Sir Francis drake circumnavigational info
Drakes voyage round the world:
In 1577, Francis Drake left England shores with 5 ships at the orders of the Queen, expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas. The voyage was somewhat delayed after violent storms saw the ships take shelter in Falmouth, they waited for the weather and returned to port for repairs. Upon reaching Africa Drake revealed the real aim of the voyage, not all his crew were so keen, but they soon captured a Portuguese merchant ship. The fleet crossed the Atlantic, heading towards Brazil. During storms off the south American coast two of the smaller ships was damaged, Drake disposed of them.
After a failed attempt at mutiny Drake tried and executed one of his English sailors for mutiny, he then made a powerful speach to his remainding crew, renamed his flag ship to the now famous Golden Hind. Now with just 3 ships Drake pushed on sailing through the dangerous strait of Magellan, findin a violent Pacific storm at the other end. The now depleted fleet fought against the storm for some 2 months, they were scattered and one of the smaller ships sunk at the loss of all her crew.
The Golden Hind had been blown far to the south, this led Drake to the discovery that there was clear water to the south of the South American continent. Once the storms had passed the Golden Hind turned North up the West coast of South America, the Hind stopped for supplies, suffing some losses at the hands of a local ambush, the local mistook the English for Spaniards.
Over the next 6 months Drake and his crew raided Spanish settlements along the coast, capturing a wealth of gold, silver and other valuables, aswell as ships. Most of his raids involved little violence, Drake and his crew went to great lengths to avoid harming Spaniards and natives.
After stopping off for several weeks to make repairs Drake set sail again, heading Westwards across the Pacific, he soon reached the Moluccas islands in the south west Pacific, it was here the Hind was caught on a reef, it took 3 days for a suitable tide to free the vessel.
After making several more stops for repairs and and supplies Drake made it around the Cape of good hope, and with just 59 crew remaining on 26th September 1580 Drake sailed into Plymouth harbour. His cargo consisted reportadly of a rich haul of spices, gold, silver and jewels, the Queens share of which amounted to more than all of the rest of the Queens income for that year put together. The Queen was of course delighted, and as a reward for his riches and indeed being the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, Drake was knighted and given the title of Mayor of Plymouth.
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