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Edward Fenton

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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EDWARD FENTON (d. 1603), English navigator, son of Henry Fenton and brother of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, was a native of Nottinghamshire. In 1577 he sailed, in command of the "Gabriel," with Sir Martin Frobisher's second expedition for the discovery of the north-west passage, and in the following year he took part as second in command in Frobisher's third expedition, his ship being the "Judith." He was then employed in Ireland for a time, but in 1582 he was put in charge of an expedition which was to sail round the Cape of Good Hope to the Moluccas and China, his instructions being to obtain any knowledge of the north-west passage that was possible without hindrance to his trade. On this unsuccessful voyage he got no farther than Brazil, and throughout he was engaged in quarrelling with his officers, and especially with his lieutenant, William Hawkins, the nephew of Sir John Hawkins, whom he had in irons when he arrived back in the Thames. In 1588 he had command of the "Mary Rose," one of the ships of the fleet that was formed to oppose the Armada. He died fifteen years afterwards.