10 Facts About the Forgotten First Man to Sail Around the World

Do you know the identity of the first man who circumnavigated the globe? If you said “Ferdinand Magellan,” sorry, but you’re wrong! Indeed, Magellan did lead the expedition that was meant to (and eventually successfully did) circumnavigate the earth. But Magellan never lived long enough to see that happen.

Though he started the trip in 1519, he never finished it. Two years into the three-year voyage, Magellan died in the Philippines. In his place, his assistant, Juan Sebastián Elcano, carried on the trip. And over the next year, Elcano was able to navigate a straggling group of 18 men back to Spain to complete the first circumnavigation.

And that’s the key: Magellan never completed it himself, and Elcano rarely gets the credit he deserves. But there was another man who, decades later, took his own crew around the world and actually lived to see it through. That man was Sir Francis Drake. In December of 1577, nearly six decades after Magellan’s voyage began, Drake and a group of men set out from Plymouth, England. They returned three years later, their ship intact and Drake still very much alive.

Sadly, though Drake is famous for many achievements, his pioneering circumnavigation has often been overshadowed by Magellan’s doomed expedition. But today, we’re going to change that. Here are ten facts about Sir Francis Drake’s 1577 circumnavigation of the globe—the first completed by an Englishman and one of the most incredible feats in the history of exploration!

Related: Ten Unexpected Truths About How Pirates Really Lived

10 The Ideal Captain

There was literally no one more qualified in England than Francis Drake to take on the circumnavigation task of 1577. For one, throughout the late 16th century, England and Spain were at violent odds with each other. Spain had hired the aforementioned Portuguese-born Magellan long before to take his worldwide trip, as well as other navigators, including Italian-born Christopher Columbus. England was sick of seeing Spain and its Armada assert their dominance at sea. So Queen Elizabeth I sanctioned privateers through letters of marque, encouraging them to raid Spanish ships and seize Spanish-held gold for the English coffers.

Like many others, Drake jumped at the chance. And unlike many others, he had one of the highest success rates in cornering, attacking, and plundering Spanish ships. Also, unlike many others, he had a ton of other sailing experience. For one, he’d spent years sailing up and down the eastern seaboard of North America. He also spent time in the Caribbean, and he was one of the first English commanders to ever sail into the Pacific Ocean. So, it wasn’t a stretch to say that by the late 1570s, he was literally one of the most experienced sailors on earth.

Thus, when it came time for Queen Elizabeth to consider how she might want to propel England’s influence out across the oceans, Francis Drake was a natural choice for a captain. Queen Elizabeth and her advisors very badly wanted to get the jump on Spain in finding future gold stores and other areas where riches may be held all around the world. And not for nothing, but the queen also desperately wanted new territories in which to grow her empire. Thus, tabbing Drake to do all that seemed to be the most sensible choice.^[1]

9 Circumnavigation? What Circumnavigation?

For Francis Drake, life (circumnavigation) was what happened when he was busy making other plans—like attacking Spanish ships and ports. Queen Elizabeth didn’t actually care about circumnavigation at all. What she cared about was that the Spanish were pretty much the only European power in the Pacific Ocean at that time. They were reaping all the rewards from New World exploration. And they also had a ton of ports across the Pacific—with pretty much no defenses at all, considering nobody else was around to attack them. So, the queen rightly recognized that Drake’s voyage could be a way for the English to raid these ill-defended ports and steal all kinds of gold and other valuables while facing little to no pushback.

So, on December 13, 1577, off sailed Drake and his men. His orders from Queen Elizabeth were clear but secretive: disrupt Spanish interests wherever possible, raid shipping and ports, and bring back as much gold and treasure as he could. Simple, right? Sadly, things didn’t start that way. Drake left Plymouth with five ships, and though he was among the most skilled mariners in the world, fate was not on his side.

Almost immediately, brutal storms in the Atlantic Ocean hung up his fleet. Several ships became so damaged that he opted to leave them behind on the eastern coast of South America. Another returned to England. He also lost a ship and men during terrible storms down in the Strait of Magellan, on the continent’s southern tip. Thus, by the time he actually reached the Pacific Ocean, he had just one ship left: the Golden Hind.^[2]

8 The Pacific Made for Easy Pickings

Thankfully for Drake, the weather cleared up as soon as the Golden Hind entered the Pacific Ocean. And even better, there were few Spanish defenders in sight. The Spanish Armada was at its peak in the Atlantic at that time. But in the Pacific, their presence was thin. That’s because Spain had, up to that point, been the only European power in that entire section of the Western Hemisphere. So, they hadn’t built up much military might. As soon as Drake arrived, though, the Spanish would come to regret that oversight.

The English captain trolled his way up the Pacific coast of modern-day Chile and then Peru. During that trip, he raided port after port after port. His sailors even trekked miles inland at various points to capture gold stores and other valuable trade goods. Spanish outposts were wrecked and left destitute—and Spain had no military forces close enough to rescue them. Drake took whatever he wanted all the way up the coast of South America and on into Central America, including modern-day Panama, Costa Rica, and southern Mexico.

Drake faced so little opposition that he eventually sailed farther up the North American coast, hoping to locate the legendary Northwest Passage. While some later speculation placed him as far north as modern-day Canada or even Alaska, most scholars now agree he went no farther than Northern California, anchoring near what is today Drake’s Bay at Point Reyes. Eventually, Drake turned back south and pointed the Golden Hind straight for the modern-day San Francisco Bay Area region. There, he settled in for a bit while trying to figure out which Spanish interests to wreck next.^[3]

7 The Biggest Heist in History!

Drake’s successes in South America were massive. In fact, the biggest haul of his entire voyage came on that leg of the trip. It was so big, in fact, that it is still seen as one of the largest captures in maritime history! The month was March 1579, and Drake was near Lima, Peru. There, he learned from a local scout that a Spanish treasure ship had just departed from Panama.

Intrigued by the tip, the Golden Hind rushed north up the Peruvian coast. After a few days at sea, they spotted the Spanish ship—known as the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, nicknamed the “Cacafuego”—just off the coast of Ecuador. The scout had been right: it was indeed stuffed to the gills with gold and silver mined in the Americas.

Drake’s ship descended on the Spaniards and quickly overwhelmed the treasure galleon. With the Armada thousands of miles away, there was little the crew could do. After warning shots, they surrendered. Drake’s men boarded and came away with an unbelievable haul: 12 chests of coins, 80 pounds (36 kg) of gold, and another 26 long tons (23.6 metric tons) of silver. That’s well over $20 million in modern-day money—and a staggering prize for the open Pacific Ocean in the late 16th century.^[4]

6 A Curious Claim to California

Do you think Jamestown was the first place in North America where the English made land? Not quite. Drake put together the first official English claim on North America’s Pacific coast during the next part of his circumnavigation. The location was the present-day Point Reyes region, just north of San Francisco, and the time was late 1579. Drake put the Golden Hind ashore and went inland briefly. There, he planted the English flag in the ground and declared the territory “Nova Albion.” Boom! Just like that, Queen Elizabeth “owned” that land by the rules of that time period.

But here’s the thing about “claimed” territory: it needs settlers. The Golden Hind had just a skeleton crew to begin with, and they couldn’t give up any of their sailors to be left behind and colonize the area. So, the “settlement” that he created was gone after just a few weeks of temporary encampment.

Of course, the Spanish would later move north along the Pacific coast over the next centuries. That’s why California has places named San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and San Francisco today. They are all sites of old Spanish missions! But if we’re being technical (and you know we love to do that), Drake was actually the first European to formally claim the area. He just didn’t stick around to see it through.^[5]

5 Making Friends with Locals

No European visitor to the New World had flawless relationships with Indigenous people. But by all accounts, Drake’s trip into Northern California was about as close as it came. While the Spanish who would come up the coast later could be violent and brutal, Drake was patient and peaceful during this brief encounter. On land, he and his men met the local Coast Miwok people. Drake made sure not to lead with violence. He also didn’t steal or plunder like he had with the Spanish. He just tried to interact calmly and peacefully.

According to the expedition’s chaplain, Francis Fletcher, the Miwok initially believed Drake and his sailors were deceased ancestors returning to earth. “Nothing could persuade them, nor remove that opinion which they had conceived of us, that we should be Gods,” Fletcher recorded. At one point, the locals even crowned Drake in an important religious ceremony! And though that visit was very brief, it was smooth and largely peaceful. “Having thus had their fill of this time’s visiting and beholding of us,” Fletcher recalled, “they departed with joy to their houses.”^[6]

4 Go (Way) West, Young Man

When their time with the Coast Miwok came to an end, it was time for Drake and his men to hit the high seas once more. But they couldn’t go back the way they came. After all, the Spanish Armada owned the Atlantic Ocean at the time. Though Drake was all alone in the Pacific, he couldn’t sail south around South America, and then northeast up to England; he was a marked man in those waters and would have surely been captured. So, he sailed west. Way west. Way, way, way west!

With just one ship in his fleet and the poor thing bogged down with gold and silver, Drake opted to go out into open waters and cross the Pacific Ocean toward Asia. It was a dangerous plan at the time—but he pulled it off. Sailing hundreds (and then thousands) of miles away from land—and without any other ships in his fleet—put the Golden Hind at huge risk.

If anything had happened, from bad weather to choppy seas, Drake’s entire crew and millions in loot would have been lost forever. But fate and fortune were on his side. Across the final few months of 1579, the Pacific proved to be smooth and easy. After about eight weeks on the open ocean, Drake and his men finally spotted land: the Philippines.

He had done it—he had crossed the Pacific. And in doing so, he became the first Englishman to achieve that daunting feat. Of course, unlike Magellan, who died in the Philippines, Drake would survive to see out the rest of his voyage.^[7]

3 Living the High Life

Drake didn’t linger in the Philippines long, but he did spend time in the East Indies. Out near present-day Indonesia, his crew was finally able to stretch their legs on land and settle in—for a bit, at least. Drake took the rest period seriously, too: he tracked down a local sultan and signed a peace treaty. Then, he invested in the local economy by purchasing several tons of cloves. Of course, he paid for it with gold looted from the Spanish. Global trade for the win, we suppose?

Acts like that were important for goodwill, too, because they made the Golden Hind and her men welcome in port. For the record, the cloves were also the final thing Drake picked up on his journey. The ship was simply packed to capacity for anything else! Drake and his men enjoyed the treatment they received in the East Indies.

They lived the high life there, treated like honored guests. But after a while, Drake got restless. After all, he knew he needed to get home, and he knew Queen Elizabeth was waiting. The hardest part was already behind them. All they had to do was sail through the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and up the Atlantic coast of Africa—with a ship stuffed full of treasure.^[8]

2 A Hiccup & a Homecoming

After completing the most difficult part of the trip—dodging the Armada at the start, sailing around South America, and crossing the massive Pacific—Drake should have been home free. But he wasn’t. Near Sulawesi (then called Celebes), the Golden Hind unexpectedly ran aground on a reef!

For more than 24 hours, the ship was stuck on the unseen reef with no way off. It looked like the voyage could end in tragedy after all. And then… fate intervened. On the second day of their growing catastrophe, the wind direction changed and pushed the ship back off the reef. Miraculously, the Golden Hind had suffered no major damage.

Drake docked at a port in Java anyway and put the ship through minor repairs. Soon, the men were on their way home. Over the next nine months, the Golden Hind sailed through the Indian Ocean, down around Africa, and north along its western coast. Finally, on September 26, 1580, they reached Plymouth, England.

The date marked nearly three full years to the day since Drake and his men had left. After a short stay in Plymouth to shore up the ship, Drake took the Golden Hind up the Thames and into London. There, Queen Elizabeth bestowed upon Drake the greatest honor of his life: she knighted him. Henceforth, he would forever be Sir Francis Drake. ^[9]

1 Drake Made Bank!

Being knighted by Queen Elizabeth certainly wasn’t the only good part about Drake’s incredible circumnavigation. He also got really (really, really, really) rich from it! His success heaped upon him riches both cultural and financial. For one, the Spanish feared Drake so greatly that they ominously called him “El Draque.” Not only was that a play on his name, but that word in Spanish means “the Dragon.” As formidable as the Spanish Armada may have been at the time, even they were terrified of Queen Elizabeth’s most daring privateer.

But enough about reputation; let’s talk money. Modern-day media estimates, like a Forbes ranking of the richest pirates in history, peg Drake’s lifetime fortune at the modern equivalent of over $100 million. The treasure from the Cacafuego alone was said to rival England’s entire annual revenue. The Crown took its share, but Drake received a substantial reward that left him extraordinarily wealthy.

So, in the end, Sir Francis Drake came home with unimaginable riches, the favor of his queen, and an enduring place in history as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Sucks to suck, Magellan!^[10]