SIR FRANCIS DRAKE

1540 - 1596†

He taught himself the arts of sailing as the navigator of a merchant vessel and by 1567 he was the Captain of a ship as part of the fleet under Sir John Hawkins command. In 1572 Queen Elizabeth commissioned Drake as a "Privateer" and in 1577 he sailed to America with five vessels and 166 men.

He lost two ships in the River Plate (in South America, between Argentina and Uruguay), one more during a heavy storm in the South Atlantic and one returned to England due to heavy damage. He crossed to the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Magellan with just his ship, the "Golden Hind" in semi-good condition.

Once in the Pacific, he sailed north as far as Latitude 48°N in the border with Canada, attacking every Spanish vessel and settlement on sight and becoming very famous for his bravery and courage on the battles. The Spaniards called him "El Draque" (which is the literal pronunciation of his name in the Spanish language). Drake stopped by Zihuatanejo for repairs and used it briefly as a base for his attacks on the Spanish Navy and merchant galleons.

What is believed a drawing of the "Golden Hind"
dated from around 1623 and a full size replica.

He arrived back in England in 1580 and was knighted by the Queen. In 1587 he was promoted to Rear Admiral and on January 28th. 1596 at his death, he was buried in the Caribbean Sea. As a farewell, his crew burned two captured vessels while saluting him with cannon fire.

In 1712 he enrolled in the English Navy as a volunteer. In 1717 he received his acting order as Lieutenant and he became part of the crew of Capt. Chamberlain ships. He served in the Baltic and Mediterranean for a while and in 1722 he was promoted to Captain.

In 1740 with the ship "Centurion" and six other vessels he came to America to fight the Spaniards and seize the "Manila Galleons" on their wealthy commercial route from Acapulco, Mexico to the Philippines. Anson used Zihuatanejo bay as a hiding and resting place for his crew, and in our shore he sunk the Spaniard ship "Caramelo" who was passing by without knowledge that he was in our bay.

After more than three years, in 1744 he went back to England with just one ship and only 145 men of the original 1000 that came with him but with treasures worth more than £800,000 sterling pounds of that time. No navy commander ever exceeded this fortune in loot.

Lt. Piercy Brett, an officer aboard the "Centurion" responsible for many of the drawings during George Anson trip in the Pacific.

The success of Anson's mission granted him the Rear Admiral promotion and in 1761, one year before his death, he became an Admiral of the Fleet.

Back to previous page

If you enjoyed our site, please let us know with an e-mail

Notice: If there is NO MENU on the left part of your screen, we recommend entering our site in the proper way to get the full advantages. CLICK HERE