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Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate » (1st Edition)

Book cover image of Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate by Harry Kelsey

Authors: Harry Kelsey
ISBN-13: 9780300071825, ISBN-10: 0300071825
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale University Press
Date Published: August 1998
Edition: 1st Edition

Author Biography: Harry Kelsey

Book Synopsis

In this lively biography, Harry Kelsey shatters the legend of Sir Francis Drake. Drawing on much new evidence, he replaces the familiar image of a pious, brave, and just seaman with a more interesting picture of an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country

New Yorker

Anglophiles may be disappointed to learn that Sir Francis Drake, that paragon of English Protestant gumption, was a thoroughgoing rotter. Drake executed men without good cause, raped and pillaged, tortured prisoners, cheated his partners and crews, and shirked his duties as a naval commander when there was a chance for further plunder. This scrupulously researched and calmly argued book will leave Drake's champions little hope of restoring him to the rosy place in the English pantheon he once occupied: Kelsey's Drake is, alas, all too plausible.

List of Illustrations	viii
List of Maps and Plans	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xv
I LOOMINGS
ONE From Tavistock to Plymouth	3
TWO Learning to Be a Pirate	11
THREE Raids on the Spanish Main	40
FOUR The Successful Merchant	68
II AROUND THE WORLD
FIVE Plymouth to Cape Horn	93
SIX Cape Horn to Guatulco	137
SEVEN Guatulco to the Pacific and Home	172
III A PIRATE AND A GENTLEMAN
EIGHT Honors and Riches	207
NINE Raid on the West Indies	240
TEN Raid on Cadiz	280
ELEVEN Defeat of the Spanish Armada	305
TWELVE Expedition to Lisbon	341
IV A PIRATE'S LEGACY
THIRTEEN The Last Voyage	367
FOURTEEN The Drake Legend	392
Appendixes	401
Notes	423
Bibliography	523
Index	545
ILLUSTRATIONS
Tavistock Abbey	xvii
Drake's boyhood home	5
Fort at San Juan de Ulua	37
A True Declaration	38
View of Plymouth	69
The Cacafuego	159
The Plate of Brass	189
Drake's ship at Ternate	199
Drake's anchorage in Java	203
A Discourse	226
Buckland Abbey	221
Drake's coat of arms	223
Portrait of Drake (van Sype)	226
Santo Domingo	260
Cartagena	266
San Agustin	275
Expeditio Francisci Draki	281
Portrait of Drake (Rabel)	286
Drake letter to Privy Council	312
Capture of the Nuestra Senora del Rosario	326
Pedro Coco Calderon letter	329
Drake letter to Walsingham	338
Portrait of Dom Antonio	344
A True Coppie of a Discourse	354
Two volumes published by Drake's nephew	369
Maynarde letter	380
Drake's will	381
Sketch of the coast at Porto Bello	390
Portrait of Drake (Holland)	396
Portrait of John Hawkins	398

MAPS AND PLANS
Crowndale and vicinity	2
Crowndale farm	4
Roads from Crowndale to Petertavy	8
Ports and Coasts where young Francis Drake sailed with
the Hawkins family	14
Hawkins voyages in the Canary Islands	15
Hawkins and Lovell in the West Indies	18
Returns of Hawkins and Drake	41
Drake in Panama, 1571	47
Drake's raids in the Caribbean	52
Drake in Panama, 1572-73	58
Drake's service in Ireland	73
Drake's route along the coast of Africa	94
Drake's route through the Cape Verde Islands	96
Drake's first landfalls on the coast of Brazil	101
Anchorage at the Rio de la Plata	102
Drake anchorages, May-August 1578	103
Drake's route to the Strait of Magellan	114
Drake's route through the Strait of Magellan	117
Strait of Magellan (Cavendish)	118
West coast of South America (Olives)	121
Strait of Magellan (Fletcher)	131
Strait of Magellan (Hondius)	133
Drake's route south of the Strait of Magellan	134
From the Strait of Magellan to the Island of Mocha	139
Raids along the central coast of Chile	141
Raids along the northern coast of Chile	144
Raids on the desert ports of northern Chile	147
Raids on the southern coast of Peru	150
Raids along the coasts of Peru and Ecuador	154
From Ecuador to Guatulco	163
California and the Strait of Anian (Gastaldi)	173
Drake's route on the Hondius Map	180
Drake's route on the van Sype Map	181
Portus Novae Albionis (Hondius)	184
Puerto de Acapulco (Ringrose)	185
Harbor at Acapulco (Ringrose)	186
Drake's route across the Pacific (Hondius)	193
Drake's route through the South Pacific	195
From the Pacific to the Indian Ocean	197
La Herdike Interprinse (van Sype)	212-13
Fortifications at Plymouth	228
Drake's raid on Vigo	246
Harbor at Vigo and Bayona	247
Route along the coast of Africa, 1585	251
Canary Islands visited by Drake	251
Raid on the Cape Verde Islands	254
Raid in the West Indies	258
Cruise along the coast of Cuba	273
Florida and Roanoke	276
Operations in Spain and Portugal	290
Boroughs map of the Cadiz raid	293
Raids in Spain and the Azores, 1587	296
English ports on the route of the Spanish Armada	307
Fleet movements, May and June 1588	322
Armada battles	327
Battle of Gravelines	335
Expedition of Drake and Norris	349
Attack on La Coruna	351
Attack on Lisbon	356
Drake and Hawkins in the West Indies, 1595-96	383
San Juan, Puerto Rico	384
Upchurch and the River Medway	402