On 13 December 1577, Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth with a flotilla of five small ships. It was a voyage which was to last nearly three years, and to end with the triumphant return of its leader to a knighthood and to immortality as the first man to circumnavigate the globe. And it ensured immortality too for his flagship, the most famous vessel in English history —the Golden Hind.
This book is the story of this ship, its commander, and of the voyage. It tells of perils, discoveries and adventures in unknown lands and seas in an age of superstition and credulity. It tells of the capture of Spanish prizes and treasure ships, of encounters with the natives of America and the East Indies, of storms and wrecks, and of one of the most notorious executions ever authorized by a naval captain.
The Golden Hind was named after the crest of Sir Christopher Hatton; T. W. E. Roche was himself a descendant of Sir Christopher and a Devonian by birth. His book re-creates the epic nature of a voyage which typifies the spirit of the Elizabethan Age and of its redoubtable leader who became as much the symbol of his age as the Queen he served.
