Portal:University of Oxford/Selected biography/21

Robert Hues (1553–1632) was an English mathematician and geographer. He graduated from St Mary Hall, Oxford, in 1578 before making observations of the variations of the compass off the coast of Newfoundland. He later travelled with Thomas Cavendish on a circumnavigation of the globe, taking the opportunity to measure latitudes. In 1589, Hues went on the Earl of Cumberland's raiding expedition to the Azores to capture Spanish galleons. On a further circumnavigation, Hues made astronomical observations while in the South Atlantic, and also observed the variation of the compass there and at the Equator. In 1594, Hues published his discoveries in Tractatus de globis et eorum usu (Treatise on Globes and their Use) which was written to encourage English sailors to use practical astronomical navigation. He became a servant of Thomas Grey, 15th Baron Grey de Wilton, staying with him when Grey was imprisoned in the Tower of London for participating in the Bye Plot. Following Grey's death in 1614, Hues attended upon Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, when he was confined in the Tower. He died in Oxford in 1632 and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral. (more...)