The Voyage of the ‘Golden Hinde’
BY the time Drake had threaded the Straits of Magellan, only his flagship Pelican, now rechristened Golden Hinde, was seaworthy. Undaunted, Drake pressed on alone up the Pacific coast, causing chaos in colonial towns all the way to Lima, where he captured a Spanish galleon laden with treasure for Spain’s war effort.
After touching on the California coast, and claiming it for the Queen under the name of ‘Nova Albion’, Drake struck out across the Pacific to Java and India, rounded Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, and headed home to Plymouth, arriving on September 26th, 1580, as the first captain to lead a successful voyage round the world.*
Drake had cost Spain dear in time, money and pride. But at last, despite the English adventurer, Philip had the ships, the men and the guns for the greatest navy ever to put to sea, and on July 20th, 1588, the Invincible Armada came in sight of England’s shores.
Waiting at Plymouth Hoe was Sir Francis Drake.
The first global circumnavigation, from 1519 to 1522, was begun by Ferdinand Magellan and finished by Juan Sebastián Elcano. Their ship was ‘Victoria’, and some of her crew were present throughout the entire journey. However, Drake was the first commander to lead a complete voyage around the world in one ship.