Sir Francis Drake the Privateer & Explorer for Kids ***

Sir Francis Drake Fact 12:

After an unsuccessful first attempt, Francis Drake teamed up with Guillaume Le Testu, a French buccaneer, and made a second attempt. This time the ambush worked and they captured a substantial amount of gold, silver and jewels. The treasure was divided equally between the English and the French, however Le Testu was captured during the raid. Francis Drake arrived back in Plymouth on 9th August 1573.

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Francis Drake was then sent to serve with the Navy in Ireland. In 1575 he returned to England with a new friend, Thomas Doughty.

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In 1577 Queen Elizabeth I sent Francis Drake to the Pacific coast of America to go up against the Spanish. He was given shared responsibility for the expedition with Thomas Doughty and a John Wynter. He left Plymouth on 15th November 1577 with a fleet of 5 ships. Francis Drake added a Portuguese ship, captured off the Cape Verde islands, to the fleet. The ship was named the Mary, formerly the Santa Maria.

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Francis Drake continued his way up the Pacific coast of America and eventually landed in northern California. He claimed the land for the English Crown and named it ‘Nova Albion’. The bay where he landed is now known as Drake’s Bay.

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Francis Drake left the American coast and headed across the Pacific, reaching the Indonesian Moluccas islands a few months later. Drake worked his way through the islands until he became trapped on a reef. He had to dump some of the cargo to make the ship light enough to sail free.

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Eventually Francis Drake rounded the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, and headed north towards England. On the 26th September 1580, Francis Drake sailed into Plymouth becoming the first Englishman to circumnavigate the Earth.

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Having gained enormous wealth from his venture, Francis Drake purchased Buckland Abbey, near Yelverton in Devon. The Queen’s share of the cargo was said to have been greater than the crown’s income for the whole year.

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On 4th April 1581, Francis Drake was knighted on board the Golden Hind. In September of the same year, he became mayor of Plymouth. He also married his second wife Elizabeth Sydenham.

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In September 1585, under the orders of the Queen, Sir Francis Drake headed for the West Indies to attack the Spanish Colonies. On the way he attacked and plundered towns in Spain and the Cape Verde islands. He then crossed the Atlantic and raided Santo Domingo, Cartagena de Indias and the Spanish fort of San Augustin.

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Sir Francis Drake was appointed Vice Admiral of the English Navy, in 1588, under the command of Lord Charles Howard. In July 1588 the Spanish Armada made its way into the English Channel. It has been said that Drake was playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe when the Armada arrived and that he finished his game before sailing out to meet the Armada. The truth of this will probably never be known. While pursuing the Spanish ships with other famous sailors such as Sir Martin Frobisher, Drake broke ranks and captured the ‘Rosario’ a Spanish ship known to be carrying an army payroll.

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The Spanish fleet anchored in Calais to wait for Spanish soldiers who were to help with the invasion. On 29th July 1588, Sir Francis Drake and Lord Howard organised fire ships to sail into the Spanish Fleet. This action resulted in the Spanish captains panicking and scattering the ships into the Channel. The English ships were easily able to attack the slower Spanish ships, which were eventually forced to sail up the North Sea and around Scotland before heading back to Spain. Many Spaniards were lost as their ships were wrecked in storms off the coasts of Scotland and Ireland.

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In 1589 Drake was ordered, by the Queen, to destroy the Spanish ships that had survived. This venture proved a disaster with Drake losing 20 of his ships.

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In 1595, Sir Francis Drake and his cousin Sir John Hawkins were, once again, sent to the West Indies to hassle the Spanish. On January 28th 1596, while at anchor near Portobello, Panama, Drake died of a fever brought on by dysentery. He was buried at sea in a lead coffin.

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Sir Francis Drake didn't have any children so, following his death, his titles and estate passed on to his nephew.