Sir Henry Middleton

Sir Henry Middleton (died 1613) was a sea captain and adventurer. He negotiated with the sultan of Ternate and the sultan of Tidore, competed against Dutch and Portuguese interests in the East Indies but still managed to buy cloves.

He was taken on at the Woolwich ship yards working first on the East India Company's Red Dragon. The company was organising its first expedition to "East India". The prominent Elizabethan trader and privateer, James Lancaster was to command the four ships. Second in command was Middleton's brother John, a company captain who secured Henry as a mercantile agent with a berth on the voyage. They set off in April 1601 arriving in Aceh, Sumatra in June 1602.

Middleton was sent onwards to Priaman on the west coast where he procured substantial quantities of pepper and cloves before returning home safely in the summer of 1603.

In 1604 Middleton commanded a second voyage heading for the islands of Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda in the Moluccas with his brother David Middleton as second captain. They would encounter severe Dutch East India Company hostility, which saw the beginning of Anglo-Dutch competition for access to spices.

The Second Voyage used the same four ships. With the Red Dragon now under the command of Middleton, the fleet departed Gravesend on 25 March 1604 but were delayed at the Downs as they did not have the correct complement of men. Middleton had lost the beneficial wind conditions but ordered that they should sail on to Plymouth and discharge the extra men there. Despite these delays, on 7 April, the fleet passed Cabo da Roca, the westernmost extent of mainland Portugal. By 15 April had reached the Canary Islands and sailed on to the central Atlantic Ocean. On 24 April 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa, they anchored at Maio, Cape Verde and set ashore in search of fresh food and water. They were due to set sail early the next morning, but became aware that one of their merchants was missing. A search party numbering 150 men was sent out to search for him, but after a day's hunting failed to find the missing man, Middleton resolved to leave without him.

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