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Date Baptized
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1540?
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Death
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January 28, 1596
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Place of Birth
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Tavistock, England
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Known for
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Being the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe
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Playing a major role in the 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada
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Milestones
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1567 Gained the notice of Queen Elizabeth I when his first command, the Judith, survived a Spanish attack during a slave-trading expedition in the Gulf of Mexico
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1572 Commanded two ships in a Caribbean expedition during which he raided Nombre de Dios, Panama, and became the first English sea captain to see the Pacific Ocean
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1573-1576 Helped put down a rebellion in Ireland
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December 1577 Was secretly commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to cross the Strait of Magellan and raid Spanish settlements along the Pacific Coast
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1579 Stopped north of present-day San Francisco to repair his ship, the Golden Hind, at an inlet now called Drake's Bay, which he claimed for England and named New Albion
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1579 Continued on his journey and headed west across the Pacific Ocean, stopping in the Moluccas, also known as the Spice Islands
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September 1580 Returned to England, where he was heralded for being the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and knighted several months later by Queen Elizabeth on board the Golden Hind |
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1581 Became mayor of Plymouth
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1585-1586 Sailed on an expedition for the West Indies, raiding Saint Augustine in present-day Florida and stopping at Roanoke Island, where he rescued the remaining English colonists of the failed colony and took them back to England
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1588 Served as vice admiral of the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada
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1596 Died on an expedition in the Caribbean and was buried at sea
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Did You Know
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Drake ordered an execution in response to a mutiny at Port San Julián (in present-day Argentina), where almost 60 years earlier Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan had two men executed for the same reason.
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Drake was the eldest of 12 boys.
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Drake was related to English shipbuilder and privateer Sir John Hawkins, whom he joined on several expeditions.
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Poems and songs were composed during Drake's lifetime to celebrate his adventures.
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