Ferdinando
His
personality
was bad
but his
know-how
was good
«»
TOM
GLASGOW
THE STATE. DECEMBER 22. 1962
"His speeches . . . were offensive to
God and nothing Christian-like, for
yet he rejoiced in things stark naughty,
bragging in his sundry piracies."
Such was Simon Ferdinando, per¬
haps the only indispensable person
engaged in the Elizabethan efforts to
colonize the shores of North Carolina.
At heart he was a buccaneer, not a
pioneer, whose insatiable lust for booty
often galled the more noble-minded
among his fellow adventures. But
with all his faults, lie possessed rare
nautical talents — an able seaman
who was, as Spanish Ambassador
Mendoza reported in 1582, "con¬
sidered one of the best pilots in the
country" and perhaps the only pilot
in the world of that time familiar with
the Carolina coast.
The English called him "Ferdinando"
or "Fernando"; but sometimes he
called himself "Fernandez" which likely
was his original name. For he was
Portuguese by birth, reared in Tcrccifa,
Azores, the crossroads of the Atlantic.
As a young man. he came to England,
married an English girl and became a
naturalized citizen.
His roguish inclination almost ended
his career before it started. In 1578.
he was arrested and tried for piracy,
a capital crime. But later that year,
instead of swinging from a gallows or
languishing in prison, he was em¬
ployed to accompany Sir Humphrey
Gilbert on the first voyage under his
Royal patent to exploit America for
England. In the eight years that fol¬
lowed, Ferdinando proved the wisdom
of whomever it was that saved him
from the rigors of Her Majesty’s jus¬
tice.
Soon after returning from the Gil¬
bert voyage, Ferdinando became "Mr.
Secretary Walsingham’s man," a serv¬
ant of the great royal minister Sir
Francis Walsingham, an ardent advo¬
cate of English expansion to the New
World. The next year (1580). the
“naughty" mariner was entrusted with
a small bark and sent to rcconnoitcr
the coastline of North America, On
this voyage, he qualified himself to
guide the future colonial expeditions.
Very likely he also discovered Pamlico
Sound and noted Roanoke Island as
a potential colony site; for thereafter
the entrance of Oregon Inlet was called
"Port Ferdinando."
After sailing south in 1582-83 as
pilot for the "troublesome voyage of
Edward Fenton." Ferdinando returned
to the colonial enterprise. In 1584, he
was master and pilot of the ship which
carried Sir Walter Raleigh’s agents,
John Amadas and Henry Barlow, to
"Wingandacoia" (Carolina) and back.
The next year, when Sir Richard
Grenville sailed with the first colony,
he was chief pilot and master of Gren¬
ville’s flagship. "Tiger." His impor¬
tance to this expedition can be better
understood when one realizes that —
so far as is known — all of the other
principals were novices — neither
Grenville. Cavandish, Lane nor the
other leading gentlemen aboard had
ever commanded a sea-going vessel or
made a prolonged ocean voyage.
When the second colony (the Lost
Colony) sailed in 1587. Ferdinando
took over Grenville’s position as com¬
mander of the fleet. After the colonial
effort was abandoned, he, like John
Lane and John White, lapsed into his¬
torical obscurity. Yet obviously he
maintained his reputation among con¬
temporaries. For when he was too old
to go to sea, he was employed as an
advisor to the newly chartered East
Indian Company.
From what little we know, no one
was very fond of Captain Ferdinando;
Governor White certainly hated him:
but all respected him as a master of
his trade. Had he failed in his job, his
more famous shipmates may have died
at sea or ended up in Spanish dun¬
geons instead of on the shores of North
Carolina.
