Francis Drake Research Paper

Francis Drake was born around 1540-1544 in Devonshire, England. He was the eldest of 12 sons born to Edmund Drake and Mary Mylwaye Drake. Francis was apprenticed to a merchant who sailed coastal waters trading goods between England and France. He took to navigation well and was soon enlisted by his relatives, the Hawkinses. By the 1560s, Francis Drake was given command of his own ship, the Judith, with a small fleet.
They sailed to South Africa to buy slaves and then travelled to Spain to sell them which was against Spanish law. They were trapped, Francis escaped but many died, this started his hatred of the Spanish crown.
In 1572, Francis Drake received a privateer's commission from Queen Elizabeth I. In that year, he embarked on his first independent
He set sail across the Pacific, through the Indian Ocean and around Cape of Good Hope back to England, landing at Plymouth in 1580. Drake had become the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world. The treasure he captured made him a wealthy man, and the Queen knighted him in 1581.
Later that year, he was elected to the House of Commons. Between 1585 and 1586 Queen Elizabeth I sent Sir Francis on a series of raids. In 1588, Sir Francis Drake was appointed vice admiral of the English Navy.
In 1595 the Queen asked Sir Francis to travelled with his cousin John Hawkins The queen once again called on Sir Francis Drake to wage war on Spain. Traveling with Drake was his cousin, John Hawkins. They were to capture Spain's treasure supply in Panama, in hopes of cutting off revenue and ending the war. After a few skirmishes in the Caribbean, Drake's fleet moved farther west and anchored off the coast of Portobello, Panama. There, Drake contracted dysentery and on January 28, 1596, died of a fever. He was buried in a lead coffin at sea near Portobello, Panama. Divers continue to search for the