9, 1583 - The 2 boats have been driven by the storm to the Azores.
The
Squirrel has miraculously escaped but the respite will last only a few hours.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert is seen reading in the stern of his boat and is heard from
the Golden Hind constantly repeating «We are as near to heaven by sea as by
land”.
Around midnight, the last light turns off and the Squirrel disappears in the waves...
Around midnight, the last light turns off and the Squirrel disappears in the waves...
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