Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fused to support him in such madness he turned back to plunder
Portuguese settlements in the Cape Verde Islands and along the
West African coast. He bartered one of his ships for provisions and
lost another through shipwreck in the Plate estuary. After that he
had no alternative but to return, ignominiously, to England.
It is difficult to assess the character of a man like Edward Fenton
across the divide of four centuries but the attempt is instructive be-
cause it makes clear the immense strain long sailing voyages put
upon any mariners unequal to the task. Edward was one of those un-
happy men overshadowed by a brilliant younger brother. Geoffrey
was a fine scholar who attracted the patronage of several leading
courtiers, and was accepted among the literary
cognoscenti
of the
day. He settled in Paris and, before the age of thirty, had won fame
as an author and translator. Edward could not bear the thought of
settling to the dull life of a Nottinghamshire landowner on the estate
inherited from his father, while his brother covered himself in glory.
He sold his patrimony and went off to serve as a soldier in Ireland.
Apart from a brief interlude when he accompanied Frobisher on his
third voyage in search of the North-West Passage, Fenton remained
in the troublesome province for fourteen years. He returned home in
September 1580. It is probably no coincidence that Geoffrey had ar-
rived in Ireland four months earlier and had already begun to make
a mark there (within a year he was appointed secretary to the lord
deputy).
Edward went to the royal court, desperately seeking some new
adventure to enhance his reputation. More than one project was
discussed before the ill-fated 1582 expedition was planned. When
Fenton eventually put to sea it was as an inexperienced sailor lead-
ing captains who knew the Atlantic far better than he did. He was no
mariner, nor was he a very accomplished commander. Above all, his
heart was not in the venture; he saw it largely as a vehicle for enhan-
cing his reputation and escaping from his own mediocrity. Thus, the
