It was from their sea palace, too, that the royal rulers watched the departure and return of two famous explorers. On a certain day in May, 1553, Sir Hugh Willoughby sailed from Deptford with his small expedition to search for a North-East passage to China. Young King Edward, already in the last stages of his wasting illness, was brought to the window to see the ships depart with their brave commander on board, who was destined never to return, being found frozen to death in his cabin in the Arctic ice. Crowds gathered along the shore, the nobles and courtiers thronged the palace windows as the ships sailed by, discharging their guns in a final salute, so that the surrounding hills echoed. Twenty-seven years later, a small weather-beaten vessel, _The Golden Hind_, came to anchor at Deptford after a momentous voyage round the world, in which battle and tempest had been braved, and little known lands visited. Its dauntless commander shortly after was honoured by a visit from his sovereign lady, Queen Elizabeth, who, forgiving his irregular deeds because of their success, knighted him upon his own deck, causing him to arise as Sir Francis Drake. Though pre-eminently associated with the Tudor monarchs who loved their healthy royal home, which felt the sea breezes coming up the river, Greenwich had been a royal possession for many years. Henry IV. dated his will from his manor of Greenwich, while his son, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was the real founder of the palace. Gaining permission from his nephew, Henry VI., for whom he had acted as regent during his minority, he erected a stone manor-house, calling it Placentia. Disasters fell thick upon "good Duke Humphrey," as he has been called. His wife Eleanor was accused of witchcraft, and after penance in the streets of London, was imprisoned for the remainder of her life, while he himself, falling under the displeasure of the haughty Margaret of Anjou, was arrested for high treason, dying suddenly a few days later under suspicion of poison. When it reverted to the crown, both Henry VI. and Edward IV. lived at Placentia, and Henry VII. wooed and won his Yorkist bride there, but it is to Henry VIII. that Greenwich owes its fame.