How well do you know the life of one of Britain’s great maritime heroes? Discover the truth behind a man who remains a legendary figure of history more than four hundred years after his death. Sir Francis Drake’s career is one of the most colourful on record. The most daring of the corsairs who raided the West Indies and Spanish Main, he led the English into the Pacific, and cirumnavigated the world to bring home the Golden Hind laden with Spanish treasure. His attacks on Spanish cities and ships transformed his private war into a struggle for surivival between Protestant England and Catholic Spain, in which he became Elizabeth I's most prominent admiral and marked the emergence of England as major maritime nation. ‘Excellent...It deserves to become the standard Drake life. His scholarship is impeccable’ Frank McLynn, Sunday Telegraph
Retells in poetry the daring adventures of the explorer who was the first Englishman to sail around the world; helped to defeat the Spanish Armada; and who, encouraged by Queen Elizabeth I, was a feared pirate in his time.
“FASCINATING . . . Dramatic and timely.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice In this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan and Columbus reveals the singular adventures of Sir Francis Drake, whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history. “Entrancing . . . Very good indeed.” —Wall Street Journal Before he was secretly dispatched by Queen Elizabeth to circumnavigate the globe, or was called upon to save England from the Spanish Armada, Francis Drake was perhaps the most wanted—and successful—pirate ever to sail. Nicknamed “El Draque” by the Spaniards who placed a bounty on his head, the notorious red-haired, hot-tempered Drake pillaged galleons laden with New World gold and silver, stealing a vast fortune for his queen—and himself. For Elizabeth, Drake made the impossible real, serving as a crucial and brilliantly adaptable instrument of her ambitions to transform England from a third-rate island kingdom into a global imperial power. In 1580, sailing on Elizabeth’s covert orders, Drake became the first captain to circumnavigate the earth successfully. (Ferdinand Magellan had died in his attempt.) Part exploring expedition, part raiding mission, Drake’s audacious around-the-world journey in the Golden Hind reached Patagonia, the Pacific Coast of present-day California and Oregon, the Spice Islands, Java, and Africa. Almost a decade later, Elizabeth called upon Drake again. As the devil-may-care vice admiral of the English fleet, Drake dramatically defeated the once-invincible Spanish Armada, spurring the British Empire’s ascent and permanently wounding its greatest rival. The relationship between Drake and Elizabeth is the missing link in our understanding of the rise of the British Empire, and its importance has not been fully described or appreciated. Framed around Drake’s key voyages as a window into this crucial moment in British history, In Search of a Kingdom is a rousing adventure narrative entwining epic historical themes with intimate passions.
"The Story of Sir Francis Drake" by Letitia MacColl Elton Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition. He often goes unappreciated, which is why this book by Elton is so important. It shines a light on one of the most important figures in travel history.
For use in schools and libraries only. What sight sent shivers down the spines of 16th-century Spanish sailors? The masts of any ship belonging to Sir Francis Drake the slave trader, pirate, and looter known as "The Dragon," who prowled the seas from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean.
In The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, Samuel Bawlf offers fascinating insight into life at sea in the sixteenth century, from the dangers of mutiny and the difficulty of understanding patterns of wind and current to the arduous physical challenges faced every day by Drake’s men. But it is Bawlf's assertion of Drake’s whereabouts in the summer of 1579 that gives his book its exciting originality. Based especially on his seminal study of maps produced after the voyage, Bawlf shows with certainty that Drake sailed all the way to Alaska, much farther north than anyone has heretofore imagined, thereby rewriting the history of exploration. He was, Bawlf claims, in search of the western entrance to the fabled Northwest Passage, at which he planned to found England’s first colony, and wrest control of the Pacific from Spain. Drake’s voyage was in fact so far ahead of its time that another 200 years would pass before the eighteenth-century explorers of record reached the northwest coast of North America.
"This manuscript is a fresh look at determining the location of the 1579 landing site of Sir Francis Drake on the northwest coast of North America to repair his ship, the Golden Hind. This landing location has long been debated and was claimed by California, especially with the finding of the brass plate thought to be an artifact of Drake's landing located on a hill overlooking San Francisco Bay. Although the brass plate was supposedly authenticated in 1938, by 1977 it was proven to be a hoax, yet no re-examination of the landing question or associated data was completed"--Provided by publisher.
