Against the backdrop of his time, the fantastic achievements of this single man, Sir Francis Drake, in changing the course of history stand out in sharp relief. Drake came to prominence at a time when England was divesting itself of Catholicism. Religious warfare was waged in varying degrees everywhere in the world. Philip I and Philip II of Spain were engaged in a long-standing cold war which contained, here and there, some hot spots. In the end, it spelled the defeat of most of what Philip II stood for. Elizabeth I, that sly woman, strong and powerful in a country of nine million inhabitants, did not possess much herself to support participation in the struggle. She had little to underwrite it in terms of either army or treasure— even less in naval power.
Drake’s role in shaping the course of English history began during his early years. He was the first of modern admirals to descend from a family of skippers. Many of his relatives were connected in some way with the sea and with ships.
Drake inherited his zealous Protestantism from his father, who was forced to flee the Roman Catholics of the west country of England. The family lived a meager existence until the advent of Elizabeth to the throne. The senior Drake then felt free enough to preach his gospel, and he became a naval chaplain of sorts. An old ship served not only as his chapel, but in it, he raised his family. Young Francis Drake was literally raised in a ship, and until he sailed the seas, he knew no other home.
At ten, Drake was apprenticed to a bark carrying merchandise to and from France. It was a rough beginning for what proved to be a rugged but illustrious career. Drake’s real apprenticeship was served under a cousin, John Hawkins, who quickly taught him the refined elements of raiding Spanish vessels. Drake was 22 years old when he made his longest voyage with Hawkins and participated in the murderous Spanish battle at San Juan de Ulloa. One can be certain that these voyages gave Drake a great deal of practice in the gentle art of raiding Spanish ships and capturing not only Spanish prisoners but slaves who were used in trade. Slave trading, of course, was tacitly a Spanish monopoly, but by various and devious means, it was possible for others to trade in this commodity, even illegally, with the Spaniards. The rules of the game were basic: prey upon any Portuguese or Spanish vessel if it was smaller than the English counterpart. Take it, search it, and remove anything valuable. Hawkins knew the rules well, and so did Drake. Yet Drake, in all his activities, displayed a trait unique for one so engaged. He seldom killed his captives. In fact, frequently, if the ship captured was better than the one he commanded, he exchanged it, sometimes burning his own ship, then left the prisoners ashore and sailed away. None of this, however, detracted from his gallantry.
In addition to the lucrative aspects of the slave trade, the principal object of all men engaged in freebooting was the capture of vessels laden with silver, gold, and precious stones. It should be remembered that Philip II had developed an enormous empire over which he held a rather tenuous reign. He relied heavily on the arrival of silver, gold, and other precious items to maintain his army and bolster Spain’s defenses.
Drake’s first visit to the Caribbean was made when he was twenty-three years old, in November 1566, as part of an expedition mounted by the Hawkins family. Their trading status was an interesting one; they had established the capability for dual-trading— both with and against the Spanish.
The expedition to the Caribbean was commanded by a Captain Lovell. There were four ships in the flotilla with a total tonnage of 350. Drake did not have command of a vessel; it is more likely that he was first mate on one of the ships.
Regardless of his status, this trip afforded him the excellent opportunity to learn navigation and all the aspects of freebooting and sailing. As both Drake and Lovell expected, the ship’s first encounter was with Portuguese vessels. Lovell’s fleet captured five of these off the Cape Verde Islands. Much of the plundered goods on these vessels were sent back to England, and the negro slaves found aboard were subsequently traded illegally with the Spanish merchants. This venture was admittedly self-supporting.
The following year, two Portuguese rogues, Antonio Luis and Andre Homen, convinced the naval board in London that there was a fantastically rich gold mine in Africa close to a suitable harbor. The Queen was equally convinced that the venture was a profitable one. In fact, even affluent individuals in London were persuaded to invest in the voyage.
The occurrence of these events coincided with Drake’s return from his first voyage to the Caribbean. Conveniently, upon his arrival, his cousin John Hawkins invited him to join in this newly-conceived adventure to Africa. Drake readily accepted. However, things did not turn out as hoped. In a confused sequence of events, the two Portuguese vanished, and the Queen and her investors were faced with the realization that their objective, African gold, was not within their reach.
The Queen, undaunted as usual, was not deterred too long. She merely changed her objective: the fleet was ordered to pick up negroes on the Guinea coast and sell them in the Indies. It may seem shocking to learn that the Queen was overtly engaged in the slave trade, yet it is simply another example of the deviations of moral attitudes of the times.
This venture in human commodity was unrewarding until a local king in Sierra Leone asked for help in conquering a town called Conga. Hawkins was not at all reluctant to assist. He set the town afire and released a number of Africans. Not all of them fared too well. The Conga king had a barbecue of some of his captives, but 260 did somewhat better. They remained with Hawkins. As a result, Hawkins set off for the west with approximately 500 negroes below decks, the others he had collected in various sorties made along the African coast.
Hawkins’ fleet measured ten ships. Of one, the Judith, he gave command to Drake. She was his first ship. The fleet landed at a poor island called Marguerita, where, after having been at sea for six months, supplies of food and water were available in exchange for English cloth and slaves for meat and grain. Because of the Spanish law forbidding trade of this kind, especially that involving slaves, the transaction was illegal. Like other illicit activity, this was conveniently overlooked.
The raid on Nombre de Dios is a classic example of Drake’s daring and audacity. After having set out in four small pinnaces, sailing vessels that can be classified as landing craft, he made a sneak landing at Nombre de Dios with only small arms and seventy men. A fierce battle erupted. Drake nearly captured the Spaniards’ port of exit on the east, but he paid almost a fatal price—he was wounded and bled badly. His men persuaded him to abort the capture of the rich prize they came for: tons of gold and silver. He acquiesced, and they all barely escaped to their ships, with only a moderate booty to show for their efforts: a wine ship from the Canaries, which they took as they left the bay.
Meager prize or not, Drake’s raid was soon broadcast everywhere by dispatch boats. When he later sailed into Cartagena, an important center, it was obvious that the alert had been well sounded. Drake, however, was not to be deterred. He managed to steal a 240-ton cargo from under the shore guns and towed it out to sea. In addition, he seized two dispatch boats on his way to a small island. He burned one and turned the other into a stores ship. Now, Drake had a fleet larger than he could man. So he had his brother, on the ship Swan, contrive a leak in the boat, and it sunk.
With this new fleet, Drake prowled the Spanish Main, collecting provisions and robbing some unfortunate small boats along the way. He also built four storehouses thirty to forty miles apart, each containing enough food and provisions for the company, should one or more of them be captured or discovered.
Drake set up his main base on some rocky islands, the Mulatas Archipelago, and subsequently made contact with the Cimarrons on the islands. The Cimarrons were sympathetic to Drake’s goals. Descendants of escaped slaves, they were constantly harassed by their Spanish oppressors and welcomed the opportunity for revenge. A collaboration resulted, and Drake and the Cimarrons effected another raid on Cartagena. It too was unrewarding: all narrowly escaped the Spanish shore batteries. This was compounded by the dwindling supplies of food and water. After some discussion, the fleet headed for Curaçao. This time luck came their way. They intercepted a Spanish ship of 90 tons, from which they were able to take some food and supplies. But again, the tiny spate of good fortune was short-lived. The small crew was stricken with yellow fever. Drake’s brother died, as did some members of the expedition. Yet Drake continued the raids. Another Spanish frigate fell victim, providing the party with maize, hens, pumpkins, and 15 Spaniards. This new bonanza made it possible for Drake to organize his land journey across the interior southwards toward Panama and the Great South Sea of the Pacific. Drake now had 18 Englishmen in his party. Twenty-eight of his original crew had died of fever or were still too sick to be useful. Five were left to guard the Spanish prisoners. Thirty Cimarrons acted as guides and bearers; their skill at hunting helped maintain the food supply.
After four difficult, but exciting days, Drake and his men reached the summit of a hill and built a platform. From here, Drake had his first sight of the two oceans simultaneously: the blue Caribbean and the vast yellow South Sea. This sight, of course, only fed his ambition to explore that expanse of water. Yet this too would have to wait. Through a foolish mistake that revealed their position, Drake lost a treasure valued at approximately 35,000 pounds. Even worse, he nearly lost his life.
While Drake’s raids continued on shipping in the area, it was learned that a French ship was nearby. This vessel provided Drake with news from England, the most important of which was Elizabeth’s excommunication. But the meeting also brought the French and English together for mutual purpose. They joined ranks and turned their efforts toward raiding Spanish mule trains. It was a wise consolidation, yielding considerable tonnage of gold and silver, which was buried for safekeeping.
The attack appalled the Spaniards. A report to the King read as follows: “These English have shamelessly opened the door and a way by which with impunity, whenever they wish, they will attack mule trains traveling overland by which must necessarily come and go the gold and silver belonging to your majesty and private persons…”
A more correct appraisal of Drake’s intentions could not have been made. His plundering continued. He had escaped with 45,000 pounds worth of gold. But alas, when he reached the coast, there were signs that the Spanish had discovered his hiding place. Again, this English seadog rose to the occasion. He constructed two rafts and persuaded the crew to get the strange craft underway. It carried a sail made of a biscuit sack and an oar shaped from a young tree. It passed the cruising Spanish frigates unseen. On reaching the sequestered pinnaces, Drake heartened his men with the news that he had managed to amass a large store of gold and silver and hide it successfully as well.
Drake was aware that the entire coast was now alerted to his presence, so he decided it was time to head for home. After all, 442 days at sea and a fine treasure to show for it. What remained? Yet, not all had been perfect. Drake had paid dearly for his prize. About one-half of the crew that began the trip remained. The total loot was not all his: it had to be divided with the French who participated in its capture. An estimated 20,000 pounds remained for the English. Drake retained the larger share, with the rest going to the seamen. But the important fact remained: Drake had become the most respected and feared of all privateers sailing the seas. And perhaps, the richest.
For Drake, his share guaranteed a secure future. With it, he bought a house in Plymouth, acquired three good ships of his own, and underwrote approximately two years of commercial shipping.
About this time, the concept of the future of England as a great power was evolving. A group of important politicians and businessmen close to the Queen believed this goal could be attained through ships and shipping. Let England discover new routes to the exotic and unknown world beyond… perhaps even discover the legendary Terra Australis Incognita. There was no end to the schemes devised by these intellectuals and entrepreneurs close to the Queen. And through them all, the names of Drake and Hawkins prevailed.
It was finally decided that Drake would lead the expedition to find new routes to the west. But, it was also decided secrecy was paramount to the success of the venture. So word was passed that Drake was going to Scotland.
The most affluent people of London underwrote the trip, and the Queen, it is surmised, contributed about 1,000 pounds. The fleet organized consisted of five ships. Drake’s own vessel, the Pelican, was outfitted elaborately. Bronze cannons with his arms engraved on them were made for Drake. His cabin befitted the most noble captain with its appointments for sumptuous living. It was the most lavish of all the ships. The four others completing the fleet were the Elizabeth, the Marigold, the Swan, and the Christopher.
The deception held. Drake managed to sail unnoticed and headed for Morocco. En route, two Portuguese prizes were taken, and best of all, Nunez de Silva, a pilot, who had considerable experience in Brazilian coastal waters. The fleet moved southward. More prizes were taken, not least of which were maps and information.
The journey lacked neither danger nor disappointment. During the cold winter along the coast of Brazil, Doughty, one of Drake’s captains, was suspected of fomenting mutiny. His plan was foiled, and the ship’s jury brought down a verdict of guilty. Doughty was beheaded. The incident was a disruptive one for the entire crew, but it gave Drake the opportunity to reaffirm his authority. Even more so, it helped establish a form of justice that prevailed during the hardships to come.
It should be noted here that the use of jury trial aboard ship was a very uncommon practice. But Drake’s employment of it was beneficial to his command, not only with respect to the seamen but to the aristocrats aboard. It was not uncommon in Drake’s time to allow the latter to travel on such expeditions. Yet, unquestionably, their lack of seaworthiness and know-how made them vulnerable to unrest. Drake had to point out to them, as well as to the crew, that if Drake’s and England’s mission did not succeed, all would be scorned and abandoned once they returned to England. After the Doughty affair, there was no further dissension.
When the weather cleared, the fleet sailed for the Straits of Magellan. Now, after having been reduced to three ships, the name of the Pelican was changed to the Golden Hind, in honor of Hatton, Captain of the Guard, whose crest it was. The ships passed through the Straits without incident. They caught penguins and other birds for food. But it was one of the rare assists from nature. The voyage was very rough. As they entered the Pacific, they were met by a terrific storm which blew ceaselessly for three weeks, driving the fleet south by at least 600 miles. It was snowing and the seas were uncharted. The vessels separated from each other. One went down with all hands. Finally, when a lull occurred, a landing was managed very near where they first entered the Pacific. No sooner had they anchored when another fierce gale developed, forcing them again out to sea. The Pelican, captained by Winter, finally gave up trying to establish a rendezvous with Drake and returned to England. Drake and the Golden Hind were forced farther south until he reached the Cape, and it was there that he realized that this was the end of the continent.
It was a startling revelation: that there was an end to the landmass and that south of it there was only open sea to the polar ice cap. Australia, if it existed at all, must go to the west. Drake’s calculations turned out to be quite accurate. He established Cape Horn as being at latitude 56 degrees; it is actually 55 degrees, 58 seconds.
The passage through the Straits took its toll. The hard winter had reduced Drake’s fleet to one. The original complement of 100 men had been diminished to just 80—all aboard the Golden Hind.
Drake was now in a position, however, to explore the west coast of South America. Again, near disaster. At his first landfall at the little island of Mocha, Indians ambushed a landing party and killed or captured a number of Drake’s men. Drake himself was wounded several times by arrows. Yet, there was recompense. Two weeks later, the English captured a Spanish ship off Valparaiso. With it came a bounty of 25,000 pesos of gold, 37,000 ducats, and a large crucifix set with emeralds. A little town they subsequently raided provided wine and provisions. At one point, time allowed them to clean and trim the Golden Hind, making it a first-class battle wagon.
These recent forays of Drake did not go unnoticed. News that the English had found a route to the west had reached Chile and possibly the entire west coast of South America. It was supposedly responsible for the demise of the Chilean governor.
The English, meanwhile, went on to a point of rendezvous, expecting to meet the other members of the original fleet. But they were nowhere to be found. So Drake sailed north, making small sorties along the way, with some small profits to boot. On to Peru. This stop gained him no riches but a store of information.
He learned that the kings of Morocco, Fez, and Portugal had all been killed in battle in one day. He found out that the Pope had died, as had the King of France. But perhaps the news that upset him most, giving rise to his religious fervor, was that 26 Protestant prisoners had been burned at the stake at Lima, only a few miles away. His fury led to a destructive act: he cut the cables of every ship in the harbor and chopped down the masts of the bigger vessels, leaving the entire harbor of ships at the mercy of the winds and the waves.
The Viceroy, appalled by Drake’s continued success, vowed that Spanish honor demanded Drake’s capture and trial. Drake, however, was not within anyone’s reach. He was already far out at sea. One ship did catch sight of him, but the crew was too seasick to take chase.
The Viceroy, however, was not content to give up his pursuit of Drake. His pride and that of his country were at stake. He sent a fast ship to all ports along the coast with news that an English corsair was in the area. Two weeks later, he sent two heavily armed ships in pursuit of Drake. Yet no one was quite sure what direction to take. While disagreement reigned, Drake was already preparing his next move. He wanted a greater prize, the ship Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, which he learned held a large supply of gold and silver. During his search for her, Drake managed to capture another vessel bearing gold, a large crucifix, and some emeralds, which later found their way to the Queen’s crown.
This capture provided him with the news he wanted to hear: the Nuestra Señora was only a short distance away. Her capture turned out to be an easy one and her bounty even better: 40,000 pesos of silver and gold, enough to pay all costs of the expedition as well as rich dividends for the shareholders.
Drake transferred the bounty to his ship, but his generosity prevailed. He gave the ship’s owner, Señor San Juan, gifts and supplied the crew with clothes and money. He also gave San Juan a safe conduct letter in case he should encounter any members or ships of Drake’s lost fleet. His farewell words to San Juan are worth noting: “We will henceforth keep your Saint’s Day once a year. Take your ship and go with God’s blessing to Panama. Tell them what they call ‘Magellan Straits’ is open sea through which I shall come back to visit them.”
Drake went to Coronado and then to the Mexican seaport of Guatulco. When the inhabitants recognized that an English ship was entering the harbor, they all took to the hills. Their alarm resulted in a dispatch to the Viceroy of Mexico warning of Drake’s arrival. The Viceroy, Don Martin de Enrique, was already an old enemy of Drake. He organized a party to capture him. But like others before him, Enrique was too late. By the time the party was organized, Drake had been to sea for two months. The Spaniards never caught sight of him. Sailing along due west, Drake traversed 1,500 miles of ocean. Then he turned north and finally reached what was approximately 42 degrees north, a location near what is now the Oregon/California border. He had established another seafaring record: he had traveled further north on the American coast than anyone before him. The closest approach to this record was the landfall at Cape Mendocino sighted by Cabrillo in 1542.
Bad weather struck again. It is believed that they were actually pushed farther north, perhaps almost as far as Vancouver Island. Drake believed that they were close to the Arctic Circle. In any event, the fog was so thick and the squalls so heavy, compounded by snow and hail, that it was decided that they had gone as far north as they could. Yet their sailing almost 700 miles of the California coast did bring them to a point most researchers claim as Drake’s Bay. It was here that their precious store was put ashore and a fort built, from which to deal with the representatives of Spain.
The controversy surrounding Drake’s landing in California continues to this day. Some say he landed at Bodega Bay rather than at Drake’s Bay. A strong advocate of San Francisco Bay as the landing spot is Robert Power, who recently reviewed the entire matter in the California Historical Quarterly. It is Power’s argument that the only map associated with Drake’s landing in California is the Portis Novae Albionis. He analyzes it in various ways to show that the landing was most likely at Point San Quentin. It would seem logical that this was the actual site for a number of reasons other than the geographical ones. They relate to the descriptions of the Indians and their culture.
One striking point to me, being a modest sailor, is that no one ever careened a ship in Drake’s Bay. It is an exposed harbor and certainly subject to strong winds and waves: far from being a place to land a ship for repairs and careening. It seems to me to be a highly dangerous place to do so.
On the other hand, the shoals around Point San Quentin are admirably suited to this sort of activity, being protected from the wind and also not subject to waves of any height at all. Furthermore, in subsequent history, Point San Quentin proved to be one of the favorite sites of sailing ships for just these purposes. One of the earliest accounts of this was written by a Mexican sea captain, who wrote in about 1860, of the Indian village citing the same location as that described by Drake’s people. Of course, this controversy is enlarged by the discovery of the Plate of Brass on this location as well. Those who favor San Francisco Bay as being the landing site point out that the Plate was found near Point San Quentin and can actually draw pictures showing how this location corresponds with those in Drake’s writings. Advocates of the San Francisco Bay landing site do not ascribe to the conclusion of some that the Plate was originally found in Marin County.
Unquestionably, Powers’ contentions have added fuel to the fire of controversy. I’ll leave it to you to offer your conjecture as to where Drake first landed in this country. Chances are its resolution is far off.
Drake returned to England famous and rich. The Queen, however, was not quite sure how to handle his success. Was Drake a thief or a hero? Should she punish him or praise him? What would his conquests do to the already eroding Spanish-English relationship?
The Queen met with Drake for six hours. The decision: Drake was a hero. England was rich! He was a hero of such magnitude that he was allowed to register the treasure only after he had abstracted 10,000 pounds for himself and distributed a similar amount among his crew. The rest of the treasure was housed in the Tower of London until its fate was decided.
What was the actual total of the bounty? Each investor received 47 pounds for each pound he ventured. Therefore, it is estimated that they divided a quarter of a million pounds—307,000 pounds. This is besides the Queen’s share, which is presumed to be as much again. In April 1581, six months after the return of the Golden Hind, the total value of the bounty was 600,000 pounds and 263,000 pounds in Spanish coin housed at the Tower of London. Besides, one must not forget the jewels that the Queen could wear, sell, or pawn as she wished.
Drake was the Man of the Hour of the Western World. His stature and his success made it easier for Elizabeth to forget the risk of offending the King of Spain. England’s poverty up to that moment, as measured against Spain’s riches, also made her concern for Spain minimal. England was now rich; ergo, she was strong. In April 1581, she made her way to Deptford where Drake and his ship had remained. There she knighted Drake. There the pirate turned peer and England turned to world dominance and domination. He was truly the fabricator of a new England.
England’s emergence as a great power can be attributed to Drake, although obviously such a grand design was not originally intended by him when he took to sea. Elizabeth must be credited as the head of state. But the rise of England, like other important developments in history, is replete with circumstance and a melding of coincident events that make for interesting and heroic results.
Philip II could not have had two more formidable opponents in his own drive for world domination.
Drake did not always remain in the Queen’s favor. After his failure at Lisbon, and when England’s sights had been diverted toward France, Drake was wise enough to retire from the world’s eyes. But he did not remain inactive. He used his personal fortune to become a country squire and affluent landowner. He even did some town planning; he organized the landowners in the community to divert a river so that a water supply for drinking and fire-fighting was available.
Drake did not forsake the sea forever. When Elizabeth recognized that during her involvement with France, Spain had rebuilt the Armada, the Queen sent for Drake. She needed him now. Despite Drake’s victories and those of other less noted seamen, the unfinished business of 1588 needed a final signing off.
The story of Drake’s part in defeating the Spanish Armada is worthy of reading. What Drake set out to do, he had done. He had broken the Spanish Armada. He had destroyed Spanish frigates. Although slower in pace, the English fleet managed to capture more prize, but even more important, it continued to prove that with strategy, Spain could be outwitted in the chase.
The full consequences of what Drake had done, and the defeat of the Armada, were not fully absorbed at first. But some things gradually evolved. Naval tactics took on a different look. The battle of the Armada was a new kind of sea war with clumsy ships and guns not really up to the task of such fighting. Drake’s strategy was as much directed toward Philip’s status as against his ships. Shock the Spanish system, damage Philip’s prestige… in the end, the Spanish navy would diminish in activity, power, and force. Other audacious raids followed. The Lisbon expedition, which was only a partial success, was one.
Drake had made one important discovery: the key to his naval strategy—exert a small force at a critical place. One of his first examples of such a ploy was at Panama. He repeated the technique often.
As a consequence of the defeat of the Armada, and the loss at sea of numerous vessels, new Spanish ships of greater speed and heavier armor were built. Garrisons in the Caribbean were reinforced and prepared for raids. In 1595, the restless Drake and his cousin Hawkins persuaded the Queen to permit them to make large-scale raids on the Caribbean. These ended in failure and in the death at sea of Drake.
Thomson sums Drake up best in his description: “He had defied one entrenched power and elbowed his way into another, and they felt in a confused way that he had done so as their representative. He had sailed around the world, a heroic feat, and had plundered the rich, a praiseworthy form of crime in the eyes of the poor. And, if he had become rich himself, with results that were there for all to see—showy clothes, plate, jewels, and fine estates—these were outward signs of wealth that men understood and approved. He was good-natured, with a nice fit of ironical wit; humane to a degree extraordinary in that rough age; fond of hearing his own voice, listening politely to the advice of others and then going his own way.”
In short, Drake was a man of character, whose eccentricity set him apart from the ordinary.
Thomas Carlyle wrote some lines that are most applicable to Drake: “There is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a biography, the life of a man; also, it may be said, there is no life of a man, faithfully recorded, but is a heroic poem of its sort, rhymed or unrhymed.”