It was during Elizabeth's reign that England first became a great naval power; and among the men who helped to make her so, none were more famous than Sir Francis Drake.

There is some doubt about the date of Drake's birth. It is now generally believed that he was born in 1540, though some writers put the date at least five years earlier.

The place of his birth was the little town of Tavistock, in Devonshire. He seems to have had a great love for the sea even when but a child. His parents were too poor to help him into a good position, and so he began his career at sea as a cabin boy. But he had the merit of pluck; and he soon rose to the highest rank in the English navy.

In 1567 he went with his uncle Hawkins, who was one of the noted sailors of that day, on a slave-trading voyage to Africa and the West Indies. The experiences he met with at that time gave color to the rest of his life.

Being driven out of their course by storms, they were obliged to seek shelter in the harbor of San Juan de Ulua, a Spanish port on the coast of Mexico. There they were received with a show of kindness, but were afterwards attacked by a superior force, and only two vessels escaped.

After this act of treachery, Drake resolved to seize every opportunity to plunder the Spaniards and thus to make good the loss which he and his uncle had sustained.

In the years 1570–71 Drake made two other voyages to the West Indies for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the situation and strength of the Spanish settlements.

In 1572, he sailed again with two ships, one of seventy-five tons, the other of twenty-five. His plan was to capture the town of Nombre de Dios (nom' bra da dyos') on the Isthmus of Panama, which was the port from which the Spaniards shipped to Spain the gold and silver taken from the mines of Peru.

In the attempt to take this town Drake was severely wounded. He tried to conceal his hurt from his men; and they pressed onward into the town. But just as they reached the market place where they hoped to find the treasure, he fainted from loss of blood. His men at once carried him to his ship, and the enterprise was abandoned.

As soon as he was able to do so, he began to sail back and forth along the coast. He seized a large number of ships, and took from them a great amount of wealth both in money and goods.

He formed an alliance with a band of run-away slaves called Cimarrones (the ma ro' nes), and together they built a fort on a small island at the mouth of a river. There Drake and his men remained until February 3, 1573.

On that day Drake set out, with some Cimarrones as guides, to cross the Isthmus of Panama and gain his first view of the Pacific Ocean. Half way across the isthmus they led him to a tall tree standing on a central hill. Among the topmost branches of this tree there was a platform on which ten or twelve men might stand at ease. Drake climbed up to this platform, and was delighted to find that from his lofty perch he could see both the Atlantic and the Pacific.

Drake returned to England in the fall of 1573, carrying much treasure which he divided with the strictest fairness among his followers. His own share was large enough to enable him to purchase three ships. With these he sailed to Ireland, and there, as a volunteer under the Earl of Essex, he "did most excellent service."

But Francis Drake is chiefly distinguished as the first Englishman who sailed round the world. In December, 1577, with five little vessels, about the size of those of Columbus, he sailed out of the harbor of Plymouth.

It took him seven months to reach Patagonia, and there he remained for about nine weeks. Two of his ships had become so leaky as to be unfit for further service, and he was compelled to abandon them. The crews and stores were taken on board the other vessels and the fleet started out to sail through Magellan Strait in order to reach the Pacific.

It was sixty years since Magellan had passed through the strait, but Drake's was the first English expedition to follow the great Portuguese navigator over this route.

While the vessels were in the strait, one of those terrific storms arose for which the region of Cape Horn is still noted. One ship called the Marigold  was never heard of again, and the crew of the Elizabeth were so disheartened by the terrible weather that they put about and returned to England.

Although Drake was left with but a single ship he would not give up the voyage. He made his way into the Pacific, and sailed northward along the coasts of Chile and Peru.

The Spaniards had already established colonies on the western shores of South America. Santiago had been founded nearly forty years before, and Lima was already a town of considerable size.

As Spain and England were not friendly toward each other, it was thought perfectly right to capture Spanish vessels and to plunder Spanish towns; and Queen Elizabeth had given Drake a commission, signed with her own hand, authorizing him to do this.

After plundering a number of the Spanish settlements he pursued his voyage until he reached the western coast of North America. Finding that his ship was again in need of repairs, he landed for that purpose at a point which has since been named Drakes Bay, a little to the north of San Francisco Bay.

From California he sailed across the Pacific and visited the Spice Islands and Java. Leaving Java he crossed the Indian Ocean and passed around the Cape of Good Hope into the Atlantic. Then, steering northward, he made his way back to England, reaching home exactly two years and ten months after starting on the voyage.

On his arrival a banquet was prepared on board the ship in which he had thus sailed round the world. Queen Elizabeth was one of the guests. In honor of his achievement she knighted him on the deck of his ship, and it was in this way that he came to be called Sir Francis Drake.

The little vessel had been so battered by the storms through which it had passed that it was unfit for further service. But Elizabeth gave orders that it should be carefully preserved as a monument to its famous captain.

One hundred years later it was found that the timbers were badly decayed. It was then broken up. One piece of the wood, that was still sound, was made into a chair for King Charles II, who afterwards gave it to the University of Oxford, where it can still be seen.