Sir Michael Geare (b. 1565-?) was a 16th-century English sailor, privateer and merchant. One of the many Sea Dogs who plagued the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...
during the Elizabethan age, Geare was well known to the Spaniards of the
West Indies
The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
and the
Spanish Main
During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the Spanish Main was the collective term used by English speakers for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of ...
as commander of the ''Little John''. He remained one of the most active in the region throughout the 1590s and up until his retirement in 1603.
Biography
Michael Geare was born in
Limehouse
Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throu ...
around 1565, reportedly from a poor
cockney
Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...
background. An apprentice mariner in his youth, Geare embarked on his earliest voyages with Sir George Carew (also known as George Carey) and later Captain John Watts with whom he would first rise to prominence between 1588 and 1591. That same year he took part in the successful Blockade of Western Cuba expedition as captain of the ''Little John'', one of five-ship flotilla under William Lane and financed by
Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...
among others. Lane gave glowing accounts of Geare's bravery in battle and with whom he began to earn a small fortune from privateering and smuggling activities. Lane eventually began personally financing the ''Little John'' which was later renamed the ''Michael & John'' when he became a partner with Geare in 1592.
During the next three years, Geare would complete four successful voyages in the West Indies with the ''Michael & John''. In 1595, an encounter with a Spanish galleon near
Havana, Cuba
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.pinnace he had previously captured. After making his escape, Geare was able to recoup his losses by capturing another Spanish prize before returning to England.
Commanding the ''Neptune'' the following year, he was accompanied to the Caribbean by a pinnace sailed by John Rilesden and
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport ( – ) was an English seaman and privateer. During the war with Spain Newport was one of the most successful ' Elizabethan Sea Dogs' to venture to the Spanish Main, making large profits.
Newport is best known as the c ...
. He and fifteen men stole the pinnace later that year and captured several prizes before arriving in
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
to join a privateering expedition to
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
led by Sir
Anthony Shirley
Sir Anthony Shirley (1565 – 1633/1635/1638) also spelled ''Sherley'', was an English adventurer, soldier, diplomat, and political theorist who became a prominent figure in early modern European and Middle Eastern affairs.
Initially rising to p ...
Puerto Caballos
Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to:
Places
*El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain
*Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines
*Puerto Colombia, Colombia
*Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela
*Puerto Galera, Oriental Mi ...
and successfully captured the city. Finding little of value however, Geare decided to part company with Shirey and Parker who continued overland across the mountains of
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
and to the Pacific coast.
In May 1601, while in the West Indies with David Middleton with the pinnace ''James'', he captured three ships while in command of the ''Archangel''. Although he managed to bring back two of the captured ships, he lost contact with the third. Its crew eventually sailed to
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
where it was sold there instead. Participating in a three-ship consort with Captain
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport ( – ) was an English seaman and privateer. During the war with Spain Newport was one of the most successful ' Elizabethan Sea Dogs' to venture to the Spanish Main, making large profits.
Newport is best known as the c ...
the following year, he captured two Spanish warships among several others. On 24 January 1603 Geare and Christopher Newport participated in a joint Anglo-French operation when they directed eight ships during the landing of armed privateers near
Santiago, Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana.
The municipality extends over , and contains t ...
. Their advance was halted by the Spanish Governor Fernando Melgarejo de Cordoba, both by a single artillery piece and stampeding a herd of cattle towards the raiders, and they were eventually forced to flee. Soon after he and Christopher Newport then attacked Puerto Caballos again after they heard that two Spanish galleons were unloading their goods, in a bold move the English and French captured them after a hard fight burning one and taking the other as a prize. The booty from this was considerable and after this last adventure, he decided to retire to
Stepney
Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...
, a suburb of London. His home, having a small dagger hung outside, gained some notoriety during his later years. Shortly after his return to England, he was bestowed a
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
by Queen
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
. Upon his death, he left an annual allowance of five pounds to be shared among the families of those lost at sea and the indigent sailors of his native Limehouse.James, Lawrence. ''Warrior Race: A History of the British at War''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001. (pg. 165–166)
References
Further reading
*Andrews, Kenneth R. ''English Privateering Voyages to the West Indies, 1588–1595''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1959.
*Bevan, Bryan. ''The Great Seamen of Elizabeth I''. London: R. Hale, 1971.
*Davies, D.W. ''Elizabethans Errant: The Strange Fortunes of Sir Thomas Sherley and His Three Sons As Well As in the Dutch Wars As in Moscovy, Morocco, Spain, and the Indies''. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1967.
*Marley, David. ''Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 1998.
*Rogozinski, Jan. ''Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, fiction, and Legend''. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996.