Who was Francis Drake? – Opinion

BY RORY EAVES

Francis Drake is a name that you will be all too familiar with, both on and off campus in Plymouth. From Halls of Residence and shopping centres to the statues on the Hoe, Drake is an integral part of Plymouth’s history.

However if you’re anything like me, then your knowledge of British history is most likely limited to whatever was covered while you were at secondary school, and this knowledge may be limited even further if you didn’t take History to GCSE or A Level. I did both, however with the curriculum mainly centred around 20th century foreign history, such as Stalin’s Russia, The American Civil Rights Movement, and Hitler’s Germany, you would be forgiven if you weren’t all too familiar with some of Plymouth’s most famous historical faces. So who was Francis Drake, and what is his relevance to Plymouth?

Sir Francis Drake

Arguably, Sir Francis Drake is Plymouth’s most famous figure. He was perhaps most well known for spearheading the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, a feat that came second in priority after he insisted on finishing his game of bowls.

Almost singlehandedly saving the country from foreign invasion is, in itself, an accolade worthy of continued reverence some 432 years later, however there was much more to Drake than being a masterful naval tactician.

Did you know?

Drake was knighted 7 years prior to his success against the Spanish by Elizabeth I. His knighthood was the result of a successful career as a seafarer and circumnavigator, undertaking campaigns against the Spanish in the Caribbean and Western North America regions.

Important Moments in the Life of Sir Francis Drake

• 1563-1564 – Voyaged to the Coast of Guinea in a Ship owned by his cousin and infamous slave trader John Hawkins. By the time they reached the coast of Venezuela, 400 slaves had survived to be sold.
• 1566-1567 – Drake journeyed to the Americas for the first time, pirating and attacking Portuguese ships as he went. The captured cargo, consisting mainly of slaves, were attempted to be sold to Spanish plantations, however this voyage was deemed largely unsuccessful.

In these years it is estimated that Hawkins and Drake enslaved as many as 1400 slaves, with an estimated 3 times this number perishing on the voyages

Did you know?

Drake is largely remembered as a hero to the English, however to the Spanish he was considered to be a pirate, given the infamous title of El Draque, with a bounty on his head that equates to around £6 million today.

• 1568 – In what is widely deemed as the origins of Drake’s true hatred towards the Spanish, he and John Hawkins barely survived a Spanish raid on Drake’s second slaving voyage to Mexico.
• 1572-1573 – Drake led his first independent expedition in the form of a number of raids on Spanish ships, with the ultimate aim of disrupting the flow of Silver and Gold between the Spanish Empire. During this time Drake and his crew captured around 20 tonnes of Gold and Silver. Despite Drake getting severely wounded during this time, the expedition was considered to be a resounding success. However, due to a temporary truce between Elizabeth I of England and Phillip II of Spain, on Drake’s arrival back in Plymouth, the success could not be publicly celebrated in England. It was this expedition that later gave rise to Drake’s pirate status by the Spanish.

The Rathlin Island Massacre of 1575

Drake partook in the Rathlin Island Massacre; a butchering of over 600 Scots and Irishmen. Drake was charged with preventing reinforcements from reaching the island, essentially sealing the fate of the civilian men, women, children, and soldiers, that had already surrendered.

1577-1580 Circumnavigation

Between these dates, Drake completed his circumnavigation of the globe, but it wasn’t plain sailing. Early on he lost men, ships, and even executed his co-commander on mutiny and witchcraft charges.

The convoy was depleted to one sole ship in 1578, where the company engaged in conflicts with, and killed some of, the indigenous people of the area. They were the first Europeans to do this.

It was around this time that the remaining ship was renamed The Golden Hind in honour of Christopher Hatton after his coat of arms. A replica of the Golden Hind can be found in Brixham Harbour, about an hours drive from Plymouth. There is also a pub of its namesake in Mannamead.

With the Hind, Drake captured and plundered a number of Spanish ships. The most profitable of these captures was the Cacafuego. The Cacafuego pocketed Drake a gargantuan:

• 36KG of Gold
• Precious jewels
• 13 Chests of Royal Plates
• 26,000KG of silver

Drake returned to Plymouth with 59 crew members on board the Golden Hind in the later months of 1580.

Did you know?

The estoiles represent navigation which has played a key role in the history of the city and of the University, where the School of Navigation
formed the cornerstone of education developments. Estolis (sic) feature in the shield of Sir Francis Drake, a major historical figure in Plymouth. They also afford an indirect reference to Lady Astor, the first woman MP (for Plymouth Devonport) who bequeathed her house on The Hoe to the City.

Image and Citation from the University of Plymouth Font and Logo Guidelines

Drake was comparatively less adventurous in the 8 years leading up to the Spanish Armada. he became the mayor of Plymouth after receiving his knighthood, and was also a member of parliament three times, with the third being for Plymouth.

Despite this, Drake led two notable naval campaigns against the Spanish and their colonies in the run up to the Spanish Armada that were both largely regarded as a success.

It all started to go down hill after his most well known victory, and after a number of defeats at the hands of the Spanish, Drake died during the Battle of San Juan after failing to capture the prosperous port of Panama. Drake was buried at sea at the age of around 56.

Legacy and Racial Controversy

Drake has been immortalised in Plymouth; wherever you go you can see somewhere that bears his name, whether it’s Drake’s Island just off of the Hoe, the statue of him on the Hoe, Drake’s Circus shopping complex, or one of the University’s Halls of Residence. Drake is an integral part of Plymouth’s history, yet in recent weeks his legacy has come under fire much like Edward Colston, due to the part he played in the slave trade.

Notable involvement includes the two slaving missions mentioned in this article that Drake embarked on, and his strong relationship with John Hawkins, a renowned merchant and slave trader.

Should the Francis Drake Halls of Residence be renamed?

The short answer is yes, I think they should on a number of factors. Drake’s legacy is tarnished. The knowledge of his slaving connections has always been there but they are becoming more widely talked about, therefore the University would benefit from distancing themselves from his name as much as possible. The University, being a centre for inclusion and diversity, means that they should never have named them after Drake. Secondly, Drake has nothing to do with the University of Plymouth; there are far more accomplished, and relatively recent alumni of the University of Plymouth that are more deserving of a building named in their honour, such as Gareth Owen or Tom Rivett-Carnac.

Final Thoughts

The question to be asked is should Drake’s statue on the Hoe face the same fate as Colston’s in Bristol?

Before writing this article, my answer was firmly no, I didn’t think that the two compared. The difference between the two, in my mind, was that Colston was purely a slaver, and would not have been as successful and as wealthy as he was without the trading of slaves. On the flip side, Drake was famous for his accolades of destroying the Spanish Armada and becoming the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, which is the reason he was, and still his, revered and idolised by so many.

But now I’m unsure of where I stand, and the aspect that is conflicting for me is the first expedition that Drake went on with John Hawkins to Guinea. They ended up having 400 slaves to trade that survived the journey, so it is safe to assume that there was a large number of slaves that did not survive.

Ultimately I believe it boils down to the most notable “achievement” of the person being immortalised by way of a statue, and the perspective that is used. Drake is immortalised for his naval accolades that saved this entire country from invasion, however from the perspective of the Spanish, he was a vicious pirate who determinedly tried to cripple and invade their country. Where is the distinction drawn between hero and villain?

Despite a significant portion of his younger years involving him in the company of John Hawkins, Drake himself wasn’t primarily a slaver, therefore I’m still not sure that he should be put in the same bracket as Colston. However that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t also remember and educate ourselves about the abhorrent things that he did. Prior to researching this article, I knew nothing about his slaving connections, and I studied 16th Century England at A Level. Glossing over the uncomfortable truths of English history, and there are a hell of a lot of them, is counter-productive and dangerous, as those that don’t know history are destined to repeat it.

The statue should probably remain. Drake is disputably the most famous figure that the city of Plymouth has ever known. However, more work needs to be done to highlight the abhorrent things he took part in while in the company of John Hawkins. We can’t erase history and we shouldn’t attempt to, however just as crucially we can’t continue to skip over the bits that we don’t like; the British empire wasn’t born out of diplomacy and asking nicely, and it’s about time that we stopped pretending it was.

If you found this article interesting, consider reading my similar account of Nancy Astor.