Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596) is perhaps the most remarkable character in the history of Western civilization. His accomplishments define perfectly the seafaring era called the age of exploration.
Raised by protestant parents in an English harbor town, Drake studied the Bible and learned about sailing the big ships at a very young age. Francis was his father’s second son and therefore, would not receive his father’s estate. This is perhaps the force that drove him to seek out his own stake in life. But there were other forces at work within him as well.
It is no secret that Drake hated Catholicism and those who fought to defend the Roman Catholic Church. It is known that Drake’s father was a Protestant minister. As a young commander sailing in the Caribbean he narrowly escaped death from Spanish raiders of the Mexican coast. Many of the ships sailing with him weren’t so lucky.
Becoming the Most Feared Pirate Captain
Motivated by his experiences Drake resolved to robbing and destroying Spanish trade routes and harbors in the New World. The most feared pirate of the seafaring age was born in Francis Drake.
Becoming Greatest among the Famous Explorers
On one of his pirate expeditions in the New World Drake stole a great deal of gold from the Spanish. They in turn were hotly pursuing him to retrieve it. However, with the Spanish between him and England, he took serious evasive measures. Drake sailed below South America and then deep into northern Pacific waters where California, Oregon, and Washington meet. This was farther North than any of the European explorers yet ventured.
Drake followed the Spanish to the Philippines to steal even more of their valuable cargos where he made the decision to sail around the rest of the earth. This made him the first Explorer to circumnavigate the earth.
Only one other man, Ferdinand Magellan, had attempted this feat fifty years prior. Magellan did not himself survive the trip and only eighteen members of his crew returned.
Three years later, after attempted mutinies, abandonment, sickness, skirmishes, and dreadful weather systems he and a handful of crew sailed on the heavy laden Golden Hind safely back into England. So impressed by Drake’s daring Queen Elizabeth herself met him in Plymouth harbor (about 160 miles from London) on his own ship, The Golden Hind, and knighted him there.
Drake brought back so much wealth from his travels that England was able to pay off her current debts and have working revenue on hand for years into the future. This amazing accomplishment set up the fervent Protestant as a national hero.
Elizabeth’s response was to unleash the Dragon on Spanish ships and harbor towns. Drake went above and beyond his queen’s calling. He sacked Spanish holdings from South America to the Caribbean all the way up to St. Augustine in Florida and even further along the North American coast. He ended his raiding expedition by rescuing the survivors of Raleigh’s Roanoke colony in North Carolina.
Defeating the Spanish Armada
In 1588 Spain sent one hundred and thirty aging and weathered warships into the English Channel. Drake successfully led the defensive forces against the great Spanish Armada. What ships England did not destroy, the weather did. Spain suffered terribly from this loss and never truly recovered. It is seen as the beginning of the end of Spanish dominance on the Atlantic.
Sir Francis Drake, The Dragon Dies at Sea
Drake served for a time as governor of the great harbor town of Plymouth and in the house of commons where he represented the people of Bossiney. Having grown tired of politics Drake fostered a plan to again upset the Spanish in their harbors in the Caribbean and South America in much the same way he did as a younger man. The plan however, was based on old intelligence and Drake’s goals could not be met.
Though Drake’s later record pales in comparison to his earlier exploits, he never ceased to strike fear in the hearts of Spanish sailors. Sir Francis Drake was 56 when he grew ill from dysentery and died off the coast of Puerto Bella. He was buried at sea.
Driven by religious passion and patriotic fervor a simple sailor rallied his nation to greatness. His legacy was part of a wave of national pride that propelled British supremacy beyond that of all Europe.
References:
Trevelyan, Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002.
Burns, Edward McNall. World Civilizations:Their History and Their Culture. New York: Norton & Company, 1980.
Alan Villiers. “Sir Francis Drake.”, National Geographic, last accessed 9/23/2009.
 |
