Sir Francis Drake

Born: Tavistock, Devon, England  sometime between 1541 and 1543.

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Francis Drake was an experienced and daring seafarer. Among many adventures, the 'famous voyage', his successful circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580 ensured that he would be one of the best remembered figures of Tudor England. In his own lifetime, he was thought of with mixed feelings, both at home and abroad. Some English people regarded him as a hero, but he was distrusted by others, who saw him as having risen 'above his station'. Although he was feared and hated by the Spanish, he was also regarded by some with secret admiration.

For most of Drake's life, Queen Elizabeth I ruled the country. It was a time when England was growing in population, power and wealth, and was also becoming more outward looking. New markets and colonies were needed, so that English produce, especially wool, could be traded. England was also keen to gain from the huge profits to be made from the 'New World' of the Americas and from the Eastern spice trade, as Spain and Portugal were already doing. It was a time when religion was extremely important to people, especially the question of whether England was to be a Protestant or a Catholic country. Arguments about religion and trade meant that England was at war with Spain for much of Drake's life.

The circumnavigation took three years, from 1577 to 1580. Originally, the voyage was probably planned as a raid on Spanish ships and ports. Five ships, manned by 164 seamen, left Plymouth, with Drake himself sailing in the Pelican. Nearly all the crew thought they were heading for the Mediterranean. After reaching America, Drake was worried that his ships might get separated from each other, so he gave orders for two of them to be destroyed. Then the Marigold was lost, with all her crew, and the Elizabeth turned back and sailed home. By October 1578, as the company started up the western coast of South America, there were just 58 left, all on the Pelican. Drake renamed his ship the Golden Hinde.

Drake's voyage helped to give a more accurate picture of the true geography of the world. During the course of the voyage, Drake discovered that Tierra del Fuego, the land seen to the south of the Magellan Strait, was not part of a southern continent as had been believed previously, but an archipelago, or group of islands. Francis Fletcher, the chaplain on Drake's ship described it like this :

In passing along we plainly discovered that same Terra Australis to be no continent, but broken islands and large passages amongst them....

As Drake sailed further up the coast, he plundered Spanish ports in Chile and Peru and captured treasure ships. His biggest prize was the Cacafuego. Drake sailed further north along the coast of the Americas than any other European until then. On the way he landed in what is now California, naming it Nova Albion (New England) and claiming it for his queen. He then continued across the Pacific to the East Indies, or Spice Islands. Six tons of cloves were loaded onto the ship. Later, half had to be tossed into the sea in order to free the ship from a reef. His route through the East Indies lay along the uncharted southern coast of Java. Here Drake discovered that Java was an island, not connected to a southern continent as the Dutch believed.

Drake returned from his voyage around the world with the little Golden Hinde packed full of spices from the Indies, and plundered Spanish silver and treasure. The good health of the surviving members of his crew was a remarkable achievement in itself. This was in marked contrast to the dreadful condition of those who had accompanied Magellan on the first circumnavigation of the world fifty years earlier.

  dined on board the Golden Hinde at Deptford, on the River Thames. Afterwards, she knighted him so that for the rest of his life he was known as Sir Francis Drake. The king of Spain was insulted by the Queen's reward to Drake. His voyage may have been triumphant to the English, but to the Spanish it was highly destructive.

Sir Francis Drake was very active in the Armada battles of 1588. One of the most famous incidents involving Drake was when the Spanish flagship, the Rosario, collided with another ship. It lost its mast and became separated from the rest of the Spanish fleet. Drake captured it, even though he had been given the job of tracking the Armada with his stern lantern alight to guide all the other English ships following him. The prize of the Rosario must have been too difficult to resist. The ship was taken without a single shot being fired, still with the royal money chest on board.

Links

• A replica of The Golden Hinde can be visited in Southwark, London today:
• Drake and Longitude:
• Travel in the footsteps of Drake: