The Voyage of Sir Francis Drake Around the Whole Globe

by Richard Hakluyt

'Their fruits be diverse and plentiful, as nutmegs, ginger, long pepper, lemons, cucumbers, cocos, sago, with divers other sorts...'

Scholar, spy, diplomat and supreme propagandist for Elizabethan sea power, Richard Hakluyt's accounts of famed explorers mythologised a nation growing rapidly aware of the size and strangeness of the world - and determined to dominate it.

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Richard Hakluyt (c 1552-1616).

Hakluyt's Voyages and Discoveries is available in Penguin Classics.

Genres: Classics, History, Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure, Historical, Literature

64 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1616

About the author

Richard Hakluyt (c. 1552 or 1553 - 1616) was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America (1582) and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (1589 - 1600).

Reviews

[Sean Barrs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Normally I don’t judge a book based on the actions the people commit in them. Normally, I just consider the work a piece of history and dethatch myself from anything that occurs inside. But sometimes, every so often, a book comes along in which the contents are just that atrocious that I can’t remain impartial and approach the book academically.

Simply put, Sir Francis Drake was a cunt. Now I don’t use that word liberally; it’s not something I fling around: it’s something I save for human beings who are so terrible that they can only be summed up with that single word. To emphasise my point, it’s a word I also hold in reserve for the current president of the USA. And I don’t like the word, but sometimes it just has to be said. Drake had that terrible power orientated mind-set that gave the British a terrible name overseas. He was at war, so he attacked Spanish boats. This is, though terrible, understandable. But he also raided and pillaged native villages, relishing in the power he had over them as he put the people to the sword. When visiting such lands, instead of admiring the beauty of them, he went around killing everything and hunting everything just so he could bring it home and show it off: he tried to conquer what he thought beneath him.

History shows us the consequences of this way of life. It only ever leads to destruction and misery. One day man might learn the folly of his ways, one day man might learn that power does not necessarily mean domination and one day he may learn that wealth is not the highest commodity of human life. But, that day isn't soon, not when men like Trump can get into power- the so called leader of the "free world." Let’s hope the conspiracy theorists and experts are wrong, let’s hope his stupidity doesn’t start a war.

Penguin Little Black Classic- 65



The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Richard Hakluyt’s The Voyage of Sir Francis Drake Around the Whole Globe collects the two accounts, snappily titled: “The famous voyage of Sir Francis Drake into the South Sea, and there hence about the whole globe of the earth, begun in the year of our Lord 1577.” and “The prosperous voyage of the worshipful Thomas Candish of Trimley in the County of Suffolk Esquire, into the South Sea, and from thence round about the circumference of the whole earth, begun in the year of our Lord 1586, and finished 1588.”

The first thing that strikes the reader about these accounts is how bloody life was on the high seas way back then. Within paragraphs, Drake’s looting and pillaging one Spanish galleon after another and then going mental whenever he encountered a native village on some island – the juxtaposition between Drake’s knighthood and the way he lived couldn’t be more opposite.

The second thing you’ll notice is how excruciatingly dry Hakluyt’s writing is. He’s describing the life of a pirate with all its attendant madness with the energy and insight you might describe a trip to the supermarket. “Met some natives. Beheaded most of them and torched their huts. Ate an apple. Met some other natives, got drunk and partied with them. Killed some family I think. Saw hundreds of majestic birds. Slaughtered them all and filled the ship’s hold with their corpses. Sneezed.” followed by a list of other foods they picked up. I’m paraphrasing but that’s essentially it the whole time.

Hakluyt provides no insight into their day to day lives, what they thought or felt, or bring any kind of atmosphere to his accounts. It’s just lists of things they mostly killed/saw. It’s the worst rendering of dramatic subject matter I’ve ever read – it’s so mundane to read, I couldn’t have hated it more. Anthropologists/historians might enjoy this as it’s a first-hand account of these voyages and new cultures but it’s beyond boring for anyone else.

Judging by these crews’ behaviour though, it’s easy to see why the English were despised for so long - our ancestors were fucking psychos!

[Darwin8u · Rating 3 out of 5]

“...of all which things we took as we listed.”
― Richard Hakluyt, 'The Voyage of Sir Francis Drake'



Vol N° 65 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This volume contains two pieces by Richard Hakluyt from his Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation. The first is "The famous voyage of Sir Francis Drake into the South Sea, and there hence about the whole globe of the earth, begun in the year of our Lord 1577." The second piece "The prosperous voyage of the worshipful Thomas Candish of Trimley in the Country of Suffolk Esquire, into the South Sea, and from thence around the circumference of the whole earth, begun in the year of our Lord 1586, and finished 1588."

While interesting, Hakluyt is basically a propagandist for the idea(l)s of colonization of the Americas (following the Spanish model; see rape, theft, exploitation). A lot of this is less history and more influential idea peddling. What is true, certainly, is the influence Hakluyt's (Raleigh, et al) writing had on the future expansion of the British Empire.

I'm not sure much has changed in 450+ years. It appears we still like to exploit, trade, steal and explore.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting little book, more aimed at the historian than the casual reader. The text tells of where ships were sunk making it a handy treasure guide in the past.
A typical long winded and dry travelogue but not bad, it makes you wonder how we survived as a species when all we done was kill each other, or theirself all the time!

[Kitty G Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part fo the Dewey's 24 hr readathon and I have to say this was a really exceptionally shocking little book. I had no idea quite how pirate-like and bloodthirsty Francis and his crew were but the whole way through this all they seem to do is kill animals (in the thousands - despite there only being just over 150 men), pillage, burn, destroy and kill people (particularly the Spanish!!)

In this little book we have two excerpts from two voyages, the first is that of Drake, the second that of Candish/Cavendish. I have to say I preferred the recounting of Drake's one because the frank attitudes with which the murder and desecration of lands, towns and villagers was spoken was throughly shocking... all I can say is no wonder everyone hated the English!!! They're flipping maniacs...

I did find the descriptions of the land and small tribesmen very interesting and getting to see some of their beliefs and cultures was thrilling and terrifying all at once. The world seems to have been so big, expansive and foreign back then!!

This is well worth a read and I would say a lot more interesting than I'd imagined it may be. A solid 3.5*s and an interesting introduction to the exploits of the explorers back in Elizabethan times!

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was horrible! One of the worst in the collection, of that I am sure.

When reading historical accounts it is always difficult, because their actions have to be put in the historical context rather than how we would judge these actions today. However, The Voyage of Sir Francis Drake Around the Whole Globe, is a piece of propaganda which wants to show the greatness of the British at sea, but instead shows it at its worst. Terrorizing the people of the globe.

I really didn't enjoy this at all and recommend you stay away from it...

~Little Black Classics #65~

Find this and other reviews on my blog https://www.urlphantomhive.com

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short quick historical fact book, written without emotion or scene setting, great little book for interested related readers!

[royaevereads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. I no longer understand the difference between explorers and pirates - these Englishmen weren't just mapping the world; they were killing, burning and looting almost everywhere they went.

The writing was very simplistic and matter of fact, even when describing something as disturbing as an execution. There were some very detailed descriptions of things that they had never come across before, like coconuts. And they referred to seals as "sea-wolves".

[Alex Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but sweet. Perfect to inspire ones imagination to roam free.

A bus ride well spent.

[Michelle Curie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sir Francis Drake wasn't one of the nice guys. This volume of the Little Black Classic series numbly depicts how he seemed to have done what the British Empire was so good at at that time – raid around and conquer everything that was in sight.



Though depicting the adventures of Drake, this was written by Richard Hakluyt, who is known for promoting the English colonisation of North America through his works. It's a sobering business in general, seeing how bloody and violent life out at sea seems to having been. As a piece of literature, this isn't of great value – this is basically an excerpt of what seems like an in-ship journal, meaning this was probably penned for information's sake more than for entertainment.

For entertaining, this is not. This might not even be very accurate: Hakluyt is known to having been the guy who was in charge to make those journeys seem so important on paper that they'd receive the necessary funding from the Queen. The subjects change abruptly, some seems like genuine nonsense, too:

"These people wholly worship the devil, and often times have conference with him, which appeareth unto them in most ugly and monstrous shape."

??? Sorry? Well, the devil surely hasn't appeared to anyone I know. So from a literary standpoint this was about as interesting as reading someone's taxes.

To say a positive thing I did enjoy it as a reminder of how our world has been explored bit by bit. There's a description of how they stumbled upon that weird fruit called coco, growing on a tree with "no leaves nor branches" and that is not only as big "as a man's head", but also has a "kind of hard substance and very white, no less good and sweet then almond". Crazy, this thing called nature!

In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!

[Sarah Reffstrup · Rating 2 out of 5]

Briterne var basically pirater 🙈 Jeg tror jeg havde forventet skattejagt ligesom i Uncharted spillene til Playstation, som handler om Nathan Drake, efterkommer af Francis. Men ja, myrde for guld kan man jo også 🙄

[[ J o ] · Rating 1 out of 5]

Exceedingly boring. I thought perhaps it would give an insight to what Drake was like as a man and leader, but it barely even mentions him: I'm assuming "our general" is Drake. Who knows, really? I don't even know who the second bloke is and can't bring myself to care. It offers nothing, except a slight historical note on where these voyagers went. Still not as bad as those haikus, though.


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[Yumna M. Usmani · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first it seems quite an objective account of English voyages, how he describes the burning and looting done by the Englishmen on the two ships. But what cracks me up is how the writer uses stronger words to describe similar acts done by the Spanish, as though looting and burning done by Englishmen was in a way more sophisticated than the one done by Sapniards...All in all a great read!

[JK · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simply, purely awful.

Hakluyt writes of voyages around the world in a factual, disconnected tone. Many of these visits to foreign lands spell trouble for the locals, who find themselves robbed and killed, mainly as a display of superiority than anything else. Neighbouring sailors meet the same fate. Hakluyt’s tone here never falters; dispassionate, dead, laying out the facts of the terrors as though they’re the same as tying a knot in a rope. No wonder the English were so hated back then, running around taking lives for a laugh and a couple of bags of leather.

There are no thoughts or feelings here, it reads similarly to the diary of my ten year old self – “Went to the shop. Got a lollipop. Came home and we watched Frasier.” It’s so bloody dry. My imagination was the only thing keeping me together – to think how huge and unknown the world was back then, to have none of the knowledge we have now of other cultures, lands, people. It must have been exciting, frightening, wonderful. None of that was given to us here.

I realise the words are a product of their time, but in some instances, words just aren’t worth the bother.

[Kiran · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have really benefitted from some form of commentary to place these short accounts in a wider context, or even some notes expanding on points which seem interesting but are largely glossed over, usually in favour of listing the loot pillaged by Drake and Cavendish.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty interesting, even if it was also bleak. We basically follow Sir Francis Drake pillaging villages and stuff..

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, British explorers were violent, imperialistic assholes.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lätt illamående efter att ha läst denna. Förvisso bra att sjöfarande imperialistiska idioters handlingar förevigats i text, men det gör det inte mindre upprörande att läsa om. Hade varit intressant att veta vad som försigår i karaktärernas huvuden, men det beskrivs inte av författaren. Istället blir alla brott som begås under sjöfärderna lika alldagliga i texten som punkter på en shoppinglista, och kanske är det därför man som läsare känner sig alldeles tom efteråt.

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think what surprised me more than anything in this short excerpt from Richard Hakluyt's Voyages and Discoveries, is how much Drake and his entourage were bloodthirsty pirates!
In the first three pages they have forcibly taken, robbed eight boats. These occupants (mostly fishermen in this case) yielded, and as there is no mention of their slaughter, so we will give Drake the benefit of the doubt and consider they were left alive.
Others were much less lucky, and were slaughtered, their ships, boats or villages torched.
To be fair, I have no doubt the Spanish were equally aggressive, but the repeated scenarios are documented in such a way that they are as eventful as sailing up a coastline for a week, or massacring 300 flightless birds on an island to store for food!
I couldn't tell with this book whether the excerpts selected were consistent with the rest of the book, but these weren't gripping in the way other of these Little Black Classics are.

[Topcliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading about Sir Francis Drake but assumed this book would be fairly light on information about his voyage. Once finished I came to the conclusion that this book is light on detail rather than information. This book feels more like a notebook, not a completed work. That said I did appreciate the straightforward delivery.

In terms of the events; it’s pretty standard when it comes to navigation/exploration; looting enemy ships, exploiting tribals, and kidnappings. These actions may seem evil and shocking now, but were common for that time period, especially considering Drake sailed as a privateer.

This brief book provided me with the information I was interested in and did it without any baggage. The next step will be to find a more detailed account.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely an interesting read, and fairly quick to get through, though only about half of the book is focused on Francis Drake's travels. And, of course, considering the time period, a lot of what is said on the people they come across is pretty dated and backwards…

[Luigi Galicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mil veces mejor relatados los viajes de Marco polo y hasta los de Darwin. Aquí lo narra alguien que ni siquiera realizó el viaje, y por contexto y época, termina siendo una continua descripción de barbarie y violencia por parte de los Ingleses a toda América y España

[Liz Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

[clumsyplankton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly I wasn't really all that interested

[Rick Silva · Rating 2 out of 5]

At twelve years old, I considered Sir Francis Drake a hero, owing mostly to a collection of childrens picture books on the major European explorers of the Age of Exploration that was kept in my fourth grade classroom and was my go-to for free-reading time.

Having learned some history since then, I have a more realistic view of the explorers and colonialists. This book, containing two excerpts from a collection published in 1589 still attempts to lionize the leaders of these voyages, but the straightforward narrative style of the author lays bare the brutality of captains Drake and Candish (whose voyage makes up the second half of this collection).

Drake comes off as more of a straight-up pirate, with a style that reads like old school 1st edition Dungeons & Dragons warstories. Encounter. Loot. Encounter. Loot. Encounter. Loot. And so on, ad nauseum. Drake was clearly all about the money, and with the element of surprise on his side in most of his encounters with the Spanish, he was able to show some mercy once the gold and silver were handed over.

Candish got into some more desperate straits at times, and there is more brutality, particularly toward indigenous populations, in the account of his voyage (Drake is hardly innocent in this regard, though).

In spite of these being tales of piracy on the high seas, the pacing is dull, and the descriptions felt uninspired.

I was also a little disappointed to find no notes or context from the editors, which were a nice component of Henry Mayhew's Of Street Piemen from this same Penguin series.

While not the most enjoyable read, this is still a valuable bit of history (biased, certainly; Hakluyt is renowned as the great propagandist of English sea power), and a decent sample to get the flavor of Hakluyt's work.

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spre sfârșitul secolului al XVI-lea, în plină Epocă a Descoperirilor, au plecat din Anglia spre Lumea Nouă (și coloniile spaniole de acolo) o pleiadă de navigatori/exploratori. Unii dintre cei mai faimoși dintre aceștia au fost Francis Drake, precum și Thomas Cavendish. Iar propagandistul oficial al dinastiei Tudorilor, autorul Hakluyt, ne prezintă cronica acestor două expediții. Neluând parte la călătoriile propriu-zise, a încercat să se folosească de relatările martorilor oculari în cea mai mare parte, lăsând totuși unele lacune în text.
Expedițiile sunt povestite la persoana I, emulând stilul unui jurnal de bord. Pe scurt, englezii găsesc insule virgine, mări calme/agitate, băștinași prietenoși și numeroase specii de animale inedite – schimbându-le drastic evoluța fiecărora. Este de remarcat faptul că autorul descrie cu seninătate abuzurile și măcelurile săvârșite de către mateloții conduși de Drake/Cavendish (aceștia operând în mare parte la limita pirateriei), găsindu-le în același timp unele dintre cele mai tranșante justificări (de ex, am ucis mare parte din populația băștinașă, dar e totul ok pentru că se închinau la diavoli). Cu adevărat un produs al vremurilor respective, cartea are totuși valoare ca document istoric (fereastră fără compromisuri spre trecut); din păcate, ediția de față este un fragment scurt, 50p, dintr-un volum mai extins – pentru cei pasionați de subiect, volumul complet fiind esențial.

[Ekaterina Anguelova · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you ever asked yourself what the interior workings of the imperialist mindset are, look no further. The mind-boggling lack of self-reflection combined with tremendous amounts of entitlement make for a hauntingly informative, though hardly enjoyable read:

"The general permitted them to enter within our bulwark, where they continued their song and dance a reasonable time. They made signs to our general to sit down, to whom the king, and divers others made supplications, that he would take their province into his hand, and become their king, making signs that they would resign unto him their right and title to the whole land, and become his subjects. In which, to persuade us the better, the king and the rest, with one consent, and with great reverence, joyfully singing a song, did set the crown upon his head, enriched his neck with all their chains: which thing our general thought not meet to reject, because he knew not what honour and profit it might be to our country. Wherefore in the name, and to the use of Her Majesty he took the sceptre, crown, and dignity of the said country into his hands."

[Subhadeep Das · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why this is considered a piece or literature and Penguin deprived readers of another great work of art instead. I don’t write reviews much but compelled to do so because of the awful nature of the narrative.

From the historical account perspective, they might find things interesting, but for a common reader in 20th century it accentuates the piracy, plundering and massacre caused by the western civilisations in the name of exploration, yet their idea of having a moral high ground above other civilisations — a prejudice that still exists in the modern day.

As for the story I might make a précis – we set sail, sank a few boats, looted a few, killed Spaniards and Indians, plundered towns, burnt houses down and when there were no people we just killed seals and wildlife by the thousands.

At the end of their pilferage, probably everyone were given a knighthood and their ancestors still exploiting the country with their ancestral blood money. The end.

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a real curiosity for me, with fascinating insights into life during the time period... particularly the incredibly casual approach the crew seemed to take to violence, murder, theft and deception against anyone and everyone that wasn't English (and even some who were).
However, that was not enough to rescue it from a distinct lack if anything resembling personality. Unless, of course, you consider the writer's obvious hero worship of Drake.

A dull read with some curious elements, but not something I would recommend.

[bambi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ich hab mir echt ein spannendes Abenteuer erwartet, aber das Buch war einfach nur trocken und langweilig. Es werden nur Ereignisse aufgezählt. Keine Gedanken, keine Gefühle, keine Atmosphäre. Sir Francis Drake wird wie ein „Held“ dargestellt, dabei war er einfach grausam und unsympathisch, und genau das wird auch noch komplett emotionslos beschrieben. Gerade weil es eigentlich so viel Potenzial für Spannung und Drama gehabt hätte, fand ich es richtig schade, dass es nur wie eine endlose Liste rüberkam.