tic might
entail.

On June 11, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed from Plymouth with a
little fleet of five vessels, bound for North America. According to all
authorities, Raleigh had expended a considerable sum in the outfit;
according to one writer, Hayes (in Hakluyt), he was owner of the entire
expedition. He spent, we know, 2,000_l._ in building and fitting out one
vessel, which he named after himself, the 'Ark Raleigh.'

Sir Humphrey Gilbert was not born under a fortunate star. Two days after
starting, a contagious fever broke out on board the 'Ark Raleigh,' and
in a tumult of panic, without explaining her desertion to the admiral,
she hastened back in great distress to Plymouth. The rest of the fleet
crossed the Atlantic successfully, and Newfoundland was taken in the
Queen's name. One ship out of the remaining four had meanwhile been sent
back to England with a sick crew. Late in September 1583 a second sailed
into Plymouth with the news that the other two had sunk in an Atlantic
storm on the 8th or 9th of that month. The last thing known of the
gallant admiral before his ship went down was that 'sitting abaft with a
book in his hand,' he had called out 'Be of good heart, my friends! We
are as near to heaven by sea as by land.'

At the death of Gilbert, his schemes as a colonising navigator passed,
as by inheritance, to Raleigh. That he had no intention of letting them
drop is shown by the fact that he was careful not to allow Gilbert's
original charter to expire. In June 1584 other hands might have seized
his brother's relinquished enterprise, and therefore it was, on March
25, that Raleigh moved the Queen to renew the charter in his own name.
In company with a younger half-brother, Adrian Gilbert, and with the
experienced though unlucky navigator John Davis as a third partner,
Raleigh was now incorporated as representing 'The College of the
Fellowship for the Discovery of the North West Passage.' In this he was
following the precedent of Gilbert, who had made use of the Queen's
favourite dream of a northern route to China to cover his less
attractive schemes of colonisation. Raleigh, however, took care to
secure himself a charter which gave him the fullest possible power to
'inhabit or retain, build or fortify, at the discretion of the said W.
Raleigh,' in any remote lands that he might find hitherto unoccupied by
any Christian power. Armed with this extensive grant, Raleigh began to
make his preparations.