Biography of Drake of a sailor

While still a child aged 10 to 13 years, he recruited Yunga on a trading ship. The old captain was impressed by the zeal of a young man in marine affairs, and therefore decided to bequeath his ship to Drake. Thus, already in the year Drake had his own ship. And when Francis became a little older, a relative - a well -known sailor John Hawkins by that time, took him into his voyage. Hawkins and Drake wanted to cash in on a smuggling slave trade.

The “business” scheme was unpretentious: take slaves in Africa, and then transfer them to the holds and sell them in one of the colonies of Spain in the West Indies on the islands of the Caribbean. This is the famous English sailor John Hawkins-in a sense, he was a teacher of Drake one of the expeditions led by Hawkins, in which Drake participated, took place in a year. And it so happened that by the shores of Mexico, English ships were subjected to a treacherous attack from the Spaniards.

A significant part of these ships went to the bottom, only two ships - Drake and Hawkins were able to escape. The British authorities subsequently demanded from the King of the Spanish Empire then Philip II had to compensate for the damage for the lost vessels, but were refused. Upon learning of this, Drake said that he himself would take everything he could, from the Spanish crown.

Pirate Francis Drake with his own person, that is, in many cases, in many cases, not only the thirst for profit, but also the desire to take revenge. Soon, he begins to act no longer as a slave trader, but as a pirate - lets the bottom and robs trading ships under the Spanish flags with dozens, simultaneously bringing destruction to coastal ports. Drake's journey over the treasures of the Silver Caravan is quite famous and described in detail by the contemporaries of the Drake expedition - years.

The pirate visited the Spanish possessions in the West Indies, captured the port of Nombre-de-Dyos, which was on the territory of modern Panama, and flooded a certain number of ships near the Kartaena harbor Port Cartaen in the Caribbean now belongs to Colombia. West India on a modern map: in the 16th century, almost all of these islands were Spanish in addition, on the Panama Isthmus, he managed to intercept the Spanish squadron “Silver Caravan”-this squadron was called so because it transported about thirty tons of silver.

Moreover, during the operation to seize wealth from the “silver caravan”, Drake showed remarkable ingenuity. For example, he and his team managed to break through the cordon of the ships of the colonial authorities who patrolled the coast on an ordinary wooden raft. Drake hid the treasures in advance on the shore and returned after them for the next night. It was a real success for the English "gentleman of good luck." And as a result, he became known throughout England in that time in those days they called the pirates who had a kind of license from the state to seize and plunder enemy vessels.

The financial situation of Drake has improved significantly - now it has become rich and has ceased to depend on sponsors and shipowners. The beginning of the round-the-world trip of the English corsar over the years the reputation of Drake as an “iron pirate” and, at the same time, skillful naval tactics, only stronger. And it is not surprising that in preparation for the Marine War with Spain Francis Drake, they called for consultations.

He said that in this case, an attack on Spanish territories and lands in America would be a good option. Some time after this, Drake was invited to the secret audience to Queen Elizabeth I. Their meeting took place in mid-November of the year-the pirate and the monarchy person found what to say to each other. Queen Elizabeth I, who secretly supported the pirate of Drake as a result, Elizabeth I gave good Korsaru for an expedition to the Pacific coast of South America.

In addition, Her Majesty, as well as a number of respectable gentlemen, began to be a sponsor of this expedition. It is also known that during the audience, the queen gave a silk scarf with embroidered gold in parting words during the audience. Soon, a chic flotilla of five ships was built for Drake. The flagman ship became Pelican with a displacement of one hundred tons. It was here that Francis’s cabin was located, which was also very rich in.

In general, Drake, even during travel, preferred to lead a luxurious lifestyle - he ate from silver dishes, and during the meal, the musicians entertained him. In addition, there was always a page nearby, ready to fulfill any assignment. Presumably, this was what Francis Drake’s cabin looked like on December 13, Flotilla Drake moved out of Plymouth and went to a distant and long way. At first, Drake and his team on all ships - order of order committed several robberies in relation to the Spanish and Portuguese ships with valuable goods off the African coast.

In addition to the whole team, it was possible to capture the Portuguese pilot, who knew safe sea roads to South America well. In June, the Flotilla Drake approached the Bay of San Hulian, located relatively close to Magellanov Strait.During the wintering here, a riot that supported some part of the team broke out on one of the ships. But this rebellion was suppressed, and Drake eventually even ordered the execution of the instigator named Dawy - for betrayal.

After wintering and before heading directly to the Strait Magellan, the Drake team dragged all the flotilla from the two smallest ships on other ships, which were badly damaged - it was decided to leave them in the port. The further journey presented another unpleasant surprise. At the exit from Magellanov Strait, all three ships of the Drake flotilla got into the storm - as a result, one of them ran into the rocks and drowned, and the second rolled back into the spilling of his captain later preferred to sail back to England.

And only Pelican by some miracle was able to break through to the Pacific Ocean, after which he was carried very much to the south. Thus, by the way, the Drake team managed to find out that the Fiery Earth is an island, and not part of some unknown continent. In honor of the fact that Pelican managed to survive such a strong storm, Drake renamed him into the Golden Lan.

And he also ordered the figure on the nose of the ship to be replaced. One of the large copies of the Golden Lan ship, Pelican, “Golden Lan”, goes north, so, only one ship remains at the disposal of the pirate. But Drake, as a real adventurer, decided not to retreat and continued the mission. The ship headed north, to the shores of Chile. And then Drake begins to take very much like a pirate.

In the ports on the western coast of South America, he did not meet practically any resistance, the Spaniards simply did not think that someone could get there, and this allowed to easily receive prey. In particular, the Walparaiso port was plundered on the territory of modern Chile. In this port, the pirates got a particularly large kush - a ship loaded with gold and expensive objects.

And in the city itself, a solid supply of gold was also discovered. But still, after some time, the reaction to Drake's actions followed: the ruler of Peru directed two ships in pursuit of Golden Lanya. A patrol was also exhibited in the Caribbean - in case Drake and the team tries to cross through the Panama Isthmus. But all this did not help - Drake left the possible pursuers to the north, and already there continued to rob ships with jewelry.

The number of ships that fell under the hot hand of a corsar is unrealistic to establish, but it is clear that the prey was truly huge. Drake did not hide his belonging to England-he robbed the plan of Drake under the English flags-to find a strait leading to the east somewhere in the north, and to get to the Atlantic on this strait. However, soon Drake realized that it was unlikely that he would be able to return home home.

The further the ship floated, the more the crew members were worried. The line of the coast everything deviated and deviated to the northwest-the passage to the east was never found. The deteriorating the sailors corresponded to the worsening weather conditions. It became colder, from the sky it was frequent rains with snow. At a certain moment, the tackle was even covered with a layer of ice, and this complicated the control of the ship.

The meeting of Drake with the Indians and the return of Drake's expedition, apparently, still managed to reach 48 parallels of northern latitude-and no European ship had yet been in these places of North America. But here Drake realized that there was no point in going further. Therefore, the ship turned back to the south and went back to the warmest latitude. Then they were met by the local Indians.

Moreover, the natives did not show any hostile attitude-they took strange aliens for the gods. Realizing this, the “gods” were not at a loss and exchanged some things from the “golden lanis” for food and water. Francis Drake and his team members land in unknown lands The British spent a few more weeks here. And the Indians, the more they talked with travelers, the more they believed that they met with the gods.

According to the description of the ship priest, at some point the Indian leader without any violence transferred power to the “main of the gods”-Drake. The pirate wanted to attach to the United Kingdom the land that he discovered. He gave her the name "New Albion." To confirm the right to own land, a special plate made of copper with the corresponding text was made. The plate was fixed on the pillar, and instead of printing, Drake allegedly left a silver coin with a portrait of the queen.

Having rested and weighed all the pros and cons, Drake decided to swim west. Moreover, the team managed to take the Spanish cards of the Pacific as a mining off the coast of Nicaragua. From the shores of America, the Golden Lan ship sailed west in July. And everything turned out in general as it was conceived.

At first, the Drake team stopped at the Phillips, then on the Molluk archipelago, and then on the island of Java. Then there were already relatively familiar places-the ship circled the cape of good hope and made only another stop on the way home-to Sierra Leone.The route of Drake's round -the -world trip on the map so, in September, Drake triumphantly arrived in Plymouth.

His ship was packed with treasures in the amount of pounds, which was equal to the size of the income of the British kingdom in two years. The queen immediately awarded Drake with a knightly title. In fact, Drake became the first person who carried out circles from beginning to end Magellan, as you know, died along the way. Elizaveta I DIVELOD ON THE Ship dedicated to Drake to the knight Drake as the Admiral and his last years of life becoming a nobleman, Drake acquired a cozy estate for himself and played a wedding - his wife became a girl from a rich family.

He also performed the duties of the mayor of Plymouth at one time and met in parliament. But still he did not like the measured life too much. Therefore, he organized several more expeditions to the Caribbean pool. And in the year Drake was already a British admiral. In victory over the “invincible armada”, he played a role that is difficult to overestimate. Strictly speaking, Sir Francis Drake made very effective innovations in the tactics of sea battles.

He relied primarily on the speed of ships, and therefore was able to defeat the Spanish fleet, which was generally armed with more powerful guns. The new tactics of the British looked like this: at first, the sails of an enemy vessel spoiled the sails - this immobilized it and turned the standing target, and then all the means in the arsenal were used to destroy it.