He eventually
crossed the Pacific for the Moluccas and Java, from which he
sailed right across the Indian Ocean, and by the Cape of Good
Hope to England, thus making the circumnavigation of the world.
He was absent with his little fleet for about two years and ten
months.
Not less extraordinary was the voyage of Captain Cavendish, who
made the circumnavigation of the globe at his own expense. He
set out from Plymouth in three small vessels on the 21st July,
1586. One vessel was of 120 tons, the second of 60 tons, and the
third of 40 tons--not much bigger than a Thames yacht. The
united crews, of officers, men, and boys, did not exceed 123!
Cavendish sailed along the South American continent, and made
through the Straits of Magellan, reaching the Pacific Ocean. He
burnt and plundered the Spanish settlements along the coast,
captured some Spanish ships, and took by boarding the galleon St.
Anna, with 122,000 Spanish dollars on board. He then sailed
across the Pacific to the Ladrone Islands, and returned home
through the Straits of Java and the Indian Archipelago by the
Cape of Good Hope, and reached England after an absence of two
years and a month.
The sacred and invincible Armada was now ready, Philip II. was
determined to put down those English adventurers who had swept
the coasts of Spain and plundered his galleons on the high seas.
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