when did francis drake was born?
Sir Francis Drake Â© Drake was an Elizabethan sailor and navigator, and the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon in around 1540 and went to sea at an early age. In 1567, Drake made one of the first English slaving voyages as part of a fleet led by his cousin John Hawkins, bringing African slaves to work in the 'New World'.