Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 11.djvu/66

Clifford  was a man of irregular life, and, having run through a great part of his very handsome property, seized on the opportunity offered by the war with Spain to re-establish himself.

In 1586 he fitted out a little fleet of three ships and a pinnace, which, under the command of Captain Robert Widrington, sailed from Plymouth in August, and returned in September 1587, after a cruise which had extended beyond the mouth of the river Plate, but without much success to repay the cost of the expedition. In 1588 he commanded the Elizabeth Bonaventure, a queen's ship of 600 tons, against the Spanish Armada, and after the decisive action off Gravelines (29 July) carried the news of the victory to the camp at Tilbury. The reports of his gallantry so pleased the queen, that she lent him the Golden Lion, a ship of 500 tons, with which to undertake another expedition to the South Sea. The rest of the ships, as well as the equipment of the Golden Lion, were provided at his own expense, and he put to sea in October, but only to be driven back by bad weather. The next year the queen lent him the Victory, in which, and with six other ships all equipped at his own expense, he put to sea from Plymouth on 18 June. With him sailed Edward Wright [q. v.], the mathematician and hydrographer, who wrote an account of the voyage, and Captain William Monson [q. v.] was his vice-admiral. On 29 June they happily fell in with Sir Francis Drake's squadron returning from Cadiz in extreme want of provisions, which they relieved, And proceeded on their way. In the Channel they captured three French ships of the league ; on the coast of Portugal a number of ships laden with spice ; at St. Michael's and Fibres they made some further captures; and at Fayal cut seven ships out from under the guns of the castle, getting 'an unexpected victory, rather by valour than reason.' Afterwards they fell in with and captured one of the Spanish West India fleet, richly laden, to the value, it was estimated, of 100,000l. At Graciosa and St. Mary's they made other rich prizes, though at this last-named place, rashly landing under the very guns of the fort, they suffered severely ; ` two-parts of the men were slain and hurt,' and Cumberland himself sorely wounded. With more prizes and prisoners than they could well manage, they turned homewards. The rich West Indiaman, sent on ahead, was wrecked in Mount's Bay and utterly lost, with all hands. The other ships ran short of water, and were put to direful extremity, their men being at last reduced to an allowance of three spoonfuls of vinegar a day, while some, 'going to the great ocean for relief, drank themselves to death with salt water.' In all this time, we are told, ' the earl maintained his own equal temper and good presence of mind, avoiding no part of distress that others, even the meanest seaman, endured.' In the end they met an English ship, from which they obtained such relief as enabled them to reach Ireland, and so arrived at Falmouth in the last days of the year.

In 1591 Cumberland again fitted out an expedition, consisting of the queen's ship Garland and seven others ; he was again accompanied by Captain Monson, and sailing from England in May, he came on the coast of Portugal, where he made several valuable prizes, which were shortly afterwards, by different misadventures, recaptured, Monson being at the time in command of one, and so made prisoner. Having lost his captain and responsible adviser, and found the Garland, a new ship, to be extremely crank and uncomfortable, the earl returned to England, sending, as he left the coast of Spain, a pinnace to Lord Thomas Howard [q. v.], then waiting at the Azores for the Plate fleet, to warn him of a powerful armament that was on the point 01 sailing to attack him. In 1592 the earl was at the cost of another expedition of five ships, which he sent out under the command of Captain Norton. Near the Azores, Norton fell in with the ships under the command of Sir John Burgh [q. v.], and was in company with them when the great carrack was captured on 3 Aug. Their claim, however, to any share in the rich prize was angrily contested, and was legally decided against Cumberland, to whom, as special compensation, the queen allotted a sum of 36,000l. It was solely in consideration of his money venture ; for he himself had spent the autumn at court, and on 27 Sept., being in attendance on the queen at Oxford, received the degree of M. A. He was also during this year made a knight of the Garter. The sixth expedition, which Cumberland sent to sea in 1593, consisted of nine ships, of which he took command himself, having his trusted friend Monson again with him, and returned to his former cruising ground among the Azores. He was shortly afterwards seized with a violent sickness, and Monson, fearing for his life, determined to carry him back to England, sending on the other ships to the West Indies. His name is associated with the squadron which, in the following year, fought and burnt the great carrack Cinco Llagas of 2,000 tons, and said to be by far richer than the Madre de Pios captured by Sir John Burgh, and fought also a severe but unsuccessful action with her consort, a ship of 1,500 tons; but his share in these exploits