Captain James Lancaster
(1554 - 1618)
Portrayed by John Tripp

James Lancaster was born in Basingstoke, a small town in Lancashire, England in 1554 or 1555.  His parentage is uncertain, but it is known that Lancaster was ‘by birth of gentility’ and ‘the son of a husbandman,’ in this case probably a gentleman farmer.  Lancaster’s father apprenticed him to a member of the Skinners Company when he was 17.  Probably in that capacity, Lancaster traveled to Portugal while still a youth.  There he would remain and learn the language and business of trade.  During his time in Portugal, Lancaster was variously active as a gentleman, a soldier, and a merchant.  While there, he furthered his education and and probably spent a good deal of time as a merchant and trader.  When King Henry of Portugal died in 1580, King Philip II of Spain claimed the throne.  England and France supported the cause of Don Antonio, the Portuguese claimant to the throne, over Philip, and Lancaster probably fought against the Spanish.  By 1583, Philip’s claim to the Portuguese throne was unquestioned, and the Englishmen fighting for Don Antonio were left in a poor state.  Sometime during these years, Lancaster probably cut his losses and fled Portugal, leaving most of his money and property behind in the process.  What he did for the next several years is unknown, but he seems to have used what he learned in Portugal to great benefit.  By 1587, Lancaster was living in London and active as a trader.

During the Armada campaign in 1588, he captained a merchant vessel, the Edward Bonaventure, as part of the squadron serving under Sir Francis Drake.  Lancaster fought bravely against the Armada, an accomplishment that caused the merchants of London to choose him as the commander of the first English attempt to reach the East Indies on a voyage of trade.  In 1591, Lancaster departed Plymouth for the East Indies with the three ships.  Although the expedition reached the Indian Ocean, after losing 2 ships and much of the crew, the remaining crew rebelled against their sickened captain and decided to return to England.  Circumstances forced them to the West Indies to re-provision, and Lancaster and most of the surviving crew were abandoned on an island.  Marooned for a month, they were finally picked up by a French vessel, returning to England in 1594.

Later that year, Lancaster went on a raiding expedition to South America, taking a number of prizes and finally raiding the city of Pernambuco, Brazil, with the aid of French and Dutch ships as well as English.  He returned to England in 1595, laden with booty acquired during the expedition. Lancaster probably spent the next few years engaged in similar ‘honest trade’ in the Caribbean and elsewhere, raiding Spanish and Portuguese ships.

Our James Lancaster is, in truth, a gentleman adventurer, and a Ship's Captain has only recently returned from his time in Portugal.  While there, he served as a soldier espousing the cause of Don Antonio, and departed only when the cause seemed hopeless, sometime in 1582.  He has lost much of the wealth he acquired during his sojourn in Portugal, but has considerable contacts throughout the merchant community.  He is trying to find backers for a ‘merchant voyage’ either of trade or to raid Spanish and Portuguese ships en route to either the East or West Indies.  He holds considerable ill-will for King Philip of Spain, having been deprived of his hard-earned fortunes by Philip’s ambition.  He hopes to make himself another fortune so that he might establish himself as a merchant once again, this time in his home country.