Francis Drake was an experienced and daring seafarer. Among many adventures, the’famous voyage’, his successful circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and1580 ensured that he would be one of the best remembered figures of TudorEngland. In his own lifetime, he was thought of with mixed feelings, both athome and abroad. Some English people regarded him as a hero, but he wasdistrusted by others, who saw him as having risen ‘above his station’.
Althoughhe was feared and hated by the Spanish, he was also regarded by some with secretadmiration. What was England like at the time of Drake? For most of Drake’slife, Queen Elizabeth I ruled the country. It was a time when England wasgrowing in population, power and wealth, and was also becoming more outwardlooking. New markets and colonies were needed, so that English produce,especially wool, could be traded.
England was also keen to gain from the hugeprofits to be made from the ‘New World’ of the Americas and from the Easternspice trade, as Spain and Portugal were already doing. It was a time whenreligion was extremely important to people, especially the question of whetherEngland was to be a Protestant or a Catholic country. Arguments about religionand trade meant that England was at war with Spain for much of Drake’s life. Where was Francis Drake born? Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon,sometime between 1541 and 1543. What sort of family did he come from? A veryordinary family, certainly not rich or powerful.
His family was a devoutlyreligious one. When Francis was still a small boy, the Catholic Queen Mary cameto the throne, and there were religious disturbances in Devon. The family left,and moved to Chatham in Kent where for a time they lived on an old, laid-upship. Drake’s father became a Protestant preacher.
These early experiences had aprofound effect on the young Francis. The Protestant religion was to be one ofthe most important things to him throughout his life. On his voyage around theworld he led religious services on board ship twice a day. When did Drake firstgo to sea? He first started going to sea while living in Chatham, at the age oftwelve or thirteen. He was an apprentice on a small trading ship which was leftto him when the master died.
After selling this ship, he returned to Devon andsailed with his relative John Hawkins. Together, Hawkins and Drake made thefirst English slaving voyages, bringing African slaves to work in the ‘NewWorld’. Did Francis Drake marry? Yes. He married twice. When he was twenty-fivehe married Mary Newman, who died in 1583. He married again in 1585.
His secondwife, Elizabeth Sydenham, came from a much more influential family. He did nothave children with either of his wives. What was Drake looking for on hisvoyages’spanish ships, sailing back from their new conquests in South Americawere extremely attractive, as they were laden with silver. Drake attacked suchships, and if he was successful in capturing them, took their treasure forhimself and for his queen.
He also raided Spanish and Portuguese ports in the’New World’ and the Atlantic. On Drake’s voyage to Panama in 1572-3, he washelped by cimarrones. The cimarrones were former slaves, who had escaped to livein the forest and mountains as outlaws. Many were prepared to help the Englishas they blamed the Spanish for their position. One cimarrone in particular,named Diego, became especially close to Drake, accompanying him to England andlater around the world.
How long did it take Drake to sail around the world? Thecircumnavigation took three years, from 1577 to 1580. Originally, the voyage wasprobably planned as a raid on Spanish ships and ports. Five ships, manned by 164seamen, left Plymouth, with Drake himself sailing in the Pelican. Nearly all thecrew thought they were heading for the Mediterranean.
After reaching America,Drake was worried that his ships might get separated from each other, so he gaveorders for two of them to be destroyed. Then the Marigold was lost, with all hercrew, and the Elizabeth turned back and sailed home. By October 1578, as thecompany started up the western coast of South America, there were just 58 left,all on the Pelican. Drake renamed his ship the Golden Hinde. What did Drake findout on his voyage around the world? Drake’s voyage helped to give a moreaccurate picture of the true geography of the world.
During the course of thevoyage, Drake discovered that Tierra del Fuego, the land seen to the south ofthe Magellan Strait, was not part of a southern continent as had been believedpreviously, but an archipelago, or group of islands. Francis Fletcher, thechaplain on Drake’s ship described it like this: In passing along we plainlydiscovered that same Terra Australis to be no continent, but broken islands andlarge passages amongst them. . . . This meant that if the American continent wasnot connected to a southern continent, the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans metat Cape Horn.
It should be possible to sail ships around the bottom of SouthAmerica, south of Tierra. This was the Cape Horn route, eventually discovered in1616. As Drake sailed further up the coast, he plundered Spanish ports in Chileand Peru and captured treasure ships. His biggest prize was the Cacafuego. Drakesailed further north along the coast of the Americas than any other Europeanuntil then.
On the way he landed in what is now California, naming it NovaAlbion (New England) and claiming it for his queen. He then continued across thePacific to the East Indies, or Spice Islands. Six tons of cloves were loadedonto the ship. Later, half had to be tossed into the sea in order to free theship from a reef. His route through the East Indies lay along the unchartedsouthern coast of Java. Here Drake discovered that Java was an island, notconnected to a southern continent as the Dutch believed.
Drake returned from hisvoyage around the world with the little Golden Hinde packed full of spices fromthe Indies, and plundered Spanish silver and treasure. The good health of thesurviving members of his crew was a remarkable achievement in itself. This wasin marked contrast to the dreadful condition of those who had accompaniedMagellan on the first circumnavigation of the world fifty years earlier. How wasDrake helped by others? During the Tudor period, it was important that eachexplorer built on the experience of those who had gone before. Portugal andSpain had been involved in ocean exploration long before England. Francis Drakeobviously recognised this, as he made use of this previous knowledge andexpertise by seizing the Portuguese pilot Nuna da Silva to guide him on hispassage to Brazil and the east coast of America.
In the Pacific, he seized thecharts of two Spanish pilots bound for the Philippines. He already had a chartof the world made in Portugal, and three books on navigation. How did the Queentreat Drake when he returned after his three year voyage? Queen Elizabeth dinedon board the Golden Hinde at Deptford, on the River Thames. Afterwards, sheknighted 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 mayhave been triumphant to the English, but to the Spanish it was highlydestructive.
Was the circumnavigation the end of Sir Francis Drake’s career atsea? No. Drake was involved in several other battles with the Spanish. In 1585he and more than 1000 men attacked Santiago in the Cape Verde islands. As notreasure was found, he ordered the town to be burnt down.
In 1586 he capturedSan Domingo in Hispaniola (now named Haiti). One of his most famous attacks wason Cadiz and Coruna in 1587. This incident is sometimes known as the ‘singeingof the King of Spain’s beard. ‘ In a daring raid, between twenty and thirty shipswere sunk or captured.
Perhaps of even more importance though, was thedestruction of supplies intended for King Philip’s planned Spanish Armada. Because of the attack, the Armada was delayed and the Spanish were short of someimportant supplies for their fleet. They were also forced to use unseasoned woodfor barrels, as Drake had destroyed the seasoned wood. Later on this resulted inthe rotting of many of their precious stocks of food for the Armada crews. Whatwas Drake’s role in the battles against the Spanish Armada’sir Francis Drakewas very active in the Armada battles of 1588.
One of the most famous incidentsinvolving Drake was when the Spanish flagship, the Rosario, collided withanother ship. It lost its mast and became separated from the rest of the Spanishfleet. Drake captured it, even though he had been given the job of tracking theArmada with his stern lantern alight to guide all the other English shipsfollowing 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 moneychest on board. How did Sir Francis Drake die? He died at sea on his finalvoyage, off the coast of Panama, in Nombre de Dios Bay. He had been sufferingfrom dysentery for several days and in January 1596 he finally died. His bodywas placed inside a lead casket and he was then slipped overboard. Two otherships, his most recent prizes, were sunk near his body. He was about 54 yearsold.
Why is he still remembered today? His circumnavigation led to an increasedknowledge of the geography of the world, particularly to a more accurateunderstanding of the ‘southern continent’. As a navigator his skills put himin the same rank as Columbus. His claim of California, or Nova Albion, forEngland led directly to later plans to send people to live in colonies inAmerica.
