• Family - Son of a farmer and preacher
• Sir Francis Drake Naval Career
  • Navigator of a small merchant ship in the 1550's
  • Officer on West African slave ships
  • Sailed to the Caribbean with his cousin John Hawkins
  • Francis Drake was the first to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast of South America
  • Sailed round the World in the ship called the Golden Hind
  • Appointed Vice Admiral of the navy that destroyed the Spanish Armada
• Famous as a seaman, explorer and a pirate, sailing around the World, raiding the Spanish and helping to defeat the Spanish Armada
• The Golden Hind Ship

Facts, Timeline & History about the life of Sir Francis Drake - Seaman, Explorer and Pirate
The following are additional facts and timeline about the life and history of Sir Francis Drake:

• Born in Tavistock, in Devonshire
• Francis Drake was the eldest of twelve sons.
• Distant relative of Sir Walter Raleigh
• Drake married Mary Newman before he had acquired wealth or fame in 1569 but she died 12 years later
• In 1572 Queen Elizabeth commissioned Drake as a privateer to sail for the Americas
• Drake was the first to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast of South America. He raided Nombre de Dios, Panama
• He returned to England bringing Spanish gold and plunder
• In 1577 Queen Elizabeth selected him to be the head of an expedition that was to sail around the world
• He re-named his ship from 'The Pelican to the 'Golden Hind'
• In 1579 he stopped near the present-day San Francisco to repair the Golden Hind. He claimed the land for for England which he called New Albion
• 1580 he returned to England
• In 1581 he was knighted Sir Francis Drake on board the Golden Hind by Queen Elizabeth
• He purchased Buckland Abbey in Devon
• In 1585 Drake married Elizabeth Sydenham, some twenty years his junior who came from a wealthy and well-connected family
• 1585: Drake travelled to Brazil accompanied by his nephew Richard Hawkins
• 26 June 1586 - Drake visited Sir Walter Raleigh's colony headed by Ralph Lane, finding disheartened colonists and hostile Indians
• In 1587 Drake attacked and destroyed the Spanish Fleet at Cadiz - referred to as 'Singeing Philip of Spain's beard'
• In 1588 he was appointed Vice Admiral of the navy that destroyed the Spanish Armada
• Famous for finishing a game of bowls whilst waiting for the weather to change before sailing to meet the Spanish Armada
• 1588: Spanish Armada of 132 ships sails for England. England's navy consists of 34 ships and 163 armed merchant vessels
• 1588 Jul 29, The Spanish Armada was sighted off the coast of England
• 1588 Jul 30, The English exchanged fire with the Spanish Armada
• 1588 Aug 8, The English Navy destroys the Spanish Armada
• 1595: Sir Francis Drake embarks on his last voyage to the Caribbean with Sir John Hawkins (who dies of fever on the voyage)
• 1595: Sir Francis Drake was sent to attack Spanish settlements in the West Indies but he also died on the journey home
• 1596 January 28: Sir Francis Drake died on board the Defiance aged about 55
• Sir Francis Drake died of a tropical disease referred to as "the bloody flux" which was probably Yellow Fever
• 1596 January 29: Sir Francis Drake was buried at sea in a lead coffin off Puerto Bello
• Sir Francis Drake had no children
• His title passed to a nephew - also named Francis
• In 1628 the second Sir Francis Drake published the chronicle of the circumnavigation called 'The World Encompassed'

Famous Elizabethans - Sir Francis Drake - Seaman, Explorer and Pirate
Some interesting facts, timeline and biography information about the History, Life & Times of Sir Francis Drake. Additional details, facts, history and information about the famous Elizabethans and events in Elizabethan Times can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.