PRIVATEER OR PIRATE? Drake set off from Plymouth on his famous Golden Hind – then known as Pelican – armed with a ‘letter of marque’ that would allow him to attack Spanish ships legally
MABTRIIODNGEHMEARNE IMAGES X2, GETTY X2
“It isn’t that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better”
Francis Drake
Revered as a hero in his home country, and reviled as a pirate in Spain, Francis Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the planet, cruising along the coasts of Europe, Africa, South and North America, and Asia during an epic three-year adventure between 1577 and 1580.