Sir Francis Drake
Francis Drake was an English explorer. His accomplishments were help defeat the Spanish Armada, and he was the first Englishman to sail around the world. He is very important in history because he made many feats that help us learn more about his time. We are able to learn and achieve more and get good skills that can help us learn. This voyage taught us their other countries that are out there that can be discovered. He had also help defeat the Spanish Armada. They would have conquered almost everywhere if Francis didn’t put a stop to it. Without Sir Francis Drake we would not have the knowledge that took us so far in history, math, English, and science. He brought us so far in geography. He was the second person to travel around the world.
Before he was born, a man, Ferdinand Mallegan, sailed around the world. Unfortunately Ferdinand died before the voyage was completed. Sir Francis Drake was born on 1541 in a cottage on a nobleman’s estate in the country of England. Francis was the oldest of all eleven brothers. His father was Edmund a Protestant farmer; before his brothers were born his father was a sailor. On 1549 the family was forced to leave because of King Edward VI. The king made a law that said the prayer book should be written in English instead of Latin. There was lots of violence because the Catholics resisted so the family had to move to Chatham and the family lost all their property. When Francis was eighteen he served in ship trading to the Bay of Biscay. When he became twenty-three he started to go on slaving voyages to Guinea in West Africa. Then at the age of twenty- four he became captain of the Judith. On the Judith he went to many voyages for example he to an expedition against the Spanish Main in the West Indies and Central America. The Spaniards sank most of his ships.
Then on 1570 he went to the Spanish Main to seek revenge for three years he made himself a hated person there. He then realized Panama was the weak part of the Spanish Empire; colonies on the west coast of South America had to carry the good on mules across the neck of land to be shipped from Nombre de Dios to Spain. Then he went from each town and crossed the land that was called Isthmus of Panama. That was when he laid his eyes on the Pacific Ocean, from that that moment he wanted to sail an English ship on that ocean someday. On 1577 he came back to Plymouth Harbor he was rich and extremely famous for his work. On a December of 1577 he set off to a trip around the world! That dream came! 
He had the best-equipped expedition; he had a crew of one hundred fifty men. They reached Brazil on April 1578 the on May twenty-first they came around the Southern tip of South America. They turned and sailed up the coast, Chile and Peru. They ruined any Spaniard ships. They kept going and they explored Canada, then they sailed across the Pacific Ocean and went around the tip of Africa. Then in September of 1580 he came home to Plymouth Harbor. They came home with only fifty-eight men left that means ninety-two died that’s more then half of the crew! The ship however carried spices, metals, jewels, silks, porcelains, and extremely rare maps. He was the first Englishman to sail in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and south of the Atlantic Ocean. He was the first Englishman to sail around the world, and he was the first European to see the west coast of Canada.
In 1585 a war broke out with Spain. Sir Francis Drake was given command of the fleet. For a year they destroyed the Spaniards cities then in 1587 Francis learned the Spaniards were going to get a fleet to European waters most of the fleet was at Bay Cadiz. So Francis Drake ordered a fleet to Bay Cadiz and tried to destroy as many Spaniard ships as possible. In 1588 the Spanish Armada, the Spanish Armada was a very large fleet that the Spanish controlled, they sailed for England. At that time Francis was vice admiral of the fleet. Francis had many ideas and plans with his quick work the English had a quick victory! Francis went back to the West Indies and Central America where he got dysentery. Later Francis went to sleep and never woke up. A crewmember found his lifeless body and prepared it for a sea burial. He died on 1596.
Sir Francis Drake started off to be a child of a Protestant farmer and then he became a rich and wealthy sailor that sailed around the world. Francis Drake never gave up he kept going after his dream. He was inspired because he saw the Pacific Ocean and thought, “ One day I will be an English man that will sail on that sea someday.” His dream came true. He sailed around the world and he defeated the Spaniards. Sir Francis Drake did many feats that could not be done by any one. That is why he is a very unique person.
