Sir James Lancaster's voyage to the Indian Ocean in 1591 was the first attempt by the English to break into the spice trade, which was dominated by the Portuguese. Only one of his four ships made it back from the Indies on that voyage, and that one with a decimated crew of 5 men and a boy. Lancaster himself was marooned by a cyclone on the Comoros. Many of his crew were speared to death by angry islanders although Lancaster found his way home in 1594. (Dalrymple W. 2019; Bloomsbury Publishing ).