Francis Drake Essay, Research Paper

Francis Drake was an experienced and daring seafarer. Among many adventures, the

‘famous voyage’, his successful circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and

1580 ensured that he would be one of the best remembered figures of Tudor

England. In his own lifetime, he was thought of with mixed feelings, both at

home and abroad. Some English people regarded him as a hero, but he was

distrusted by others, who saw him as having risen ‘above his station’. Although

he was feared and hated by the Spanish, he was also regarded by some with secret

admiration. What was England like at the time of Drake? For most of Drake’s

life, Queen Elizabeth I ruled the country. It was a time when England was

growing in population, power and wealth, and was also becoming more outward

looking. New markets and colonies were needed, so that English produce,

especially wool, could be traded. England was also keen to gain from the huge

profits to be made from the ‘New World’ of the Americas and from the Eastern

spice trade, as Spain and Portugal were already doing. It was a time when

religion was extremely important to people, especially the question of whether

England was to be a Protestant or a Catholic country. Arguments about religion

and trade meant that England was at war with Spain for much of Drake’s life.

Where was Francis Drake born? Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon,

sometime between 1541 and 1543. What sort of family did he come from? A very

ordinary family, certainly not rich or powerful. His family was a devoutly

religious one. When Francis was still a small boy, the Catholic Queen Mary came

to the throne, and there were religious disturbances in Devon. The family left,

and moved to Chatham in Kent where for a time they lived on an old, laid-up

ship. Drake’s father became a Protestant preacher. These early experiences had a

profound effect on the young Francis. The Protestant religion was to be one of

the most important things to him throughout his life. On his voyage around the

world he led religious services on board ship twice a day. When did Drake first

go to sea? He first started going to sea while living in Chatham, at the age of

twelve or thirteen. He was an apprentice on a small trading ship which was left

to him when the master died. After selling this ship, he returned to Devon and

sailed with his relative John Hawkins. Together, Hawkins and Drake made the

first English slaving voyages, bringing African slaves to work in the ‘New

World’. Did Francis Drake marry? Yes. He married twice. When he was twenty-five

he married Mary Newman, who died in 1583. He married again in 1585. His second

wife, Elizabeth Sydenham, came from a much more influential family. He did not

have children with either of his wives. What was Drake looking for on his

voyages? Spanish ships, sailing back from their new conquests in South America

were extremely attractive, as they were laden with silver. Drake attacked such

ships, and if he was successful in capturing them, took their treasure for

himself and for his queen. He also raided Spanish and Portuguese ports in the

‘New World’ and the Atlantic. On Drake’s voyage to Panama in 1572-3, he was

helped by cimarrones. The cimarrones were former slaves, who had escaped to live

in the forest and mountains as outlaws. Many were prepared to help the English

as they blamed the Spanish for their position. One cimarrone in particular,

named Diego, became especially close to Drake, accompanying him to England and

later around the world. How long did it take Drake to sail around the world? The

circumnavigation took three years, from 1577 to 1580. Originally, the voyage was

probably planned as a raid on Spanish ships and ports. Five ships, manned by 164

seamen, left Plymouth, with Drake himself sailing in the Pelican. Nearly all the

crew thought they were heading for the Mediterranean. After reaching America,

Drake was worried that his ships might get separated from each other, so he gave

orders for two of them to be destroyed. Then the Marigold was lost, with all her

crew, and the Elizabeth turned back and sailed home. By October 1578, as the

company started up the western coast of South America, there were just 58 left,

all on the Pelican. Drake renamed his ship the Golden Hinde. What did Drake find

out on his voyage around the world? Drake’s voyage helped to give a more

accurate picture of the true geography of the world. During the course of the

voyage, Drake discovered that Tierra del Fuego, the land seen to the south of

the Magellan Strait, was not part of a southern continent as had been believed

previously, but an archipelago, or group of islands. Francis Fletcher, the

chaplain on Drake’s ship described it like this: In passing along we plainly

discovered that same Terra Australis to be no continent, but broken islands and

large passages amongst them…. This meant that if the American continent was

not connected to a southern continent, the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans met

at Cape Horn. It should be possible to sail ships around the bottom of South

America, south of Tierra. This was the Cape Horn route, eventually discovered in

1616. As Drake sailed further up the coast, he plundered Spanish ports in Chile

and Peru and captured treasure ships. His biggest prize was the Cacafuego. Drake

sailed further north along the coast of the Americas than any other European

until then. On the way he landed in what is now California, naming it Nova

Albion (New England) and claiming it for his queen. He then continued across the

Pacific to the East Indies, or Spice Islands. Six tons of cloves were loaded

onto the ship. Later, half had to be tossed into the sea in order to free the

ship from a reef. His route through the East Indies lay along the uncharted

southern coast of Java. Here Drake discovered that Java was an island, not

connected to a southern continent as the Dutch believed. Drake returned from his

voyage around the world with the little Golden Hinde packed full of spices from

the Indies, and plundered Spanish silver and treasure. The good health of the

surviving members of his crew was a remarkable achievement in itself. This was

in marked contrast to the dreadful condition of those who had accompanied

Magellan on the first circumnavigation of the world fifty years earlier. How was

Drake helped by others? During the Tudor period, it was important that each

explorer built on the experience of those who had gone before. Portugal and

Spain had been involved in ocean exploration long before England. Francis Drake

obviously recognised this, as he made use of this previous knowledge and

expertise by seizing the Portuguese pilot Nuna da Silva to guide him on his

passage to Brazil and the east coast of America. In the Pacific, he seized the

charts of two Spanish pilots bound for the Philippines. He already had a chart

of the world made in Portugal, and three books on navigation. How did the Queen

treat Drake when he returned after his three year voyage? Queen Elizabeth dined

on board the Golden Hinde at Deptford, on the River Thames. Afterwards, she

knighted him so that for the rest of his life he was known as Sir Francis Drake.

The king of Spain was insulted by the Queen’s reward to Drake. His voyage may

have been triumphant to the English, but to the Spanish it was highly

destructive. Was the circumnavigation the end of Sir Francis Drake’s career at

sea? No. Drake was involved in several other battles with the Spanish. In 1585

he and more than 1000 men attacked Santiago in the Cape Verde islands. As no

treasure was found, he ordered the town to be burnt down. In 1586 he captured

San Domingo in Hispaniola (now named Haiti). One of his most famous attacks was

on Cadiz and Coruna in 1587. This incident is sometimes known as the ’singeing

of the King of Spain’s beard.’ In a daring raid, between twenty and thirty ships

were sunk or captured. Perhaps of even more importance though, was the

destruction of supplies intended for King Philip’s planned Spanish Armada.

Because of the attack, the Armada was delayed and the Spanish were short of some

important supplies for their fleet. They were also forced to use unseasoned wood

for barrels, as Drake had destroyed the seasoned wood. Later on this resulted in

the rotting of many of their precious stocks of food for the Armada crews. What

was Drake’s role in the battles against the Spanish Armada? Sir Francis Drake

was very active in the Armada battles of 1588. One of the most famous incidents

involving Drake was when the Spanish flagship, the Rosario, collided with

another ship. It lost its mast and became separated from the rest of the Spanish

fleet. Drake captured it, even though he had been given the job of tracking the

Armada with his stern lantern alight to guide all the other English ships

following him. The prize of the Rosario must have been too difficult to resist.

The ship was taken without a single shot being fired, still with the royal money

chest on board. How did Sir Francis Drake die? He died at sea on his final

voyage, off the coast of Panama, in Nombre de Dios Bay. He had been suffering

from dysentery for several days and in January 1596 he finally died. His body

was placed inside a lead casket and he was then slipped overboard. Two other

ships, his most recent prizes, were sunk near his body. He was about 54 years

old. Why is he still remembered today? His circumnavigation led to an increased

knowledge of the geography of the world, particularly to a more accurate

understanding of the ’southern continent?. As a navigator his skills put him

in the same rank as Columbus. His claim of California, or Nova Albion, for

England led directly to later plans to send people to live in colonies in

America.