Francis Drake

It was exactly 330 years ago today that Francis Drake sailed into Plymouth harbour having completed the first circumnavigation of the World by an Englishman. He had crossed the Atlantic, sailed down the coast of South America, proceeded up the west coast of America as far as Alaska, then crossed the Pacific Ocean, rounded the Cape of God Hope and sailed back to Britain. He had been away for 3½ years and much upset Spain with his attacks on their colonies and wealth. A few years later he cause even more consternation when he took such an important part in repelling the Spanish Armada. Although as the captain of a ship, Drake was probably little better than a state authorised pirate and slave trader - he gained considerable wealth from the latter activity - there seems little doubt that he was a sailor of the highest ability. To have sailed around the world in his tiny vessel - the Golden Hind weighed in at a mere 300 tons - was an impressive achievement. Nevertheless, he suffered considerable losses of men and ships on his voyage. His Golden Hind was the only one of six ships that returned to England. He was ruthless in the command of his men but showed great qualities of leadership. However, it has to be said that he executed mutineers on the basis of a dubious authority.

For a time he was a Member of Parliament, a Mayor of Plymouth and for 15 years lived at Buckland Abbey in Devon. He returned to the sea and on his final voyage in 1596 he contracted dysentery off the coast of Puerto Rica. He was buried at sea in a lead lined coffin.

A replica of his vessel [see above] is displayed at Southwark. This replica was launched in Devon in 1973 and has itself sailed around the world. It is now estimated to have sailed 140,000 miles - although I assume that the crew would have made use of modern sensible navigational aids which would remove a great deal of uncertainty from what they were doing.

Sir Francis Drake was one of those romantic heroes in English history whose life has, over the years, become a muddle of fact and fiction. He lived in a more robust age where little was decided by the niceties of international law or of political correctness. And, perhaps, that was its advantage.

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