Sir Francis Drake

Lore & Background

Francis Drake was a cousin of Sir John Hawkins and accompanied him on a slave trading voyage in 1567, transporting enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to sell in Spanish and Portuguese colonies. A number of ships were lost when they were attacked by a Spanish squadron at the Battle of San Juan de Ulua, making the Spanish a lifelong enemy for Drake. In 1572, Drake commanded two vessels in a marauding expedition against Spanish ports in the Caribbean, capturing the port of Nombre de Dios on the Isthmus of Panama and returning to England with a cargo of Spanish treasure. With nearly 100,000 pesos of stolen loot secretly hidden away, Drake had enough money to command and set up a new fleet. In 1577, Drake was secretly commissioned by Queen Elizabeth to set off on an expedition against the Spanish colonies on the American Pacific coast. The Queen invested 1,000 crowns in the venture and so Drake became a privateer. The expedition also intended to explore areas where there could be potential English settlement. Drake set up the fleet over the year – the command ship was the Pelican, 150 tons with eighteen guns. The fleet consisted of five ships: Pelican, Elizabeth (80 tons, 16 guns, captained by John Wynter), Marigold (30 tons, 10 guns, captained by John Thomas), and two supply ships Benedict and Swan. The complement consisted of roughly 164 men. One essential crew member was Diego, a formerly enslaved African who escaped from the Spanish and had joined Drake at Nombre De Dios in 1572. Diego was a free man, a capable ship builder, and fluent in Spanish and English, serving as Drake's interpreter and servant. There were also 'gentlemen' adventurers including Thomas Doughty, an attorney and personal secretary of Christopher Hatton. Drake also had his younger brother Thomas and his cousin John to accompany him. Drake used Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius's map Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Rather than reveal his true intentions, Drake told the crew they were embarking on a trading voyage to Levant. Drake and the fleet set out from Plymouth on 15 November 1577, but soon encountered a storm in the English Channel. Pelican and Marigold suffered serious damage to their masts and were forced to take refuge in Falmouth, returning to Plymouth for repairs lasting nearly a month.

Reader's Guide

Drake finally left Plymouth on 13 December 1577 heading South into the Atlantic. Two weeks later at Mogador off Morocco, while assembling a pinnace, Drake lost a man to Moorish raiders. Sailing past the Canary Islands, the fleet captured three Spanish fishing vessels and three Portuguese caravels. The Benedict was swapped for one of the bigger Spanish vessels, a fifty-ton ship renamed Christopher; the Benedict itself was released with the prisoners. In January 1578 Drake set off for the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands. Stopping at Santiago island he captured the Spanish merchant ship Santa Maria, loaded with wine and other stores, renamed Mary. Drake used the ship's haul of useful Spanish maps and added Portuguese navigator Nuno da Silva, a man with considerable experience navigating in South American waters. Drake assumed command of the Mary and reassigned Doughty to command the Pelican. Tension between Drake and Doughty turned sour when the latter accused Drake's brother Thomas of stealing from the captured cargo of wine. Drake eventually demoted Doughty to command of the Swan. After passing the coast of Portuguese Brazil, Drake's fleet suffered great attrition after storms twice scattered the fleet; on 13 May Drake put in to a bay and anchored off Cape Tres Puntas in the San Jorge Gulf. Another storm blew up and the fleet once more scattered. After capturing Spanish vessels and Portuguese caravels while crossing the Atlantic, Drake became the first Englishman to navigate the Straits of Magellan. After reaching the Pacific Ocean in October 1578, he sailed up the west coast of South America. Due to losses by storms and disease, only two ships remained, one of which was the Golden Hind. Drake plundered Spanish ports and took a number of Spanish treasure ships including the rich galleon Nuestra Señora de la Concepción. After continuing north, hoping to find a route back across to the Atlantic, Drake sailed farther up the west coast of America than any European ever had done, and landed in present-day California, claiming the land for England and naming it New Albion. Unable to find a passage, Drake turned south in the lone Golden Hind and in July 1579 sailed west across the Pacific. His travels took him to the Moluccas, Celebes, Java, and then round the Cape of Good Hope and finally the western side of Africa. Drake arrived back in England in September 1580 with a rich cargo of spices and treasure and the distinction of being the second man to lead a circumnavigation of the globe with a ship intact, and the first Englishman to complete a circumnavigation. Seven months later, Queen Elizabeth had him knighted aboard the Golden Hind, much to the annoyance of King Philip II of Spain because of his piratical actions. As a result, the voyage was one of the precursors to the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). Drake's intrusion into the Pacific, which Spain considered Mare clausum, triggered an immediate Spanish colonization attempt of the Strait of Magellan aimed to block access to the Pacific.

Did You Know?

• Drake set off on 15 December 1577 after a delay of nearly six months.
• Drake became the first Englishman to navigate the Straits of Magellan.
• Drake sailed farther up the west coast of America than any European ever had done, landing in present-day California and naming it New Albion.
• Drake was the second man to lead a circumnavigation of the globe with a ship intact.
• Queen Elizabeth invested 1,000 crowns in Drake's 1577 expedition.

Common Misconceptions (Editorial)

1. Some believe Drake's 1577 expedition was purely a voyage of discovery, but it was in fact an ambitious covert raiding voyage authorized by Queen Elizabeth I, who invested 1,000 crowns, making it a privateering venture against Spanish colonies. 2. Though often assumed to have set out directly on his circumnavigation, Drake's fleet first sailed from Plymouth on 15 November 1577, was forced back by a storm, and only finally departed on 15 December after repairs.

Why It Matters (Editorial)

Drake’s circumnavigation endures because it marked England’s bold entry onto the global stage, directly challenging the dominance of Spain and Portugal. His voyage combined exploration, piracy, and ambition in a way that reshaped colonial power dynamics, and his legacy remains a symbol of both daring adventure and the brutal realities of imperial expansion.