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FRANCIS DRAKE

Sir Francis Drake was an English seaman, pirate and murderer. He was born in 1539 or 1545 near Tavistock and died in 1596 of dysentery. The son of a poor farmer, he was 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 in an action against the Spaniards, losing nearly all he possessed in that unfortunate enterprise. Having gathered a number of adventurers round him he contrived to fit out a vessel in which he made two successful pirate cruises to the West Indies in 1570 and 1571 and then set out in 1572 to plunder the Spanish Main, captured the cities of Nombre de Dios and Vera Cruz, and took a rich booty which he brought safely home, returning to England in 1573. 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, plundered all along the coasts of Chile and Peru, sacked several ports, and captured a galleon laden with silver, gold, jewels, etc, to the value of perhaps 200,000 pounds 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. The voyage, however, was sullied by the murder by Drake of one of his captains, Thomas Doubty, for reporting the theft of supplies by Drake's brother, and the murder by Drake of a black slave girl, Maria, who, having fallen pregnant by Drake or one of his crew was marooned on a deserted island of the Spice Islands, and left his crew aggrieved when despite his promise he refused to share any of the stolen loot they had taken from the Spanish with them.

As there was no war between England and Spain the proceedings of Francis Drake were piracy. Courtiers were not pleased with receiving stolen goods from Drake, but the queen - receiving large amounts of money - maintained that they were lawful reprisals for the action of the Spaniards, and showed her favour to Francis Drake by knighting him on board his own ship. Five years afterwards Francis Drake was again attacking the Spaniards in the Cape Verde Islands and in the West Indies, and in 1588 particularly distinguished himself as vice-admiral in the conflict with the Spanish Armada, though contemporaries noted that during the action Drake's ship sped off after the unarmed Spanish pay ship and its gold which Drake wanted for himself, leaving the other English ships to face the Spanish warships. Reports of cowardice were made against Drake by the captains of the remainder of the English fleet, but Drake's wealth and continued bribes of the queen ensured bus position.

In 1593 he represented Plymouth in parliament. His later expeditions, that in 1595 against the Spanish West Indies and that to Panama, were not so successful, and his death, which took place in 1596 at sea off Porto Bello, was allegedly hastened by disappointment, the reality was the not to glamorous dysentery.
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