The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake - by Samuel Bawlf (Paperback)

About the Book

Drawing on newly uncovered evidence, geographer and maritime historian 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.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

A fresh and compelling account of Elizabethan intrigue. (James P. Delgado, author of "Across the Top of the World")

"A fresh and compelling account of Elizabethan intrigue."

About the Author

Samuel Bawlf was a Canadian politican and author. In 1972 he was the youngest person ever elected to the Victoria City Council. He served on the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, as a member of the Social Credit Party, and as the minister of conservation and recreation. He was the author of The Secret Journey of Sir Francis Drake, published in 2003. He died in 2016.