Frustratingly very little was recorded of Drake's personal life. For example, research has garnered limited answers to even the year of Drake's birth; the year when he sold his ship that plied the River Medway and the location and date of his second marriage. The first two examples are pertinent to this discussion. The sources agree that Drake was born at Crowndale in the parish of Tavistock, Devon: although dates vary from 1538-1543. If we knew when Drake sold his bark, we would have an exact year that he gained employment in the Hawkins firm. An absence of a date of birth also raises questions as to when Drake first sailed to Guinea and the West Indies with second cousin John Hawkins.

Our first record of Drake on such a sailing is on a John Hawkins sponsored voyage under Captain John Lovell in 1566. Kelsey and Sugden write that Drake could have sailed with Hawkins on his first two earlier voyages in 1562 and 1564-65. This view is influenced by writer Edmund Howes; whose book was a continuation of the earlier Annales or General Chronicle of England by John Stow, who died in 1607. Stow must have met Drake in London and may have known when he was born but did not publish the date. There is far less indication that Howes had met Drake. In 1615 Howes wrote that Drake sailed, "to Biscay at eighteen yeeres of age, at twenty yeres of age, he went to Guynea: at 22. yeares of age, made Captaine of the Judith, at Saint John de Vloa, in the Bay of Mexico...He was fifty & fiue yeeres old when he dyed."

If we work retrospectively from the 1568 battle of San Juan de Ulua which was a definite date and a watershed in Drake's life, according to Howes, Drake would have been born as late as 1546. He then would have sailed to Biscay in 1564 and with Lovell, as recorded to Guinea in 1566. However being born in 1546 would not make Drake fifty & fiue yeeres old in 1595. Since Drake was most likely born in 1540, a sailing in 1562 on Hawkins's first slaving voyage is when Drake was twenty-two years old; which does not accord with the Howes chronology and clearly contradicts the stated ages of Drake's forays into oceanic sailing.

Drake's nephew, John Drake, implied that his uncle was not born earlier than 1542. Two of Drake's prisoners on the world voyage, indicated a nativity in the very early 1540s. In Cartagena, Colombia, Drake told Spanish judge, Don Diego Hidalgo Montemayor between 6 and 14 April 1586, that he was 46 years old. Don Diego wrote this detail to the King of Spain on 23 May, 1586. The Drake portrait on the 1582/3 Nicola van Sype world map states that Drake was 42 years old. An earlier date of birth arises from the 1581 Nicholas Hilliard portrait that he painted of the great admiral. Around the edge he wrote that Drake was in his forty-second year. Other portraits give less exact information.

Kelsey is probably correct to state in his well researched appendix that Drake was born before Lady Day - the start of the Elizabethan New Year on 25 March - in 1540. This would equate to February or March using our modern-day Gregorian calendar. Therefore it is quite possible that Drake sailed on one or both of the first Hawkins voyages to the West Indies. This is because Drake would have been apprenticed to the Medway boat owner around the age of ten, about the year 1550. Typically Drake would have served his apprenticeship of seven years. We do not know the year the old skipper bequeathed his bark to Drake. Francis Drake may have consolidated the old skipper's business and then eagerly joined the prosperous Hawkins family in Plymouth. Drake was born early enough and had quickly learned the ways of the sea to have sailed as purser to Biscay as a trusted Hawkins employee by 1558. He then could have sailed to the Canary Islands on the scantly recorded Hawkins voyages from the late 1550s.

The Other Possible Drake Places

These two voyages are based upon the above discussion. These locations are included in case Drake sailed on a Hawkins voyage before 1566. The following lists ensure that every possible Drake location is included. Italicised names are places that I have not visited.

The First Slaving Voyage of John Hawkins

Date	Place	Comments
1562 October	Plymouth	Fleet sets sail.
	Adeje, Tenerife, Canary Islands	Provisions obtained from Pedro de Pontes.
December	River "Caces" = Great Scarcies River, Sierra Leone	Captures a Portuguese ship with 200 slaves aboard.
	River "Mitombi" = Little Scarcies River	Two more ships captured with 140 or more slaves.
1563 Jan	River Sierra Leone / Tagarin	500 slaves captured. Hawkins sails to the West Indies. Drake sent home in a ship laden with cargo from Tenerife and the coast of West Africa. [Kelsey]
	Isabella = Bahía de La Isabela, Dominican Republic	Hawkins could not trust the Spaniards who would have resided at El Castillo and does not trade.
	Puerto Plata	Some slaves sold.
	Monte Christi	Anchors in Bahía Monte Cristí. The remaining slaves are sold.
	"Caycos" Islands	Caicos Islands sighted.
late Aug	Plymouth	Anchors in his home port.

The Second Slaving Voyage of John Hawkins

Date Place Comments 20 Nov

Date	Place	Comments
1564 18 Oct	Plymouth	Fleet sets sail.
25-30 Oct	El Ferrol, Spain	Five day sojourn. Hawkins famously instructs captains how to keep the fleet closer together.
4 Nov	Madeira	Sighted.
6 Nov	Tenerife, Canary Islands	Sighted.
7 Nov	Palma	Sighted.
8-15 Nov	Adeje, Tenerife	Hawkins converses with his friend Pedro de Ponte and provisions.
	Cape Barbas, Morocco	Ten Portuguese caravels shelter here to avoid contact with Hawkins.
25-26 Nov	Cape Blanco, Mauritania	Kelsey calls this place Angla de Santa Ana. The Hakluyt Narrative names this anchorage within the cape as S. Avis Baye. Fishing and refreshing.
29 Nov - 7 Dec	Cape Verde, Senegal	Fishing. Joined by a Frenchman. An overnight stay which does not accord with the dates of arrival and departure.
8 Dec	"Alcatrarsa Island" = Bijagos Islands, Guinea-Bissau	Gannets captured in abundance; from which the Portuguese named the island.
8-9 Dec	La Formio, one of the "Sapies Islands" = Bijagos.	An unsuccessful pursuit of slaves.
12-21 Dec	"Sambula" Island in the Los Islands, Guinea	Villages raided for slaves. Dug-out canoes, oars, villages and huts described.
22-25 Dec	River "Callousa," = Great Scarcies River, Sierra Leone	Two caravels of slaves seized from the Portuguese 20 leagues up-river.
27-30 Dec	"Bymba,"	Some slaves captured in battle in this riverside village on the "Callousa."
1565 1 Jan	"River Casserroes" = Little Scarcies River	Some smaller ships search the river for slaves.
18 Jan	River Sierra Leone and Tagarin	Fever claims lives and hastens the sailing for the West Indies. Ships leave Tagarin on the north side of the harbour.
29 Jan	Sierra Leone = Freetown	All ships quit Sierra Leone on the south side of the harbour for the West Indies.
Saturday, Sunday 9-10 March	Dominica	Just north of present-day Portsmouth water is collected from a shallow dale.
15 March	Testigos Islands, Venezuela	Nine islands sighted.
16-20 March	Isla de Margarita	Entertained by the mayor, provisions. Governor forbids trade.
22 March	Cumaná	Spanish soldiers unable to trade but point to a water source.
22?-28 March	Santa Fé = Rio Manzanares	Two leagues from Cumaná, anchors here for water. Indians trade food for trinkets.
29 March	Tortuga Island, Florida	Ships pass between the mainland and the south side of the "very lowe Island."
1 April	?	A friendly exchange with the Caribs who canoed out to Hawkins's pinnace.
3 April	Borburata Road, Venezuela	Anchors.
6-28 April	Borburata Cove	Begins protracted negotiations for the eventual sale of slaves.
29 April - 4 May	North of Borburata Road	Converses with French captain Bon Temps.
6 May	Curaçao	Water too deep in which to anchor.
7-15 May	Off Curaçao in open sea.	Ashore, trades for hides, beef, mutton and lambs.
16 May	Aruba	Sighted.
17-18 May	Cape Vela, Colombia	Anchors on the west side at night. Departs next morning.
18 May	Rancheria	Hawkins asks a Spaniard how far away is Rio Hacha.
18 May	?	Anchors that night in the open sea.
19 May	Rio de la Hacha	Anchors in the road since there is no harbour.
21-31 May	Rio de la Hacha	The treasurer surrenders to Hawkins's armed assault. Water taken at the mouth of the river. Crocodiles seen in the river. Slaves sold.
4-7 June	"Hispaniola" = Dominican Republic and Haiti	Sights the south shore of the island. Forced west by wind and current.
16-17 June	Islas de Pinos, = Isla de la Juventud, Cuba	Waters on the largest island.
20-23 June	Cape San Antonio	Spends three days clearing the cape - being the broad west end of Cuba.
29 June	Florida, USA	Taking soundings at 270 N. Coast barely seen due to shallow seas.
5 July	Tortugas Islands, Florida. Comprise seven tiny coral islands.	Sights "lowe Land." Captures turtles. Wind encourages a departure after six hours.
6 July	Cuba	Lay off the coast in front of a table-like mountain, eight leagues west of Havana.
7-11 July	20 leagues east of Havana	Fruitless search for water as the ships sail east along the north coast of Cuba.
12 July	Islands off Cape Florida, USA	A boat is rowed ashore and water is found. The ships are blown northwards.
13 July	?	The watering party is rescued by a pinnace. Fleet anchors every night as not to miss an opportunity to find water.
	28.5° N	Hawkins probes all inlets. Unable to find the French settlement contrary to expectations.
15-28 July	"river of May" = St John's River	Anchors at 30.5o N. "all lowe land." The French fort is found. Provisions and water obtained.
23-24 Aug	Newfoundland Banks, Canada	Fishing for cod in 130 fathoms.
20 Sept	Padstow, Cornwall, England	Strangely docks here and not in his home port of Plymouth.

- Back to top ^^