Drake, Sir Francis

Drake, Sir Francis (about 1540-96), sailor, b. Crowndale, near Tavistock, Devon, England.

Francis Drake first went to sea as a boy and at fifteen served in a ship carrying slaves from Africa to Spanish settlements in South America.

Later Queen Elizabeth I gave him permission to attack and rob Spanish ships at sea. This made him a privateer but the Spaniards called him a pirate.

In 1572 Drake attacked Nombre de Dios on the Isthmus of Panama and ambushed a rich mule train carrying gold, silver and precious stones.

In 1577 he left England again in the Pelican, which he later renamed Golden Hind, and sailed through the Straits of Magellan to attack Spanish settlements in the Pacific. Then he sailed on and became the first Englishman to sail around the world, returning with treasure worth nearly £1 million.

Queen Elizabeth knighted him and King Philip II of Spain set a price of twenty thousand ducats on his head.

In 1585 war broke out between England and Spain and a great armada (fleet) began to assemble at Cadiz. With twenty-three ships, Drake sailed boldly under the cannons guarding the harbour and destroyed thirty Spanish ships. But Philip's Great Armada was sighted off Land's End in June 1588. The news reached Drake as he was playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe and he said, 'Let us finish our game first and attend to the Spanish afterwards.'

In the defeat of the Armada, Drake was captain of a galleon named Revenge. Afterwards, he stayed ashore for some years, representing Plymouth in Parliament. But, in 1595, he sailed once more for America and died at sea.

He was buried in the waters of Porto Bello Bay off Nombre de Dios.

See John Sugden Sir Francis Drake