Sir Francis Drake was an English seaman. He was born in 1545 near Tavistock and died in 1596. Apprenticed to the master of a coasting vessel, he was left the ship on the master's death. He accompanied Sir John Hawkins in 1567, and then after two voyages of reconnaissance he set out in 1572 to plunder the Spanish Main. He returned to England in 1573 with considerable booty. After serving in Ireland as a volunteer, he suggested to the queen, Elizabeth I, an expedition to the Pacific, and in December 1577 he sailed in the Pelican with four other ships and 166 men.
In August 1578 the fleet passed through the straits of Magellan in sixteen days and was then blown south to Cape Horn. The remaining ships became separated and returned to England, leaving the Pelican, now renamed the Golden Hind, alone in the Pacific. Drake sailed north along the coast of Chile and Peru, plundering Spanish ships as far as north as California, and then in July 1579 sailed south-west across the Pacific. He rounded the Cape in June 1580, and reached England in September, thus making the first voyage around the world by an Englishman. His exploits against the Spanish was a major cause of the subsequent English-Spanish Naval War. Research Francis Drake
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