Page 20 - Early English Adventurers in the Middle East_Neat

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20 EARLY ENGLISH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST
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icy regions of the Arctic Circle. Two ships, the Bear,
galleon of 400 tons, and the Edward Bonaventurc, of 300,
were contributed by the Queen, and two smaller craft, of
GO tons and 40 tons respectively, furnished by private
enterprise, constituted the fleet.
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The command was entrusted to Edward Fenton, a scion
of a well-known Nottinghamshire family, who with a
spirit common in that age had abjured the easy life of a
country gentleman for a career of adventure. He had
sailed in Frobisher’s second voyage for the discover}' of the
North-West passage in command of one of the vessels
of the fleet. But apart from this he had had little ex­
perience in seamanship. What he lacked in this respect
! was supplied by the second in command, Wm. Hawkins,
a member of the famous Plymouth family, who had all
the genius of his race for navigation.
Unhappily, from the outset of the expedition a keen
rivalry arose between the two commanders as a result
of the superior attainments of the subordinate. Fenton
was domineering and headstrong, and he was altogether
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lacking in the steadfastness which was necessary to bring
to a successful conclusion so arduous and even perilous an
enterprise as a voyage to the East then was.
When the fleet reached St. Helena at the end of Sep­
tember the eccentric admiral was seized with the fantastic
idea of annexing the island and proclaiming himself king
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of it. The little Atlantic islet, to be rendered famous more
than two centuries later by Napoleon’s incarceration upon
it, is an agreeable resting-place after a long voyage, but
; \ it was then far too isolated and exposed to be held for a
I! year by any power that did not possess absolute mastery
at sea. This truth was ultimately realized by Fenton,

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