Lancaster said: "Nay, we will yet abide God's leisure, to see what mercy He will show us." The sea became smooth, the rudder was temporarily fixed, and there was no small rejoicing when the Island of St. Helena hove in sight. Here the rudder was properly hung, and plentiful supplies were obtained.
On the 11th of September the sailors of the East India Company's first venture arrived at the Downs, and completed this memorable voyage. Great credit is due to the master, Sanderbole, of the Hector, for the way in which he stuck by his rudderless consort when she was drifting helplessly about in the stormy sea to the south of the Cape. Even when Captain Lancaster gave him written orders to make the best of his way home, he disobeyed, and continued to keep near the Dragon, ready with all the help he could give, until they both got safe to St. Helena: "for the master was an honest and a good man, and loved the general well, and was lothe to leave him in so great distress."
The gallant commander of the first voyage received the honour of knighthood and became Sir James Lancaster. He afterwards served as a director of the East India Company in London, where his great experience was invaluable in preparing subsequent ventures, and in the general conduct of the Company's affairs. He died in June, 1618, unmarried and childless, leaving large legacies to the grammar-school, and to the charities, of his native town of Basingstoke. Before the Company's second voyage commenced, the great queen had passed away, and the glorious roll of Elizabethan adventure and discovery was completed.
It is indeed a roll of surpassing splendour: — In the far north, the "Meta Incognita" and Davis Strait, as far as 72° 12′ N., discovered, and the intercourse with Russia, by the White Sea, strengthened and organised; the Caspian Sea navigated and Bokhara visited; a great fishing trade established on the Newfoundland banks, besides a considerable seal fishery; Virginia discovered, and a sure foundation laid for the future thirteen colonies which should form the United States; the charter granted to the Turkey Company, and British trade placed on a solid footing in the Levant; lucrative trade on the coast of Guinea and the West Indies and Spanish Main kept alive by English cruisers; the Orinoco explored as far as the mouth of the Karoni; the world twice circumnavigated; the Falkland Islands, Cape Horn, and 480 miles of the west coast of North America discovered; the Cape of Good Hope first rounded by an English
