such as silk and porcelain, from Asia to Mexico.
Silver shipments sailed from Peru to Panama,
where they were unloaded and transported
overland to Atlantic departure ports, from
which the riches would be taken to Spain.
By a secret understanding, Elizabeth I gave
Drake license to attack and rob Spanish ships.
If Drake was captured, however, the queen
would disavow any knowledge of his activities.
The Spanish viewed him as a common pirate.
In reality, Drake was a privateer, a captain who
raided enemy ships in his queen’s service. His
plan was to round South America and sail into
the Pacific Ocean. Since English ships were
never seen there, Spanish treasure ships and
their ports could be caught unprepared and
easily captured. The secrecy of the plan makes
the exact route of Drake’s travels controversial
to this day.
Drake’s small fleet succeeded in navigating
through the dangerous Strait of Magellan, at
the southern tip of South America. Once
through the terrifying passageway, he unex-
pectedly made one of the few undisputed dis-
coveries of his voyage. For centuries, North
Africans and Europeans had believed in the
existence of the so-called Great Southern
Continent, named Terra Australis Incognita
(Unknown Southern Land) by early Greek-
Egyptian geographer Ptolemy. After Por-
tuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan passed
through the strait that nowbears his name in
1520, it was speculated that the landmasses
south of the strait might be the northernmost
part of Terra Australis Incognita.
Shortly after Drake’s ships emerged from
the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific, they were
seized by a violent storm that blew them south-
ward. One ship, the Marigold,was lost with all
hands. By the time the storm subsided, seven
weeks later, Drake had been carried into open
seas south of Tierra del Fuego, the name given
to thegroup of islands south of the Strait of
Magellan. He was the first European to realize
that the land there was a series of islands, not
part of a continental mass. In honor of his dis-
covery that open sea separated the two conti-
nents, the waters between South America and
Antarctica were later named the Drake Passage.
By the time Drake began plundering Span-
ish gold in the Pacific, shipwrecks, mutiny,
and confusion had reduced his small fleet to
his own flagship, The Golden Hind.His plan,
however, was a great success. Drake caught
the Spanish off guard and The Golden Hind
was soon packed with treasure from Spanish
galleons and coastal towns. With his mission
completed off the Mexican coast, Drake faced
the problem of getting home to England.Francis Drake was the first captain to circumnavigate
the world and survive the journey.(Library of Congress,
Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-121191])Charting the Coast of California B 125