Sir Francis Drake

[Music] dartmore the heart of the west of England on this Bleak Moreland many men have lived and died and left behind their monuments in enduring Granite but none of Devon's sons has carved such a monument of lasting Fame as Francis Drake sea captain Navigator and Explorer and first Englishman to sail around the world just below the little town of Tavistock on the river Tav stands the farm where he was born in the year 1545 here he lived till he was 4 years old with his father Edmund Drake a farmer and preacher driven from his home by religious persecution Drake did not return to the West country until he was 21 and already Apprentice to the Sea on the river Tamar which flows into Plymouth sound stands the ancient Barrow of salach its houses clustered on the Steep River Bank in this little cottage lived Mary Newman the masterful Drake wooed her obtained her promise to wait for him on his long sea voyages and in 1559 when he was 24 years old he married her in the gray Granite Parish Church of St buo in token of which we can still read the entry in the parish [Music] register the port of Plymouth today the port of Plymouth in tutor times this Tiny Town was one of the great ports of Elizabethan England within these houses tutor Nobles and Merchant adventurers laid plans for Voyages of exploration and gain many were the tales of gold and treasure uncountable told in guarded Whispers below their Oak Rafters through the narrow Twisted streets sea captains and sailors as they still do today from these Harbor walls The Fleets of Grenville and Hawkins set out on their year-long dangerous voyages but of all the famous Expeditions which started from this spot none in all English History was so daring so magnificent as The Voyage of the Golden Hind around the world barely the size of the modern trowler she sailed from Plymouth sound with four small consorts in no November of the Year 1577 and with less than 200 men packed into their tiny cabins their instruments of navigation were the compass and the cross staff by which they could site the stars or sun with these those early Navigators could hope to reckon their latitude fairly accurately by astronomical calculations Drake himself carried this tiny device which contained nearly all the instruments and information available to the Elizabethan Navigator yet with this equipment these men roamed the world Little Wonder that fear fear of the unknown was their unbidden passenger he coils around the mysterious corners of their charts but the Elizabeth and Seaman was an optimist who knew what curious sights might lie in wait for the traveler so Drake's little Convoy left England it crossed the Atlantic to South America then into the Pacific and North as far as Canada then South to India and back to England by way of South Africa the early days of this daring voyage did not go well and Drake had to execute one of his officers for Mutiny so troubled was the expedition that he cried in his despair I have taken in hand that I know not in the world how to go through with it passes my capacity it has even deprived me of my wits to think of of it but at last Fortune favored Drake he captured a treasure ship and loaded into her hold her cargo worth today about2 million next he turned South to the Indies and then when Fame and Fortune seemed secure the Golden Hind ran on a wreath but by nothing less than a miracle she was refloated undamaged and in September 1580 after 3 years of suffering and drought he was home again Laden with treasure to enjoy the favors of the first Queen Elizabeth and with the gift of a silver cup to honor the first Englishman to enter the Pacific and circle the globe and to receive on the decks of the Golden Hind itself before a not entirely approving audience the high honor of Knighthood and the acclamation of cuor England with his accession to wealth and dignity Drake lost no time in adopting the style of a Country Gentleman he set up house in the Grand Manor in butland ABY first built in the year 1278 as a cian monastery and once the home of Sir Richard Grenville there he brought his second wife Elizabeth sdam after the death of his first wife [Music] Mary on this table in the Great Hall of butman ABY is his sword this thin strip of Steel which once inspired such fear in England's [Music] enemies beside it as those still waiting for their Master Li his scar worked in in silver and gold thread and his ceremonial helmet on his study table is the great Bible which he carried with him in the Golden Hind Around the [Music] World see on the top left hand corner of the fly leaf are the Doodles which he made with his quill [Music] pen Drake had now many an Idle Hour to gaze out of his study window the Queen's policies had undergone one of their frequent changes and great sea captains for the moment could languish on Shore but Drake was not the man to rest his extraordinary Vitality drove him into public affairs and now he laid the plans of his famous leak a great Granite Channel running 26 miles across dmore which brought a supply of drinking water to Plymouth for the first time as the Plymouth Municipal record puts it Sir Francis Drake Knight began to bring the river Mei to the town of Plymouth which being in length 26 Mi he with great care and diligence affected and brought the river into the town on the 24th of April the next after and to honor this man who brought the first water supply to Plymouth there is held every year the fishing Feast when the Lord mayor and Council of Plymouth assemble on the banks of the river mevie this 16th century loving cup is filled with water from the river and from it a toast is drunk in these words to the pious memory of Sir Francis Drake May the descendants of him who gave us water never lack for wine but before the water could thus be brought to pouth events were shaping far from the town that were to send Drake again to Sea at the head of a great English Fleet this is a globe of the known world made in the days of Elizabeth the round this globe ran a line to the West Spain Master of the world alone had the right to trade to the east only Portugal Spain Drew her wealth from The Fabulous Gold and Silver Mines of the Spanish M from here every year a treasure Fleet set out across the Atlantic guarded by a crack Spanish War Fleet Drake and his fellow captains often raided the main making their way Way by force into the Treasure House of the new world let us look at the ships which were matched in this growing struggle first the Spanish Galley with its ores manned by the prisoners of the Inquisition the Orthodox Spanish gallion were designed as floating castles with soldiers in command their Sailors as Sir Richard Grenville said were but slaves to the rest to moil and toil day or night so scant attention was paid to seamanship and the gallions were clumsy and unhandy [Music] the English ships were lower in the water and so more maneuverable whereas the Spanish method of sea fighting was to run alongside like this grapple the enemy and then fight a battle between soldiers just as on land the English way of fighting was to maneuver the ships so as to cross the bows of the enemy raking them from stem to stern with a broadside as they did so then to go about and coming back on the other attack to let fly the other [Music] broadside using her ships and sea captains Elizabeth the played a weary game of chess against Philip of stain venturing as much as she dared without risking open War but year by year the Spanish Fleet gathered its strength and and in the year 1588 her Invincible Armada set to Sea Plymouth ho in the 20th century Plymouth ho 1588 on the afternoon of Friday the 19th of July Captain Fleming of the Golden Hind brings news to the Admirals of the English Fleet that a great Squadron has been sighted off the lizard Point 25 mil west of Plymouth Harbor to this news Legend has it the Drake replied we have time enough to finish the game and beat the Spaniards afterwards yada lay off the Cornish Coast all that day that night the English Fleet sailed out from Plymouth Harbor and as the Armada with ships drawn up in a great present swept down the channel the English bowled down in line ahead to attack the Spanish Southern wing and the first engagement with the Armada [Music] began during the evening a great gallion was dismasted in a collision she was captured during the night by Sir Francis Drake her commander surrendering with typical Spanish pump and etiquette on the deck of the revenge Drake however was supposed to be leading the English Fleet and his absence had thrown it into confusion Daybreak found the English scattered over the length of the channel by Nightfall they' reformed into squadrons then the two fleets carried on a running fight the English squadrons chasing the great present of the Spanish Armada until they anchored off the French Coast by C all seemed quiet but Drake had a surprise for the Spaniards fire ships as they raced down the tide Panic seized the Spanish captains and daylight found only a handful of Spaniards facing the English by can Castle the greatest ship of the Armada and enormous Galley lay a ground throughout that day the battle continued along the Netherlands coast and by evening the Armada was no longer a fighting force to the west of the Spaniards were the Great sandbanks of the Dutch Coast onto which the wind was steadily driving them to the east lay the English they were trapped suddenly across the sandbanks a southernly wind began to blow the remnants of the Armada turned North and gladly FL fed into the North Sea less than half of that great Fleet saw Spain again this was Drake's finest Hour 8 years later he was buried at Sea in NRE dios Bay of [Music] Panama on Plymouth ho his statue still gazes over the seas he made his own he was a legend in his own [Music] lifetime [Music]