Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

AN ATLAS OF DRAKE'S LAST VOYAGE

1912; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 2; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00253359.1912.10654596

2049-680X

Jules Sottas,

Cinema and Media Studies

is so celebrated that there is no need to recapitulate his biography; we shall confine ourselves to a brief summary of his last voyage.Approaching the age of fifty years, and arrived at the summit of his renown, Francis Drake seemed to have renounced the sea.The town of Plymouth, where he had resided for some time after his return in !589 from a glorious expedition to the coasts of Spain, had sent him to Parliament, where he sat in 1592 and I593• But the call of the sea haunted him, and he needs must follow his destiny.We know that he embarked at Plymouth on the 28th August, 1595, in company with John Hawkins, at the head of six:men-ofwar and 21 other ships or barks.He went to the Canaries and attempted, against the advice of Hawkins, a surprise attack on Las Palmas, which failed completely.The little squadron then proceeded to the Antilles, and sighted Martinique on the 27th October.An attack directed against Puerto-Rico on rzth November met with no more success than that against Las Palmas.At this time Hawkins died.Drake then sailed towards the mainland, destroyed the establishments at Rio de la Hacha and Rancheria, and then, sailing north, disembarked, on 24th Decemba•, a detachment of 750 men, which he placed under the command of an officer named Baskerville, with orders to march on Panama.He himself sailed along the coast with his squadron and attacked and took possession of Nombre de Dios on the 27th December.Eleven days after their departure from the coast Baskerville's column returned, worn out and demoralised.They had allowed themselves to be surprised by the Spaniards, and had lost heavily.Drake at once re-embarked his troops and, leaving Nombrede Dios behind him in flames, set sail on 5th January, 1596.On roth January he anchored before the little island of Escudo de Veragua, where he stayed some time to refit his fleet.Towards the end of the month he sailed towards the mainland with the intention of destroying Puerto-Bello.