DOWLING, Captain William.
Of New Providence, Bahamas.
Hanged for piracy in the early part of the eighteenth century.
DRAGUT. Barbary corsair.
Started life as a pirate, and was eventually put in command of twelve large galleys by Kheyr-ed-din. Pillaged and burnt many towns on the Italian coast, and destroyed ships without number. Was taken prisoner by the younger Doria, and condemned to row in the galleys for four years until ransomed for 3,000 ducats by Kheyr-ed-din. Appointed Admiral of the Ottoman Fleet. Ended a bloodthirsty but very successful career in 1565 by being killed at the Siege of Malta.
DRAKE, Sir Francis.
Born about 1540.
The life of the famous Admiral is too well known to require more than a bare notice in these pages. Although the Spaniards called him "the Pirate," he was more strictly a buccaneer in his early voyages, when he sailed with the sole object of spoiling the Spaniards. His first command was the Judith, in John Hawkins's unfortunate expedition in 1567. Drake made several voyages from Plymouth to the West Indies and the Spanish Main.
In 1572 he burnt Porto Bello, and a year later sacked Vera Cruz. He served with the English Army in Ireland under Lord Essex in 1574 and 1575. In 1578 he sailed through the Straits of Magellan, plundered Valparaiso, and also captured a great treasure ship from Acapulco. Sailing from America, he crossed the Pacific Ocean, passed through the Indian Archipelago, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Deptford in England in 1581. At the conclusion of this voyage he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, being the first Englishman to sail round the world. Drake's voyages after this were sailed under commission and letters of marque, and so lose any stigma of being buccaneering adventures.
Drake died at Porto Bello in the year 1596.