Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Edward Glemham (died in or before 1594) of Benhall, Suffolk, was an English sea voyager and

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

. In his ship, the ''Edward and Constance'', he destroyed two Spanish vessels, repulsed four galleys, and captured a rich Venetian merchant ship in his first voyage of 1590. He made a second voyage shortly after the first. His adventures are described in two black letter pamphlets (1591 and 1594; reprinted, 1820 and 1866).

First voyage

Edward Glemham, Esquire, of

Benhall Benhall is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located to the south of Saxmundham, in 2007 its population was estimated to be 560, reducing to 521 at the 2011 Census. Geography Benhall is split into t ...

in Suffolk, in 1590 fitted out, as owner and sole adventurer, the ship ''Edward and Constance'', of 240 tons, in which he sailed from

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

in August. He proceeded in the first instance to the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, where he landed on St. George's Island with a party of eighty-six men; but finding himself unable to hold the island, as he appears to have intended, he concluded a truce with the governor, and withdrew. He then met with six Spanish ships, two of which he succeeded in destroying; afterwards he had a fierce engagement with four galleys bound for

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, which he beat off; and having refitted at

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, entered the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, where he captured a large vessel laden with sugar and other valuable merchandise, which was afterwards claimed as Venetian property. The case, as tried in the

admiralty court Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offences. Admiralty courts in the United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland The Scottish court's earliest ...

, seemed doubtful, and the judgment was that Glemham was to have the goods 'on a bond in double of their value, to pay their just value within two months after proof has been made, or for so much as is proved to belong to Venetians or others not subjects of the King of Spain'. An account of the early part of the voyage was published anonymously in 1591 (small

4to Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

, 8 leaves,

black letter Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...

; reprinted 1820,

8vo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

), under the title of ''The Honorable Actions of that most famous and valiant Englishman, Edward Glemham, esquire, latelie obtained against the Spaniards and the Holy Leauge in foure sundrie fightes''. Some commendatory verses at the end of the narration express a wish that he may safely return, 'freighted with gold and pearl of India'—a wish which seems to have been fulfilled only in respect of the safety.

Second voyage

A second voyage, undertaken very shortly after the first, was described by the same writer in a small pamphlet published in 1594 (small 4to, 24 pages, black letter; reprinted 1866 in Collier's ''Illustrations of Old English Literature'', Vol. 1), under the title of ''Newes from the Levane Seas. Describing the many perilous events of the most woorthy deserving Gentleman Edward Glenham, Esquire''.Laughton 1890, p. 426.

Legacy

Glemham's ventures seem to have been unfortunate, judged from the fact that, starting with a good property, 'feasting his friends and relieving the poor plentifully', and having a wife 'sole heir of a right worshipful knight, famous in his life and of great possessions', he sold Benhall away from the family to Edward Duke, who died in 1598. In the ''Newes from the Levane Seas'', the name is frequently spelt Glenham, but this appears to be wrong, as the family was called after Glemham in Suffolk, their ancient seat.Collins 1768, p. 427.

References

Sources

* Collins, Arthur (1768). ''The Peerage of England''. 4th ed
Vol. 6
London: Printed for H. Woodfall, et al. p. 427. * Green, Mary Anne Everett, ed. (1867).
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, 1591–1594
'. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. p. 221. * Page, Augustine (1844).
A Supplement to the Suffolk Traveller
'. Ipswich: Joshua Page; London: J. B. Nichols and Son. p. 169. * Attribution: *

First voyage

Second voyage

Legacy

References

Sources

Further reading