SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE
Born in Cornwall, England in 1540, Sir Richard Grenville grew up to become a famed English navigator. Although he died in 1591, just 51 years of age, he accomplished much. For starters, Grenville began serving in the German imperial army as a volunteer at the age of 16. At that time, he fought alongside others against the Turks. After completing his tour of duty, he returned home only to be appointed to an Ireland command, making him sheriff of Cork.
In 1571, Grenville represented Cornwall in parliament, after which time he was promoted to High Sheriff and then knighted by Queen Elizabeth. From there, Grenville became actively involved with Sir Walter Raleigh and his cousin in colonization schemes. Then in the spring of 1585, he set sail leaving Plymouth as command over a fleet of seven vessels that bore 108 colonists. His fleet reached the West Indies, capturing two Spanish frigates. Just about a month later, the fleet reached Carolina’s mainland, or as it was known as that time as Florida.
As they arrived, Grenville and his crew were met with a horrific storm that almost caused them to wreck on the cape. Because of that, he named the cape “Cape Fear”. In June, the ships anchored at Wocoken, passing through Ocracoke inlet toward Roanoke Island. For 80 days, they explored the countryside. Then, Grenville decided to take revenge against the theft of a silver cup by burning an Indian village and maize. Leaving the colony under Robert Lane, he headed back to England with the seven vessels, capturing a Spanish galleon along the way.
When Grenville returned to the colony for a second time, he discovered it completely deserted since the colonists had gone back to England with Sir Francis Drake because of problems with the Indians. However, to stay in control of the country, Grenville decided to leave 15 men behind as he set sail back to England. Once there, he was appointed as a member of the council, asked to help devise defense against Spanish armada. Then in 1591, Grenville was promoted to Vice Admiral and asked to sail along with Lord Howard to work against West Indies Spaniards.
While in the process, Grenville came across Azores, a Spanish fleet that was comprised of 52 ships. Unfortunately, he had just five ships but still set out to attack. They fought all day and night during which time four of the Spanish ships were sunk and more than 1,000 men killed. Early in the battle, Grenville himself was injured and then shot. His body was carried to his cabin whereby the remaining crew surrendered. Just as his vessel was about to sink, Grenville was taken onboard the Spanish ship, dying three days later.
When reading about Grenville and his many travels today, you will find his named spelled in a number of ways to include Grenville, Greenville, and Granville. While there were a number of journals written about Sir Richard Grenville, one of the greatest was written by Ralph Lane called Voyages.