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 who had been master to Sir Robert Dudley in his West Indian voyage, as vice-admiral, and the Edward Bonaventure under James Lancaster as rear-admiral. The historians of the voyage were Edmund Barker, Lancaster's lieutenant, and a mate named Henry May.

The expedition sailed from Plymouth on the 10th of April, 1591, and, touching at the Canary Islands, the ships made the best of their way to the Cape of Good Hope. Near the line the English explorers fortunately captured a Portuguese caravel laden with wine, oil, and olives. During the long detention by equatorial calms the scurvy broke out, there were many deaths, and the crews were in a very weakly state when the ships reached Table Bay. There oxen and sheep were obtained from the natives, and the sailors began to recover their strength. It was resolved to send the Merchant Royal back to England with all the weakly men, and to proceed with two strong crews in two ships. Accordingly, Captains Raymond and Lancaster, in the Penelope and Edward Bonaventure, proceeded on the voyage. On the 14th of September they encountered a great storm, during which the Penelope parted company, nor was she ever heard of again.

The Edward Bonaventure, after losing the master and several men through the treachery of the Comoro Islanders, arrived at Zanzibar on the 7th of November. Lancaster remained there until February, 1592, opening friendly relations with the native merchants, who were disabused of the stories told by the Portuguese to the disadvantage of the strangers. On leaving Zanzibar a course was shaped for Cape Comorin, and then for the Nicobar Islands; but the first port in which the ship was anchored was Penang, on the coast of Malacca, where Lancaster remained until August. He lost his master, one of the merchants, and twenty-six men during his stay at that place; and when he put to sea there were not more than twenty-two men fit for duty. Having captured some Portuguese ships laden with pepper and rice, and cruised for some months on the coast of Malacca, Lancaster anchored at Point de Galle. There the crew declared they must return to England, and the homeward voyage was commenced on the 8th of December, 1593. After a long rest at St. Helena, Lancaster took the ship in the direction of the Brazilian coast, and thence to the West Indies, at last finding himself off the island of Mona, between St. Domingo and Puerto Rico, whence, after receiving provisions