Sir Francis Drake was the first English navigator to sail around the world. He was an explorer and military leader. Drake raided Spanish shipping and became the greatest pirate of his time. His fleets destroyed the powerful Spanish Armada. Queen Elizabeth I supplied him with money and ships, but it was his daring and military genius that helped England become a major sea power.

For most of Drake's life, Queen Elizabeth I ruled the country.

Queen Elizabeth I

It was a time when England was growing in population, power and wealth, and was also becoming interested in expanding her kingdom. New markets and colonies were needed, so that English produce, especially wool, could be traded. England wanted 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. 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, not rich or powerful. His family was a very  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 an important 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.

Francis Drake's Voyage Around the World.

Late in 1577, Francis Drake left England with five ships to the Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Magellan. The fleet crossed the Atlantic, via the Cape Verde Islands, to a Brazilian landfall.

Running down the Atlantic South American coast there were storms, sailors deserting and battles with natives. Before leaving the Atlantic, Drake lightened the expedition by disposing of two unfit ships and one English gentleman, who was tried and executed for mutiny. After rallying his men and unifying his command with a remarkable speech, Drake renamed his flagship, previously the Pelican, the Golden Hind.

the Golden Hind

In September of 1578, the fleet, now three ships, sailed through the deadly Strait of Magellan only to run into terrific Pacific storms. For two months the ships were in mortal danger, unable to sail clear of the weather or to stay clear of the coast.

 The ships were scattered, and the smallest, the Marigold, sunk with all hands. The Elizabeth found herself back in the strait and turned around and went back to England.

 Meanwhile, the Golden Hind  had been blown far to the south, where Drake discovered that there was open water below the South American continent.

The storms stopped, and the Golden Hind was finally able to sail north along the Pacific South American coast, into the waters of King Philip of Spain. The first stop, for food and water, was at the (now) Chilean Island of Mocha, where the residents laid an  ambush, because they though these English sailors were the Spanish, whom they hated.

For the next five and a half months Drake raided Spanish settlements at Valpariso, Lima and Arica, and captured Spanish ships, including the rich treasure ship "Cacafuego".  During all this plundering neither the Spanish nor the natives were intentionally harmed, there was very little violence, and there were very few casualties. Drake's crew in the Pacific was of unknown number, with estimates ranging from around sixty to one hundred men.

After stopping to make repairs at an island, Cano, off the coast of Southern Mexico, the Golden Hind, loaded with treasure, including perhaps twenty-six tons of silver, sailed out of Spanish waters in April of 1579.

Sailing first westerly and then northerly, well off the shore of North America, the leaking Golden Hind reached what now includes most of Washington, all of Oregon, and a sliver of California. He named this place Nova Albion, and claimed this land for the Queen. In June of 1579, Drake found a harbor - reportedly at 48, 44, 38 1/2, or 38 degrees. He stayed in this now lost harbor for over five weeks, repairing the Golden Hind and enjoying extensive and peaceful contact with the Indians. Before he left he set up a monument, in the form of an engraved metal plate, which has never been found. Many believed this "Nova Albion" was Drakes Bay in Marin County. But no one knows for sure.

Drake's Bay

After stopping briefly at some nearby islands to fill out his food storage, Drake turned his back to America and sailed into the Pacific. The crossing was uneventful, and landfall was made in sixty eight days, at an unknown location.

The next months were spent puttering about in the Indonesa. The Golden Hind ran hard onto a reef in apparent open water but were able to continue.

Continuing westward, the Golden Hind crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope into the Atlantic, sailed up the coast of Africa, and arrived in England in the fall of 1580, nearly three years and some 36,000 miles after they started. Upon his return, the Queen rewarded Drake with a large sum of money (£10,000).

Drake's Routes

On a later voyage, Drake died of fever at sea near Panama around 1596. He was on a voyage intending to attack Spanish colonies in the West Indies.