Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 – January 28, 1596) was an English privateer, navigator, naval hero, politician, and civil engineer of the Elizabethan period. He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, from 1577 to 1580. In 1579, he landed in northern California, or possibly further north in Oregon or the Pacific Northwest (the exact location is still disputed by historians) and claimed the land as "Nova Albion" for the English Crown. Maps made soon after would have "Nova Albion" written above the entire northern frontier of New Spain.
Birth and early years
As with many of Drake's contemporaries, his exact date of birth is unknown and could be as early as 1535. The 1540 date is taken from a portrait painted quite late in his life.
In the wake of his attack on Cádiz and his exploits in the Spanish Main (Caribbean), Drake earned the nickname El Draque ("The Dragon"), which is a direct translation of his surname.
Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon, the son of Protestant farmers. During the Roman Catholic uprising of 1549, the family was forced to flee to Kent. At about the age of 13 Francis took to the sea on a cargo bark, becoming master of the ship at the age of twenty. He spent his early career honing his sailing skills on the difficult waters of the North Sea, and eventually, after the death of the captain for whom he was sailing, becoming the master of his own bark. At age 23 Drake took his first voyages to the New World under the sails of the Hawkins family of Plymouth.
First adventures
Around 1563 Drake first sailed west to the Spanish Main, drawn by the immense wealth accruing from Spain's monopoly on New World silver. Drake took an immediate dislike to the Spanish, at least in part due to their mistrust of non-Spaniards and their Catholicism. His hostility is said to have been increased by the incident at San Juan de Ulloa in 1568, when Spanish forces executed a surprise attack in violation of a truce agreed to a few days before, nearly costing Drake his life. From then on, he devoted the rest of his life to working against the Spanish Empire: the Spanish considered him an outlaw pirate, but to England he was simply a sailor and privateer. On his second such voyage he fought a costly battle against Spanish forces, which claimed many English lives but earned Drake the favour of Queen Elizabeth.
The most celebrated of Drake's Caribbean adventures was his capture of the Spanish Silver Train at Nombre de Dios in March of 1573. With a crew including many French privateers and Cimaroons (African slaves who had escaped the Spanish), Drake raided the waters around Darien (in modern Panama) and tracked the Silver Train to the nearby port of Nombre de Dios. He made off with a fortune in gold, but had to leave behind another fortune in silver because it was too heavy to carry back to England. When Drake returned to Plymouth on August 9, 1573, a mere thirty Englishmen returned with him, but each survivor was rich for life. However, Queen Elizabeth, who had up to this point sponsored and encouraged Drake's raids, signed a temporary truce with King Philip II of Spain, and so was unable to officially acknowledge Drake's accomplishment. Such intrigues were typical during Drake's era.
Circumnavigation of the globe
In 1577, Drake took his ship, the Pelican, and four others, to explore the Magellan Strait. The ship's name was changed to the better-known Golden Hind in mid-voyage. War with Spain was on again, and Drake raided Spanish ports on the Pacific as he went. Drake travelled north to seek the Northwest Passage, but failed to find it. His explorations took him north along the Pacific Coast to a point that he claimed for England and christened "New Albion", and has since been identified with a number of locations including Bodega Bay in California, and Coos Bay, Whale Cove and near Neahkahnie Mountain in Oregon. After claiming New Albion and leaving there a party of 25 men with a captured Spanish ship, he sailed west across the Pacific as far as Java, where he carried out repairs on his remaining vessels. He continued westwards to England and thus became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.
Upon his return to England on April 4, 1581 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. She also ordered all written accounts of Drake's voyage considered top secret, and its participants sworn to silence on pain of death; her aim her to keep Drake's activities away from the eyes of rival Spain.
The Spanish Armada
Drake was vice admiral in command of the English fleet (under Lord Howard of Effingham) when they overcame the Spanish Armada that was attempting to invade England in 1588. Garett Mattingly would later give a fascinating account of this battle in his book "The defeat of the Spanish Armada", first published in 1959, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1960.
The most famous (but possibly apocryphal) anecdote about Drake's life tells that, prior to the battle, he was playing a game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe. On being warned of the approach of the Spanish fleet, Drake is said to have remarked that there was plenty of time to finish the game and still beat the Spaniards.
Final years
Drake's seafaring career continued. In 1595 he unsuccessfully attacked San Juan, Puerto Rico. Gunners from El Morro Castle shot a cannonball through the cabin of Drake's flagship, but he survived. In 1596 he died of fever after again attacking San Juan, where some Spanish treasure ships had sought shelter. He was buried at sea in a lead coffin.
