The narrative of this voyage is chiefly taken from that given by Harris, compared and corrected from that in the collection of Hakluyt, which is said to have been written by Mr. Francis Pretty of Eye, in Suffolk, a gentleman who sailed, in the expedition. In Hakluyt, this circumnavigation is thus styled:--"The admirable and prosperous voyage of the worshipful Mr. Thomas Candish of Trimley, in the county of Suffolk, Esquire, into the South Sea, and from thence round about the circumference of the whole earth, began in the year of our Lord 1586, and finished 1588." SECTION I. _Narrative of the Voyage from England to the Pacific_. The larger ship of this little squadron was named the Desire, of 140 tons burden, and the lesser the Content of 60 tons, to which was added a bark of 40 tons, called the Hugh Gallant, all supplied at his own expence with two years provisions, and manned with 123 officers and men, most of them men of experience, and some of whom had served under Sir Francis Drake. For their better encouragement, he entered into a fair agreement with them, with respect to the proportions in which all prizes should be shared among them. He was likewise careful in providing maps, sea charts, and draughts, and all such accounts as could be procured of voyages already made into those parts which he intended to visit. Likewise, by means of his patron, Lord Hansdon, the lord-chamberlain, he procured a commission from Queen Elizabeth. Having thus completed his preparations, he set out from London on the 10th July, 1586, for Harwich, where he embarked in the Desire, and sailed thence for Plymouth, where he arrived on the 18th, and waited there for some of his company till the 21st of that month, when he hoisted sail on his intended voyage. On the 25th of that month, one Mr. Hope died, of a wound received in a duel, during their stay at Plymouth. Next day, they fell in with five ships of Biscay, well manned, coming, as they supposed, from the great bank of Newfoundland, which attacked the Desire; but Mr. Candish gave them so warm a reception, that they were glad to sheer off, and continued their course without giving him any farther disturbance. As it grew dark, and he feared losing sight of his consorts, Mr. Candish did not continue the chase.