Family:Whitney, Thomas (1594-1621)

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Captain Thomas Whitney (Eustace, Robert, Robert, James, Robert, Eustace, Robert, Robert, Robert, Eustace, Eustace, Robert, ...), son of Eustace and Margaret (Vaughan) Whitney,^[1] born 28 Jul 1594, Whitney, Herefordshire,^[2] buried 13 Jun 1621, St. Margaret's Westminster, Middlesex.^[3]

He married Frances -----, who was granted administration on his estate, as those of Thomas Whitney, of the city of Westminster, gentleman, granted 20 June 1621 to Frances, his widow.^[4]

He was admitted 22 Jun 1610 to St. John College, Oxford, aged 17 years.^[5]

Captain Thomas Whitney, the "pirate" . . . is not so well known.

He was the captain of the ship "Encounter," the largest of Sir Walter Raleigh's fleet, in his last disastrous voyage in search of "El Dorado," and was referred to, in a letter of his commander, as "Whitney, for whome I sold my plate at Plymouth, and to whome I gave more creditt and countenance than all the Captaines of my fleete." [Edward's "Life of Raleigh," vol. ii, p. 362]

Raleigh also, in his "Apologie" for his voyage to Guiana, in explaining the difficulties and delays in fitting out the expedition, alludes again to the plate incident, saying "Captaine Whitney, whome I also stayed for, had a third part of his victuals to provide; inasmuch as having no money to help him withall I sold my Plate in Plymouth to supply him."

The defeat of Raleigh's company in a collision with the Spaniards, and the failure of his search for gold, cost him his head. Whitney did all he could to persuade him not to return to England till he had something with which to satisfy the greedy king, and, when he could not influence him, stayed behind. As Stebbins puts it, ["Life of Sir W. Raleigh," p. 325] "The collapse at St. Thom [St. Thomas, on the Orinoco, in "Guiana" (Venezuela)] shook the faith of his (Raleigh's) Captains in him. Henceforth they expected him to prefer their wisdom to his own.

Whitney and Wollaston planned the plunder of homeward-bound Spanish ships. They would have liked him to abet them. They warned him that he was a lost man if he returned to England. When they could not persuade him, they resolved to go off by themselves. At Grenada they carried their intention into effect. Mr. Jones, the Chaplain of the Flying Chudlegh, says Raleigh authorized any captain to part if he pleased as the aim of the voyage could no longer be accomplished."

Edwards says that "the precise circumstances are obscure. But both men (Whitney and Wollaston) were bent alike on wreaking some vengeance upon the Spaniards for what they had suffered in the fruitless expedition, and on carrying home some booty to compensate their losses."

Just what became of Captain Whitney is uncertain, but while searching the mortuary registers of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster,--where Raleigh's headless body was buried in 1618,--for information, given in detail in the following chapter, there was found the following, which probably indicates that his final resting-place was beside his old friend and commander.

1621, June 13, Captaine THOMAS WHITNEY. [This may have been the Thomas, born in 1564, younger brother of the last Sir Robert Whitney, who entered Oxford in 1610. Administration on his estate was granted June 20, 1621, to Frances Whitney, his widow.]^[6]

Watkins said of him the following:

Thomas [Whitney], born 1595, graduated B.A. from Brasenose College, 1609, having matriculated "generosi fil," age 9 in 1605. He is considered to have been the Captain Thomas Whitney who sailed to the coast of Guinea in the expedition under Sir W. Ralegh and to have died, unmarried, after his return in 1621.^[7]

This is an error. The correct age was 19, not 9. Foster assigns the Brasenose College graduate to be the rector of Acton Burnell, Shropshire. Instead, the record of his attendance is this:

Whitney, Thomas of co Hereford, gent. St John’s Coll. Matric 27 June 1610 aged 17.^[8]

The biography of Sir Walter Raleigh mentions him as follows:

"The whole expense of Raleigh's expedition was defrayed by him and his friends. ... He prevailed likewise with his wife to sell her estate at Mitcham in Surrey... Third, the Encounter, one hundred and sixty tons, seventeen guns; Edward Hastings captain; succeeded, upon his death in the West Indies, by captain Whitney."^[9]

"Raleigh tarried also for captain Whitney, who had a third part of his victuals to provide; and to assist him, Raleigh generously sold his plate at Plymouth; notwithstanding which, and Raleigh's having given him more contenance than any other of his officers, Whitney ran away from him at the Granadoes, and drew captain Wollaston with his ship after him."^[10]

See also "Brief for special collection; Frances Whiteney, wife of Captain Thomas Whitney, prisoner of the Turks after voyage with Ralegh)", 1619, "Saint Saviour, Southwark: Borough High Street, Southwark" Collection, London Metropolitan Archives, reference P92/SAV/1911.

Capt. Thomas and Frances (-----) Whitney had no known children.