Most of the great mariners of the 16th century came from the West of England. Francis Drake, Walter Ralegh and John Hawkins were all born in Devon. The only exception to this was Martin Frobisher, who was born in Yorkshire but raised in London.

These men were “privateers”. In other words, they attacked and plundered the ships of the enemy with the permission (sometimes unspoken) of the Queen. “Pirates”, on the other hand, attacked and robbed any ship of any nationality. Privateering was sometimes called “discriminating piracy”, as most people were of the opinion that if England were not at war, the privateers would quickly turn to piracy anyway.

There was no English navy, as such. Queen Elizabeth, who was famously mean with her money, “invested” in the building of some warships but there were no full-time armed services. Men were paid if they went into action on behalf of the Crown but not during peacetime. Of the 197 ships that fought against the Spanish Armada when it tried to invade England, only 34 belonged to the Queen. Whenever Drake took it upon himself to attack Spanish ships on the open sea, he did so by raising money from investors (usually from amongst wealthy merchants and the English nobility) and they were rewarded with a share of the plunder. His sailors also undertook the voyages on the understanding that they would have a share of any treasure captured in lieu of regular pay. It was a risk, but one that many men were prepared to take. One voyage with Drake could set a man up for life. With a share of captured gold, a seaman might buy his own modest fishing boat and have a regular income as long as he was fit and able. However, if he got sick and died on a voyage, or lost his life in battle, there could be nothing for any dependants he left at home. Nevertheless, there was great competition to get a place on one of Drake’s ships, as he was known to reward his men well and even pass the share of treasure on to a dead man’s family.

But, aside from their regular activities against the Spanish treasure ships coming back from the New World laden with gold, Elizabethan mariners engaged in many voyages of pure exploration.

In November 1577, Drake set out on his famous voyage of circumnavigation aboard a ship called The Pelican which he later renamed The Golden Hind. He sailed through the Straits of Magellan, up to Valparaiso and northwards to what is now the coast of California. This he claimed as an English territory, naming it “New Albion”. He then crossed the Pacific Ocean to Java and returned via the Cape of Good Hope and Sierra Leone to his base in Plymouth. It took him exactly three years and gained him a knighthood from the Queen.

Sir Walter Ralegh personally financed seven expeditions to colonise the Americas but, unfortunately had little success. His most famous quest was when he sailed to the Orinoco basin to find the fabled city of “El Dorado” (City of Gold) in 1597. He had no luck but remained convinced that such a place existed and he wrote an account of his voyage, ending it with an appeal to the Queen to establish an English Empire in the Americas. Later that year he organised another expedition to Guiana. James 1st imprisoned Ralegh in the Tower of London for thirteen years, believing him to be a dangerous traitor but then, grudgingly, released him so that he could make another expedition to find El Dorado. He failed and during the voyage he burnt down a Spanish settlement at San Tomas, so he was executed upon his return to England.

Martin Frobisher spent the years from 1560 until 1571 engaged in pure acts of piracy and was arrested by English officials no less than five times but never brought to trial. In 1575 he was authorised by the Crown to search for a north-west passage – a route from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the Canadian Arctic - and he made three unsuccessful voyages. Sir Humphrey Gilbert also tried in 1583 and managed to claim Newfoundland for the English. A man called John Davis tried again in 1585 and discovered Cumberland Sound and Baffin Island. No ship would get through the Canadian ice from east to west until the early twentieth century.

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