Introduction | Sir Francis Drake | Sir John Hawkins | Sir Martin Frobisher
Sir Humphrey Gilbert | Sir Richard Grenville | Sir Richard Hawkins | Sir Walter Ralegh

Sir Francis Drake

1542-1596

Francis Drake towered above all the other sailors of his day. A brilliant seaman, he was ambitious, brave and ruthless in piracy and war.

Drake was born to strongly Protestant Devon farmers who were driven from their home by a Catholic uprising. He made his first voyage with his cousin, the pirate and slave trader John Hawkins, and was with him on the 1567 expedition to New Spain (Mexico) that was ambushed by the Spanish at San Juan de Ulua. The four-day battle left many English dead, and saw the capture of the slave cargo and a ship owned by Queen Elizabeth.

From then, there was open hostility between Spain and England, and Drake himself was fired with a desire for revenge. He became England's most successful pirate, relentlessly seizing Spanish cargoes of spice, precious metals and coin. In 1572, he went on a pillaging spree in Panama, carrying off silver and gold from a mule train and raiding several Spanish ships. He took £20,000 worth of booty back to England – equivalent to millions today.

At the end of 1577, Drake and his crew became the first Englishmen to sail round the world, travelling down the coast of South America and through the Spanish- controlled Strait of Magellan into the Pacific. The Spanish were duly horrified – especially when Drake again raided their harbours in Cuba and Peru (with his queen's blessing). He then sailed up to California, claiming it for England, and on to the Moluccas, where he arranged for England to run the clove trade, before heading home in 1581.

He brought back enough treasure to pay off the entire national debt and Elizabeth promptly knighted him. He equally promptly bought a large manor house and became an MP. His crew received nothing.

In 1585, Elizabeth commissioned Drake to raid Spanish settlements in the Caribbean – an open act of war. King Philip of Spain began arming his fleet, but his invasion plans were held up when Drake sailed into Cadiz harbour in 1587 and 'singed the king of Spain's beard' by capturing and sinking over 24 ships.

When the Spanish Armada attacked the following year, Drake, as vice-admiral of the English fleet, successfully harried the enemy with his ship, the Revenge, though he enraged some of his comrades – particularly Frobisher – by indulging in a spot of piracy against the Spanish payship, the Rosario. He advocated using fireships to scatter the Spanish fleet and, in the ensuing battle at Gravelines, fought brilliantly against the Spanish commander Medina-Sidonia.

After the defeat of the Armada, Drake returned to sea, but his glory days were over: a joint sea-and-land attack on Lisbon was a shambles. In 1595, Drake and Hawkins made a last voyage to the Caribbean to try and capture the Spanish treasure fleet. They were thwarted by improved fortifications – the Spanish had learnt from the past – and struck down by disease: Drake died in January 1596 and was buried at sea. He has since become a legendary figure in English history.

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