Francis Drake

Paper Masters will compose a research paper from scratch on Francis Drake that follows your guidelines. Below is a sample beginning.

Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596) was an English sea captain and explorer, one of the heroes of the Elizabethan Age. Second in command during the invasion of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Drake also became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.

Francis Drake's Commission

During the 1570s, Drake became an English privateer, attacking and harassing Spanish ships in the Caribbean. In 1572, he raided the Spanish Main, the area now known as Panama. For the next year, Drake stayed in the area amassing more gold that he could haul back to England.

Following this, Queen Elizabeth I commissioned Drake to sail to the Pacific, which he entered in 1578. It was on this voyage that he accomplished the following:

• Captured a number of Spanish treasure ships
• Took over the ship the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion
• Acquired 80 pounds of gold and 26 tons of silver.
• Fleeing the Spanish and is known to have made landfall near present-day San Francisco, California.

Francis Drake's Return

In 1580, Drake finally returned to England, where he received a hero's welcome and a knighthood. Drake was the vice admiral of the English fleet that sailed to meet the Spanish Armada. In 1596, he died of dysentery after attempting to attack San Juan de Puerto Rico. He was buried at sea in a lead coffin. Archaeologists and treasure hunters continue to search for this elusive artifact.