Thus equipped, on the 9th of September the _Desire_ entered the long-wished-for port of Plymouth, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants, who, as they gazed at her, fancied that all her sails were of silk, supposing naturally that this betokened the value of her cargo. In this they were not far wrong, for the wealth Cavendish brought home was enough to buy a fair earldom. He was received with great kindness by the Queen, who, considering that his exploit almost rivalled that of Drake, bestowed on him the honour of knighthood. He boasted to his patron, Lord Hunsdon, that he had burnt and sunk nineteen sail of ships, small and great; that all the villages and towns where he had landed he had burnt and spoiled, and had carried off a great quantity of treasure, his most profitable transaction being that of the capture of the _Santa Anna_, as her cargo was the richest that had ever floated on those seas, so that his ships could only contain a small portion. Happy would it have been for the gallant Cavendish had he remained contentedly on shore, but his eager soul burned for fresh enterprises. Having fitted out a squadron of three ships and two barks, in one of which, the _Roebuck_, John Davis went as captain, he sailed from Plymouth on the 26th of August, 1591, for the purpose of finding a North-West Passage by way of the Pacific into the Atlantic. Disaster, however, followed him from the first. He was deserted by one of his captains, and failing to get through the Straits of Magellan, was compelled to return home. He died of a broken heart, after a vain search for Saint Helena, where he hoped to refresh his crew, towards the end of the year 1592. CHAPTER TWENTY. CAPE HORN FIRST DOUBLED BY SCHOUTEN AND LE MAIRE--A.D. 1615-17.