There are many famous explorers from England, but one of my favorites is Sir Francis Drake. A deeply flawed man, his exploits are numerous and worthy of remembering. He may also be one of the leading factors that contributed to the rise in popularity of tobacco in England. I'd like to explore Sir Francis Drake's exploits and discuss his possible contribution to our hobby.

Sir Francis Drake's Early Life

Sir Francis Drake's exact birth is unknown. Most believe he was born around 1540 based on a Spaniard's writing that "admits he is 46 years old." He was born on Crowndale Farm in Devon, England, the first of 12 sons of Edmund Drake and Mary Mylwaye. At a young age, during the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549, the Drakes fled to Kent. Drake was placed in the house of William Hawkins, a relative of the family. Drake became an apprentice on Hawkins' boats, and by 18, he was a purser of the ship.

Sometime in the 1550s, Drake's father secured him a role on a small barque, allowing Drake to engage in commerce along the coast of England and into France. Impressing the ship's master, Drake was willed the barque upon his death. Or that's the story; the exploits of Drake are often exaggerated, mostly due to his own embellishments. Historian Harry Kelsey explains in his book Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate:

Kelsey goes on to suggest that the vessel more than likely belonged to the Hawkins family, or more specifically, John Hawkins, and was bestowed upon Drake. Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake would work together early in Drake's career, with Drake sailing with Hawkins or some of the captains he employed to parts of Europe on their many trade voyages. Their relationship deepened when Hawkins wanted to enter the West African slave trade, leading a series of four voyages along the route. It is believed that Drake was present on Hawkins' first two voyages, and by the third, it was confirmed that Drake was present.

Drake's presence during these voyages marks him as one of the first English slave traders, the first of many unsavory characters that would plague Drake's life. By the fourth and final voyage, Drake was the captain of the ship Judith. The voyage was a spectacular disaster, with the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa taking place during. Spanish forces at the titular San Juan de Ulúa attacked Hawkins' English privateers due to central Spanish authorities considering the privateers to be smuggling, violating the Treaty of Tordesillas, a treaty that England did not recognize.

The battle was a sneak attack on the English. After agreeing to a truce, the Spanish launched their attack, catching the English off guard. It quickly went south for the Brits from there. During the battle, seeing how poorly the English were doing, Drake took his men and fled. The battle was a major defeat for not just the British but Hawkins. In the end, two English vessels escaped out of six, Judith, and Minion, which carried Hawkins.

Upon his arrival back in England, Hawkins accused Drake of desertion and stealing the loot they had garnered on the voyage. Harry Kelsey quotes Hawkins in the The Queen's Pirate:

Naturally, Drake denied these claims, having distributed the loot among his crew and fully believing that Hawkins had died in the battle. The Battle of San Juan de Ulúa marked a turning point in Drake's sailing career. He left the life of a commerce vessel behind and became a privateer dedicated to attacking Spanish ships.

Sir Francis Drake, the Privateer

Drake's privateer career began in 1572 when he set sail with a crew of 73 men on two vessels, the Pascha, which weighed 70 tons, and the smaller 25-ton vessel, the Swan. They set sail for the Isthmus of Panama to lead an attack, with the goal of raiding Nombre de Dios, a city located at the Isthmus. The attack began in June that year and was successful in the sense that they captured the city. However, Drake was wounded during the attack, forcing a retreat without garnering any loot. Drake ruled out attacking the city again and decided the best course of action was to raid Spanish galleons along the coast.

Drake, despite his short-lived time in the slave trade, had an unlikely ally in a group of African slaves who had escaped their Spanish owners. These escapees were known as the Cimarron people, partnering with Drake to defeat the Spanish conquest. Drake himself described the Cimarrons as "a black people which, about eighty years past, fled from the Spaniards, their masters, by reason of their cruelty, and have since grown to a nation, under two kings of their own. The one inhabiteth to the west, the other to the east of the way from Nombre de Dios." The Cimarrons numbered roughly 3,000 and were eager to join forces with Drake due to their hatred of the Spanish. Drake needed them to guide him and his men through the Chagres River to Spanish outposts.

In February 1573, the Cimarrons informed Drake of a Spanish mule train carrying gold and other rarities. The train began in Nombre de Dios and was moving across the Isthmus. Drake and his men, guided by 30 Cimarrones, embarked to intercept the train. This raid wouldn't have been possible without them, leading Drake's men through the Isthmus through their hidden pathways. During this journey, the Cimarrons took the English to one of their favorite points located on a steep hill, where they could see both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans at the same time.

The raid was a failure in terms of ambushing the train. The Queen's Pirate describes the raid:

On their retreat, there was a scuffle on the outskirts of Venta de Chagres, where several Spanish soldiers and a friar were killed. The Cimarrones were able to loot the town's warehouse before burning the town. The Cimarrones vowed to Drake that they would continue being his allies. Months later in April, Drake encountered Guillamure Le Testue, a French privateer. The two would join forces and set their sights upon the mule train at the Campos River, which was transporting 20 tons of gold and silver.

In April 1573, Drake and Testue would successfully capture the Spanish silver train at Nombre de Dios, but the 20 tons were too much to take, forcing the raiding party to bury a majority. The party took what they could and headed towards their raiding boats on the coast, heading through the thick jungles and mountains. The Cimarron wanted little of the gold, but they requested the iron, which Drake readily handed over.

By the time they had reached the beach where their boats had been left, they were disheartened to see them gone. Rallying his crew, they once again buried their loot and made rafts to take the men to the ships. The ships' crew assumed the worst, seeing the ragged men on makeshift rafts. Drake teased the men and produced plenty of spoils he had hidden in his clothes. Even with such little loot, the voyage was a raging success. By August, Drake and his crew had arrived in Plymouth.

Upon their return, the English government had signed a truce with Spain, which meant the English government was unable to formally acknowledge Drake's raid. Regardless, in the coming years, he and his crew were still hailed as heroes while Spain labeled them as pirates. Two years later, in 1575, Drake would participate in the Rathlin Island massacre, where he would prevent Gaelic Irish and Scottish reinforcements from reaching the island while Sir John Norris slaughtered defenders, women, and children of Clan MacDonnell. Yet another stain on Drake's life.

Sir Francis Drake's Most Famous Voyage

Drake's most famous voyage would take place between 1577 and 1580. He led an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas. Organized by a syndicate of wealthy and influential Englishmen and Drake himself, Drake's voyage would be the first circumnavigation in 58 years. Drake's fleet set sail from Plymouth on November 15, 1577, but quickly threatened the fleet, forcing them to shelter in Falmouth, Cornwall, before returning to Plymouth for repair.

On December 13, Drake's fleet would set sail again. He led the fleet on the Pelican with four other ships in tow and a crew totalling 164 men. The fleet would capture a sixth ship, the Mary, a Portuguese merchant ship, and kidnap its captain, Nuno da Silva, off the coast of Africa. The fleet had its fair share of difficulties. Drake lost two of his ships in the Atlantic crossing. The fleet would make landfall in Puerto San Julián, where Drake would hold a trial that led to the execution of Thomas Doughty.

Thomas Doughty served as Drake's co-commander, and he and Drake had several quarrels throughout the journey. On June 3, 1578, Drake would accuse Doughty of witchcraft and charge him with mutiny and treason in a shipboard trial. Drake claimed to have a commission from the Queen to carry out such acts and denied Doughty a trial back in England. Historian John Parry reports on Drake's commission, "Drake claimed at one stage in the voyage to hold a written commission from the Queen, but if such a document existed, he never showed it to his companions."

Doughty was found guilty, and Doughty was beheaded on July 2, 1578. At the end of the voyage, Drake became stranded on a reef. The ship's chaplain, in a sermon, suggested that the unfortunate circumstances of the voyage were connected to Drake's kangaroo court against Doughty. Drake proceeded to chain the chaplain to a hatch cover and marked him as excommunicated.

In September 1578, Drake's fleet made it to the Pacific. However, violent weather had destroyed the Marigold and caused the Elizabeth to return to England, leaving only the Pelican. Another stain upon Drake's career was being the first European to kill indigenous peoples in southern Patagonia. Drake pushed onwards in his lone flagship, now renamed Golden Hind in honor of Sir Christopher Hatton. The Golden Hind sailed north along the Pacific coast of South America, raiding Spanish ports and towns. Drake's men were able to capture several Spanish ships during these attacks.

Drake and his men achieved several major victories during this time, including the capture of a Spanish ship laden with Peruvian gold. He would also learn of a ship named Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, which carried 36 kilograms of gold and jewels, 13 chests of silver reals, and 26,000 kilograms of silver. Drake and his men were over the moon with their good fortune; The ship proved to be their most profitable capture.

The fleet continued north, raiding as they went. Between April 13 and 16, Drake began to formulate the best course of action for returning to England with his bounty. They could sail south along the coast to return to the Atlantic, but this was rejected due to dangerous weather and the expectation of Spanish resistance from the raids. This left two options: continue up north and return to the Atlantic by the rumored Strait of Anián, or sail across the Pacific for the East Indies and return to England via circumnavigation.

Between May and July, Drake's voyage would sail along the western coast of North America. The fleet would make landfall in a protected cove that Drake claimed as New Albion. The crew labored for weeks to prepare for their circumnavigating voyage, and on July 23, they set sail for England. Drake's fleet would sail southwest to catch the winds that would carry them across the Pacific. The journey was long, but eventually they would reach Sierra Leone by July 22, 1580. By September 26, 1580, the Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth with Drake and a crew of 59 men aboard. They carried with them exotic spices and their captured loot from the raids. Historian Jasper Ridley provides more detail on the profit:

The queen's half-share surpassed the crown's income for that entire year, and Drake was hailed as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the earth. However, Queen Elizabeth declared all written records of Drake's voyages were to become secrets of the Realm, and Drake and his crew were sworn to secrecy on the pain of death. This was to keep Drake's activities hidden from Spain. Drake presented the Queen with a jewel token commemorating the voyage, which was taken off the Pacific coast of Mexico. It was made of enamelled gold and bore a gorgeous African diamond and a ship with an ebony hull.

To express the Queen's gratitude, he was given the Drake Jewel, a valuable pendant surrounded by diamonds, pearls, and rubies. It was a symbol of great pride to Drake, and one of the few documented survivors among sixteenth-century jewels. It's currently conserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. On April 4, 1581, the Queen would honor Drake once again by awarding him knighthood aboard the Golden Hind. The actual dubbing was performed by a French diplomat who was negotiating for the Queen to marry the King of France's brother. This was done to show France's support for Drake's actions; however, in the Victorian era, a widely believed tale that the Queen herself did the knighting was spread.

Drake adopted the coat of arms of the ancient Devon family of Drake of Ash, who he claimed to have kinship to. But the matter was disputed in court, which led to the Queen awarding Drake his own coat of arms. His coat of arms carries two mottos, Sic Parvis Magna which means Great achievements from small beginnings. The second was Auxilio Divino, translating to By Divine Aid.

Sir Francis Drake's Political Career

After his circumnavigation, Drake would become a member of parliament on January 16, 1581. He did not actively participate, and a month later, he would be granted a leave of absence. By September that year, he became Mayor of Plymouth, a role he did participate in. He passed several civil projects, as well as a law regulating the local pilchard trade. In 1584, Drake, once again, became a member of parliament and was actually active this time. He mostly focused on issues regarding naval activities, early American colonization, and issues related to Devon. His next two terms in Parliament had him engaged in other duties, and even included an expedition to Portugal.

During the war between England and Spain in 1585, Drake was tasked with leading an expedition to attack the Spanish colonies in a pre-emptive strike. Much of Drake's life would revolve around continued war efforts against the Spanish. In 1595, Drake's naval career was taking a turn for the worse. A series of defeats marked the final days of Drake's career and life. Drake would die on January 28, 1596, of dysentery off the coast of Portobelo, where Spanish treasure ships had been sheltering. When Drake died, the English fleet withdrew from the region. Drake was buried at sea in a sealed lead-lined coffin dressed in full armour. His remains have never been found despite researchers' efforts.

Sir Francis Drake's Legacy to Tobacco

The history of tobacco in England is marked by conflicting information. It is certain that Sir Walter Raleigh popularized the habit of smoking in England, but he is often credited with bringing tobacco to England as well. Sir Francis Drake has been suggested to be the first to successfully bring tobacco to English shores from his raids on the Spanish in 1573. Others allege that he was the first to bring it in 1585 after Sir Walter Raleigh sent Drake on an expedition to colonize Roanoke Island. When the expedition failed, Drake returned to Europe, bringing with him tobacco and smoking implements.

While sailors at the time, both English and Spanish, had picked up the habit of tobacco from their travels and interactions with indigenous populations, Drake is alleged to have discovered a method of curing tobacco so that it could be stored and transported in bulk, leading it to be affordable to ship and profitable to bother shipping.

The topic of who was the first to successfully popularize the import of tobacco to England is an article in its own right, but it's interesting to think that such a feat would be a footnote in Drake's life. Even if we can't definitely point the finger to Drake for giving us a legacy in tobacco, his life has inspired countless tales and media franchises over the years.

Sir Francis Drake lived a life of adventure. He was far from a perfect man, given his career in the slave trade, his unjust execution of a man, and his participation in the slaughter of innocents. These actions cannot be overlooked, but his achievements are still worth remembering to this day.

Bibliography

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• Kelsey, H. (2000). Sir Francis Drake: The queen's pirate. Yale University Press.
• Shields, D. S. (n.d.). The Drake Jewel. Uncommon sense - 118 - the drake jewel. https://web.archive.org/web/20100611163003/http://oieahc.wm.edu/uncommon/118/drake.cfm
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• Pascià , A. (n.d.). Then the tobacco went up in smoke - part III (pipe. Al Pascià. https://www.alpascia.com/moments/en/detail/32/then-the-tobacco-went-up-in-sm
• Allen, M. J. B., Andrews, K. R., Draper, B. P., Gill, C., Jewkes, W. T., Lessa, W. A., Parry, J. H., Quinn, D. B., Thrower, N. J. W., Wallis, H., & Waters, D. W. (2021). Sir Francis Drake and the famous voyage, 1577-1580: Essays commemorating the quadricentennial of Drake's circumnavigation of the Earth. University of California Press.