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By William E. Steinman:
Part 107, Sir Francis Drake:
April 11, 2005:
One of the most colorful characters of the Elizabethan era was Sir Frances Drake (1540 - 1596). We might think of Drake as the dean of the Errol Flynn Captain Blood school of swashbuckling. This guy had a tough start in life, caused in large part by the ongoing Protestant - Catholic conflict. Born to a tenant farmer Protestant in West Country, he and the whole family had to run for it during the Catholic uprising. They ended up in Kent living in an old ship's hulk on the banks of the Thames. From respectable yeoman farmer to poverty was a long fall for the Drakes. To say this kid hated Catholics would be a serious understatement.
With no money in the purse and no bread on the table, Drake had little choice. At age 13 he became an apprentice seaman on a coastal ship. It was a tough route in the North Sea, not for the faint of heart. That is how he earned his journeyman sailing skills. He became so good that the captain of the ship bequeathed it to Drake when he died. Not bad for a kid. After that Drake was a ships captain.
It helps to have powerful relatives and Drake had some in the Hawkins family of Plymouth. The New World was beckoning and they were becoming involved in the West Indies trade. They were about to send a fleet out and the 23 year old Drake sold his ship and joined up. Actually, it was a bit better than joining up, since he was second in command. Now he was a real sailor on the huge Atlantic ocean.
At that time, the West Indies were controlled by Spain and they did not treat English ships very well in what they considered to be their waters. On the first voyage some of their cargos were impounded by the Spaniards. The second voyage was even worse. Just off the coast of Mexico, the fleet was attacked by Spaniards and many of the English seamen were killed. Drake escaped with one of the ships and a burning desire for revenge. If Catholics were just his enemies, Spanish Catholics and King Philip II were the objects of his mania. He was going to get them.
It turned out that good old Lizzy had some investments in the Hawkins venture and she learned of Drakes heroism in the disaster. In 1572, she gave Drake a commission as a privateer (read pirate). For sure, Drake did not need much urging to go against the Spaniards. He took two ships and set out for the New World. There he captured the town of Nombre de Dios in Panama and made off with a huge pile of plunder. He suffered a small wound in the battle, but revenge was nevertheless sweet. He returned to England rich and famous.
During his voyage, England had achieved what proved to be a temporary truce with Phillip II. Drake was willing to bide his time and he did that in the service of the Earl of Essex, helping to put down a rebellion in Ireland. That kept him busy for a couple of years. then, in 1772, his chance came. He was sent by the queen to sail around South America through the Magellan Strait and explore the South Pacific beyond the New World. For sure, he also had implied license to whack heck out of the Spaniards on the way. It was a dream assignment for Drake.
He took off with five ships and reached Brazil in 1578. Once there, he uncovered a mutiny plot and had to execute one of his men. It never ends. After the aborted coup, Drake took three ships through the strait toward the Pacific Ocean. Only Drake got all the way through with his flagship. One other ship, under his second, returned to England assuming Drake had been lost. Meanwhile, Drake, unexpected by the Spaniards, wreaked havoc on their Atlantic shipping and ports. He got away with a shipload of gold, silver, coins, and assorted jewels.
After an attempt at the Northwest Passage back to the Atlantic he gave up on that and eventually continued through the Pacific. He had some adventures along the way, including running onto a reef, but he did continue across the Indian Ocean toward the Cape of Good Hope. He reached the Atlantic about two years after he had left it on the opposite side. He had lost four ships and about 150 men, but he made it back. In September of 1580 Drake sailed triumphantly into Plymouth Harbor. Good old Queen Lizzy came aboard personally to welcome him home and make him a knight.
The folks of Plymouth liked him so much they made him their mayor. Of course, as one of the new rich, Drake had a few detractors amongst the established bluenoses. There is no evidence that this bother him much. Since he was the queen's champion they could not hurt him. About this time, 1585 the Spaniards were really getting torqued about the English incursions. Liz responded by sending Drake with 25 ships to whack the Spanish empire again. He did just that, capturing Santiago and plundering a number of Spanish cities in Florida and the East Indies.
This was not good for Spain. Drake was almost single handedly bringing the Spanish Empire to ruin. The bank of Spain went belly up and Spanish credit went into the toilet. Now Phil II was really put out. In almost desperation he began to put together what became know as the Invincible Armada. Of course, Philip had the blessings of Pope Sixtus V for his venture. The idea, as we know, was to conquer England and bring the heretics to heel.
Well, Lizzy had other plans. She just gave Drake 30 ships and told him to mess up the Spanish plans. Drake carried out his assignment with dispatch. He invaded the harbor at Cadiz and sunk pretty much everything floating. That slowed down the Spanish plans, but did not stop them. It just took a year longer to prepare. So, in 1588 the Armada showed up in the Channel. Lord Howard was the English admiral with Drake as the second in command.
Well, we already know what happened, but this is about Drake and he turned out to be the man of the hour. Howard was apparently clever enough to turn Drake loose. Drake believed God was on his side and, considering what happened, who could argue? The storm took out as many of the Spanish ships as the English did. After that navel battle, Drake was pretty much immortal to the English people. Hero is too wimpy of a word. Demigod is more likely.
The important thing about this whole mess was it's effect on America. Until Drake, Spain had been the sea power of the world. She controlled not just America, but commerce everywhere. After that battle, Spain ceased to figure into world affairs much at all. England became the dominant sea power and America was hers to develop or plunder.
As to Drake, He died in 1596 of fever on an expedition to the
West Indies. He was, as navel tradition of the time dictated,
buried at sea. He was eulogized and deitized in England while,
in Spain he was maligned as a low life thief.
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