Born near Teignmouth, Devon, Sir RIchard Whitbourne was the eldest son of a yeoman fisherman-farmer. He traveled extensively while apprenticed to a Southampton merchant adventurer, and was in Newfoundland when Sir Humphrey Gilbert annexed the island in 1583. In a ship of his own he fought the Armada. He spent his working life fishing in Newfoundland where he conducted the first Court of Admiralty to be held in North America, and where for a short time he was governor of a Welsh colony. Believing that affairs in Newfoundland could be better managed for fisherman, colonist and the Crown, he wrote a book setting out his ideas. Presented in person to James 1 it was approved by King and Council for printing and distribution to every parish in the land. Richard felt that his bad luck and losses - mainly to pirates (crosses) - outweighed his good fortune and accomplishments (comforts). His death overseas at seventy-four remains a mystery.