Character Catalog

The second circumnavigation of the globe in history (after Magellan-Elcano), completed in 1,018 days. This voyage established English naval power and brought considerable wealth to the Crown.

Drake's first major operation against Spanish convoys in Panama. He intercepted a mule train carrying tons of silver from Peru, launching a career as a privateer in service of the English Crown.

Drake ravaged the Spanish ports of Santo Domingo and Cartagena de Indias, exposing the vulnerability of the Spanish colonial empire and contributing to the rise of English naval power.

A bold pre-emptive strike in the port of Cadiz that destroyed around thirty Spanish warships being fitted out, delaying Philip II's attempted invasion of England by a full year.

As Vice Admiral, Drake played a decisive role in the defeat of the Spanish fleet in the English Channel. His tactic of deploying fireships in the roadstead of Gravelines threw the Armada into disarray and contributed to its destruction.

The 5. day of June, wee were in 43. deg. and a halfe towards the pole Arctike, and found the ayre so colde, that our men being pinched with the same, complained of the extremitie thereof.

I have singed the King of Spain's beard. There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.

Drake is a man of short stature, sturdy, with blond hair tending toward red, a sharp gaze, a highly skilled navigator and very resolute in his undertakings.

The corsair Drake has plundered our ports, burned our ships, and pillaged our colonies in the West Indies with an audacity that cannot go unpunished and that undermines the dignity of the Crown of Spain.

The home port from which all of Drake's major expeditions departed and returned. It was on Plymouth Hoe that he is said to have been playing bowls when he spotted the Spanish Armada in 1588.

A former abbey converted into a manor house, which Drake purchased in 1581 with the wealth he had amassed during his circumnavigation of the globe. It now houses the famous Drake's Drum and many other mementos of the navigator.

Drake navigated this treacherous passage at the southern tip of South America in 1578 during his circumnavigation. He accidentally discovered that an open passage lay even further south, now known as the Drake Passage.

A Spanish port town that Drake raided on several occasions to seize silver from Potosí. It was also here that he died of dysentery in January 1596 and was buried at sea.

A Spanish naval port that Drake boldly attacked in 1587, destroying around thirty ships being fitted out for war and delaying the sailing of the Spanish Armada by a full year.

Drake anchored in this bay in 1579 during his circumnavigation and claimed the territory in the name of Elizabeth I, naming it Nova Albion — the first English claim on the North American continent.