In 1580 Raleigh went to fight in Ireland against the 2nd Desmond Rebellion.[11] In December 1581, he returned to England.[11] He took part in court life and became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I because of his efforts at increasing the Protestant Church in Ireland.[32] In 1585, Raleigh was knighted and was appointed warden of the stannaries, that is of the tin mines of Cornwall and Devon, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall and vice-admiral of the two counties. He was a member of parliament for Devonshire in 1585 and 1586.[19] He was also granted the right to colonise America.[32]
Raleigh commissioned shipbuilder R. Chapman of Deptford to build a ship for him. She was originally called Ark but became Ark Raleigh, following the convention at the time by which the ship bore the name of her owner. The Crown (in the person of Queen Elizabeth I) purchased the ship from Raleigh in January 1587 for £5,000 (£1.1 million in 2015).[33] This took the form of a reduction in the sum that Sir Walter owed the queen; he received Exchequer tallies but no money. As a result, the ship was renamed Ark Royal.[34]
In 1586 one of Raleigh's expeditions caught Spanish explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. Raleigh held Gamboa prisoner in his house and had long conversations with him. Gamboa passed messages to the Spanish ambassador who forwarded them to King Philip II. Raleigh wanted to defect to Spain and sell his ship the Ark. Philip refused to buy the ship, but encouraged the passing of information from Raleigh.
In 1588, Raleigh had some involvement with defence against the Spanish Armada at Devon. The ship that he had built, offered to sell to Spain, and later sold to the crown, the Ark Royal, was Lord High Admiral Howard's flagship.[35]
