Nice job Cat.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Oh yeah, the Hind... around 1580 Drake sailed clear around the world and returned to England a hero. That's all the background on it I know. Didn't he become a pirate sometime after and get his arse hanged?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Drake did circumnavigate in the Hind, however he was already what you might call a Pirate at the time. The key to understanding the classic galleon period in regards to pirating is that a pirate is only a pirate to the guy being robbed. The guy doing the robbing thinks rather highly of himself. At this point in history the English Sea Dogs were making quite a name for themselves raiding shiping and ports on the Spanish main. He is known especially for his famous attack on Nombre de Dios and his capture of a Spanish donkey train full of silver. Sailing around the horn he turned back up along the Pacific Coast of South America. If you'll indulge me, I'd like to share a great story of an event that took place there.
While stopping for stores he learned of a Spanish Treasure ship heading south to go back around the horn and up to Cadiz. This was during the time before proper navies, so merchants were both warships and merchants. Drake knew that he couldn't take the heavy ship outright, but he planned a very cunning ruse de guerre. Removing one of his cannon he tied it to the Hind and threw it overboard, draging behind him like a sea anchor and drastically slowing his sailing abilities. He then sailed on an intercept vector with the treasure ship, when the treasure saw him he turned and ran like a frightented little merchant. His slowed running capabilities gave the appearance of a heavy laden merchant. The Spaniard beat down to him and called for him to strike. Instead, he cut the cable, turned and fired a broadside. This was at a time in history when it took very very long (some reports indicate an hour) between volleys, so the Spaniard Struck instead.
Following that little bit of Pyrating he then went on to circumnavigate the globe. When he returned to `jolly-old` England his combined riches from the sacking and raiding in the caribbean and the treasure ship off of Peru gave him quite the pretty penny. As a proper Englishman he gave much of it to Elizabeth, afterall, he did sail in her name, and was knighted for it. He then led a Naval expedition across Biscay and sacked Cadiz! Later, during the battles with the Spanish Armada he commanded the leeward division of the English Fleet. It is commonly misunderstood in America that the Spanish Armada was destroyed by a storm... not the case at all. The storm came on the return voyage, after the attack had failed... due of course to Drake, Hawkins, and a very very young English Navy.
The bloke you are thinking of might Sir Walter Raleigh, he too did a little privateering/pyrating/`hero-ing` (call it what you will), but he was eventually put to death because of his close dealings with the Earl (or was it Duke) of Essex who was put to death for treason against the crown. Poor Walter was accused of taking part in an attempt at assasinating James I.
The other bloke you might be thinking of is the famous Captain Kidd. Kidd was chartered by Robert Livingston of New York (his great grandson signed the American Declaration of Independence), Earl (or Lord) of Belmont - the then governor of New York- a group of shadowy royal insiders and King William III to travel to the Indian Ocean and hunt two things: pirates and french merchants. Political intrigue and a series of cunning tricks by Pirate Captain Robert Culliford (Kidd's former shipmate and `three-time` betrayer) led to the eventual false imprisonment of Kidd. Kidd was arrested as a pirate because he captured a neutral vessel. In reality she was a french merchant, her french pass is on display today in the British War Museum. Alos, Culliford pretended to be Kidd when he would go `a-pirating`, so a lot of merchants were hunting the pirate "Kidd" in the Indian ocean. The end result was Kidd was hanged and Culliford walked away with a lot of gold. There was an interesting book out a few years ago about the whole Kidd/Culliford battles by a man named Richard Zacks. Its a fun read, but he doesn't cite sources enough to be taken seriously, nor does he follow the proper method. Oh well, it was still fun.
Hmmmm. I seem to have strayed from the point.
In conclusion, Drake was a great and well liked man. He even developed the naval tactic of fighting yard arm to yard arm, a policy that would rule the Royal Navy until the end of the true hearts of oak. He died around 1596 as I remember of fever he contracted while privateering in the Caribbean. He was definitely a `gentleman-pirate`.
" border="0" alt="me.gif" /> Looking forward to seeing it - and nice to have you back, JSJ! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/keith.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="keith.gif" />
" border="0" alt="w00t.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hi.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":gday" border="0" alt="hi.gif" /> Sailor Al!!! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" /> Howyabee, matey?
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