Desire (ship) Desire (ship) The Desire was the 120 ton flagship Thomas Cavendish built for his highly successful 1586-1588 circumnavigation of the globe. The "Desire" was only the third ship to circumnavigate the globe after the "Victoria" of Ferdinand Magellan (journey completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano) and the "Golden Hind" of Francis Drake. After this expedition Cavendish was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England who was invited to a dinner aboard the "Desire". The ship was later captained by John Davis on the second, unsuccessful, Cavendish expedition. On that same expedition it was the ship he captained when he probably discovered
Francis Drake apprenticed him to his neighbour, the master of a barque used for coastal trade transporting merchandise to France. The ship's master was so satisfied with the young Drake's conduct that, being unmarried and childless at his death, he bequeathed the barque to Drake. Francis Drake married Mary Newman at St. Budeaux church, Plymouth, in July 1569. She died 12 years later, in 1581. In 1585, Drake married Elizabeth Sydenham—born circa 1562, the only child of Sir George Sydenham, of Combe Sydenham, who was the High Sheriff of Somerset. After Drake's death, the widow Elizabeth eventually married Sir William Courtenay of