1585 Scene Four

Grenville’s reaction to the non-return of the stolen silver cup is predictably swift. The boot goes in. On 25 August he gives orders to his men to burn down the village as a reprisal and here is shown that command about to be carried out. Note the Indian running for his life.

The picture of the village is based on another of John White’s drawings.

Not surprisingly the Indians do not take too kindly to Grenville’s action but do not retaliate at once. Though incensed, and vowing vengeance on the white intruders they sensibly stay their hands for the time being for they cannot match the vastly superior weaponry that the settlers possess, especially the cannon in the fort.

Friends Thomas Cavendish and Robert Masters are both named in this scene and the shields at their coats-of-arms shown. Neither are in the expedition as colonists but involved as navigators in the ship Elizabeth. Cavendish comes from Frimley St Martin in Suffolk; Masters from Hereford.

In 1588 Cavendish will fit out an expedition on his own account to exploit the South Seas and circumnavigate the globe. Masters will go with him and they will follow the same course that Drake had used nine years before. However they will encounter many hazards and Cavendish with two of his ships will be lost. Fortunately Masters will survive aboard the third vessel and return a few months after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, heavily laden with treasure won from the Spanish.

Masters’ share of the booty will make him wealthy enough to settle down to live a life of ease as Lord of the Manor of Burghill, Hereford. Here, in Burghill Church, in later years, his voyages with Cavendish to Virginia and round the world will be recorded on a brass which can still be seen today. The Tapestry’s tribute to him is to show, on the right of this scene, the Market Cross at Hereford.