The Queen's Pirate: Sir Francis Drake and the Golden Hind - (Seven Ships Maritime History) by Kevin Jackson (Paperback)

About the Book

The Queen's Pirate tells the story of Queen Elizabeth's favourite pirate, Sir Francis Drake

Book Synopsis

For more than four centuries, Sir Francis Drake has been world-famous for his feats as a master mariner - the captain who "singed the King of Spain's beard" with his daredevil attack on the fleet at Cadiz, and who led the British Navy to victory against the Spanish Armada in 1588.

But Drake's exploits in his earlier years, though less well known, are even more remarkable. Born into a poor, obscure family, he worked his way rapidly up in the maritime world to his first captaincy. Before long, he was the most successful of all English pirates, admired by his countrymen, hated and feared by the Spanish.

Queen Elizabeth and her ministers saw the potential in this rough-mannered but enterprising young man, and gave him their blessing for the first British venture into the Pacific Ocean. This success of this voyage, which lasted for three years, exceeded their wildest hopes. Not only did Drake come home with a vast treasure of captured gold, silver and jewels; he became the first man ever to circumnavigate the globe in a single mission, and bring most of his crew home alive and well. Soon after his triumphant return, Elizabeth knighted this newly rich adventurer, and gave her blessing to his acts of pillage. It was a gesture that made war with Spain inevitable. And Drake's part in the coming war changed the course of world history.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE: THE QUEEN'S PIRATE tells the extraordinary story of Drake's early years and his journey around the world on his famous ship, the Golden Hind.

Review Quotes

"Kevin Jackson's thrilling sea stories, told with verve, wit and dash, make the most gripping reading. Here are the men, women, ships and adventures which made so much of the modern world, and Britain's place within it. Sir Francis Drake and Charles Darwin are lucky to have found such an erudite and elegant scribe as Kevin Jackson."-- Horatio Clare

About the Author

Kevin Jackson is an English writer, and has worked as a film-maker, radio producer and television director for the BBC; Associate Arts Editor for The Independent. He has written for The New Yorker, Granta, The Sunday Times (London), The Guardian, and Vogue, among other publications. His books have been chosen as a Book of the Week in the Guardian and a Book of the Year in the Express.