Simon Fernandes ( pt, Simão Fernandes, links=no; c. 1538 – c. 1590) was a 16th-century Portuguese-born navigator and sometime pirate who piloted the 1585 and 1587 English expeditions to found colonies on Roanoke island, part of modern-day

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

but then known as

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Fernandes trained as a navigator in Spain at the famed

Casa de Contratación The ''Casa de Contratación'' (, House of Trade) or ''Casa de la Contratación de las Indias'' ("House of Trade of the Indies") was established by the Crown of Castile, in 1503 in the port of Seville (and transferred to Cádiz in 1717) as a cro ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, but later took up arms against the Spanish empire, preying upon Spanish shipping along with fellow pirate John Callis. Charged with piracy in 1577, he was saved from the hangman's noose by Sir

Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...

, becoming a Protestant and a subject of the Queen of England. In 1578 Fernandes entered the service of Sir

Humphrey Gilbert Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America ...

and later Sir

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

, piloting the failed 1587 expedition to Roanoke, known to history as the "

Lost Colony The establishment of the Roanoke Colony ( ) was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The English, led by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had briefly claimed St. John's, Newfoundland, in 15 ...

". Fernandes disappears from the records after 1590, when he sailed with an English fleet to the Azores, a journey from which he most likely did not return alive. However, a copy of one of his charts of the East coast of North America still survives in the Cotton Collection, and was probably one of the chief sources used by

John Dee John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, teacher, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divinatio ...

for his 1580 map justifying English claims to North America.

Early life

Fernandes was born Simão Fernandes in c. 1538 in

Terceira Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 53,311 inhabitants in an area of approximately . It is the location ...

in the Portuguese islands of 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 ...

. He received his navigational training in Spain, at the renowned

pilot training school in Seville,Miller, p. 64
Retrieved April 2011 and made at least one journey across the Atlantic in the service of the Spanish Crown.

Career

Pirate

Sir Francis Walsingham by John De Critz the Elder

At some point Fernandes severed his loyalty to the Spanish crown and in the 1570s he took up a career in

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

, operating out of

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

in association with the notorious pirate John Callis, preying upon Spanish shipping. England was at peace with Spain at this time and piracy was an offence punishable by hanging, but in practice Fernandes was engaged in exactly the sort of behaviour to which Queen

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

was inclined to turn a blind eye. However, the Portuguese ambassador Francisco Giraldi vigorously protested Fernandes's activities to the Queen's ministers, after the alleged murder of seven Portuguese sailors, and in 1577 the 39-year-old Fernandes was arrested in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and taken to London to face trial.Miller, p. 171
Retrieved April 2011 However, far from being hanged for his crimes, Fernandes was released, apparently with the connivance of Queen Elizabeth's spymaster Sir

, who appears to have been well aware of the Portuguese navigator's potential usefulness in challenging the Spanish trade monopoly in the New World. Certainly Giraldi blamed Walsingham, excoriating him and demanding justice for his country's dead sailors. The fact was that Fernandes likely had more experience of navigating the Indies than almost any man in England, making him a unique asset to the early English voyages of discovery in the New World.

Navigator

In 1578, the year following his arrest and release, Fernandes was appointed

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

to Sir

, who was planning an expedition to colonise the Americas with the backing of Walsingham. Fernandes was of course well known to the Spanish authorities, who did not approve of his activities. In 1578 the Spanish Ambassasor wrote to King

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 ...

, referring to Gilbert's proposed voyage of discovery: : "They are taking with them one Simon Fernandes, a Portuguese, a thorough-paced scoundrel, who has given and is giving them much information about that coast, which he knows very well. As I am told, he has done no little damage to the King of Portugal..."Wallis, p. 195
Retrieved April 2011 In 1580 Gilbert sailed to America in the ''Squirrel'', piloted by Fernandes, apparently making the Atlantic crossing in record time.Miller, p. 71
Retrieved April 2011 Undoubtedly he was a skilled navigator, trained by the inestimable

Thomas Harriot Thomas Harriot (; – 2 July 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his cont ...

in the latest navigational tools, and "not without almost incredible results". During the voyage he shocked the ship's chaplain,

Richard Madox Richard Madox (11 November 1546 – 27 February 1583)Oxford DNB was an English explorer, who served as a chaplain aboard Edward Fenton's voyage headed for the Moluccas and China in 1582. He died during the voyage, but left a diary which has been ...

of Oxford, by announcing that he was "at war with the King of Spain". Asked how this could be, since Fernandez was by now a subject of the Queen, and therefore officially at peace with the Spanish empire, Fernandes replied that he had a "free pardon from five Privy Councillors for carrying on the war with Spain".Miller, p. 174
Retrieved April 2011 In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert was drowned returning from a journey to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. Fernandes was now without a patron, and he soon entered the service of

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

, who had inherited his half-brother's Patent of Discovery in

. Fernandes was undoubtedly a skilled sailor but he appears to have been unpopular among his fellow explorers. He served as master and chief pilot to Raleigh's 1585 expedition to Roanoke, which was led by Sir

Richard Grenville Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591), also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently ...

, returning to England later that year. During the course of the voyage, his shipmates dubbed him "the swine",Milton, p.201 though it is possible that his fellow sailors simply objected to a foreigner (and a former subject of Spain at that) being elevated to such a senior position in the voyage.

The Lost Colony

In May 1587 Fernandes piloted a new expedition, a group of colonists led by governor John White which sailed for Virginia in ''The Lion''. This time White and his fellow settlers included women and children, with a view to establishing a permanent colony in

. White and Fernandes evidently disliked one another, and White's journal reveals his arguments with his pilot, accusing the Portuguese of many outrages against the interests of the settlers, including "lewdly" abandoning the expedition's

flyboat The flyboat (also spelled fly-boat or fly boat) was a European light vessel of Dutch origin developed primarily as a mercantile cargo carrier, although many served as warships in an auxiliary role because of their agility. These vessels could displa ...

in the course of the voyage. In 1587 the settlers' chosen destination was not Roanoke but the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

but, on reaching Roanoake in late July, and allowing the colonists to disembark, Fernandes refused to let White's men re-board ship. According to White's journal, Fernandes' deputy "called to the sailors in the pinesse, charging them not to bring any of the planters back againe, but leave them on the island".Milton, p. 215 Faced with what amounted to a mutiny by his navigator, White appears to have backed down and acquiesced in this sudden change of plan. Despite the governor's protests, Fernandes held that "summer was farre spent, wherefore hee would land all the planters in no other place.". Fernandes's motive for landing the colonists in the wrong spot is not clear, but it may be that he was prompted by his desire (and that of his crew) to return to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

to pursue opportunities for

privateering 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 ...

against Spanish shipping. If Governor White's journal is to be believed, Fernandes' actions appear to have contributed to the poor outcome of the settlement, known to history as the "

". Indeed, some modern historians (notably Lee Miller) have suggested that he may have deliberately intended to sabotage the entire enterprise. However, if this was the case then (as Miller herself concedes) his motives for doing so remain unclear. Miller does however suggest a motive, not for Fernandes himself, but for Walsingham. In somewhat oblique language Miller suggests that the colony may have become a victim of court politics; Walsingham's jealousy at Raleigh's spectacular rise led him to sabotage the colony. In this analysis, Fernandes appears as Walsingham's tool, willing and able to defeat the plans of his master's rival. Whatever the truth of this, the fiasco of 1587 appears to have ended Fernandes' relationship with Raleigh. He participated in no further ventures across the Atlantic, though he did take part in the battle against 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 ...

. He disappears from the records after 1590, when he sailed with an English fleet to the Azores, a journey which he most likely did not survive.Milton, p. 271

Legacy

A copy of one of Fernandes' charts of the East coast of North America still survives in the Cotton Collection, cotton roll XIII.48. This map appears to be one of the chief sources used by

for his 1580 map which he prepared for the Queen, justifying English claims to all of North America north of Florida.

Notes

References

Fuller, Mary C., ''Voyages in Print: English Travel to America, 1576–1624''
Retrieved April 2011
Kupperman, Karol, ''Roanoke: the Abandoned Colony''
Retrieved April 2011
Miller, Lee, ''Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony''
Retrieved April 2011
Milton, Giles, ''Big Chief Elizabeth – How England's Adventurers Gambled and Won the New World'', Hodder & Stoughton, London (2000)Stick, David, ''Roanoke Island, the Beginnings of English America''
Retrieved April 2011
Wallis, Helen, ''Material on Nautical Cartography in the British Library, 1550–1650''
Retrieved April 2011
Winkler, Wayne, ''Walking Toward The Sunset: The Melungeons Of Appalachia''
Retrieved April 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Simon 1538 births 1590 deaths Portuguese explorers Portuguese navigators Maritime history of Portugal Portuguese pirates People from Terceira Island People of the Tudor period 16th-century explorers 16th-century Portuguese people Portuguese Protestants Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown