Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/30

16 Cavendish, Sir Thomas, an adventurous seaman. the second Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, was born at Grimston Hall, Trimley, St. Martin Parish, Suffolk county, England, 1564; he equipped a ship at his own expense and sailed with Sir Richard Grenville on the voyage to Roanoke Island in 1585; afterwards mortgaged his estates and fitted out a fleet to prey on Spanish commerce, and embarking from Plymouth, July 21, 1586, crossed the Atlantic, ran down the coast of South America, cleared the straits of Magellan and heading northward ravaged the seaboard of Chili, Peru and New Spain. He captured a galleon laden with valuable merchandise and 122,000 Spanish dollars. He went as far as Cape Lucas, on the coast of California, and then sailed for England by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, reaching Plymouth, September 9, 1588, after an absence of two years, one month and nineteen days. On his return home Queen Elizabeth knighted him. His share of the spoils was "rich enough to purchase a fair earldom." In three years he planned another voyage of the same scope, but his good genius deserted him. His plans were rendered abortive by tempestuous weather, sickness, hunger and desertion, and being compelled to turn homeward died at sea in the summer of 1592, heartbroken from want, anguish and fatigue.

Lane, Captain Ralph, second son of Sir Ralph Lane, of Orlinbury, and his wife Maud, daughter of William Lord Parr, uncle of Queen Katherine Parr, was born in Northamptonshire, about 1630; entered the Queen's service in 1563; distinguished himself in the rebellion of 1569, and was made governor of Kerry and Clan Morris; he is described by Stow as "a great projector in these times," and proposed to the crown many schemes of all kinds; was selected by Raleigh as governor of the colony to be sent to Roanoke Island in 1585; finding that there were no gold mines in North Carolina he returned home with the settlers in 1586; afterwards was a member of the commission to provide for the defence of England against the Spanish Armada; and in 1589 was a colonel in the expedition of Drake and Norris to Portugal; he was made muster master-general in Ireland, where he was dangerously wounded; was knighted by Lord Fitzwilliam. deputy lord lieutenant of Ireland, in 1593, and died in 1604 or 1605.

Hariot, Thomas, an eminent English mathematician, born at Oxford, in 1560, studied at St. Hilary's Hall. Oxford University, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, February 12, 1580. Soon after he was entertained by Sir Walter Raleigh as his instructor in mathematics, and granted by him an annual pension. He was sent with Ralph Lane and his colony to Roanoke in 1585, and upon his return he published the results of his labors in "A Brief and True Report of the newfoundland of Virginia, etc., London. 1588." He was the constant companion of Sir Walter Raleigh when he was confined in the Tower of London. He made a sun dial for the Earl of Northumberland, which is still to be seen in the south face of St. Martin's tower. In 1607 he drew up observations on the comet known as "Halley's Comet." He was the first to detect the spots on the sun. and is said to have observed the satellites of Jupiter a few days after Galileo first discovered them. He arrived at a complete theory of the genesis of equations in algebra, which Cardan and Vieta had but partially conceived. He preserved a keen interest in the colonization of Virginia till his death, at London, July 2, 1621.