Greynvile
was born in Cornwall on June 15, 1542, the son of Sir Roger Grenville and the grandson and heir of Sir Richard Grenville, marshal of Calais, from whom he inherited considerable wealth. Grenville had connections at court through his grandfather and his stepfather, Sir Thomas Arundel.
Trained in law at the Inner Temple
After service in Hungary and in Ireland, he participated in 1574 in planning the project to discover a southern continent in the Pacific Ocean, which led to Sir Francis Drake's voyage around the world. A cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh, Grenville took charge of the first expedition to Virginia when Queen Elizabeth I forbade Raleigh to go. Grenville sailed in April 1585 with seven ships and 600 men. Based on Wokokon, the expedition explored the estuary of the Pamlico River, discovered Secoton, and left a small settlement on Roanoke Island. Returning in 1586, Grenville found that the colonists had disappeared from the settlement.
With the threat of Spanish invasion of England in 1587, Grenville was charged with the defense of Cornwall and with keeping watch for the Spanish fleet off the coast of Ireland, where he held extensive estates in Munster. Following the failure of Drake's attack on Lisbon--the British reply to the Armada--Grenville, as vice admiral, was sent to the Azores in 1591 to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet. The rest of the English ships escaped, but Grenville in the Revenge--one of the best fighting galleons of the English fleet--refused to turn in face of the enemy. He attempted to sail straight through the Spanish squadron, but, after inflicting heavy damage, the Revenge was surrounded and crippled. Grenville, mortally wounded, swore to blow up the ship. He was prevented by his crew, however, and was carried captive aboard a Spanish vessel, where he died on Sept. 12, 1591.
Grenville's final battle was described by Raleigh in A Report of the Truth of the Fight About the Isles of the Azores as "memorable even beyond credit and to the height of some heroical fable." Raleigh's account is corroborated by Spanish sources quoted by A. L. Rowse in his biography of Grenville (1937).
