SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, THE ENGLISH "DRAGON," WHO SAILED THE SPANISH MAIN AND WHO "SINGED THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD"
23. The Quarrel between Spain and England. After John Cabot failed to find a new way to India, King Henry did nothing more to help English discovery. His son, Henry VIII, got into a great quarrel with the King of Spain. He was too busy with this quarrel to think much about America. But during this very time, Cortés and Pizarro were doing their wonderful deeds. Spain grew bold, seized English seamen, threw them into dungeons, and even burned them at the stake. Englishmen robbed Spanish ships and killed Spanish sailors in revenge.
Their sailors take up the quarrel
Why Drake hated the Spaniards
24. Sir Francis Drake. A most daring English seaman was Sir Francis Drake. From boyhood days he had been a sailor. His cousin, Captain Hawkins, gave him command of a ship against Mexico, but the Spaniards fell upon it, killed many of the sailors, and took all they had. Drake came back ruined, and eager to take revenge. Besides, he hated the Spaniards because he thought they were plotting to kill Elizabeth, the Queen of England.
In 1573 Drake returned to England with his ship loaded with gold and precious stones, captured from the Spaniards on the Isthmus of Panama.
Begins his most famous voyage
25. Drake's Voyage around the World. After four years Drake, with four small but fast vessels, sailed direct for the Strait of Magellan. He was determined to sail the Pacific, which he had seen while on the Isthmus of Panama. In June his fleet entered the harbor of Patagonia where Magellan had spent the winter more than fifty years before.
