Sir Francis Drake
Born in 1540 to a farmer and a preacher, Francis Drake was determined to conquer and explore the world. He navigated many merchant ships throughout the 1550’s, and was involved with the West African slave trade. In 1577, Queen Elizabeth I of England chose Drake to lead an expedition on a circumnavigation of the globe. This expedition was to take three years, and made Drake famous.
In 1577, Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth Sound in Devon, England with a crew of sixty to one hundred men. Francis Drake was sent off on his voyage to fight the Spanish and bring back their goods such as gold to better the wealth and economy of the British, but his own personal goal was to explore and discover new trade routes.
map from: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/d/drake.shtml
And so it went, that the anxious young Drake set sail on a voyage that would greatly affect the future of England and North America. He began his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to South America, and from there sailed up the California coast, landing to make repairs to his ship, the Golden Hind. It is thought that he landed in San Francisco Bay, and claimed the area for England, calling it Nova Albion. He is also reputed to have landed at Drake's Beach, near Point Reyes. The cliffs along the California coast were compared to the white cliffs of Dover, in the English channel, and allowed historians to guess at where he landed. Due to the passage of time, we no longer know exactly where Nova Albion is located, but as a tribute to his visit his name remains, on Drake's Beach, Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, and Sir Francis Drake High School. Drake probably continued up the northern California coast, sailing up past Oregon and Washington, amid maybe going as far as Vancouver Island, Canada. While he was in the region, he supposedly made extensive charts of the area in hopes of discovering the mythical Northwest Passage, a sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that would have given England a monopoly on trade with China. He didn't have enough supplies to continue safely, so therefore made the sensible decision to turn around and sail back across the Pacific. He later destroyed the charts and records of his trip, afraid that the Spanish would capture them and find the Northwest passage.
During Drake's expedition, his famous ship, the Golden Hind, was ambushed by the natives because they believed that the British were oppressing their people. He and his crew raided many Spanish colonies in South America and across the coast of Mexico. He was constantly in conflict with the Spanish, winning fame and knighthood when he defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 on his return to England. From there his career in the battlefield only went downhill, but he became a member of Parliament and the mayor of Plymouth, dying in 1596.
Sir Francis Drake was not the first to explore the Northwest passage, Martin Frobisher claims that title, but Drake was the first to approach it from the Pacific Ocean. Even though he had limited success, turning back without finding it, and his discoveries are no longer documented, his status as an explorer ensured that he served as inspiration for the men that followed him; James Cook, Sir John Franklin, Robert McClure and Amundsen.
Sir Francis Drake was not a particularly nice man. He participated in the slave trade, ripping the people of West Africa from their homes. He killed many of the Spaniards and native that he met on his voyage around the Americas, saying he was doing it for the good of the British crown. He was a privateer and officially sanctioned by the crown to perform these misdeeds. In this day and age, where we value equality and freedom for all, why should we honor people such as Drake, who mistreated so many. It is nice to recognize him for his explorations and circumnavigation, but we should also acknowledge his bad side. In the Bay Area, we seem to take pride in his name in a variety of different ways, from naming our main Boulevard after him to naming our school Sir Francis Drake High School and calling the beach where he is supposed to have landed Drake's Beach. Our school's sports teams are called the pirates, assumedly in inaccurrate honor of him. We should acknowledge that he was slave trader and a privateer, not a pirate, an important difference in the 16th century. We should update our school's image and sports team names to relate more to Sir Francis Drake, and have more information about him available, so that we know the truth about namesake of our school.
Today we are at the beginning of a new age of exploration, fueled by technological advancements and scientific discoveries. One very prestigious man on the brink of a great discovery has poured his hopes and dreams into the possibility of life on Mars. Dr. Pascal Lee, a native Californian, has spent many years researching the conditions of Mars as a planet, the possibility of life on the planet, and ways that humans could survive there. He is currently driving the Northwest Passage with three others, to deliver his Moon-1 Humvee Rover to Devon Island, where he is testing materials for use on Mars. Dr. Lee's driving of the Northwest Passage will hopefully prove successful and useful in his discovery of life on Mars. Just as Sir Francis Drake explored the world and found resources and life on the West coast of North America Dr. Lee aims to explore Mars, therefore it is important that he maintains his general goals of exploration and discovery in the Northwest Passage. We want Dr. Lee to succeed on this mission and be able to come to conclusions about Mars' ability to support human life.
Unlike Sir Francis Drake, Dr. Lee is determined to go across the Northwest passage and realize his goals. When Sir Francis Drake was close to his discovery of the Northwest passage he decided to turn around and head to Britain. In order to succeed in his research of the Martian surface, Dr. Lee needs to make it across the Northwest passage and he can't give up and turn around as Drake did.
Resources:
“Circumnavigation by Sir Francis Drake” http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/tudors/images/explorer/map.jpg (accessed March 31, 2009)
Means, Richard. “Sir Francis Drake: The Northwest Passage.” Sir Francis Drake, January 1, 2009, page 3. http://web.ebscohost.com
“The Famous Voyage.” Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room. http://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/catalog/drake/drake-4-famousvoy.html (accessed March 31, 2009)
“Sir Francis Drake.” Elizabethan Era. http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/sir-francis-drake.htm. (accessed March 31, 2009).
Seeler, Oliver. “The Voyage.” Nova Albion Research, 1996. http://www.mcn.org/2/oseeler/voy.htm. (accessed March 31, 2009)
“Sir Francis Drake: Explorer.” Enchanted Learning. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/d/drake.shtml (accessed March 31, 2009)
created by Anna Knowles, Maralisa Simmons-Cook, Sam Delfanti and Connor Thurgate
