What do you think?
Rate this book
Sir Francis Drake
Octavo, [22cm/8in], full cloth sans dust jacket pp. x, 358, indexed. Illustrated with numerous b-w halftones and maps
358 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
25 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 28, 2020
This is a well written, well researched and extremely engaging biography of Sir Francis Drake. Easy to read and almost a page turner. It held my interest from cover to cover.
May 6, 2021
"In the joyous lilt of these sentences there is something that Drake shared with all the sea rovers: Columbus, Leif Erikson, Ulysses himself. The thrill of escape from queens, statesmen, domestic concerns, and the cramping letter of the law, into the infectious anarchy of the sea." (pg. 199)
Gripping and stirring; a frankly magnificent history. George Malcolm Thomson's biography Sir Francis Drake is everything you want from a history book that is read for pleasure rather than for a research piece; it is pacey, rich in both grand historical and anecdotal detail, and told in a bold, gorgeous and shamelessly patriotic prose that would be beyond the wit of most novelists nowadays, let alone historians. Books like this shouldn't seem this rare, especially when history offers up such wealth of character and action as is found in the story of Sir Francis Drake.
Thomson delivers this story excellently – the pages fly by – and what a story it is to read. The fiery, low-born Drake, bold, pious, and cunning, sets out from Plymouth at the blossoming of the Elizabethan age to range across the vivid scenery of the New World, plundering treasure ships of staggering wealth and sacking towns belonging to the Spanish empire – the most powerful of its time. Sailing south, hold full of booty, he circles the Cape and advances into the Pacific, up to modern San Francisco and Oregon, and then across the great sea. He returns home, now a legend, having circumnavigated the globe. And that's before we even get onto the dramatic destruction of the Spanish Armada.
Thomson's book is not a cultural feat in the way a Gibbon or Macaulay would be, nor a resource in the way a modern academic history would be, but this is great history-writing of the more popular, narrative trend. For history-as-entertainment, it doesn't get much better than this. It's the story you know, but in richer detail and told well. It captures the spirit of Drake – something that you would have thought could not be confined – and fascinates you with the world that he made his own. If you're a history buff, you might not learn much that is new, but men like Drake are not men to be studied. They are to be admired, followed, set loose.
Gripping and stirring; a frankly magnificent history. George Malcolm Thomson's biography Sir Francis Drake is everything you want from a history book that is read for pleasure rather than for a research piece; it is pacey, rich in both grand historical and anecdotal detail, and told in a bold, gorgeous and shamelessly patriotic prose that would be beyond the wit of most novelists nowadays, let alone historians. Books like this shouldn't seem this rare, especially when history offers up such wealth of character and action as is found in the story of Sir Francis Drake.
Thomson delivers this story excellently – the pages fly by – and what a story it is to read. The fiery, low-born Drake, bold, pious, and cunning, sets out from Plymouth at the blossoming of the Elizabethan age to range across the vivid scenery of the New World, plundering treasure ships of staggering wealth and sacking towns belonging to the Spanish empire – the most powerful of its time. Sailing south, hold full of booty, he circles the Cape and advances into the Pacific, up to modern San Francisco and Oregon, and then across the great sea. He returns home, now a legend, having circumnavigated the globe. And that's before we even get onto the dramatic destruction of the Spanish Armada.
Thomson's book is not a cultural feat in the way a Gibbon or Macaulay would be, nor a resource in the way a modern academic history would be, but this is great history-writing of the more popular, narrative trend. For history-as-entertainment, it doesn't get much better than this. It's the story you know, but in richer detail and told well. It captures the spirit of Drake – something that you would have thought could not be confined – and fascinates you with the world that he made his own. If you're a history buff, you might not learn much that is new, but men like Drake are not men to be studied. They are to be admired, followed, set loose.
August 3, 2023
well researched - certain topics very colorful such as circumnavigation.
I almost gave this a three star rating but there is something special that has been accomplished the author. He has shown us that popular history of the world is paralleled by the behind-the-scene machinations of leaders and nations. There are a lot of Francis Drakes in the world but most of them have lives that are unknown because they are operating in grey areas, unsanctioned officially but sometimes most important. The CIA operates in this area all the time but its operatives are unknown to most of us. Francis Drake was an operative, an agent of Queen Elizabeth and England. he did things that the Royal government deemed necessary but they could not officially do. However, after his circumnavigation, he came out of the shadows now and then. In regards to the circumnaviation he was actually the first expedition commander to circumnavigate the world in that Ferdinand Magellan died in the East Indies before he could accomplish the feat. Another interesting that it was done to spite the Spanish and disrupt their source of wealth - hence his attacks in Peru, Panama. It was also a Prize Hunt where investors were expecting a high ROI which they got. Finally, Queen Elizabeth wanted to break the Portugeuse monopoly on the East Indies commerce.
More great insights are gained regarding the Spanish Armada attempted conquest of England in 1588. It was not the weather that destroyed although it destroy many ships as they fled back to Spain. It was the boldness of Drake, the Dutch preventing Duke of Parma from debarking into open Sea to join the rest of the Armada, the usage of seven 'Devil Ships' that caused the panic in the fleet such that galleon anchors were cut in panic (this also led to the high attrition rate of the fleeing ships who could not weather the storm by anchoring, the Spanish fleeing around Scotland where there are many shallow waters near the coast, the attempted landing in Catholic Eire where unexpectedly the Irish massacred them and the effective usage of sail ships versus galley ship. Also, the English found a way to effectively utilize there smaller cannons to focus on the Spanish galleons so that they could sink them yet using cannon balls that normally would have been too small for that purpose.
In the end, it was fitting that both FRancis Drake and John Hawkins in last foray for the Queen and for treasures. Now Drake rests in a watery grave unmarked in Panamian waters far from England. A fitting finally resting place for a man often operating in the shadows of history.
I almost gave this a three star rating but there is something special that has been accomplished the author. He has shown us that popular history of the world is paralleled by the behind-the-scene machinations of leaders and nations. There are a lot of Francis Drakes in the world but most of them have lives that are unknown because they are operating in grey areas, unsanctioned officially but sometimes most important. The CIA operates in this area all the time but its operatives are unknown to most of us. Francis Drake was an operative, an agent of Queen Elizabeth and England. he did things that the Royal government deemed necessary but they could not officially do. However, after his circumnavigation, he came out of the shadows now and then. In regards to the circumnaviation he was actually the first expedition commander to circumnavigate the world in that Ferdinand Magellan died in the East Indies before he could accomplish the feat. Another interesting that it was done to spite the Spanish and disrupt their source of wealth - hence his attacks in Peru, Panama. It was also a Prize Hunt where investors were expecting a high ROI which they got. Finally, Queen Elizabeth wanted to break the Portugeuse monopoly on the East Indies commerce.
More great insights are gained regarding the Spanish Armada attempted conquest of England in 1588. It was not the weather that destroyed although it destroy many ships as they fled back to Spain. It was the boldness of Drake, the Dutch preventing Duke of Parma from debarking into open Sea to join the rest of the Armada, the usage of seven 'Devil Ships' that caused the panic in the fleet such that galleon anchors were cut in panic (this also led to the high attrition rate of the fleeing ships who could not weather the storm by anchoring, the Spanish fleeing around Scotland where there are many shallow waters near the coast, the attempted landing in Catholic Eire where unexpectedly the Irish massacred them and the effective usage of sail ships versus galley ship. Also, the English found a way to effectively utilize there smaller cannons to focus on the Spanish galleons so that they could sink them yet using cannon balls that normally would have been too small for that purpose.
In the end, it was fitting that both FRancis Drake and John Hawkins in last foray for the Queen and for treasures. Now Drake rests in a watery grave unmarked in Panamian waters far from England. A fitting finally resting place for a man often operating in the shadows of history.
November 6, 2022
Superb account of Drake's agressive activities on land and sea . It reads like true fiction adventure novel.
This is old book, and I have no idea how it compares to following recent ones. One thing though..today's old history books are often better than 'politically correct' versions.
This is old book, and I have no idea how it compares to following recent ones. One thing though..today's old history books are often better than 'politically correct' versions.
July 27, 2022
For what is essentially a history book it is very readable
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews