John Marchant

Captain John Marchant ( – 2 January 1596) served under Sir Francis Drake from 1585 to 1596, thus participating in some of the most important seafaring expeditions and naval encounters of the day. He lost his life near Nombre de Dios, Panama, a few weeks before Drake's own death.

Early adventures with Drake (1585–1586) In 1585, Captain John Marchant, along with Anthony Platt, was listed as one of ten Captains of companies serving under Sir Francis Drake in the expedition of that year. "Platt and Marchant became staunch adherents of Drake, the latter [Marchant] being Sergeant-Major to the Cádiz expedition in 1587, and both perished in the expedition of 1595. "

Captain Marchant served aboard the Hopewell during the 1585–1586 expedition, in which Sir Drake captured from the Spanish A) Santiago, in the Cape Verde Islands west of Africa; B) Santo Domingo, in Hispaniola; and C) Cartagena, in Colombia. After this string of victories, Drake and Marchant sacked and burned St. Augustine, Florida. On the way back up the Atlantic Coast, Drake and Marchant stopped at Roanoke Island, where a colony begun by Sir Walter Raleigh the year before had fallen on hard times. The colonists (all of them lonely men) decided to return with Drake to England. and although the ship was on its way back to England and out of his reach, Drake called a court-martial and sentenced Borough to death. Borough was eventually tried and found not-guilty, blaming the whole affair on Capt. Marchant:

"Mr. Marchant used no resistance by force and violence to withstand their purpose (which he ought to have done)... the authority of government was wholly committed to the said Captain Marchant..."

Three weeks later, Sir Francis Drake himself succumbed to dysentery, and was buried at sea, in a lead coffin. Capt. Marchant was likely buried at the site of his death, in Panama.