Golden Hind Expedition- Part 2

Sir Francis Drake and his crew then continued along the pacific to cross the equator in July of that year and sail into Plymouth Harbor in September 1580. He returned with one ship and a half starved crew of 58 men only who had not been on populated shore for 6 months.However, the ship carried the richest cargo ever to reach an English port, which had spices, metals, jewels, silks, and precious maps. His wife Mary informed him before landing that enemies were keeping watch so he sent a secret message to Queen Elizabeth, who later knighted him. Francis Drake was the first Englishman to sail in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and south of the Atlantic Ocean. He was also the first Englishman to sail around the world, and the first European to see the west coast of Canada. It was these achievements that took a big part in making him so well known and famous.

Golden Hind Expedition

Nearing the end of December 1577, Sir Francis Drake set off on the Golden Hind on a trip around the world. He had a very well equipped expedition, consisting of 5 well armed ships and a crew of 150 men launched by England. They reached the coast of Brazil in April 1578 and on May 21st they entered the Straits of Magellan at the southern tip of South America. They then turned northward and continued to sail up the coast of Chile and Peru attacking and destroying Spanish ships. They continued to travel north along the coastline, exploring as far as Vancouver, Canada. They then sailed across the Pacific Ocean to the Celebes and Java, going westward to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.

Marriage

Sir Francis Drake got married twice through out his life time. At the young age of twenty five, he fell in love with and married Mary Newman, whom he was married to for seventeen years. In the year 1583 AD, Mary died with an unexpected death. Two years later in 1585 AD, Sir Francis Drake moved on and married Elizabeth Sydenham. Not only was Elizabeh one of the wealthiest women in England at the time, but she also came from a much more influential family than Drake's previous wife, Mary. Francis did not have children from either of his wives and therefore was not to have someone continue his journeys after his death.

Revenge

In 1570 AD Sir Francis Drake returned to the Spanish Main in the West Indies and Central America, but this time, it was for a different purpose..revenge. He wanted to get them back after the time he went on an expedition against them when he was in Judith and the Spaniards had sunk most of his ships at San Juan Ulua and he had escaped. For three years there, he had made himself a hated person. He realized that Panama was one of the weaker parts of the Spanish empire, and used this knowledge for his advantage. All the goods and silver were then shipped from Nombre de Dios to Spain. He crossed many lands including Vera Cruz, Portebello, and the Isthmus of Panama. He promised himself to sail an English ship in that sea someday, and by the time he got back to Plymouth Harbor in 1577 he was both rich and famous.

First adventure

Sir Francis Drake first started going to sea at the very young age of merely twelve or thirteen years old while he was living in Chatham which is where he first moved after birth. At this age, he owned a small trading ship which was bequeathed to him after the owner of the ship died. Francis decided to sell this ship in order to return to Devon at sail with his relative John Hawkins. Together, they made their first voyages taking African slaves to the 'New World'. At the age of eighteen, he started serving in ship trading to the Bay of Biscay and at age twenty three, went on slaving voyages to Guinea in West Africa.

Birth

Sir Francis Drake was born in 1541 in Tavistock, England. This was located twenty miles north of the seaport in Plymouth. He lived in a cottage made of rough tree branches on a nobleman's estate and he was the oldest of eleven brothers. Sir Francis Drake's father was a sailor as well, before he and his brothers were born. At the time of his birth however, he was a Protestant farmer. Drake came from an extremely ordinary family that was neither rich nor powerful, yet very religious. At the time of his birth, there were many religious issues that were going on in England which caused his family to move to Chatham in Kent where they lived on an old ship for a while.