The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580 [Mass Market Paperback]

Samuel Bawlf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2004

When Sir Francis Drake returned to England in 1580, many questions concerning his momentous voyage were left unanswered—his journals were impounded and his men were forbidden, on pain of death, to divulge where they had been. Drawing on newly uncovered evidence, geographer and maritime historian Samuel Bawlf masterfully reconstructs Francis Drake’s historic round-the-world expedition, exploring the drama surrounding the voyage and offering intriguing insights into life at sea in the sixteenth century. But it is Bawlf’s assertion of Drake’s whereabouts in the summer of 1579 that gives the book even greater originality: from an intensive study of maps of the period, Bawlf shows with certainty that Drake sailed all the way to Alaska—much farther than anyone has heretofore imagined—thereby rewriting the history of exploration in North America.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Maritime historian Bawlf skillfully uncovers new information regarding Drake's circumnavigation of the globe, which began, amidst political and religious upheaval in Europe, in 1577. Until now, Drake's secret voyage-the exploration of the Pacific Northwest in hopes of finding the fabled Northwest Passage to eastern trade routes, and to establish a British colony in the New World-was hidden under a "cloak of secrecy" due to Drake's complicated relationship with Queen Elizabeth and England's precarious political situation with Spain. With braided historical, nautical, geographical and imagined narrative elements, Drake's voyage unfolds slowly at first, and at times lags under the weight of all Bawlf attempts to include. But once underway, it becomes an increasingly compelling tale, as Drake earns his reputation as "one of the greatest mariners that sail[ed] the seas, both as a navigator and as a commander," feared by his enemies for the "alarming scope of his [pirating] success." The account is thoroughly researched and carefully plotted, but Bawlf's true accomplishment is his humanization of historical icon Drake, a demanding, unyielding captain and ruthless sacker of Spanish ships and colonies, while at the same time a man who was deeply religious, who treated his captives with courtesy and was eager to establish strong bonds with the indigenous people he encountered along his journey. In the end, what resonates most is Drake's disappointment at being denied public ownership of his most important discoveries. This sympathetic, thorough treatment adds greater dimension to an already celebrated life. 60 b&w illus., 20 maps.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

To solve a mystery about Drake's circumnavigation of the globe, Bawlf narrates the sea dog's voyage and plumbs maps and chronicles published in its immediate wake. Although Drake's trashing of Spanish galleons and towns in America was a lucrative boon and sensational propaganda for Elizabeth I in her sinuous maneuverings against Philip II, Drake's precise route through the Pacific was purposely obfuscated. The concealment annoyed cartographers such as Mercator, whose frustration Bawlf quotes, but energizes the author's scrutiny of maps. Reproduced profusely in this work, the charts show islets off the northwest coast of North America. Drake also vaguely recorded geographic landmarks in the region (e.g., "frozen land"). Bawlf melds these details into a conjecture that Drake poked the Golden Hinde around Vancouver Island and its labyrinthine waters. Mavens of maritime history will tingle at this kind of sleuthing, and they'll rollick as well in Bawlf's fluid retelling of Drake's drama-filled life at sea and court. (For a full-blown biography, see John Sugden's Sir Francis Drake, 1992.) Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142004596
• ISBN-13: 978-0142004593
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A necessary telling, September 23, 2003

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580 (Hardcover)

Samuel Bawlf's account of the secret voyage Sir Francis Drake undertook from 1577 in order to (dis)prove the theoretical Strait of Anian (as predicted by the Flemish geographer, Abraham Ortelius) that provided a northern passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is a remarkable account of exploration by one of England's most revered heroes. By piecing together cryptic notes in maps that Drake later gave to his friends after Crown refusal to publish the true account of the voyage of the Golden Hinde, Bawlf presents a more enlightening read of a voyage that has had the official cloak of secrecy about it for the past five centuries.
The author's four part book opens with Drake's privateering in the Carribean at the hands of John Hawkins and his saving of the Judith after the English fleet destruction at San Juan de Ulua. After necessarily giving a brief political sketch of the European powers at the time, Bawlf plunges into Drake's Private War on the Spanish from 1569 to primarily on the Isthmus of Panama, plundering Spanish-looted South American gold. Focusing on his attempts to gain the gold and gems bound for Nombre de Dios we are drawn into a compelling story of one wasted ambush after another until he finally attained success with the aid of the Frnech captain Le Testu and the cimarrones. After the ordered cessation of his privateering he turned his aims towards ther Southern Sea and a passage to Cathay and we learn muh of the politics surrounding Frobisher's claim a strait did exist to Cathay, Walsingham, John Dee and the effort to get an expedition together....to eventually be headed by Francis Drake.
Part II deals with his circumnavigation around the globe as per the official reports of the time. Sailing down South America's Eastern coastline he navigated the treacherous waters of Magellan's straits, discovered that Terra del Fuego is actually a very large island and displayed those almost hollywood-esque tendencies of being a gentleman cosair but his dealings with the traitorous John Doughty showed a man of steel. Once in the Pacific he became the scourge of the Spanish, eventually returning with huge amounts of plunder. It ends with reference to the inordinate amount of time it took him to sails through the Indonesian archipelago (6 months)
Part III deals with his later life, returning constantly to the theme that the details of his voyage were deliberately obscured by the Elizabthan government, pointing to various maps by the great cartographers of the time that show no landmass indications above 50 degrees latitude were permitted. We touch on his famous raid on Cadiz, his destruction of the Spanish Armada, the questioning of his achievements by Cavendish, and his subsequent death from dysentry in the Carribean. Bawlf touches on accounts of his voyage after his death, particularly on resumption of hostilities with Spain during 1625 and how his journey passed into popular myth. Further attempts to prove the existence of the Anian Strait are catlogued, from Perez's attempt of 1774, the Russian fur trade, Captain James Cook in 1778, Dixon's attempt of 1786, and Vancouver's of 1792 which finally concluded the only seaway was the Bering Strait tween the Pacific and the Artic.
Part IV returns to give a true account of the months April to September 1579 where a collation of the evidence (oral, documented and physical evidence) strongly suggests that Drake sailed up the American west coast and located Vancouver island (he named it Nova Albion) going so far as to site a possible colony at the Bay of Small Ships. Much detail is given over to plotting the exact course and whilst theoretical the deductive scholarship is extremely plausible.
Bawlf's book is immensely enjoyable and informative, not only dealing with the particulars of the official and actual events of Drake's voyage but supplying it in a global manner that explains much of Europe's interference in the New World and the commencement of the Great Age of Discovery. We follow a man, who became the greatest navigator of his time in both his country's and his enemies' eyes for whom his voyage to discover a northwest passage in order to further England's colonial hopes actually served to establish England's mastery of the Seas and commence what became a gradual march towards Empire. For the general reader this book is extremely accessible and is magisterial in its command of the subject matter. Never degrading into dry scholarship what Bawlf has managed to do is restore the glory that Drake deserved and reveal the truth behind his search beyond the 50 degree latitude.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unsupported by any evidence, February 8, 2009

By 

W. L. Morgan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580 (Mass Market Paperback)

Apparently the other reviews of this book were written by people who have no or little knowledge of Drake scholarship. Mr. Bawlf reveals no new sources, no new documents, no new evidence. Instead, he takes second-hand information about Drake's voyage, attributes it to Drake himself, and proceeds to weave a new story. This book is filled with errors, discrepancies and misstatements. At one point Bawlf refers to the "seven-and-a-half" month gap between Drake's leaving Huatulco and his arrival in the western Pacific. In fact the period was April 16 to September 30, 1579, about two months less than Bawlf states.

Another example of sloppy scholarship is Bawlf's definition (in chapter 6) of "knots" as "sailing speed in miles sailed per hour." While the length of a nautical mile has changed in the last four hundred years, in Drake's day it was 800 feet longer than a statute mile, or 6,080 feet. At no time have knots been synonymous with miles.

Bawlf also makes absurd claims about various mapmakers, suggesting relationships between them and Drake that are mere supposition, unsupported by any evidence. That might be the best description for this book, written by a Canadian politician.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining important account, November 15, 2003

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580 (Hardcover)

This wonderful account is required reading for anyone interested in Piracy, the English Navy or exploration. Sir Francis Drake was a legend and his exploits are almost unbelievable. He almost brought Spanish trade to a standstill in the New world. He Sacked Cadiz and he helped defeat the Spanish armada of 1588. And in 1577-80 he circumnavigate the globe, becoming only the second person to do so since Magellan. Even more extraordinary he did so not for explorations purpose or to seek out trade, but mostly just for the hell of it. Drake went around the world because he had already navigated the straits of Magellan and entered the pacific to raid Spanish trade around Chili and the Philippines. By the time he was near the Philippines it was actually easier for Drake to go west rather then turn back.

The authors main argument and reason for writing this book is to investigate what Drake did for the many months that are unaccounted for in his voyage. The Authors argument, based on some evidence, is that Drake discovered/mapped the Northwest, including the coasts of Vancouver, Oregon and Alaska. Most of this information was omitted from official account, most likely because Queen Elizabeth wanted to establish a colony on the west coast of America to rival the Spanish Main.

The author explores much of Drakes life as well as covering the circumnavigation in depth. This is an important work that investigates a Pirate turned accidental explorer who helped map a region of the world that wouldn't be acknowledged and re-mapped for almost a hundred year or more. A wonderful account, very entertaining and easy to read.