''Bonaventure'' (also known as ''Elizabeth Bonaventure'') was a 47-gun

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...

purchased by the Royal Navy in 1567. She was the third vessel to bear the name. She was commanded by Sir

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...

during his 1587 attack on Cadiz, and a year later was part of the fleet to face the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

Service history

The ship took part in the Great Expedition by privateer

, which raided the Spanish New World in 1585 and 1586. As part of the Expedition, ''Bonaventure'' was present for Drake's assaults on

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

Cartagena de Indias Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...

and San Augustin.

Attack on Cadiz (1587)

After the execution in February 1587 of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

decided that it was time to invade England, and started to prepare his armada.Elton (1906), p81. ''Bonaventure'', under the command of

was sent as

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of the English fleet to try to prevent and/or delay the armada. The fleet numbered roughly twenty-six vessels, which included three more of the Queen's ships in addition to ''Bonaventure''; ''

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

'', ''

Dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...

'' and ''

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

'', three tall ships of the

Levant Company The Levant Company was an English chartered company formed in 1592. Elizabeth I of England approved its initial charter on 11 September 1592 when the Venice Company (1583) and the Turkey Company (1581) merged, because their charters had expired, ...

, seven men-of-war of 150–200 tons and eleven or twelve smaller vessels. His orders from the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

were:

"to prevent the joining together of the King of Spain's fleet out of their different ports. To keep victuals from them. To follow them in case they should come out towards England or Ireland. To cut off as many of them as he could, and prevent their landing. To set upon the West Indian ships as they came or went."Elton (1906), p82.

She immediately changed her mind and issued less aggressive orders, however Drake had set sail from England on 12 April 1587 before receiving these orders, and thus acted upon the first. Having heard that the ships were gathering in the harbour at Cádiz, Drake decided to hunt them there. On his arrival seventeen days later, they discovered the inner and outer harbours full of the enemy vessels. After a short discussion with his vice-admiral, Captain

William Borough William Borough (1536–1599) was a British naval officer who was Comptroller of the Navy and the younger brother of Stephen Borough. He participated in the British attack on Cádiz in 1587. He was responsible for the drawing of several early map ...

, Drake decided against waiting until the following morning, and led his fleet in. A squadron of galleys commanded by Don Pedro de Acuña were in a state of readiness, and spread across the harbour while one of their number sailed to challenge Drake's oncoming fleet.Mattingly (2005), p96. Before it could get close enough to hail the English, ''Bonaventure'' and possibly some of the other vessels close opened fire, sending cannonballs in the direction of the Spanish

. Any one of the four Queen's vessels carried more firepower than all of Don Pedro's galleys combined, and the Spanish commander was forced to concentrate on delaying the English fleet to give the other Spanish vessels time to prepare. In time however, the resistance faded and Drake gained control of the bay. Over the next month, the fleet sailed up and down the Iberian coast between

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

and

Cape St Vincent Cape St. Vincent ( pt, Cabo de São Vicente, ) is a headland in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, in the Algarve, southern Portugal. It is the southwesternmost point of Portugal and of mainland Europe. History Cape St. Vincent was already sacr ...

, destroying supplies being sent to Lisbon for the armada. Included in these supplies were a large quantity of barrel staves, according to Drake's personal estimate, enough for over 25,000 tons of provisions and water.

Spanish Armada (1588)

The following year, ''Bonaventure'', commanded by

George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland Sir George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, 13th Baron de Clifford, 13th Lord of Skipton, (8 August 155830 October 1605), was an English peer, naval commander, and courtier of Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was notable at court for his jo ...

, was part of the English fleet to battle the

. During this battle, she carried 51.5 tons of ordnance, totalling over 8% of her maximum tonnage. When surveyed on 25 September 1588, the only damage listed from the battle was to the sails, which were "shot full of holes".

Later Voyages

''Bonaventure'' then set out on an early expedition that became a forerunner to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

; according to Sir George C. V. Holmes, ''Bonaventure''—operating under the auspices of the

—was the first English ship to make a successful voyage to India.Holmes, George C. V. (2010). ''Ancient and Modern Ships: Part 1. Wooden Sailing Ships''. pp 99 Under the command of

James Lancaster Sir James Lancaster (c. 1554 – 6 June 1618) was an English privateer and trader of the Elizabethan era. Life and work Lancaster came from Basingstoke in Hampshire. In his early life, he was a soldier and a trader in Portugal. On 10 April 159 ...

she left England in April 1591 with two other ships (''Penelope'' and ''Marchant Royal'') and then sailed around

Cape Comorin Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland Ind ...

and on to the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

. Having reached

Table Bay Table Bay (Afrikaans: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town (founded 1652 by Van Riebeeck) and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named ...

(1 August 1591), and losing one ship off

Cape Correntes Cape Correntes (sometimes also called "Cape Corrientes" in English) ( Port.: "Cabo das Correntes") is a cape or headland in the Inhambane Province in Mozambique. It sits at the southern entry of the Mozambique Channel.• Cape Correntes was hi ...

on 12 September, the squadron rested and refitted at

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

(February 1592), rounded

the following May, and reached the

having arrived at

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

in June. Here they remained on the island until September of the same year and pillaged every vessel he encountered. ''Bonaventure'' survived the journey back and subsequently returned to England in 1594.

In Literature

This is this ship referred to in

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

's poem ''The Sailor's Bride, or The Bonaventure'' in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaventure Ships of the Royal Navy 16th-century ships Ships of the English navy