This episode is the second of our series on Sir Francis Drake. Last week, we revisited the catastrophic battle of San Juan d’Ulua in the harbor near Vera Cruz, Mexico between the English trader, smuggler, and slaver John Hawkins and arriving ships of the Spanish treasure fleet. Francis Drake, still with no “sir” at the front of his name, had limped back to England in one of the two surviving ships, arriving in January 1569. He fumed at the duplicity of the Viceroy of Mexico, who had breached a guarantee of safe conduct he had given the English. Drake vowed to wage war against the Spanish and vex Philip of Spain from one end of his realm to another. This episode looks at Drake’s voyages to the Caribbean in 1570, 1571, and again in 1572-73. These expeditions, which kicked off the era of English piracy in the Caribbean, made Drake a rich man, sorely vexed Philip, and made Drake famous at home and infamous among the Spanish. They would also earn Drake the wealth, credibility, and social status necessary to get the backing and authorization he would need to explore the west coast of the Americas and circumnavigate the globe from 1577-80.
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References for this episode
Samuel Bawlf, The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580
John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake