Sir Francis Drake the Explorer
Sir Francis Drake, born circa 1540, was renowned for many of his endeavors, including his trip around the world as an explorer, being a privateer and serving in Parliament. Most of his life’s work was devoted to his pirate excursions, in which he won large amounts of Spanish and Portuguese treasure. Although his long-standing grudge against the Spaniards motivated him to plunder their many ships, he was also driven to increase England’s land holdings in the New World, in which the Spanish held a majority. He did this between 1577 and 1580.
Most of Drake’s journey was through relatively familiar territory. When he and his fleet of ships sailed across the Atlantic and around the Straits of Magellan, Drake’s tasks were more geared toward maintaining his crew’s morale, which was on thin ice due to harsh sailing conditions and a mutiny staged by one of his officers, Thomas Doughty. As a result, most of Drake’s fleet was left behind. He navigated the waters along the west coast of America largely on his own in his boat, The Golden Hind. Along the coast of South America, Drake and the remaining crew staged a number of small raids at Spanish ports and were able to capture much treasure. As he approached North America and passed along the coast of present day Mexico, the waters he went into were largely uncharted.
The Golden Hind sailed close to the wind many miles up the coast of North America to about 45 degrees latitude. Along the way they passed a number of islands, of which they named two Saint Bartholomew and Saint James. At around 48 degrees latitude, they anchored their ship and built huts along the coast. Drake named the new colony Nova Albion, which is Latin for “New Britain”. There, they stayed about a month and a half and befriended the Indians. Their diet was mainly fish and seal. The exact location of Nova Albion, to this day, is a well-kept secret. Queen Elizabeth insisted on not revealing the information in the event that the Spaniards got hold of it and invaded the colony.
There are many conflicting stories about this portion of Drake’s journey and his excursion across the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. Maps have been discovered of Drake’s travels, but their authenticity and accuracy is questionable. Some historians claim that Drake had landed as far north as the Northwest Passage’s coastal conclusion, others say that he barely made it past the area that is now near Baja California. Others point out that Nova Albion could have been an island like the other ones he passed, and not the mainland of the Americas. There is evidence that support all hypotheses, including the documentation of some of the local Indian terminology pointing out that Drake landed in “Calphurnia” and the description of some words for food.
Sir Francis Drake crossed the Pacific after leaving Nova Albion, and passed through the Mollucas Islands and Pulau, where the islanders had never encountered English sailors. Nevertheless, they had been in the presence of European vessels, particularly the Spanish, and The Golden Hind ended its exploratory missions. From there on, it sailed onward past the Cape of Good Hope, up the well-traveled African coast and back to Plymouth.
Although most of the voyage was merely to increase England’s presence around the world, Drake did more than that: he took California for England, despite the muddiness of where it was that Drake landed.
