ABSTRACT
The Rose Lion was one of the powerful London merchantmen employed in the Levant trade, and like many of these ships she made several privateering voyages. The four mentioned were leading London merchants, and the name of Cordell connects this venture with Lancaster's almost exactly contemporary expedition to Pernambuco, Lancaster's chief backers being Cordell, Paul Bayning and John Watts. Thomas Myddelton is one of the few Elizabethan merchants of whom people know a little more than the usual formal details, and as he was also an important and representative figure in the privateering world some sketch of him is not out of place. The documents relating to this voyage are chiefly concerned with the claim of certain Dutch merchants to the Fortune and a great part of her lading.
