Sir Thomas Cavendish (September 19, 1560 – May 1592) is an explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he is the first who deliberately set out to circumnavigate the globe.

While members of Magellan's, Loaisa's, Drake's, and Loyola's expeditions had preceded Cavendish in circumnavigating the globe, it had not been their intent at the outset.

After his first circumnavigation, which makes him rich from Spanish gold, he sets out for a second, but is not as fortunate and died at sea at the age of 32.