Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake, Vice Adm, (c. 1540 – January 28, 1596) was an English privateer, navigator, naval pioneer, naval raider, politician, and civil engineer of the Elizabethan period. He was the first Englishman (and the first captain of a non-Spanish ship) to circumnavigate the globe. He was second in command of the English fleet which defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588.

References

• "The Safeguard of the Sea; A Naval History of Britain 660-1649", by N.A.M. Rodger, (London, 1997).
• "The defeat of the Spanish Armada", Garett Mattingly, (1959), Pulitzer Prize winner in 1960 – a fascinating account of the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
• "The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, 1577-1580", by R. Samuel Bawlf, (Douglas & McIntyre, 2003)