Pretty Piratical sort of Bloke , but then so were many of his contemporaries .
He actually took care to get royal approval for his activities , so Legally was not one , but he was a risk taker to a high degree , possessing not just courage , but what is called " nerve " too ( much rarer )
A lot of powerful people DONT have that , and resent those that do , so maybe that is part of the reason why he gets such a bad press .
Even during the Armada campaign he disobeyed English command plans , failed to lead the fleet onward overnight using his stern lanterns , so that on the next morning , when a sharp and concentrated attack was due on the Spaniards ( because they would then be nearby a possible likely site to make their invasion ) it never happened because the English fleet was all spread out and not in formation .
Drake meanwhile had crept back in the darkness and as dawn broke was alongside a Spanish squadron flagship which had been disabled after a gunpowder explosion aboard , and was drifting .
Lots of lovely loot , cannons , gunpowder and shot , plus a paychest full of gold .
HE said he'd lost his way in the night , but you can see straight through that . He'd obviously discounted the feared Spanish action for the morning as unlikely , and seized his opportunity for a bit of extra bonus for himself and his crew .
Sir Martin Frobisher ( the great elizabethan era sailor-explorer ) is on record as having given one of Drake's lieutenants an almighty bollicking for this bit of sharp action , later on .
You cease to marvel so much at the rhetoric in Shakespeare .
Around 1563 Drake first sailed west to the Spanish Main, drawn by the immense wealth accruing from Spain's monopoly on New World silver. Drake took an immediate dislike to the Spanish, at least in part due to their mistrust of non-Spaniards and their Catholicism. His hostility is said to have been increased by the incident at San Juan de Ulloa in 1568, when Spanish forces executed a surprise attack in violation of a truce agreed to a few days before, nearly costing Drake his life. From then on, he devoted the rest of his life to working against the Spanish Empire: the Spanish considered him an outlaw pirate, but to England he was simply a sailor and privateer. On his second such voyage he fought a costly battle against Spanish forces, which claimed many English lives but earned Drake the favour of Queen Elizabeth.
The most celebrated of Drake's Caribbean adventures was his capture of the Spanish Silver Train at Nombre de Dios in March of 1573. With a crew including many French privateers and Cimaroons (African slaves who had escaped the Spanish), Drake raided the waters around Darien (in modern Panama) and tracked the Silver Train to the nearby port of Nombre de Dios. He made off with a fortune in gold, but had to leave behind another fortune in silver because it was too heavy to carry back to England. It was during this expedition that he became the first English man to see the Pacific Ocean.
yes, he was, really, but he had the approval of the Queen to attack Spanish ships, so that made him a kind of official government approved pirate, what they call a 'privateer'. To the Spanish he was a pirate, to the English he was a hero.
Probably true. At times I think he sailed the Jolly Rogers flag in order to succeed his mission, for many reasons, to sail undercover, become personal friends with other pirates, and allies, missions, and making the most money at it by being successful in knowing those feeling the same.
Comments
Yes and No. Great Britain considered him a hero. And Spain did think he was a Pirate.
Pretty Piratical sort of Bloke , but then so were many of his contemporaries .
He actually took care to get royal approval for his activities , so Legally was not one , but he was a risk taker to a high degree , possessing not just courage , but what is called " nerve " too ( much rarer )
A lot of powerful people DONT have that , and resent those that do , so maybe that is part of the reason why he gets such a bad press .
Even during the Armada campaign he disobeyed English command plans , failed to lead the fleet onward overnight using his stern lanterns , so that on the next morning , when a sharp and concentrated attack was due on the Spaniards ( because they would then be nearby a possible likely site to make their invasion ) it never happened because the English fleet was all spread out and not in formation .
Drake meanwhile had crept back in the darkness and as dawn broke was alongside a Spanish squadron flagship which had been disabled after a gunpowder explosion aboard , and was drifting .
Lots of lovely loot , cannons , gunpowder and shot , plus a paychest full of gold .
HE said he'd lost his way in the night , but you can see straight through that . He'd obviously discounted the feared Spanish action for the morning as unlikely , and seized his opportunity for a bit of extra bonus for himself and his crew .
Sir Martin Frobisher ( the great elizabethan era sailor-explorer ) is on record as having given one of Drake's lieutenants an almighty bollicking for this bit of sharp action , later on .
You cease to marvel so much at the rhetoric in Shakespeare .
Spain called him a pirate.
Around 1563 Drake first sailed west to the Spanish Main, drawn by the immense wealth accruing from Spain's monopoly on New World silver. Drake took an immediate dislike to the Spanish, at least in part due to their mistrust of non-Spaniards and their Catholicism. His hostility is said to have been increased by the incident at San Juan de Ulloa in 1568, when Spanish forces executed a surprise attack in violation of a truce agreed to a few days before, nearly costing Drake his life. From then on, he devoted the rest of his life to working against the Spanish Empire: the Spanish considered him an outlaw pirate, but to England he was simply a sailor and privateer. On his second such voyage he fought a costly battle against Spanish forces, which claimed many English lives but earned Drake the favour of Queen Elizabeth.
The most celebrated of Drake's Caribbean adventures was his capture of the Spanish Silver Train at Nombre de Dios in March of 1573. With a crew including many French privateers and Cimaroons (African slaves who had escaped the Spanish), Drake raided the waters around Darien (in modern Panama) and tracked the Silver Train to the nearby port of Nombre de Dios. He made off with a fortune in gold, but had to leave behind another fortune in silver because it was too heavy to carry back to England. It was during this expedition that he became the first English man to see the Pacific Ocean.
yes, he was, really, but he had the approval of the Queen to attack Spanish ships, so that made him a kind of official government approved pirate, what they call a 'privateer'. To the Spanish he was a pirate, to the English he was a hero.
Probably true. At times I think he sailed the Jolly Rogers flag in order to succeed his mission, for many reasons, to sail undercover, become personal friends with other pirates, and allies, missions, and making the most money at it by being successful in knowing those feeling the same.
Not maybe - Drake was Elizabeth's private pirate. He worked for the English government. He was an admiral , no less.
He certainly was considered one by the Spaniards, although at times he did sail under a Letter of Marque. He was officially a Privateer.
From the Spanish point of view he was a pirate. From the British point of view he was a hero.
Yes - he attacked merchant ships and stole their cargoes.
Which is piracy,whatever spin you want to put on it.
Is the Pope a catholic