The voyage was plagued by conflict between Drake and the two other men tasked with sharing command. In 1577, Queen Elizabeth commissioned Drake to lead an expedition around South America through the notoriously stormy Straits of Magellan. He returned to England with a large amount of Spanish treasure, an accomplishment that earned him a reputation as a leading privateer.
Drake did just that in 1572, capturing the port of Nombre de Dios (a drop-off point for silver and gold brought from Peru) and crossing the Isthmus of Panama, where he first caught sight of the immense Pacific Ocean. Privateer for the British CrownĪfter leading two successful expeditions to the West Indies, Drake came to the attention of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted him a privateer’s commission, effectively giving him the right to plunder Spanish ports in the Caribbean.
Many of their crewmates were killed in the incident, though Drake and Hawkins escaped, and Drake returned to England with what would be a lifelong hatred for Spain and its ruler, King Philip II.
When they sailed to New Spain to sell their captives to settlers there (which was against Spanish law), they were trapped by a Spanish attack in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua. In 1567, Drake and his cousin John Hawkins sailed to Africa in order to join the fledgling slave trade.
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