humphrey Gilbert 3
Famous Sons and Daughters No 5: Humphrey Gilbert
Born on the River Dart, Humphrey Gilbert was the navigator, soldier and explorer half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh – an intelligent and bloodthirsty knight.
He lived in the early Elizabethan Age – but legend has it his story is not over yet.
There are those who say this explorer of the New World still sails the seven seas, although his frigate, the Squirrel, was swamped by a storm and Gilbert refused calls from the crew of the nearby Golden Hind to abandon ship. He famously sat in the stern reading a book, calling out “We are as near to Heaven by sea as by land!” until the lights on board went out. The watch on the Golden Hind reported the Squirrel lost with all hands – but no-one actually saw the ship go down, which is why those myths prevail that Gilbert and his crew sail through time continuously round and round the globe.
The story of Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s trans-time wanderings have inspired books including Fire in the Abyss by Stuart Gordon, where Gilbert arrives in the Twentieth Century to work with the United States Navy on submarines, and The Gate of Time by Philip Jose Farmer, where Gilbert and the Squirrel shift sideways into a parallel timeline with England replaced by Blodland, a land influenced by Vikings rather than Romans and Normans.
In fact the real life of this famous son of the River Dart was more fantastical than any fiction.
Humphrey Gilbert was the second birth son of Otho and Katherine Champernowne Gilbert who shared their time between Compton Castle and the Greenway Estate on the banks of the River Dart, where Humphrey was born. His brothers were Sir John Gilbert and Adrian Gilbert, and his half brothers were Carew Raleigh and Sir Walter Raleigh. Their mother was the niece of the governess of Elizabeth I and she introduced the young men to court – where Humphrey thrived.
He was educated at Eton and Oxford where he learned to speak French and Spanish and studied the arts of war and navigation. He went to London and from there to a life of adventure; the siege of Newhaven in le Havre, Normandy, where he was wounded in June 1563, to Ireland where he had the heads of those he conquered put on poles flanking the path to his tent, and to overthrow Spanish Catholic control in the Netherlands.
But it was the New World that had the biggest hold over Gilbert. He dabbled in alchemy, became involved in politics as the MP for Plymouth and for Queenborough in Kent, married Anne Aucher, fathered six sons and a daughter, and some say he had a string of male lovers.
And through all of this he worked to persuade the Queen to let him explore the New World, pledging to seize territory of around nine million acres on behalf of the crown. He had written about the Northwest Passage, and was desperate to explore it. His wish was granted in 1578, when he and Raleigh received a charter to explore North America.
Storms put paid to this first venture but a second voyage set out in 1583 and resulted in the establishment of a small settlement on Newfoundland — the first English colony in America where a plaque marks the start of the British Empire.
Newfoundland and lands to the North and South were claimed for the English crown, including the prosperous fish stations, and taxes were levied on fishermen from several countries who worked them.
But the settlers hated it. They quickly became disenchanted and managed to convince Gilbert that he should take them home.
They sailed in the Squirrel – and Gilbert stuck doggedly to his little frigate through injury, storms and even the reported sighting of a sea monster said to look like a lion with glaring eyes. But the storms eventually swamped the craft and the ship was lost with all hands…or was it?!
Gilbert was outstanding for his initiative and originality, and his efforts at colonization. He and his brother Sir Walter Raleigh were part of a remarkable generation of men from Devon who combined the roles of adventurer, writer, soldier and mariner - often in ways as equally loathsome as admirable! His American adventure paved the way for the English crown to establish colonies in North America.
For further reading....
Information available at Dartmouth Museum
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/sir-humphrey-gilbert.htm
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1131.html
http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/HumphreyGilbert(Sir).htm
First published October 2009 By the Dart
