James Lancaster English navigator Country: Great Britain

1. Biography of James Lancaster
2. Early Life
3. First Expedition to the East Indies
4. Expedition to Brazil
5. Second Expedition to the East Indies
6. Lancaster and the Fight Against Scurvy

Biography of James Lancaster

James Lancaster was an English seafarer and privateer who commanded the first trading fleet of the English East India Company. He was knighted for the successful completion of his expedition.

Early Life

James Lancaster was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire, around 1554. In the 1580s, he engaged in trading operations in Spain and Portugal. In 1586, shortly after the start of the Anglo-Spanish War, he returned to England. In 1587-88, Lancaster participated in Francis Drake's raid on Cadiz and, commanding the ship "Edward Bonaventure," fought against the Invincible Armada in the English Channel and the North Sea.

First Expedition to the East Indies

On April 10, 1591, Lancaster embarked on his first expedition to the East Indies. He set sail from the port of Plymouth with three ships - "Penelope," "Merchant Royal," and "Edward Bonaventure," with Lancaster as the captain. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope in September, Lancaster arrived at the island of Penang off the coast of Malacca in June of the following year. Only the "Bonaventure" made it to Penang, as the "Merchant Royal" was sent back to England from Saldanha Bay with sick and weakened crew members, and the "Penelope" was lost during a storm. Despite having only thirty healthy sailors left, Lancaster spent the next few months plundering Portuguese ships in the local waters. The "Bonaventure" then sailed to Ceylon, from where the Englishmen headed back in December 1592. Lancaster returned to England on May 24, 1594, after a voyage of three years and six weeks.

Expedition to Brazil

In October 1594, Lancaster led a privateering expedition to Brazil with three ships. Along the way, he joined forces with another pirate, Edward Venner. From the crew of one of the Spanish ships they had captured by that time, the Englishmen learned that the port of Recife in Portuguese Brazil held a rich cargo from a carrack that had sunk near Olinda, not far to the north. On March 29, 1595, the combined fleet arrived at Recife. There, Lancaster encountered three Dutch flutes and struck a deal with their captains for the future division of the loot. Afterward, Lancaster launched an assault on the city from both land and sea, which proved successful. The Portuguese garrison fled to Olinda, and the English losses were minimal. Lancaster held Recife for a month. During that time, several French corsair ships arrived, and their crews also took part in the looting of the city and the capture of Olinda, which had been a constant threat to the Englishmen from the Portuguese. Eventually, the French, English, and Dutch ships (which Lancaster chartered to transport part of the captured goods to England) left Recife. The Englishmen arrived in Downs in July 1595 with a cargo of sugar, timber, spices, and other goods worth over £50,000.

Second Expedition to the East Indies

On December 31, 1600, Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter establishing the English East India Company, granting it a monopoly on trade with the East (from India to China). On February 13, 1601, the company's first trading expedition set sail from Woolwich. The company's leadership decided that James Lancaster, who had previous experience sailing in the Indian Ocean from 1591 to 1593 (the first English voyage to Southeast Asia around the Cape of Good Hope), should lead the fleet of four ships. Another renowned seafarer, John Davis, served as the chief pilot of the expedition. After rounding Africa and stopping at the Nicobar Islands, the fleet arrived in Sumatra in June 1602. Lancaster, who had official status as Queen Elizabeth's envoy to the Eastern monarchs, formed an alliance with the Sultan of Aceh and established the first factory of the East India Company in Bantam, Java. Additionally, English merchants made several profitable trade deals, including with the inhabitants of the Spice Islands. On February 20, 1603, the expedition set sail for the return journey and arrived in London on September 11. It was a highly successful commercial venture, and England now had a presence in one of the most important regions of global trade. In October 1603, King James I conferred knighthood upon James Lancaster. Until his death in June 1618, Lancaster served as one of the directors of the East India Company. He organized expeditions to Asia, America, and the search for the Northwest Passage. In 1616, William Baffin named the strait between Devon Island and Baffin Island after James Lancaster.

Lancaster and the Fight Against Scurvy

During the voyage around Africa in 1601, the crews of the three East India Company ships suffered greatly from scurvy, whereas the situation on the flagship "Red Dragon" was much better. Lancaster made his sailors on that ship drink three spoonfuls of lemon juice daily, which proved to be an effective preventive measure. He made a prolonged stop in Madagascar to replenish supplies of oranges and lemons before heading to Sumatra. The use of lemon juice as a preventive measure against scurvy was also employed in subsequent company expeditions.