His mother died a few days after giving him birth; his father, Pynaston Hastings, drifted away to perish obscurely in the West Indies.
The voyages of Columbus (1492-1498) resulted in the discovery of the West Indies and North America which barred the way to the Far East.
The highlands of Central America and the West Indies have preserved a number of Chino-Japanese typesBocconia, Deutzia, A belie, &c.not met with elsewhere in the New Woild.
One important object of English maritime adventurers of those days was to discover a route to Cathay by the north-west, a second was to settle Virginia, and a third was to raid the Spanish settlements in the West Indies.
Howe next served in the West Indies in the "Burford," and was present in her when she was very severely damaged in the unsuccessful attack on La Guayra on the 18th of February 1742.
