Sir Francis Drake (1543-1596)

English admiral

Sources

An English Hero. Sir Francis Drake was the most renowned and successful English privateer of the late sixteenth century. His raids on Spanish settlements and shipping in the New World made him a hero to his countrymen, a man of great wealth, and a thorn in Philip II’s side. Most important, his success inspired thousands of British merchants and gentlemen to organize privateering expeditions in the Caribbean as a way both to earn profits and to undercut Spanish power.

A Born Sea Dog. Drake’s life at sea began at the age of thirteen when he became a pilot in the North Sea coastal trade. Around the age of twenty he joined his powerful and wealthy cousin, Sir John Hawkins, in the semi-illicit Spanish Caribbean trade. Harsh, heavy-handed treatment at the hands of Spanish officials during his first voyage to the New World (1566) inflamed Drake’s already virulent hatred of Catholic Spain. Spanish actions further enraged Drake during his second voyage (1567) when forces under the command of Viceroy Martín Enríquez attacked a five-ship squadron commanded by Hawkins at San Juan de Ulúa. Only the ships commanded by Hawkins and Drake survived the battle.

Fortune and Reputation. Personal, patriotic, and religious motives led Drake to raid Spain’s New World possessions three times between 1570 and 1572. The first two expeditions proved unsuccessful, but the third ended with the capture of the annual Peruvian silver caravan at Nombre de Dios in Panama. In 1577 Drake embarked with a small flotilla on an exploratory and predatory voyage up the western side of the Americas. After raiding Spanish shipping and settlements along the South American coast and claiming present-day California for Britain he returned to Plymouth via the Cape of Good Hope, thus becoming the first English captain to circumnavigate the globe. Along with the Nombre de Dios raid, this trip secured Drake’s fortune and reputation. More important, the two expeditions inspired hundreds of English merchants and gentlemen to take up privateering along the Spanish Main.

War with Spain. Drake played a pivotal part in the early phase of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604). Following the outbreak of hostilities in 1585, Queen Elizabeth I sent a twenty-three-ship fleet under Drake’s command to attack Spanish vessels and colonies in the New World. The yearlong raid was spectacularly effective: Drake sacked Cartagena, Santo Domingo, and St. Augustine and swept the Caribbean of Spanish shipping. In 1587, he led a crushing naval attack on the Spanish port of Cadiz that sank twenty ships and delayed the sailing of the Armada by a year. When the Armada put to sea in 1588, his leadership and daring proved critical in its defeat.

Later Career. Drake’s fortunes declined rapidly beginning in 1589. That year he led a 150-ship attack on Lisbon that failed as spectacularly as the raid on Cadiz had succeeded. He consequently lost favor with Elizabeth and was forced into semiretirement. In 1595 he returned to service for a joint raid with Hawkins on Spain’s New World possessions. Despite high expectations, the cruise failed to match the success of Drake’s earlier Caribbean sweeps because the Spanish had greatly improved their defenses and because Drake and Hawkins clashed over the expedition’s objectives. The raid proved to be Drake’s last. He died of dysentery on 28 January 1596 and was buried at sea off the coast of Panama.

Sources

Kenneth R. Andrews, The Spanish Caribbean: Trade and Plunder, 1530–1630 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978);

Karen Ordhal Kupperman, Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman&Allandheld, 1984);

James A. Williamson, Sir Francis Drake (New York: Colliers Books, 1962);

J. Leitch Wright Jr., Anglo-Spanish Rivalry in North America (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1971).