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Sir Francis Drake : the Queen's pirate by Harry Kelsey is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Sir Francis Drake : the Queen's pirate about?

In this lively and engaging new biography, Harry Kelsey shatters the familiar image of Sir Francis Drake. The Drake of legend was a pious, brave, and just seaman who initiated the move to make England a great naval power and whose acts of pirac against his country's enemies earned him a knighthood for patriotism. Kelsey paints a different and far more interesting picture of Drake as an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country, a man who became a captain general of the English navy but never waged traditional warfare with any success. <p>Drawing on much new evidence, Kelsey describes Drake's early life as the son of a poor family in sixteenth-century England. He explains how Drake dabbled in piracy, gained modest success as a merchant, and then took advantage of the hostility between Spain and England to embark on a series of daring pirate raids on undefended Spanish ships and ports, preempting Spanish demands for punishment by sharing much of the his booty with the Queen and her councillors. Elizabeth I liked Drake because he was a charming rogue, and she made him an integral part of her war

Author

Harry Kelsey

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published

1998

Language

EN

ISBN

9780300071825

Subjects

History, Biography, Historical Fiction

Rating

3.55 / 5 (39 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14