Grenville, Sir Richard

▪ English naval commander

born June 15, 1542

died September 1591

      colourful and daring English naval commander who fought heroically, against overwhelming odds, in a celebrated encounter with a Spanish fleet off Flores Island in the Azores.

      He fought with the imperial army against the Turks in Hungary (1566–68). Next he helped to suppress an uprising in Munster, Ireland, in 1568–69, and between 1573 and 1575 he made preparations for a voyage of discovery to the South Pacific, hoping to locate a northwest passage from England to China. For political reasons the expedition was never made, but Sir Francis Drake (Drake, Sir Francis) adopted the plan for his circumnavigation voyage of 1577–80.

      In 1585 Grenville commanded the fleet that carried 100 English colonists to Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, and in 1589–91 he worked to establish a plantation in the Irish province of Munster (modern counties of Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford).

      Recalled to England in 1591, Grenville was made second in command (under Lord Thomas Howard) of a squadron of about 15 vessels sent to intercept a Spanish treasure fleet off the Azores. When 53 Spanish vessels approached to protect their treasure ships, the English retreated, but Grenville was delayed and cut off. Undaunted, he attempted to run his ship, the Revenge, through the Spanish line. After 15 hours of hand-to-hand combat against 15 Spanish galleons and a force of 5,000 men, the Revenge with her 190-man crew was captured (Sept. 9/10, 1591). A few days later the wounded Grenville died on board the Spanish flagship. His exploit is commemorated in Tennyson's poem “The Revenge.”

Additional Reading

A.L. Rowse, Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge (1937, reissued 1962), recounts his career.

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