and much discretion." He and his fellows were the first of British birth whose bones were laid to rest in Malaya. The survivors in the Edward Bonaventure numbered thirty-three men and one boy, and of these "not past twenty-two were sound for labour and help and not past a third part sailors."
Serious, even desperate, as the condition of the expedition was Lancaster did not abandon hope. On the contrary he made his departure from Penang at the end of August, 1592, the starting-point of some rather audacious freebooting. Espying three ships in the Straits one morning he gave them chase and eventually overhauled them. Two, which were native craft laden with merchandise, belonging to Pegu traders, were allowed to continue their voyage; but the third ship, proving to be Portuguese owned, was confiscated. Afterwards a further small capture was made and a large vessel of 400 tons, the St. Thomé, only missed becoming a prize by reason of the fact that the Edward Bonaventure was too shorthanded to spare men to sail her. The same considerations did not prevent Lancaster from attacking a great galleon of 700 tons which a day or two later appeared on the scene, to his immense gratification. The Portuguese captain, after a show of resistance, hauled down his colours. When the ship was searched it was found to be laden with wine and a miscellaneous cargo of silks, velvets and haberdashery. It was a prize rich enough in the eyes of Lancaster to compensate for all the perils of the voyage. He now determined to retrace his course homewards. Early in December he arrived off Ceylon, and rounding the Cape in March, 1593, he dropped anchor at St. Helena in the first days of April. There he found a poor wretch named
