Francis Drake - Exploration - HISTORY.com Francis Drake A+E Networks Introduction Francis Drake participated in some of the earliest English slaving voyages to Africa and earned a reputation for his privateering, or piracy, against Spanish ships and possessions. Sent by Queen Elizabeth II to South America in 1577, he returned home via the Pacific and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe; the queen rewarded him with a knighthood. In 1588, Drake served as second-in-command during the English victory over the Spanish Armada. The most famous mariner of the Elizabethan Age, he died off the coast of Panama in 1596 and was buried at sea. Google Francis Drake’s Early Life and Hatred for Spain Born between 1540 and 1544 in Devonshire, England, Francis Drake was the son of a tenant farmer on the estate of Lord Francis Russell, earl of Bedford. He was brought up in Plymouth by the Hawkins family, relatives who worked as merchants and privateers (often referred to as pirates).

Drake went to sea for the first time around the age of 18 with the Hawkins family fleet, and by the 1560s had earned command of his own ship. Did You Know? When he died off the coast of Panama in 1596, Sir Francis Drake was buried at sea, wearing full armor and encased in a lead-lined coffin. Divers, treasure hunters and Drake enthusiasts continue to search for his final resting place. In 1567, Drake and his cousin John Hawkins sailed to Africa in order to join the fledgling slave trade. When they sailed to New Spain to sell their captives to settlers there (which was against Spanish law) they were trapped by a Spanish attack in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua. Many of their crewmates were killed in the incident, though Drake and Hawkins escaped, and Drake returned to England with what would be a lifelong hatred for Spain and its ruler, King Philip II. Francis Drake: Privateer for the British Crown After leading two successful expeditions to the West Indies, Drake came to the attention of Queen Elizabeth I , who granted him a privateer’s commission, effectively giving him the right to plunder Spanish ports in the Caribbean.

Drake did just that in 1592, capturing the port of Nombre de Dios (a drop-off point for silver and gold brought from Peru) and crossing the Isthmus of Panama, where he caught sight of the great Pacific Ocean. He returned to England with a large amount of Spanish treasure, an accomplishment that earned him a reputation as a leading privateer. In 1577, Queen Elizabeth commissioned Drake to lead an expedition around South America through the Straits of Magellan. The voyage was plagued by conflict between Drake and the two other men tasked with sharing command. When they arrived off the coast of Argentina, Drake had one of the men–Thomas Doughty–arrested, tried and beheaded for allegedly plotting a mutiny. Of the five-ship fleet, two ships were lost in a storm; the other commander, John Wynter, turned one back to England; and another disappeared. Drake’s 100-ton flagship, the Pelican (which he later renamed the Golden Hind), was the only vessel to reach the Pacific, in October 1578.

Francis Drake Circumnavigates the Globe After plundering Spanish ports along the west coast of South America, Drake headed north in search of a passage back to the Atlantic. He claimed to have traveled as far north as 48° N (on parallel with Vancouver, Canada) before extreme cold conditions turned him back. Drake anchored near today’s San Francisco and claimed the surrounding land, which he called New Albion, for Queen Elizabeth. Heading back west across the Pacific in July 1579, he stopped in the Philippines and bought spices in the Molucca Islands. He then sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and arrived back in England’s Plymouth Harbor in September 1580. Despite complaints from the Spanish government about his piracy, Drake was honored as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and became a popular hero. Several months after his return, Queen Elizabeth personally knighted him aboard the Golden Hind. Francis Drake: Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Later Years and Death In 1585, with hostilities heating up again between England and Spain, the queen gave Drake command of a fleet of 25 ships.

He sailed to the West Indies and the coast of Florida and mercilessly plundered Spanish ports there, taking Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands, Cartagena in Colombia, St. Augustine in Florida and San Domingo (now Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic). On the return voyage, he picked up the failed colonists from Roanoke Island off the Carolinas, the first English colony in North America. Drake then led an even bigger fleet (30 ships) into the Spanish port of Cádiz and destroyed a large number of vessels being readied for the Spanish Armada. In 1588, Drake served as second-in-command to Admiral Charles Howard in the English victory over the supposedly invincible Spanish fleet. After a failed 1589 expedition to Portugal, Drake returned home to England for several years, until Queen Elizabeth enlisted him for one more voyage, against Spanish possessions in the West Indies in early 1596. The expedition proved to be a dismal failure: Spain fended off the English attacks, and Drake came down with fever and dysentery. He died in late January 1596 off the coast of Puerto Bello (now Portobelo, Panama).

Tags BBC - History - Sir Francis Drake z Sir Francis Drake © 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'. All but two ships of the expedition were lost when attacked by a Spanish squadron. The Spanish became a lifelong enemy for Drake and they in turn considered him a pirate. In 1570 and 1571, Drake made two profitable trading voyages to the West Indies. In 1572, he commanded two vessels in a marauding expedition against Spanish ports in the Caribbean. He saw the Pacific Ocean and captured the port of Nombre de Dios on the Isthmus of Panama. He returned to England with a cargo of Spanish treasure and a reputation as a brilliant privateer. In 1577, Drake was secretly commissioned by Elizabeth I to set off on an expedition against the Spanish colonies on the American Pacific coast.

He sailed with five ships, but by the time he reached the Pacific Ocean in October 1578 only one was left, Drake's flagship the Pelican, renamed the Golden Hind. To reach the Pacific, Drake became the first Englishman to navigate the Straits of Magellan. He travelled up the west coast of South America, plundering Spanish ports. He continued north, hoping to find a route across to the Atlantic, and sailed further up the west coast of America than any European. Unable to find a passage, he turned south and then in July 1579, west across the Pacific. His travels took him to the Moluccas, Celebes, Java and then round the Cape of Good Hope. He arrived back in England in September 1580 with a rich cargo of spices and Spanish treasure and the distinction of being the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Seven months later, Elizabeth knighted him aboard the Golden Hind, to the annoyance of the king of Spain. In 1585, Drake sailed to the West Indies and the coast of Florida where he sacked and plundered Spanish cities.

On his return voyage, he picked up the unsuccessful colonists of Roanoke Island off the coast of the Carolinas, which was the first English colony in the New World. In 1587, war with Spain was imminent and Drake entered the port of Cadiz and destroyed 30 of the ships the Spanish were assembling against the British. In 1588, he was a vice admiral in the fleet that defeated the Armada. Drake's last expedition, with John Hawkins, was to the West Indies. The Spanish were prepared for him this time, and the venture was a disaster. Drake died on 28 January 1596 of dysentery off the coast of Portobelo, Panama. Hawkins died at the same time, and their bodies were buried at sea. Sir Francis Drake - History Learning Site Home » Tudor England » Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake Citation: C N Trueman "Sir Francis Drake" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 17 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016. Sir Francis Drake achieved lasting fame as a result of his association with the victory against the Spanish Armada.

He was a loyal subject of Elizabeth I and his place in British History is due to more than just his involvement in the Spanish Armada. Drake seemed to epitomise the glories of Tudor England. For all his fame, little is known about Drake’s background. We do not know for sure the year of his birth. The accepted year is 1540, though it could have been 1538 or 1542. Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon, on the outskirts of Dartmoor. His grandparents farmed nearly 180 acres of land here and it is believed that they had a reasonably comfortable lifestyle when there was a good farming year. Drake’s father, Edmund, may have been a sailor as some historians believe but is is possible that he helped out on the family’s farm. Edmund Drake was a Protestant and he may have been the victim of religious persecution. For whatever reason (and some believe it was because he was involved in petty crime), the Drake family moved to Kent. Here the family lived in the hulk of an old ship. Edmund Drake worked as a preacher to naval sailors.

As a result of the move, Francis now lived by the sea and had frequent with those who went to sea. Their tales and stories may well have fascinated him. Drake’s first job was when he was apprenticed to a man who owned a small coastal freighter. Drake did well and when the man died, he willed Drake the small boat as he had no family of his own. In 1569, Drake married Mary Newman. They had no children and she died in 1581. By then, Drake had been knighted and was becoming very wealthy. He married again in 1585 to Elizabeth Sydenham who came from a wealthy family. They lived in Buckland Abbey in Devon. It is in this building where “Drake’s Drum” is kept. The legend has it, that when the drum is heard to make a drumming noise, the nation is in danger. Form 1577 to 1580, Drake circumnavigated (sailed around) the world. This was a huge achievement and by doing only this, Drake would have won his place in English history. To the Spanish, Drake was nothing more than a pirate – a feared one at that.

They called him “El Draque” (the Dragon). He and his naval fleet was a constant source of trouble for the Spanish bullion ships that left what is now Mexico ad South America. many were sunk of were boarded and had their valuable cargo taken. Queen Elizabeth I, to stay on good terms with Spain, publicly rebuked Drake but did no more than that. In fact, Elizabeth loved jewels and the treasures brought back by Drake satisfied her love for these precious objects. Few historians doubt that she was against what Drake did to the ships of Spain. Drake further built up his reputation in Spain when he “singed the king’s beard”. This is when he sailed his fleet into Cadiz in 1587, and attacked the Spanish fleet there. It was this fleet that was to have been pat of the Armada of 1587. The damage done by Drake and his men delayed the Armada for one year. Drake is most associated with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Drake was a gifted sailor and leader of men but he was also a flamboyant showman.

His part in the defeat of the Armada has overshadowed the part played by the man who actually lead the English Navy – Lord Howard of Effingham. Drake had to follow orders, and while he should get some of the credit for the fire ships that broke up the Armada at Gravelines, this ploy had to receive Effingham’s support first. However, Drake is credited with training his men in the art of broadside. Traditionally, naval ships fought close to one another to allow boarding parties to gain control of the enemy’s ships so that they themselves could use them. Drake got his ships to sail in line and sail alongside his enemy but at a distance. He then got his gunners to fire a murderous volley at the enemy with the sole purpose of sinking them. it was a highly effective strategy. Drake died in 1596 in the West Indies. He was doing what he did well – attacking the Spanish. However, on this adventure in 1596, his expedition against the Spanish was not going well. He got the “bloody flux” and died on January 28th. Drake was buried at sea in a lead coffin off of the coast of Puerto Bello, Panama.

THE LAST VOYAGE 1595-1596: Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography by Hans P. Kraus (Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room, Library of Congress) Bibliography The Last Voyage, 1595-1596 Drake's last campaign was an expedition commanded jointly by him and his old associate Sir John Hawkins, under whom his career had had such a spectacular beginning at San Juan de Ulúa, in 1567. Nearly thirty years later, they sailed from Plymouth on August 28, 1595. Their primary objective was a treasure ship which had suffered damage at sea, and which was in the harbor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with 2,000,000 ducats aboard. The attempt to surprise this ship failed, as San Juan was well fortified and well defended. Drake then went to Nombre de Dios, on the Panama isthmus, which he used as a base for an attack on Porto Bello and Panama, where the treasure from Peru was carried across the isthmus for shipment to Spain. This attack (Dec.

27-30, 1595) was also a failure. They returned to Nombre de Dios, then sailed again; but on January 28th, 1596, Drake died at sea off Porto Bello. He was buried in the waters of the Caribbean, the scene of many of his most daring exploits, the next day, in a lead coffin. The document to the left displays one aspect of this last voyage. It again was a joint venture, and to raise money for his investment, Drake sold his 71-year lease of a house called "The Herbar" in the Dowgate ward of London. The document is the one which Drake received as his record of the transaction; it is signed by the purchaser, Alderman Paul Banninge. The Herbar was a most interesting building. It had been a royal residence, under King Richard III (1483-1485), and for a time it had been occupied by King Philip II of Spain's diplomatic chargé d'affaires in London (c. 1571-1578).

Drake's lease of the property dates from November 6, 1588, so that it is quite possible that he purchased it with his prize money from the capture of the Rosario during the Armada campaign of that year. Document recording Drake's sale of the lease of his house "The Herbar" in London, 1593, apparently to finance his last expedition. [11] Caro de Torres' Relacion , 1620, relating the success of Sotomayor. [38] On the Spanish side, the defenses at Panama were commanded by Don Alonso de Sotomayor (1545-1610), a soldier of great experience, who was sent there by the Viceroy of Peru and made commander-in-chief ("Capitan General"). The English troops were under Sir Thomas Baskerville (d. 1597) ("Coronel Tomas" in the text). Their attempt to cross the isthmus was defeated, and soon after this Drake died. A biography of Sotomayor by Francisco Caro de Torres (c. 1560-1630) relates this Spanish success in detail.

The author includes a lengthy eulogy of Drake, praising his courtesy, his outstanding performance as a navigator, especially in his circumnavigation, and lauds his humane treatment of prisoners--the latter indeed an exception in the generally brutal condition of sixteenth century warfare. The text and translation of Caro de Torres' eulogy are printed on these two pages. Francis Drake was greatly disheartened by the ill success of this voyage, which had caused the deaths of two commanders [Hawkins and Clifford] and of so many gentlemen, so he went with his fleet to the Escudo of Veragua, along the coast to the westward. There he took counsel with his brother and with Colonel Thomas [Baskerville] and with such others as were left; he declared to them that he was determined not to return Passage on the success of Sotomayor from Caro de Torres' Relacion , 1620, continued.

[38] to England without again attempting the expedition up the Chagres River in launches, for so much time had by now passed that the Spaniards would be unprepared for them, and if they could reach the way station at Cruces it would be simple to capture Panama because from there the route was an easy one. He thought that it was better to be defeated than to return to England, where he would be disgraced in the eyes of the Queen and her favorites, for they would hold him responsible for the failure of the voyage and forget his previous successes. Therefore, with great courage, he resolved to renew his attempt, in the course of which he was overtaken by a fever which killed him. This was when the fleet had arrived at the mouth of the Chagres River, which may be considered famous as the scene of the death of so great a sailor. Although he had not been brought up a soldier by profession, his Queen gave him appointments as commander-in-chief of her forces, and employed him in positions of trust and honor. In his profession as a seaman he was one of the most outstanding mariners the world has ever seen: in sailing around it only Magellan preceded him.

Despite such celebrity he was courteous and kindly to his prisoners, and hospitable to them, as reported by Captain Ojeda. Don Francisco de Zárate, who fell in with Drake in the Pacific, when he was voyaging from New Spain towards Peru, was sumptuously entertained; Drake discussed important questions with him and returned all his property to him with great humanity and courtesy--his silverware, his servants, a slave woman and his ship. This is a virtue which can never be sufficiently praised, even in enemies. An anonymous Spanish Relacion covers the successful defense of Puerto Rico against the attempt to seize the treasure ship there. Events are related up to Dec. 20, 1595, and the license for printing is dated Feb. 21, 1596, less than a month after Drake's death, which of course was not then known in Spain. The present edition (hitherto only one other edition known) is unrecorded and possibly unique. A translation of the text is on the opposite page. A contemporary account of Drake's repulse at Puerto Rico in an anonymous Relacion , 1596.

[29] REPORT OF THE VOYAGE OF HIS MAJESTY'S FIVE WAR FRIGATES, UNDER THE COMMAND OF DON PEDRO TELLO DE GUZMAN, THIS YEAR, 1595. Everybody was surprised and overjoyed at this happy outcome, when two sail came in sight. We gave them chase until three in the afternoon, when our vice-admiral brought one of them by the lee, grappled with her and took her, leaving the Santa Isabel to keep her company. The flagship and the remaining vessels of the squadron continued in chase of the other ship. About then--that is to say, around four o'clock in the afternoon--the vice-admiral shot off three guns, as a warning to the flagship. Ordered to search the sea, the lookouts sighted nine sail coasting along the island of Guadeloupe.

We thereupon abandoned the chase: the flagship returned to the convoy to pick up the frigates and spoke with [Vice-]Admiral Gonzalo Méndez, who transmitted the report he had extracted from the prisoners he had taken, as follows: First, that they had de parted from Plymouth on 8th September in the year aforesaid, in company with a fleet commanded by the generals Francis Drake and [Sir] John Hawkins. The prize and her companion had lost company with the fleet in rough weather, four days earlier. Ships that might lose company had been ordered to rendezvous with the main body either at Bayona [in Galicia, on the north coast of Spain] or at Puerto Santo [in the Canary Islands] or off Guadeloupe [as might be requisite according to the stage of the voyage reached]. If they did not fall in with the fleet at those roadsteads they were to proceed to Puerto Rico where they were told the expedition would spend ten days.

They had fallen with the island on the previous afternoon, and had sighted and counted nineteen sail, but had not succeeded in fetching them to speak with them; then they had taken our frigates for ships of their own squadron, and that was why they had fallen in with our flotilla. Asked how strong their fleet was, they said that it consisted of 26 sail. Of these six were Queen's ships: five of them ranged from 800 down to 500 tons, and the other was of 300. Among the remaining 20 vessels, which were adventured by private persons, some were comparable to them in strength and burthen. All of them were under orders from the Queen. Asked what effect the fleet was intended to accomplish when it left England, witness said that he knew no more than that it was to proceed to Puerto Rico and there take the silver; but that it was so well victualled and stored that the men believed that they were expected to spend a long time in the Indies. News of Drake's death spread slowly.

On June 20, 1596, Andres Armenteros, a member of the Council of the Indies, the Spanish governmental committee which supervised operations in America, wrote from Seville to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, Drake's old opponent at Cadiz and during the Armada campaign. He informed the Duke that Drake was dead, and that his body had been carried back to England in a barrel of beer--this latter detail was of course not true. Armenteros also speaks of a combined English-Dutch flotilla which was being assembled. Even as he wrote, this fleet was sailing towards Spain, under the command of the Earl of Essex and Lord Howard of Effingham, both of them old military associates of Drake. Their successful attack on Cadiz (June 22-July 5, 1596) was a repeat performance of Drake's stunning attack on that same city in 1587, and the flames of this raid, as the Spanish war and merchant ships were again being destroyed, form a fitting postscript to the career of the great warrior and discoverer. The Armenteros letter (reproduced to the right) is unpublished, so far as we can discover.

A translation of the portion that relates to Drake is printed below. TRANSLATION OF ARMENTEROS' STORY I received your Grace's letter, of which I return a transcript herewith, and I gave it to the Flemings to make them understand the obstacles to the plans for trade in Calais. They called a meeting and discussed the question exhaustively, eventually deciding that what has been set down in the margin of the transcript will be the best course for His Majesty's service. I send this to Your Grace so as to comply with Your Grace's instructions, for this is the right and profitable course of action. Your Grace will already be aware that Drake's fleet on its return reached England with only five ships, and very few men in them: Drake's body was on board, embalmed, in a beer cask. Because of this failure the preparations of another war fleet which was being got ready in England, with ships from Holland and Zeeland participating, have been wrecked, because they were planning to fit it out with the two million pieces of eight that they wrongly thought Drake had been successful in capturing at Puerto Rico... I kiss Your Grace's hands, those of Her Grace the Duchess, etc.

Seville, 20 June, 1596. The Licentiate Armenteros. A hitherto unpublished letter of Andres Armenteros to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, reporting that Drake's body, embalmed, was brought back to England in a beer cask, 1596. [13] The account of Drake's last voyage in the third volume of Hakluyt's Principal Navigations , 1600. [30] The most comprehensive account of these dramatic events, as seen by the Englishmen whom Drake commanded on his last voyage, is a temperate and reliable narrative which corrects the many erroneous Spanish stories about it, some of them found when Howard and Essex sacked Cadiz. Though the story that follows is very nearly contemporary with the operation, for this second and definitive edition of Principal Navigations [30] Richard Hakluyt took care to see that it was complete and impartial. This chronicle of the final decline of Drake's fortunes (Volume III, pp. 583-590) is probably by one of his captains and the beginning is reproduced above.

In undertaking this narration of the life of Sir Francis Drake the object throughout has been to present it as it was seen through the eyes of the men of his time. So, if it is to be concluded fittingly, the last word must, by right, belong to his great countryman Richard Hakluyt. It is unthinkable to leave the English hero to the fate to which Licentiate Armenteros (see p. 176) consigned him when so incomparable a historian of voyages and discovery has recorded, in the present account, exactly how the greatest of English mariners did meet his end. The close of the epic story of the life of Sir Francis Drake, as told by Richard Hakluyt (Volume III, pp. 587-588) only four years afterwards, is transcribed below. The 29 [December, 1595] sir Thomas Baskervil with 750 armed men, besides Chirurgians and provand boyes [boys serving for an allowance of food, without pay] went for Panama.

The last of December the Generall [i.e., Drake] burned halfe the towne, and the first of Januarie [1596] burnt the rest, with all the Frigats, Barks & Galiots, which were in the harbour and on the beach on shore, having houses built over them to keep the pitch from melting. The second of January sir Thomas returned with his souldiers both weary and hungry, having marched more than halfe the way to the South sea...The march was so sore as never Englishman marched before...upon the top of an hill, through which we must needes passe, the Spaniards had set up a Fort and kept it with some 80 or 90 men, who played upon us as we came up, before wee were aware of them, and so killed some twentie or more among us...Then sir Thomas had perfect knowledge that they must passe two such Forts more, [even] if he got that [one], besides [knowing] Panama to be very strong, the enemie knowing of our comming long before.

Also our souldiers had no victuals left, nor any meanes to get more; which considerations caused sir Thomas to return and give over his attempt...the 5 [January] we set saile at 12 of the clocke, and stood to the westward. The 10 day we saw an Iland lying westward some 30 leagues called Escudo, where wee came to anker...we sawe a roader [i.e., a vessel riding at anchor], who seeing us, set sayle, but that night with our Pinnesses we tooke him...The men being examined by the Generall confessed him to be an Advisor sent from Nombre de Dios to all the ports along the coast westward...It is a sickly climat...and given to much raine: here we washed our ships and set up the rest of our Pinnesses. Cover of the oval container preserving the Silver Map of his circumnavigation, bearing Drake's coat of arms. [58a] The 15 day Captaine Plat died of sicknesse, and then sir Francis Drake began to keepe his cabin, and to complaine of a scowring or fluxe.

The 23 we set saile and stood up again for Puerto Bello, which is but 3 leagues to the Westwards of Nombre de Dios. The 28 at 4 of the clocke in the morning our Generall sir Francis Drake departed this life, having bene extremely sicke of a fluxe, which began the night before to stop on him. He used some speeches at or a little before his death, rising and apparelling himselfe, but being brought to bed againe within one houre died. He made his brother Thomas Drake and captaine Jonas Bodenham executors, and M. Thomas Drakes sonne [the later Sir Francis Drake, first baronet] his heire to all his lands except one manor which he gave to captain Bodenham. The same day we ankered at Puerto Bello, being the best harbour we found along the maine both for great ships and small...After our comming hither to anker, and the solemne buriall of our Generall sir Francis in the sea: Sir Thomas Baskervill being aboord the Defiance,... M. Bride made a sermon, having to his audience all the captaines in the fleete.

Sir Francis Drake Collection: Timeline Title page from Expeditio Francisci Drake Equitis Angli ..., 1588. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1567 October 2 Drake sails with John Hawkins to New World where they are trapped by Spanish fleet that attacks and kills 500 Englishmen. Drake narrowly escapes on the Judith. 1570-71 Drake sails to the West Indies. 1571 William Cecil named Lord Burghley, (1520-1598). Elizabeth's chief minister from her accession until his death in 1598. Signature of William Burghley from History of Florida , 1588. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1572-73 Drake sails again to the West Indies. Plans to capture important town of Nombre de Dios, but was wounded in the attack. He later joined forces with Guillaume Le Testu on a mule train and made off with L 20,000 in gold and silver. 1577-80 Drake sails around the world in the Golden Hind, is the First Englishman to do so.

The Golden Hind, from La HerdikeEenterprinse ..., 1581. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1578 Thomas Doughty, an officer on the circumnavigation voyage and Drake's personal friend was charged with conspiracy and hanged. Drake's account from The World Encompassed , 1628. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1579 February 15 On the circumnavigation, the Golden Hind reaches Callao, the harbor of Lima, Peru. Engraving of the battle between Drake's Golden Hind and the Spanish ship called "Caca Fogo," from Kurtze Warhafftige Relation , 1625. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1579 March 1 Drake overtakes the Spanish ship Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion, nicknamed, Cacafuego. This ship proved to be Drake's richest plunder. 1579 June-July Drake discovers the coast of Upper California and names it New Albion. Drake stops in what is now the vicinity of the San Francisco Bay to overhaul his ship and makes friendly contract with the Indians of the area.

Description of California from Le Voyage Cvrievx , 1641. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1579 July 23 Drake sails across the Pacific. Narrative of the four earliest circumnavigations of the world, from Kurtze Warhafftige Relation , 1625. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1579 October 16 Drake sights land in the Philippines. 1579 November 3 Lands at Ternate in the East Indies. Makes a treaty with the Sultan and buys a cargo of cloves. 1580 January Drake sails to Java, across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and arrives back in Plymouth on September 26. Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Drake's Portrait from The World Encompassed , 1628 Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1581 On the orders of Queen Elizabeth, Drake attacks, and destroys, the Spanish Fleet at Cadiz. 1589 The Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex sailed with the expedition commanded by Drake and Norris against Spain and Portugal.

Although Elizabeth's favorite for many years, he finally led an insurrection against her, and was executed. Portrait of Robert Devereaux, from Heroologia Anglica ..., 1620. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1592/3 New Year's Day Drake presents Queen Elizabeth with manuscript with text the basis of which was later published as "Sir Francis Drake Revived." 1592/93. Title page from The English hero, or, Sir Francis Drake Revived , 1695. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1595 Title page from Relacion Del Viage Que Hizieron ..., 1596. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. 1596 January 28 Drake dies of dysentery on the return journey after failing to capture Panama City. Sir Francis Drake from Franciscus Draeck Nobilissimus , 1583. Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

1603 March 24 Sir Francis Drake ~ Kids' & Teachers' Pages ~ Report on Sir Francis by Rebecca O., Grade 4 Grade 4, Chabot School, Oakland, CA November 23, 1998 Sir Francis Drake was famous for sailing around the world, for robbing and burning Spanish ships and towns, and for defeating the Spanish Armada. He�s especially well-known in Marin County, where many places are named for him. Francis Drake was born about 1541 in Devon, England. He was the oldest of twelve brothers. His father was named Edmund Drake. In 1549, the family fled to Kent, England, to escape religious fighting. They lived in an abandoned ship and Edmund Drake got a job as a reader of prayers. Francis Drake did not go to school and had no formal education. When Francis was twelve, he was apprenticed to a captain on a worn out ship. His small ship guided larger ships into the English Channel. The ship also carried cargo along the English coast. Drake became so good at guiding ships that when his master died, he left his ship to Francis in his will.

Now, at the age of twenty, Drake had earned his own ship. In 1562, Drake�s cousin John Hawkins was doing illegal slave-trading in South America and the West Indies. Francis wanted to have the same adventures, so he sold his ship and went to join his cousin in Plymouth. In 1566, they crossed the Atlantic to Central America carrying slaves to sell to the Spanish towns, but the Spanish refused to buy them. In 1567, they tried again. Hawkins made Drake the captain of a ship called the Judith. Drake sailed ahead and made an agreement for peace with Don Martin, the Viceroy of Mexico. But the next morning, Don Martin broke his word and attacked the English. They killed many English sailors and sank two ships out of the four that Hawkins and Drake had. From then on, Drake hated the Spanish and promised to have revenge. Over the next ten years, Drake made several trips to the Caribbean, where he attacked many Spanish ships and towns. He was following secret orders from the Queen, who had given him a commission as a privateer. There he saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. He vowed to sail it one day.

When he returned to England, the Queen could not thank him publicly, because she had just made a truce with the King of Spain. So he went into hiding for two years and later fought in Ireland. In 1577, Drake set out on another voyage with four ships. He tricked everyone by saying he was going to the Nile, but actually he had secret orders to go the Pacific Ocean. He was supposed to go through the Straits of Magellan and attack the Spanish ships and towns on the West Coast of South America. He was also supposed to find people who weren�t under the control of Spain and make trade agreements with them. In addition to all this, he had to see if there was a continent in the South Pacific. One last thing he had to do, was look for the western end of the Northwest Passage through North America. The idea to do all these things came from Queen Elizabeth and her government, because they wanted to challenge Spain for control of the Pacific Ocean. The government secretly gave Drake money to buy supplies and hire men. While still in the Eastern Atlantic, they captured a Portuguese merchant ship. On the ship was a pilot who stayed with Drake for fifteen months, telling him how to find his way.

This was lucky, because the pilot knew the way along the coast of South America. Now they had five ships in the fleet. With the pilot�s help they crossed the Atlantic to Brazil. Then they sailed south along the coast. They had problems with storms that separated the ships from each other. Some of the sailors were grumbling that the voyage was unlucky and they wanted to go home. Drake�s friend Sir Thomas Doughty thought that he should be in charge, because he was a gentleman and Drake was not. He told Drake that, so Drake arrested him and put him on trial. The jury found him guilty and Drake selected a headsman to cut off his head. This all happened at a place called St. Julian. Before they left St. Julian, they decided that two of the ships were in such bad shape they might not make it through the Straits of Magellan. They took off everything they wanted to keep and sank the two ships. Now they had three ships left: the Pelican, which was Drake�s ship, the Elizabeth, and the Marigold. Drake renamed the Pelican the Golden Hind. They sailed through the Strait of Magellan in just sixteen days, which was a record for over a century.

After they left the Straits, there were terrible storms that wrecked and sank the Marigold. The Elizabeth was damaged so badly that she had to turn around and go back to England. The Golden Hind sailed on alone. There in the Pacific, Drake captured the Cacafuego, a Spanish treasure ship. From the Cacafuego, he robbed twenty-six tons of silver, eighty pounds of gold, thirteen trunks of silver coins, and many chests of jewels. The Spanish spread news of an English pirate (Drake) whom they called el Draque, meaning "the dragon." The Dragon robbed many other ships and burned several towns along the Pacific coast of South America. Then he went north. He was still looking for the western end of the Northwest Passage. He sailed north for a long time, until he gave up looking. He was ready to go home, but was afraid the Spanish would catch him if he went back the way he came. So he sailed to the West Coast of North America. He landed on the coast and claimed the land for England. He called it Nova Albion, which is Latin for New England. He repaired his ship and made friends with the Indians. No one knows exactly where Nova Albion was.

Some people say it was near San Francisco, at a place called Point Reyes. The place where he might have landed is called Drake�s Bay. But other people think it was farther north, maybe even as far as Oregon. After his ship was repaired, he sailed west across the Pacific Ocean. After sixty-eight days, they reached the Philippines and got fresh water. Then they went through the Indonesian islands and stopped to trade for spices. From there, they sailed across the Indian Ocean and went around the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of Africa. They finally reached England in 1580. After the three-year trip around the world, there was a big festival. Queen Elizabeth came to visit him on the Golden Hind. The Spanish Ambassador wanted Drake punished for his piracy, and the Queen promised to do something to him. She knighted him. This made the Spanish Ambassador very upset, but all the English were very happy. Drake was the first Englishman to sail around the world. He discovered that there was no continent in the South Pacific west of South America and that there was no western end to the Northwest Passage unless you went very far north. He showed that Englishmen could sail in the Pacific just like the Spanish.

He made the English feel proud and encouraged them to compete with Spain at building towns in the New World. He also made the English feel like they could do anything. Francis Drake had many qualities of greatness. Once while attacking a town in Central America, he was shot in the leg. But he continued telling his men to fight, and everyone got away safely. No matter what problems there were, he kept going. He also didn�t care that he wasn�t born a gentleman. He was leading an expedition around the world, and that was enough for him. He was also a great leader. He was able to inspire his men to face great difficulty. When they were about to go into the Straits of Magellan, his men said they couldn�t do it. He inspired them to try, and they succeeded. In 1588, Spain sent a huge fleet of 125 ships to attack England. They called the fleet the Invincible Armada. Because he had sailed around the world, Drake had been made the Vice-Admiral of the English Navy. When the Armada appeared in the English Channel, Drake was playing a game of bowling and wanted to finish it.

When he was done, he went out to fight the huge galleons of the Armada with small, quick English ships. He defeated the Armada because the galleons saw his ships and tried to shoot them by turning around to point their cannons at them. But Drake�s ships were too quick, so once the galleons had turned around, the English ships were somewhere else. After the battle, there were terrible storms. The English ships went to their harbors and were safe while they watched the galleons get ripped apart, wrecked and sunk. On Drake�s last voyage, he became very sick with dysentery. On January 28, 1596, he died and was buried at sea off the coast of Panama. When they heard, the Spanish celebrated the death of their enemy el Draque, but he was remembered by all English men and women as the best English seaman of the Elizabethan age. Sir Francis Drake | English admiral | Britannica.com Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake, (born c.

1540–43, Devonshire , England —died January 28, 1596, at sea, off Puerto Bello , Panama ), English admiral who circumnavigated the globe (1577–80) and was the most renowned seaman of the Elizabethan Age. Sir Francis Drake, oil on panel, after an engraving attributed to Jodocus Hondius, c. 1583; in … © C. Bevilacqua—DeA Picture Library/age fotostock Overview of Sir Francis Drake’s life. Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz Early life Born on the Crowndale estate of Lord Francis Russell, 2nd earl of Bedford, Drake’s father, Edmund Drake, was the son of one of the latter’s tenant farmers. Edmund fled his native county after arraignment for assault and robbery in 1548. The claim that he was a refugee from Roman Catholic persecution was a later pious fiction. From even before his father’s departure, Francis was brought up among relatives in Plymouth: the Hawkins family, who combined vocations as merchants and pirates.

When Drake was about 18, he enlisted in the Hawkins family fleet, which prowled for shipping to plunder or seize off the French coast. By the early 1560s, he had graduated to the African trade, in which the Hawkins family had an increasing interest, and by 1568 he had command of his own ship on a Hawkins venture of illicit slave-trading in the Spanish colonies of the Caribbean. Voyages to the West Indies Resenting the Spanish authorities’ claims to regulate their colonies’ trade and impound contraband , Drake later referred to some “wrongs” that he and his companions had suffered—wrongs that he was determined to right in the years to come. His second voyage to the West Indies , in company with John Hawkins , ended disastrously at San Juan de Ulúa off the coast of Mexico, when the English interlopers were attacked by the Spanish and many of them killed. Drake escaped during the attack and returned to England in command of a small vessel, the Judith, with an even greater determination to have his revenge upon Spain and the Spanish king, Philip II .

Although the expedition was a financial failure, it brought Drake to the attention of Queen Elizabeth I , who had herself invested in the slave-trading venture. In the years that followed, he made two expeditions in small vessels to the West Indies, in order “to gain such intelligence as might further him to get some amend for his loss.” In 1572—having obtained from the queen a privateering commission, which amounted to a license to plunder in the king of Spain’s lands—Drake set sail for America in command of two small ships, the 70-ton Pasha and the 25-ton Swan. He was nothing if not ambitious, for his aim was to capture the important town of Nombre de Dios, Pan. Although Drake was wounded in the attack, which failed, he and his men managed to get away with a great deal of plunder by successfully attacking a silver-bearing mule train. This was perhaps the foundation of Drake’s fortune. In the interval between these episodes, he crossed the Isthmus of Panama . Standing on a high ridge of land, he first saw the Pacific , that ocean hitherto barred to all but Spanish ships.

It was then, as he put it, that he “besought Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in an English ship in that sea.” He returned to England both rich and famous. Unfortunately, his return coincided with a moment when Queen Elizabeth and King Philip II of Spain had reached a temporary truce. Although delighted with Drake’s success in the empire of her great enemy, Elizabeth could not officially acknowledge piracy . Drake saw that the time was inauspicious and sailed with a small squadron to Ireland, where he served under the earl of Essex and took part in a notorious massacre in July 1575. An obscure period of Drake’s life follows; he makes almost no appearance in the records until 1577. Circumnavigation of the world Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent In 1577 he was chosen as the leader of an expedition intended to pass around South America through the Strait of Magellan and to explore the coast that lay beyond. The expedition was backed by the queen herself. Nothing could have suited Drake better. He had official approval to benefit himself and the queen, as well as to cause the maximum damage to the Spaniards.

This was the occasion on which he first met the queen face-to-face and heard from her own lips that she “would gladly be revenged on the king of Spain for divers injuries that I have received.” The explicit object was to “find out places meet to have traffic.” Drake, however, devoted the voyage to piracy, without official reproof in England. He set sail in December with five small ships, manned by fewer than 200 men, and reached the Brazilian coast in the spring of 1578. His flagship, the Pelican, which Drake later renamed the Golden Hind (or Hinde), weighed only about 100 tons. It seemed little enough with which to undertake a venture into the domain of the most powerful monarch and empire in the world. Voyages of Ferdinand Magellan (1519–22) and Francis Drake (1577–80) across the Atlantic … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Upon arrival in South America, Drake alleged a plot by unreliable officers, and its supposed leader, Thomas Doughty , was tried and executed.

Drake was always a stern disciplinarian, and he clearly did not intend to continue the venture without making sure that all of his small company were loyal to him. Two of his smaller vessels, having served their purpose as store ships, were then abandoned after their provisions had been taken aboard the others, and on August 21, 1578, he entered the Strait of Magellan . It took 16 days to sail through, after which Drake had his second view of the Pacific Ocean—this time from the deck of an English ship. Then, as he wrote, “God by a contrary wind and intolerable tempest seemed to set himself against us.” During the gale, Drake’s vessel and that of his second in command had been separated; the latter, having missed a rendezvous with Drake, ultimately returned to England, presuming that the Hind had sunk. It was, therefore, only Drake’s flagship that made its way into the Pacific and up the coast of South America. He passed along the coast like a whirlwind, for the Spaniards were quite unguarded, having never known a hostile ship in their waters.

He seized provisions at Valparaíso , attacked passing Spanish merchantmen, and captured two very rich prizes that were carrying bars of gold and silver, minted Spanish coinage, precious stones, and pearls. He claimed then to have sailed to the north as far as 48° N, on a parallel with Vancouver [ Canada ], to seek the Northwest Passage back into the Atlantic. Bitterly cold weather defeated him, and he coasted southward to anchor near what is now San Francisco . He named the surrounding country New Albion and took possession of it in the name of Queen Elizabeth. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest In July 1579 he sailed west across the Pacific and after 68 days sighted a line of islands (probably the remote Palau group). From there he went on to the Philippines, where he watered ship before sailing to the Moluccas . There he was well received by a local sultan and succeeded in buying spices. Drake’s deep-sea navigation and pilotage were always excellent, but in those totally uncharted waters his ship struck a reef.

He was able to get her off without any great damage and, after calling at Java, set his course across the Indian Ocean for the Cape of Good Hope . Two years after she had nosed her way into the Strait of Magellan, the Golden Hind came back into the Atlantic with only 56 of the original crew of 100 left aboard. Exploring Canada: Fact or Fiction? On September 26, 1580, Francis Drake took his ship into Plymouth Harbour. She was laden with treasure and spices, and Drake’s fortune was permanently made. Despite Spanish protests about his piratical conduct while in their imperial waters, Queen Elizabeth herself went aboard the Golden Hind, which was lying at Deptford in the Thames estuary, and personally bestowed knighthood on him. Mayor of Plymouth In the same year, 1581, Drake was made mayor of Plymouth , an office he fulfilled with the same thoroughness that he had shown in all other matters. He organized a water supply for Plymouth that served the city for 300 years.

Drake’s first wife, a Cornish woman named Mary Newman, whom he had married in 1569, died in 1583, and in 1585 he married again. His second wife, Elizabeth Sydenham, was an heiress and the daughter of a local Devonshire magnate, Sir George Sydenham. In keeping with his new station, Drake purchased a fine country house—Buckland Abbey (now a national museum)—a few miles from Plymouth. Drake’s only grief was that neither of his wives bore him any children. Trending Topics Opium Wars During these years of fame when Drake was a popular hero, he could always obtain volunteers for any of his expeditions. But he was very differently regarded by many of his great contemporaries. Such well-born men as the naval commander Sir Richard Grenville and the navigator and explorer Sir Martin Frobisher disliked him intensely. He was the parvenu, the rich but common upstart, with West Country manners and accent and with none of the courtier’s graces.

Drake had even bought Buckland Abbey from the Grenvilles by a ruse, using an intermediary, for he knew that the Grenvilles would never have sold it to him directly. It is doubtful, in any case, whether he cared about their opinions, so long as he retained the goodwill of the queen. This was soon enough demonstrated when in 1585 Elizabeth placed him in command of a fleet of 25 ships. Hostilities with Spain had broken out once more, and he was ordered to cause as much damage as possible to the Spaniards’ overseas empire. Drake fulfilled his commission, capturing Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands and taking and plundering the cities of Cartagena in Colombia, St. Augustine in Florida, and San Domingo (now Santo Domingo , Hispaniola).

Lord Burghley , Elizabeth’s principal minister, who had never approved of Drake or his methods, was forced to concede that “Sir Francis Drake is a fearful man to the king of Spain.” Failure of the Spanish Armada By 1586 it was known that Philip II was preparing a fleet for what was called “The Enterprise of England” and that he had the blessing of Pope Sixtus V to return the crown to the fold of Rome. Drake was given carte blanche by the queen to “impeach the provisions of Spain.” In the following year, with a fleet of some 30 ships, he showed that her trust in him had not been misplaced. He stormed into the Spanish harbour of Cádiz and in 36 hours destroyed numerous vessels and thousands of tons of supplies, all of which had been destined for the Armada. This action, which he laughingly referred to as “singeing the king of Spain’s beard,” helped to delay the invasion fleet for a further year. But the resources of Spain were such that by July 1588 the Armada was in the English Channel . Lord Howard had been chosen as English admiral to oppose it.

Drake appropriated a prize—a Spanish galleon disabled in an accidental collision—but, although credited by legend with a heroic role, is not known to have played any part in the fighting. Last years Drake’s later years, however, were not happy. An expedition that he led to Portugal proved abortive, and his last voyage, in 1596 against the Spanish possessions in the West Indies, was a failure, largely because the fleet was decimated by a fever to which Drake himself succumbed . He was buried at sea off the town of Puerto Bello (modern Portobelo, Panama). As the Elizabethan historian John Stow wrote: He was more skilful in all points of navigation than any.…He was also of a perfect memory, great observation, eloquent by nature.…In brief he was as famous in Europe and America, as Timur Lenk [Tamerlane] in Asia and Africa. At home his reputation was equivocal . Fellow captains found him unreliable and self-seeking. His Spanish victims, however, conceded grudging admiration: he was credited with diabolical powers as a navigator and became the antihero of works of literature, in which he was celebrated for courtesy to prisoners.

But to the Spaniards he was also, as their ambassador to England remarked, “the master-thief of the unknown world.” He was “low of stature, of strong limb, round-headed, brown hair, full-bearded, his eyes round, large and clear, well-favoured face and of a cheerful countenance.” His life was dedicated to self-aggrandizement and revenge directed at Spain. But his legend influenced English self-perceptions, for he was credited with feats of sangfroid, unflappability, improvisation, tenacity, and fair play, most of which have little or no basis in fact. The Death of Sir Francis Drake Chronicles of America American Biography Maps of America A New World Spanish Conqueror New France English Exploration Southern Colonies Plymouth Colonies Quaker Colonies Colonial Folkways New France Age of Invention Theodore Roosevelt The Death of Sir Francis Drake Drake in disfavor after 1589 seems a contradiction that nothing can explain. It can, however, be quite easily explained, though never explained away. He had simply failed to make the Lisbon Expedition pay--a heinous offence in days when the navy was as much a revenue department as the customs or excise. He had also failed to take Lisbon itself.

The reasons why mattered nothing either to the disappointed government or to the general public. But, six years later, in 1595, when Drake was fifty and Hawkins sixty-three, England called on them both to strike another blow at Spain. Elizabeth was helping Henry IV of France against the League of French and Spanish Catholics. Henry, astute as he was gallant, had found Paris 'worth a mass' and, to Elizabeth's dismay, had gone straight over to the Church of Rome with terms of toleration for the Huguenots. The war against the Holy League, however, had not yet ended. The effect of Henry's conversion was to make a more united France against the encroaching power of Spain. And every eye in England was soon turned on Drake and Hawkins for a stroke at Spanish power beyond the sea. Drake and Hawkins formed a most unhappy combination, made worse by the fact that Hawkins, now old beyond his years, soured by misfortune, and staled for the sea by long spells of office work, was put in as a check on Drake, in whom Elizabeth had lost her former confidence. Sir Thomas Baskerville was to command the troops. Here, at least, no better choice could have possibly been made.

Baskerville had fought with rare distinction in the Brest campaign and before that in the Netherlands. There was the usual hesitation about letting the fleet go far from home. The 'purely defensive' school was still strong; Elizabeth in certain moods belonged to it; and an incident which took place about this time seemed to give weight to the arguments of the defensivists. A small Spanish force, obliged to find water and provisions in a hurry, put into Mousehole in Cornwall and, finding no opposition, burnt several villages down to the ground. The moment these Spaniards heard that Drake and Hawkins were at Plymouth they decamped. But this ridiculous raid threw the country into doubt or consternation. Elizabeth was as brave as a lion for herself. But she never grasped the meaning of naval strategy, and she was supersensitive to any strong general opinion, however false. Drake and Hawkins, with Baskerville's troops (all in transports) and many supply vessels for the West India voyage, were ordered to cruise about Ireland and Spain looking for enemies. The admirals at once pointed out that this was the work of the Channel Fleet, not that of a joint expedition bound for America.

Then, just as the Queen was penning an angry reply, she received a letter from Drake, saying that the chief Spanish treasure ship from Mexico had been seen in Porto Rico little better than a wreck, and that there was time to take her if they could only sail at once. The expedition was on the usual joint-stock lines and Elizabeth was the principal shareholder. She swallowed the bait whole; and sent sailing orders down to Plymouth by return. And so, on the 28th of August, 1595, twenty-five hundred men in twenty-seven vessels sailed out, bound for New Spain. Surprise was essential; for New Spain, taught by repeated experience, was well armed; and twenty-five hundred men were less formidable now than five hundred twenty years before. Arrived at the Canaries, Las Palmas was found too strong to carry by immediate assault; and Drake had no time to attack it in form. He was two months late already; so he determined to push on to the West Indies. When Drake reached Porto Rico, he found the Spanish in a measure forewarned and forearmed. Though he astonished the garrison by standing boldly into the harbor and dropping anchor close to a masked battery, the real surprise was now against him.

The Spanish gunners got the range to an inch, brought down the flagship's mizzen, knocked Drake's chair from under him, killed two senior officers beside him, and wounded many more. In the meantime Hawkins, worn out by his exertions, had died. This reception, added to the previous failures and the astonishing strength of Porto Rico, produced a most depressing effect. Drake weighed anchor and went out. He was soon back in a new place, cleverly shielded from the Spanish guns by a couple of islands. After some more manoeuvres he attacked the Spanish fleet with fire-balls and by boarding. When a burning frigate lit up the whole wild scene, the Spanish gunners and musketeers poured into the English ships such a concentrated fire that Drake was compelled to retreat. He next tried the daring plan of running straight into the harbor, where there might still be a chance. But the Spaniards sank four of their own valuable vessels in the harbor mouth--guns, stores, and all--just in the nick of time, and thus completely barred the way.

Foiled again, Drake dashed for the mainland, seized La Hacha, burnt it, ravaged the surrounding country, and got away with a successful haul of treasure; then he seized Santa Marta and Nombre de Dios, both of which were found nearly empty. The whole of New Spain was taking the alarm--"The Dragon's back again!" Meanwhile a fleet of more than twice Drake's strength was coming out from Spain to attack him in the rear. Nor was this all, for Baskerville and his soldiers, who had landed at Nombre de Dios and started overland, were in full retreat along the road from Panama, having found an impregnable Spanish position on the way. It was a sad beginning for 1596, the centennial year of England's first connection with America. 'Since our return from Panama he never carried mirth nor joy in his face,' wrote one of Baskerville's officers who was constantly near Drake. A council of war was called and Drake, making the best of it, asked which they would have, Truxillo, the port of Honduras, or the 'golden towns' round about Lake Nicaragua.

'Both,' answered Baskerville, 'one after the other.' So the course was laid for San Juan on the Nicaragua coast. A head wind forced Drake to anchor under the island of Veragua, a hundred and twenty-five miles west of Nombre de Dios Bay and right in the deadliest part of that fever-stricken coast. The men began to sicken and die off. Drake complained at table that the place had changed for the worse. His earlier memories of New Spain were of a land like a 'pleasant and delicious arbour' very different from the 'vast and desert wilderness' he felt all round him now. The wind held foul. More and more men lay dead or dying. At last Drake himself, the man of iron constitution and steel nerves, fell ill and had to keep his cabin. Then reports were handed in to say the stores were running low and that there would soon be too few hands to man the ships. On this he gave the order to weigh and 'take the wind as God had sent it.' So they stood out from that pestilential Mosquito Gulf and came to anchor in the fine harbor of Puerto Bello, which the Spaniards had chosen to replace the one at Nombre de Dios, twenty miles east.

Here, in the night of the 27th of January, Drake suddenly sprang out of his berth, dressed himself, and raved of battles, fleets, Armadas, Plymouth Hoe, and plots against his own command. The frenzy passed away. He fell exhausted, and was lifted back to bed again. Then 'like a Christian, he yielded up his spirit quietly.' His funeral rites befitted his renown. The great new Spanish fort of Puerto Bello was given to the flames, as were nearly all the Spanish prizes, and even two of his own English ships; for there were now no sailors left to man them. Thus, amid the thunder of the guns whose voice he knew so well, and surrounded by consuming pyres afloat and on the shore, his body was committed to the deep, while muffled drums rolled out their last salute and trumpets wailed his requiem.

Question: In what year did Sir Francis Drake die?
Answer: 1596