Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
3
THE TRIUMPH OF DESIRE
Drake never followed up the commercial contacts he had made
in the Spice Islands and, although his great voyage had inspired many
young adventurers, none of them immediately set out to emulate the
exploit. One reason for this was, undoubtedly, the growing hostility
with Spain which provided action enough in the northern Atlantic for
captains seeking booty and the clash of arms. England could ill afford
to send some of her best ships and men across thousands of miles of
ocean while the conflict with Philip II threatened to erupt into open
warfare.
Another reason for the lack of interest in circumnavigation was
the failure of the Fenton expedition. In 1581 Edward Fenton, a soldier
of fortune, was appointed by a commercial consortium headed by the
Earl of Leicester to command a fleet to the Orient. The backers had
two objectives: they wanted to cement profitable relations with the
Sultan of Ternate and they wanted to discover the North-West Pas-
sage which would open for England a virtually private route to the
wealth of the East. The known but hazardous southerly route was
expressly forbidden in Fenton's instructions: 'You shall goe on your
course by Cape de Bona Speranca, not passing by the Streight of Ma-
no interest in circumnavigation for its own sake. Nor, to judge from
his subsequent actions, had Fenton.
He was a man wholly unfitted to such an undertaking. Scarcely
had his four ships set sail in May 1582 when he was arguing with his
officers, and it soon became clear to them that he had no intention
of obeying his instructions. He spoke wildly of seizing the tiny island
of St Helena and proclaiming himself its king. When his captains re-
