United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
Drake contemplated greater deeds. He had now plenty of friends who
wished to engage with him, and he soon equipped a squadron of five
ships. That he had saved something from the profits of his former
voyage is shown by his equipment. The _Pelican_, in which he sailed,
had "expert musicians and rich furniture," and "all the vessels for
the table, yea, many even of the cook-room, were of pure silver."[19]
Drake's object now was to harry the coast of the ocean which he had
seen in 1573. Accordingly, he sailed from Plymouth (December 13,
1577), coasted along the shore of South America, and, passing through
the Straits of Magellan, entered the Pacific in September, 1578.
The _Pelican_ was now the only one of his vessels left, as all the
rest had either returned home or been lost. Renaming the ship the
_Golden Hind_, Drake swept up the western side of South America and
took the ports of Chili and Peru by surprise. He captured galleons
carrying quantities of gold, silver, and jewelry, and acquired plunder
worth millions of dollars.[20] Drake did not think it prudent to go
home by the way he had come, but struck boldly northward in search of
a northeast passage into the Atlantic. He coasted along California as
far as Oregon, repaired his ship in a harbor near San Francisco, took
possession of the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth and called it
Nova Albion. Finding no northeast passage, he turned his prow to the
west, and circumnavigated the globe by the Cape of Good Hope, arriving
at Plymouth in November, 1580.[21]
The queen received him with undisguised favor, and met a request from
Philip II. for Drake's surrender by knighting the freebooter and
wearing in her crown the jewel he offered her as a present. When the
Spanish ambassador threatened that matters should come to the cannon,
she replied "quietly, in her most natural voice," writes Mendoza,
"that if I used threats of that kind she would throw me into a
dungeon." The revenge that Drake had taken for the affair at San Juan
de Ulloa was so complete that for more than a hundred years he was
spoken of in Spanish annals as "the Dragon."
His example stimulated adventure in all directions, and in 1586 Thomas
Cavendish, of Ipswich, sailed to South America and made a rich plunder
at Spanish expense. He returned home by the Cape of Good Hope, and was
thus the second Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.[22]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account