Sir Francis Drake's Adventurous Life

Spain under King Philip the second, was the most powerful nation in Europe at the time and sought to weaken Elizabeth’s reign and have her replaced. So, for the Queen to keep her power and avoid open conflict with Spain, England engaged in an “aggressive para-naval policy towards Spain; and sought to counter Spanish expansion in the New World. Privateering expeditions were under the guise of seeking new channels for English trade, but in fact the expeditions mainly attacked Spanish colonies in the New World. The English privateer John Hawkins, was one of the first hired and supported by England to attack Spanish colonies and trading vessels. Hawkins was the first Englishman to trade slaves in the New World, however he employed “warlike” methods of forcing trade and engaged a and defeated a Spanish fleet in the harbor of Vera Cruz. Another famous privateer who was utilized by the English government was Sir Francis Drake. Drake obtained a privateering commission from Queen Elizabeth in 1570, to strike at Spanish trading vessels and port cities. In the years that followed, he sacked the Spanish towns of Nombre de Dios and Panama, which in the process he captured a Spanish sliver mule train. Under Elizabeth's orders, Drake sent sail on December. 13, 1577, where he sought to raid Spain's Pacific colonies he knew were hardly defended. He circumnavigated the globe in the process and

Sir Francis Drake is known for England's defeat of the Spanish Armada. He was a sea dog and he sailed around the world. Drake was actually the first one to sail around the world since Magellan died in his journey.

These natural circumstances prevented the English ships from being able to leave the harbor. There was almost nothing the English could do but wait for the tide to turn. If fact, Drake and Howard finished playing a game of bowls even after they got the news that the Spanish Armada was approaching. Their inability to leave the port set them at a disadvantage; however, the Spanish did not take the opportunity to attack them while they were practically defenseless. Instead, they kept on sailing towards Flanders. This lack of aggression on the Spanish part is due to the fact that the Armada did not have many offensive military strategies. If the Spanish were more prepared to fight a sea battle, they most likely could have sailed into Plymouth Harbor and attacked without much opposition. Nevertheless, that was not the case, so the Armada kept sailing and was forced to miss what could have been an opportunity for an easy and effective

Her most famous success story is the Spanish Armada. Phillip’s plan was to “win control of the English Channel, to rendezvous with the Duke of Parma off the coast of Holland, and to transport Parma’s army of some 30,000 men from the Netherlands across the Channel”(Doc 7). Elizabeth made a two step assault that first trapped Medina Sidonia in Calais Roads, where Parma could not join him for fear of the Dutch. Then, she sent fire ships in disguised as bomb-ships, which are deadly, and successfully confused the Spanish ships and forced them to flee. Finally, at the battle off Gravelines, the English used long-range guns to win. From this battle England gained prestige. The Spanish Armada proves that Elizabeth was a capable ruler who understood military strategy and the importance of protecting her country and

Before Christmas 1606, three ships left London’s Blackwall docks to establish a settlement on Chesapeake Bay, in the New World. The largest ship was heavily armed with 120-ton merchantman, carried seventy-one passengers and crew, including the experienced commander of the fleet, Captain Newport; a highly successful privateer. The second ship known as Godspeed followed with fifty-two men on board, while bringing up on third was the tiny pinnace Discovery, which carried twenty-one men crammed together trying to survive the voyage with few space and very limited supplies. Altogether, thirty-nine mariners and 105 adventurers set out to found what would be England’s first permanent colony in America.

Sir Francis Drake - English explorer who attacked Spanish ships/settlements and was secretly backed by Elizabeth II. He circumnavigated the globe, returning with many goods.

It is my belief that Francis Drake’s motivation for the attacks on the Spanish monarchy are a indirect result of the attacks on the Protestants by the Roman Catholics in England at that time. Furthermore the adventual destruction of the Spanish Armada is the result of these attacks on the Spanish shipping in which Protestant Captains like Drake were directly responsible. The underlying reason for the Spanish and English war is the clash of Two European religions in Europe and the new world; among other things like wealth and power. Their are three cruises that show his brilliant seamanship and great leadership, but these cruises show also that he wasn’t one to stick his orders and follow his plans. This is the reason why he was so great, his ability to improvise. But before we look at his seamanship practices we need to look at his early years to understand his reasoning behind his hatred for the Spanish and their religion. This hatred would help him be one of the most successful privateers of the time.

Perceived as a hero by English and pirate by Spinards. The history on Drake is rather interesting. His fame is the product of his legendary expoits, leaving a memorarble trace in English history. His dynamic life and personal achievments have made him an iconic figure. respect among his contemporaries and more generations ahead.

“The two decades of peace allowed England to build its economic and military power, bringing stability and prosperity to the land” (Benson and York Stock 103). Even though Elizabeth wanted to stay at peace, Spain was planning an invasion on England. The queen spent a lot of her resources on building and keeping the English navy strong. In the book, Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I, the author, Jane Thomas states, “Long before, as a provision against a possible struggle, Elizabeth had ordered guns and cannons from the Low Countries.” In 1578, she appointed a privateer named John Hawkins to become the treasurer of the navy.

Five different ships were used in this expedition that set sail from Plymouth South in Devon, England in the year of 1577. Shortly after leaving port the ships were caught in a storm and the Winter’s ship returned to England. Drake remained in the Golden Hind and continued his voyage up the coasts of Chile and Peru where they looted Spanish merchant ships. After setting sail back into Pacific he soon reached California, Vancouver, New Albion, the Philippines, Moluccas, Java, the Cape of Good Hope and Sierra Leone. During this time Drake lost 106 of his men and all of his ships but one. Most of them died from either natural illnesses or being killed during battle. In September of 1580, Drake returned to England with the accomplishment

“The ocean that had chased them back and made them flee for the shelter of the ice pack is the worst ocean on the globe.”(82) Drake's Passage can be considered to be “the worst ocean on the globe”(82) by many. This treacherous ocean is an 800 kilometer wide gap between South america’s Cape Horn and South Shetland Island of Antarctica. What makes Drakes passage considered to be the worst on the globe? Sailing through this passage is incredibly dangerous because of its insane winds. On the Beaufort scale is has known to have winds from category 10-123. Drakes passage is extremely deep. The Average depth being 11,000 feet and the deepest trench going all the way down 15,400 feet4. Drakes passage is known to have two different moods. The first one is the drake Lake it is when the ocean is a clear as a lake with no wind or waves just nice sailing. Normally it's the second mood the drake shake, this is when the passage has ferocious roaring winds which creates enormous waves, not a fun time. In 1578 there was an Explorer named Sir Francis Drake that went through the Strait of Magellan. When he went through the Strait of Magellan he lost 4 ships. After his last ship made it through it got pushed farther south and that's when drake realized that there is a another route for ships further south. Then the bottleneck was named Drake Passage after him.

Philip had even prepared the invasion of England since the beginning of his reign. We know that by 1574 he had already prepared a fleet, under Pedro Menendez de Avilés, composed by 300 boats and around 30.000 men in Santander,

Francis Drake was born in Crowndale ,England to Edmund Drake in the first half of the 16th century . His father was a priest. These are the only fact that all the scholars have agreed. When doing my research for Francis Drake, there have been many constructions of Francis Drake life to convey Francis Drake as a great Pirate, Admiral, and Hero; Benson conveys Francis Drake as a the hero with no connections, a lower class upbringing in contrast to Corbett who conveys a Drake as the ideal gentleman from a middle class upbringing Corbet conveys the background of Francis Drake on how he became to work for Queen Elizabeth’s navy. My question is which depiction of Drake is the most accurate and Why is Francis Drake depicted differently , throughout the different time periods since his birth? I will present the three different historiographies that depict Francis Drake from Sir Julian Corbett, Harry Kelsey and E.F.Benson point of view. I will then state flaws within their construction of Drake. I will also be using Sir Francis Drake : The Construction of a Hero by Bruce Wathen, to understand the reasons for the different narration of Drake through material culture of each period.

A staggeringly prolific writer, Anglo-Irish Jonathan Swift wrote a great many things. Swift was a tireless intellectual who wrote pamphlets, poems and books. With politics being what they were in the early-to-mid-18th century, Swift had been known to write under various pen names in order to avoid an unwanted attention. Foremost among Swift’s major works, Gulliver’s Travels which was originally published under the title Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World is a superbly clever work still capable of holding a reader’s imagination more than a couple of centuries after it was first published in 1726 (Paula).

With this victory Phillip gained some control over the Mediterranean and his naval dominance was at its peak. Phillip also had control over the Spanish Netherlands which were another important source of wealth. Phillip II’s high tax in the Netherland’s trading system brought upon rebellions which Phillip was unable to shut down easily. In the end only some parts of The Netherlands remained catholic and loyal to Phillip II. Lastly Since there was an alliance between the rebelling Netherlands and England; Phillip planed revenge on England on 1587 not only for revenge but also for hopes of making it catholic once more. To activate his revenge, Phillip gathered a large fleet also known as the “Great Armada” and sent it towards England. Everyone had expected a victory from Phillip II but as the large fleet headed for England it ended up in the middle of a storm which shipwrecked a large portion of the fleet. To Phillips surprise his fleet was weakened furthermore by England’s strategic naval attack using fire ships. Lastly, since Phillip was a pure catholic like his father. He held on to the inquisition policy which targeted mainly Protestants like Calvinists. It was a mistake because it caused uneasiness between Catholicism and Protestantism in Spain. In conclusion Phillip II of Spain not only caused an economic depression for his nation but he destroyed its naval force, was unable to efficiently suppress uprisings in the