. Historical portraits ... ts chief adviser on naval affairs :he sat in Parliament in 1585, and in the autumn of that year wassent in command of twenty-five sail to exact in Spanish Americareprisals for the embargo which Philip had just laid on all Englishships. On that voyage Drake plundered Vigo in Spain, thencrossed the Atlantic and took and held to ransom San Domingo,Carthagena and several towns in Florida, relieved and brought homethe first colonists of Virginia, and returned to England in thesummer of 1586. In the following spring he was sent to repeat hisexploits in the harbours of Spai
. Historical portraits ... ts chief adviser on naval affairs :he sat in Parliament in 1585, and in the autumn of that year wassent in command of twenty-five sail to exact in Spanish Americareprisals for the embargo which Philip had just laid on all Englishships. On that voyage Drake plundered Vigo in Spain, thencrossed the Atlantic and took and held to ransom San Domingo,Carthagena and several towns in Florida, relieved and brought homethe first colonists of Virginia, and returned to England in thesummer of 1586. In the following spring he was sent to repeat hisexploits in the harbours of Spain herself, where ships were nowbeing openly prepared for the invasion of England : he pushed rightinto Cadiz and sank, burned or carried away thirty-eight ships: ifthe Queen had allowed him to go on and do the same thing in Lisbonthe Armada would never have been able to sail when it did. In thedefeat of that fleet, when it came at last, Drakes share was theprimary one, and he was constantly urging the government to greater. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE From a miniature by Nicholas Hilliard belonging to theEarl of Derby. (Enlarged from original) Face p. 84 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 85 and greater exertions by sea. In the Counter Armada of 1589 hewas less successful, but managed to burn the shipping and part ofthe town of Coruna. Troops were landed for an attack on Lisbon,which failed, and Drake was accused of staying outside the harbourpicking up prizes. For the next five years there is little trace of hisactivity, and his last expedition (1595) with Sir John Hawkins to theWest Indies was utterly unsuccessful. The Spaniards were fore-warned and every port in America was fortified. Hawkins died offPorto Rico and Drake off Porto Bello; he was buried at sea. Drake was essentially the greatest of all the Elizabethan sailors,a man ready for any adventure, beloved and followed by his men,yet absolute master on his own deck: a man, moreover, of thehighest practical intelligence in all walks of life, and
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