Thomas, of Suffolk, the second Englishman who sailed round the globe, was descended from a noble family in Devonshire. Having dissipated his fortune, he resolved to repair it at the expense of the Spaniards. He sailed from Plymouth with two small ships in 1586, passed through the Straits of Magellan, took many rich prizes along the coasts of Chili and Peru, and near California possessed himself of the St Ann, an Acapulco ship, with a cargo of immense value. Having completed the circumnavigation of the globe, he returned home round the Cape of Good Hope, and reached Plymouth again in September 1588. On his arrival it is said that his soldiers and sailors were clothed in silk, his sails were damask, and his topmast was covered with cloth of gold. But his hastily acquired riches did not last long; for in 1591 he had reduced himself to the necessity of Cavendish, undertaking another voyage, which was far from being so successful as the former. He proceeded no farther than the Straits of Magellans, where the weather obliging him to return, he died of grief on the coast of Brazil.