Pirates in Santo Domingo

Sir Francis Drake, the pirate of the English queen, was presumably one of the most famous mariners of all times. In 1585, he plundered Santo Domingo.

Francis Drake was born in Crowndale, near Plymouth, as the son of a lease-holder in 1540. First, he entered service as a shipyard worker and then as a sailor.

He was trained as a captain under John Hawkins, who led the English slave trade. In 1572, he had his first own command: He plundered the city Nombre de Dios, today's Colon, in Panama.

On November 15th, 1577, Drake started out on his famous circumnavigation. He crossed the Atlantic by ways of the Straits of Magellan into the Pacific, and there he assaulted the completely surprised Spaniards. On this trip, searching for a passage to the Atlantic Ocean, the corsair sailed as far as Canada, crossed the Pacific- and the Indian Ocean, to finally return home via Cape Hope. He captured a Spanish ship carrying silver with a value of more than 40,000 Pounds. His flagship "The Golden Hind" arrived in Plymouth heavily laden with booty on September 26th, 1580. This, incidentally, was the voyage from which he brought home tobacco and potatoes to Europe.

In 1585 Drake succeeded in a further strike against the Spaniards, when he conquered Santiago, Cartagena, Santo Domingo and Saint Augustine. Two years later, he invaded the harbor of Cádiz and sank numerous ships there. Drake accomplished further heroic deeds on the occasion of the attack of the Spanish armada against England in the year 1588.

Drake became one of the most dangerous and most embittered opponents of Spain, was later called "El Draque" (the Dragon), and feared more than tempest and sea.

Spain's rulers protested furiously against the pirate. Elizabeth I., however, could not be impressed. To the contrary: She even visited Drake on his ship and knighted him. The seaport of Plymouth elected him for mayor, and he was famous as well as popular. The rumors that there had been an affair between him and his queen, have no foundation, but for Elisabeth, Drake certainly held a distinct fascination. They were like allies against the common enemy of Spain.

Like no other mariner of his time, Drake contributed to the modification of the political map. He broke the supremacy of the Spaniards on the seas, and created the basis for England's rise to a maritime and colonial world power.

In 1595, he sailed to the Caribbean again with John Hawkins. There, he fell ill, and died on January 28th, 1596 in Portobello, Panama.