Francis Drake

English explorer

• Born: c. 1540
• Birthplace: Crowndale, near Tavistock, Devonshire, England
• Died: January 28, 1596
• Place of death: At sea off Porto Bello, Panama

Drake was the first explorer to circumnavigate the globe. A flair for leadership, combined with fearlessness and a powerful spirit of adventure, afforded Drake the most prominent place among those Elizabethan explorers and naval commanders who pioneered England’s overseas expansion.

Early Life

Francis Drake was born in Crowndale, a village near Tavistock, in Devonshire, England. Nothing is known of his mother. His father, Robert Drake, was the third son of John Drake of Otterton. Unsuccessful in business and committed to advancing the reformed religion, the father bore responsibility for his family living in humble circumstances. Many of Francis Drake’s twelve siblings reputedly were born in the hull of a ship moored in the River Thames in Kent, where the family had been forced to relocate as a result of the father’s vocal Protestantism. There is a certain fitness in this connection with the sea, where most of the Drake offspring made their marks and ultimately died.

As a boy, Francis Drake was apprenticed to the master of a coasting vessel and acquired both a love for the sea and the skills that served him well during his career. On the death of the master, Drake assumed command of his ship and continued trading for a brief period. His spirit of adventure and his ambition proved, however, to be too strong, and by 1565, he joined expeditions that were mounted first to Africa and then to the Spanish Main. These voyages whetted his appetite for exploration and further stirred his ambition, so in 1567, he decided to join the third expedition organized by his cousin, John Hawkins, to capture black slaves in Africa and sell them to the Spanish colonists in the New World.

Drake’s decision to join Hawkins’s third slaving voyage proved to be the turning point in his career, for Hawkins’s fleet, including the ship Judith, commanded by Francis Drake, was attacked at San Juan de Ulúa, a small island off Veracruz, by a powerful Spanish force commanded by the viceroy of New Spain. In the ensuing battle, only two of Hawkins’s ships, the Jesus of Lubeck, commanded by Hawkins, and the Judith, captained by Drake, escaped and made their way back to England. Both Hawkins and Drake vowed to be avenged for what they viewed as the “treachery” of the Spaniards, and while both men made good on their vow, Francis Drake not only struck numerous and devastating blows against King Philip II of Spain, but also laid the foundation for the maritime traditions that spread England’s power and influence around in the world in subsequent centuries.

Life’s Work

In the years following the attack in Mexico, Drake embarked on a series of maritime adventures that established his reputation as the quintessentially daring English sea captain. Determined to strike a blow at Spain, Drake used his knowledge of the flow of Spanish treasure from the Americas to Europe with dramatic effect.

First, in 1570 and 1571, he mounted small reconnoitering voyages to the Gulf of Mexico to collect detailed information. Then, in 1572, he executed his masterstroke by sailing from Plymouth to attack the Spanish at their most vulnerable point, the area of the production of precious metals in the New World. Knowing that the produce of the silver mines of Peru was transported by mule train overland through Panama, Drake determined to attack the unescorted treasure trains and seize their booty. On landing in Panama, Drake made contact with the Cimaroons and developed a plan to waylay the Spanish treasure train that regularly crossed the Isthmus of Panama. Providentially, Drake was taken by his guides to a high point in Panama where he could see both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, which made him the first Englishman to see the Pacific.

Vowing someday to sail an English ship on the Pacific, Drake and his force pressed on and soon enjoyed spectacular success by capturing an entire treasure train that yielded so much silver that they took what they could carry back to their ships and buried the rest. Drake arrived back in England on August 9, 1573. His expedition made him a wealthy man, endowed him with a reputation for courage and daring, and gave him what proved to be a brilliant idea for his next enterprise against the Spanish.

Knowing that the Spanish treasure route was from Peru to Panama by ship, then across the Isthmus by mule train, and finally on to Spain by ship, Drake plotted to lead a fleet to the western coast of South America. Once there, he intended to attack the unprotected Spanish ships that carried the bullion to Panama, take as much treasure as his ships could carry, and return to England. From the seed of this plan, Drake became the first person to circumnavigate the globe. Leaving Plymouth on December 13, 1577, Drake and his fleet sailed southward. By the time he entered the Pacific through the Strait of Magellan, only his ship the Golden Hind remained of the fleet that had left Plymouth. From the autumn of 1578 through the spring of 1579, Drake sailed northward, capturing treasure all along the way. He continued on a northerly course until he reached the area that is now San Francisco, then turned westward, crossing the Pacific and Indian oceans, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and proceeding northward along the African coast to England. Drake arrived home on September 26, 1580, after nearly three years at sea. A few months later, he was knighted and assumed the premier position among English mariners of his era.

As Anglo-Spanish relations deteriorated during the 1580’s, Drake was called on by the Crown to lead the English naval forces against the Spanish. In 1585, Drake led a fleet against Spanish possessions in the New World, where the colonial cities of San Domingo and Cartagena were captured. Shortly after his return home in July, 1586, Drake was placed in command of an English fleet at Plymouth, and in the spring of 1587, he led an expedition against Spain to disrupt the formation of an armada then assembling to invade England. By attacking the Spanish fleet in Cádiz and destroying more than thirty ships and tons of supplies, Drake delayed the formation of Philip’s armada for more than a year and also ensured that when it sailed it would be critically weakened.

The effect of Drake’s assault in 1587 was demonstrated in July, 1588, when the Spanish Armada approached England. Drake was the first English commander to intercept the Spanish, and throughout the course of the subsequent battle, his ship the Revenge was always in the forefront of the action. His leadership was largely responsible for the English victory over the Armada, and the triumph provided the capstone for his reputation. Ironically, his unbroken success against the Spanish indirectly led to his death, for in 1595, Queen Elizabeth appointed Drake and Sir John Hawkins co-commanders of a fleet directed to attack Spanish possessions in the New World. During the campaign, both Hawkins and Drake contracted diseases that led to their deaths. A victim of dysentery, Drake died aboard his flagship the Defiance off Porto Bello, Panama, on January 28, 1596, and appropriately was buried at sea.

Significance

At first glance, Drake’s career appears to have been characterized primarily by military exploits at sea. Virtually every action that he took, including even the magnificent feat of exploration and seamanship of the circumnavigation, was warlike, directed against the Spanish empire, and had significant overtones of greed and personal ambition. Yet Drake was far more than one of a long line of successful English warriors, for he personified the spirit of adventure and expressed the indomitable courage and insatiable curiosity that typified the Elizabethan era. Because of Drake and those he inspired, England’s knowledge of the world was vastly expanded, the nation’s economy was stimulated, a national confidence in the ability to overcome the most daunting obstacles was inspired, and a sense of England’s place among the leading powers of Europe was firmly established.

Yet the most important of Drake’s accomplishments came in the area of maritime affairs, for he demonstrated to his countrymen that their destiny lay on the oceans of the world, regardless of whether they defended their island against foreign invaders or sought to explore the unknown lands of the Pacific. The ultimate English adventurer, Drake was more responsible than any of his contemporaries for establishing an international presence for England that endures to the present day.

Bibliography

Bawlf, Samuel. The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, 1577-1580. Vancouver, B.C., Canada: Douglas & McIntyre, 2003. This book reveals evidence that Drake’s secret mission on his circumnavigation of the globe was to explore the Pacific Northwest in an attempt to seek out the Northwest Passage. Beyond this new information, the book provides a multifaceted portrayal of Drake, reconciling his religious convictions with his ruthless acts of piracy. Includes illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, index.

Bradford, Ernle Dusgate Selby. The Wind Commands Me: A Life of Sir Francis Drake. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1965. This work tries to portray Drake as a whole person rather than a naval legend, and manages to delineate his compassion as well as his courage. Altogether a respectable biography.

Coote, Stephen. Drake: The Life and Legend of an Elizabethan Hero. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Biography combines novelistic dramatization of Drake’s life with important analysis of the way his legend became a national symbol through which England understood itself and its global actions. Includes illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, and index.

Corbett, Sir Julian. Drake and the Tudor Navy: With a History of the Rise of England as a Maritime Power. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green, 1898. Reprint. Brookfield, Vt.: Gower, 1988. Despite its overwhelmingly favorable view of Drake, this work remains the standard biographical account. A meticulously scholarly work that includes material gleaned from both English and Spanish manuscript sources, this study also details the rise of England as a maritime power while it relates Drake’s career to that development.

Dudley, Wade G. Drake: For God, Queen, and Plunder. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2003. This entry in Brassey’s Military Profiles series examines Drake’s naval career and his role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Includes photographic plates, illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, and index.

Hampden, John, ed. Francis Drake: Privateer. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1972. A collection of documents relevant to Drake’s exploits that provides a unique view of the range and significance of his achievements. Glossary is particularly helpful.

Kelleher, Brian T. Drake’s Bay: Unraveling California’s Great Maritime Mystery. Cupertino, Calif.: Kelleher & Associates, 1997. Extremely technical and detailed discussion of where Drake claimed to have landed in California, where he most likely landed, and the reasons for the discrepancy. Includes illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, index.

Roche, T. W. E. The Golden Hind. New York: Praeger, 1973. Fascinating study that concentrates on Drake’s ship used in the circumnavigation, life at sea in the sixteenth century, and the role of Sir Christopher Hatton in sponsoring the expedition. The photographs and maps are especially well done.