John Drake (privateer)
John Drake | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1560 Devon, England |
| Died | 1600s |
| Relations | Francis Drake (his uncle).[1] |
| Occupation | Privateer |
| Profession | Sailor |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of England |
| Years of service | 1575-1600s |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars | Anglo-Spanish War |
John Drake (c. 1560–1600s) was an English privateer who made incursions against the Spanish Empire on the shores of the Río de la Plata.[2]
Biography
Around 1583, John Drake and his crew departed from the port of Plymouth to the south of the Atlantic ocean.[3] At some point he joined the Edward Fenton expedition to Brazil. After their victory at the battle of São Vicente and the subsequent splitting of the English force, Drake headed to the Rio de la Plata.[4] The ship under his command was wrecked on the mouth of the river, in a shoal later known as banco Inglès in Spanish after this incident, and he and his men were captured by the Charrúa Indians with whom he remained captive for some time.[5]
In 1584, he was arrested in Buenos Aires by the Spanish authorities, being sent to the city of Santa Fe, where he was interrogated through the intervention of an English interpreter, before conqueror Don Juan de Torres de Vera y Aragón and the notary Don Francisco Pérez de Burgos.[6]
After his interrogation, John Drake was sent to Asunción and then to Lima, where he was tried and sentenced to a lifetime of captivity. In 1587, a Portuguese pilot reported he was alive and well in Peru. Drake never returned to England.
References
- ^ Historia de la Universidad:, Luis Antonio Eguiguren
- ^ Buenos Aires: desde sus orígenes hasta Hernandarias, Enrique de Gandía
- ^ The British in the Caribbean, Cyril Hamshere
- ^ Mason, A. E. W. (2018-12-05). The Life of Francis Drake. Papamoa Press. ISBN 978-1-78912-577-1.
- ^ Historia marítima argentina, Departamento de Estudios Históricos Navales
- ^ La dragontea de Lope de Vega Carpio ..., Lope de Vega