_ fell
in with a Plymouth vessel coming from Lisbon, which gave the voyagers
the glorious information of the overthrow of the Spanish Armada.

Directly afterwards the _Desire_ encountered a terrific gale, which
carried away the greater part of her remaining sails. To replace them
others were manufactured from the Indian damasks, and the canvas made of
the silk grass of the South Seas, which had a most lustrous appearance.
One of her topsails was of cloth of gold, while her officers and crew
were dressed in silk clothes, their own having probably long since worn
out.

Thus equipped, on the 9th of September the _Desire_ entered the
long-wished-for port of Plymouth, to the great astonishment of the
inhabitants, who, as they gazed at her, fancied that all her sails were
of silk, supposing naturally that this betokened the value of her cargo.
In this they were not far wrong, for the wealth Cavendish brought home
was enough to buy a fair earldom.

He was received with great kindness by the Queen, who, considering that
his exploit almost rivalled that of Drake, bestowed on him the honour of
knighthood. He boasted to his patron, Lord Hunsdon, that he had burnt
and sunk nineteen sail of ships, small and great; that all the villages
and towns where he had landed he had burnt and spoiled, and had carried
off a great quantity of treasure, his most profitable transaction being
that of the capture of the _Santa Anna_, as her cargo was the richest
that had ever floated on those seas, so that his ships could only
contain a small portion.

Happy would it have been for the gallant Cavendish had he remained
contentedly on shore, but his eager soul burned for fresh enterprises.
Having fitted out a squadron of three ships and two barks, in one of
which, the _Roebuck_, John Davis went as captain, he sailed from
Plymouth on the 26th of August, 1591, for the purpose of finding a
North-West Passage by way of the Pacific into the Atlantic. Disaster,
however, followed him from the first. He was deserted by one of his
captains, and failing to get through the Straits of Magellan, was
compelled to return home. He died of a broken heart, after a vain
search for Saint Helena, where he hoped to refresh his crew, towards the
end of the year 1592.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

CAPE HORN FIRST DOUBLED BY SCHOUTEN AND LE MAIRE--A.D. 1615-17.

Desire of Dutch merchants to find a fresh passage into the South Sea--Le
Maire applies to Captain Schouten--T