Francis Drake – World History

Francis Drake, English navigator of the 16th century, who, as a privateer at the service of British interests, harassed Spain’s maritime communications with overseas and, as vice-admiral of the British fleet, participated in the defeat of the Invincible Armada, a military event that marks the relief of Spanish maritime power by England. The latter had entered this new scenario marginally, through smuggling, the slave trade and piracy. Under the reign of Elizabeth I, the raids of privateers and freebooters protected by the crown produce immense profits that are to be the basis of the rapid expansion of the British Empire and, indirectly, the birth of capitalism. Sir Francis Drake was the most famous and admired of the English pirates.

Important events in the life of Francis Drake

• 1540? Born in Tavistock, England.
• 1568 First incursions into Mexico and the Caribbean.
• 1578 Set sail from Plymouth, heading for the Pacific Ocean.
• 1580 He is the first Englishman to go around the world.
• 1587 Attack the port of Cádiz.
• 1588 He is appointed vice admiral of the English navy.
• 1594 Failed in separate attacks on the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico.
• 1596 He died in the sea, off the coast of Portobelo.

Captain John Hawkins has gone down in history as the founder and promoter of the large-scale slave trade that produced the incredible economic boom of the port of Liverpool. A few years earlier, around 1556, this enterprising character took under his protection a cousin of his who was still in his teens, born near Tavistock, in the county of Devonshire, who goes by the name of Francis Drake. Hawkins introduces the young man to the nautical arts, while describing his dreams of greatness through piracy and the slave trade. In 1558 Drake made his first voyage as an outstanding in a merchant ship that went to the Bay of Biscay, and two years later he toured the coasts of Guinea., the main source of the African slave trade being organized by his cousin in association with Liverpool merchants and financiers. Francis will not participate in the great Hawkins operation, launched in 1562, but will always keep a close relationship with him, whose skill he admires and with whom he will associate in the future.
But his first partner is Captain John Lovel, who in 1565 offers him to embark to the West Indies with a cargo of contraband goods. But the Spaniards surprise the inexperienced smuggler and requisition all his cargo. He returns to his admired Hawkins, who with the profits he has obtained in the slave trade arms a fleet to carry out a piracy expedition on the coasts of Mexico. Drake joins the fleet, which sets sail in 1568. In the Caribbean, a Spanish squadron awaits the filibusters and seizes or destroys all their ships, with the exception of those commanded by both cousins.

The privateer’s race

Despite those initial setbacks, Francis Drake remains in the Caribbean serving various owners and captains. And in successive raids and battles he cements his fame as a corsair. The word comes from the Latin courses, which means “race”, and alludes to the journey that pirates made against enemy ships and ports in wartime. If they did it in peacetime, they were called filibusters. Drake was both (which are the same), depending on the time and even depending on the prey to attack. In 1572 he already had capitalist partners and set sail from Plymouth with two ships and 163 men. After some minor operations, he landed on the Isthmus of Panama and attacked a convoy of mules carrying a highly valuable cargo. So much so that he must bury tons of gold and silver that do not fit in his cellars. On that trip he sighted the Pacific or “South Sea” for the first time and began to conceive what would be his great feat.
He returned to England on August 9, 1573 and armed three frigates to serve the Earl of Essex., in his fight against the Irish. A couple of years later Drake gets an interview with the queen. It is evident that Isabel and Francis understood each other very well, and some say that not only in the field of maritime business. What is certain is that she approves of Drake’s plan to carry out a “race” on the rich Spanish colonies on the western coasts of America, which border the Pacific. The crown and other private investors raise the means to assemble a fleet of five ships, which leave Plymouth in January 1578.

Route around the world of Francis Drake

The expedition touches the Brazilian coasts in April, passes in front of the Río de la Plata and on June 10 stops in the Patagonian bay of San Julián. A dark episode then takes place, in which apparently his second commander, William Daughty, tries to share command, citing instructions from the queen. Without hesitating, Drake puts him on summary trial and executes him by hanging. There were no more questions of his authority. On June 21, the fleet entered the Strait of Magellan, where it had to endure two weeks of violent storms.. But on July 7, they look out over the serene “South Sea” and head north. For six months they looted towns and boarded ships on the southern coast of the Chilean Captaincy General, until obtaining a succulent loot from a ship that they attacked at the end of the year in the Valparaíso roadstead. At the beginning of 1579 they sacked Arica and shortly after the port of El Callao. There they have news of a galleon that has just set sail with a fabulous cargo. They chase him for weeks and board him on the high seas, off the Colombian coast. Some authors affirm that only in this action Drake took control of a booty of 900,000 pounds.
At this point, the ships, with their holds full of jewels and precious metals, are about to collapse and have lost their essential agility. The entire Spanish fleet is chasing them, and it would be suicidal to try to go down
back to the strait. Drake continues north, looking for another passage to the Atlantic. He does not find it, but he does find a bay, which he calls after him (San Francisco), and lands he takes possession of as “New Albion” (California). Fearful of being caught or losing one of his ships, which are true floating treasures, he decides to head west and head for the Moluccas. After traversing the Pacific and Indian Oceans, rounding the Cape of Good Hope and up the west coasts of Africa and Europe, he turns up at Plymouth with a rich cargo and the unexpected glory of being the first British sailor to circumnavigate the globe. land.

The Queen’s Knight

Feats, glories and adventures aside, Francis Drake’s pirate excursion around the world has brought its participants and shareholders a profit of 4,700%, dust and chaff free. That is, £47 for every pound invested. And since the crown is among the main shareholders of such a fruitful enterprise, the queen receives the filibuster as a true national hero. She grants him the title of knight or sir and a seat in parliament. In 1581 Sir Francis married the daughter and heiress of the wealthy Sir George Sydenham, consolidating his position and his fortune. As Drake’s great incursion took place without a war with Spain, Philip II’s ambassador presented an energetic protest that the English government diluted with formal apologies and uncertain promises.
At the beginning of 1585, Sir Francis announced that he was going back to sea for a definitive expedition to the Caribbean.. In a week, funds are raised to assemble seven ships, and the queen signs up for two more. When the fleet is ready in the summer, it is made up of 25 ships and 2,500 men who set sail on September 15, 1585. In ten months of incursion along the coasts of Mexico and the Antilles, the famous and feared Captain Drake gathers a loot of 600,000 sterling pounds. There has never been a faster and more profitable business than investing in piracy. And again the people, the peers of parliament, the queen and her court pay tribute to the touching benefits that Drake brings to the greatness of England. But the pirate thinks that he still hasn’t done enough, or doesn’t manage to kill the sea bug on land. The protests in Spain cry out to heaven, and it is no longer acceptable to maintain the fiction of peace. But before declaring war, why not a good Sir Francis-style coup on the peninsula itself? In 1587 he received command of a war squadron of thirty ships, with which he attacked the port of Cádiz by surprise, into which he entered with blood and fire. He then goes up the coast and enters the Tagus where he seizes the Portuguese ship San Felipe, with a rich cargo of jewels and spices from the Orient. Not even as head of the Royal Navy does Captain Drake lose his filibuster reflexes.

Francis Drake recognized as Sir by Queen Elizabeth

The inevitable fight between England and Spain has to be decided at sea, and Felipe II, to put an end to the dilemma, prepares a fleet so formidable that it receives the name of the Invincible Armada.. One hundred thirty ships with more than 30,000 sailors and soldiers advance on the British Isles. In the Bay of Biscay and in the channel, the proud squadron suffered the ravages of the storm and the inexperience of its commander, the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Off Portsmouth he met the English fleet, smaller but more agile and better armed, commanded by Lord Howard cTEffinhon. Sir Francis Drake commands a division as vice-admiral and his indefatigable cousin, now also Sir John Hawkins, is one of the sub-admirals. The rest of the officers is made up in good numbers of veteran pirates and filibusters, who borrow the ruse of the fireships or burning boats that they launch like projectiles on the heavy Spanish galleys. On August 9, 1588, the Invincible Armada was defeated and England became master of the seas.
The following year, Drake lays siege to La Coruña, but is rejected by the brave defenders of the city, among which María Pita stands out. In his withdrawal, he burns and loots the port of Vigo. In 1594 Sir Francis and Sir John sailed together again at the head of a powerful fleet of 25 ships and 2,500 men, which was repulsed in its attempt to seize the Canary Islands. A new setback in Puerto Rico costs Hawkins his life, after which Drake makes minor looting, trying to cover the expenses. Victim of a dysentery epidemic, he will die in 1596 aboard his ship, off the coast of Portobelo.