A classic adventure story filled with secret missions, plundered treasures, wars, and rivalries — this briefly summarises the life of 16th century English sea captain and explorer Sir Francis Drake.
Son of a farmer, Drake took to the sea at an early age. On one of his first voyages as part of a fleet led by his cousin John Hawkins, most of the ships were destroyed by the Spanish. Thus began his lifelong enmity with them. He undertook several expeditions under the instruction of Queen Elizabeth I, with the sole aim of plundering and destroying Spanish colonies and ships. He was so infamous among the Spanish that they nicknamed him ‘El Draque’ or the Dragon.
Several of these voyages were secret missions classified as “the Queen’s secrets of the Realm.” It was top secret because to this day, no one except the Queen and Drake know exactly how much treasures he brought back from his expeditions.
One such was a voyage he set out on December 13, 1577 from Plymouth, England. Here is an account of the journey that made him the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world...