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Walter Raleigh was born in Hayes Barton, Devon, was born in 1552. After studying at Oxford University, he volunteered to fight for the Protestants in France. In 1578 he joined his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in pirate attacks on Spanish treasure ships. Two years later he helped put down the Catholic rising in Ireland.

Raleigh's military achievements was recognized by Elizabeth who granted him estates and a licence to export woollen broadcloths. In 1585 he was elected to the House of Commons and appointed Vice-Admiral of Devon and Cornwall.

In 1584 Raleigh went on an expedition to America and created a settlement on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. On his return he introduced tobacco and potatoes to England. In 1587 Raleigh moved to Ireland where he had an estate in Munster.

Soon after his return to England in 1592 he was arrested and charged with having an affair with Bessy Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth's maids of honour. Raleigh was eventually released from the Tower of London and allowed to marry Bessy.

In 1595 he sailed to the West Indies and explored the coasts of Trinidad. In 1596 he landed in Cadiz and his men plundered the town. The following year he led a failed attempt to capture the Spanish treasure fleet in the Azores. During this campaign he quarrelled bitterly with fellow commander, Robert Devereux.

On 17th July, 1603, Raleigh was arrested and charged with treason. He was found guilty and condemned to death and it was only on the scaffold that his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. While in prison he studied, carried out scientific experiments and wrote The History of the World.

In 1616 he was released to lead an expedition to the Orinoco to find gold. During the mission he destroyed a Spanish town. After complaints from the Spanish, Raleigh was arrested and beheaded at Whitehall in 1618.

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(1) Walter Raleigh, The History of the World (c. 1610)

He that will happily perform a fight at sea must believe that there is more belonging to a good man of war upon the waters than great daring, and must know there is a great deal of difference between fighting loose and grappling. To clap ships together without consideration belongs rather to a madman than to a ship of war; for by such an ignorant bravery was Peter Strozzi lost at the Azores when he fought against the Marquis of Santa Cruz. In like sort had the Lord Charles Howard, Admiral of England, been lost in the year 1588 if he had not been better advised than a great many malignant fools were who found fault with his behaviour.