born 0441; 1539
died September 1583, at sea near the Azores
English soldier and navigator.
The half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh , he proposed in his Discourse (1566) a voyage in search of the Northwest Passage . Queen Elizabeth I rejected the idea and sent him to Ireland (156770), where he ruthlessly suppressed an uprising, for which he was knighted. In 1578 he set out with seven ships, intending to colonize North America, but through his poor leadership some ships returned to England and others turned to piracy. He sailed again in 1583, this time arriving in Newfoundland, which he claimed in the name of the queen.