Testimonies of Spanish captives about the course of Francis Drake's circumnavigation

Abstract

The publication is devoted to the events related to the second circumnavigation organised by the English privateer, naval commander and discoverer Francis Drake. The author pays special attention to sources of Spanish origin, represented by the materials of interrogations of Spanish prisoners who had been on board the English ship and personally communicated with English corsairs. The Spanish testimonies contain detailed descriptions of the actions of Drake and his companions on the Pacific coast of the New World, reports on the armament and composition of the English crew, and considerations about the goals of the expedition. A special place in the testimonies is occupied by reports on the damage caused and the booty captured by the English. The comparative-historical method allows, as a result of comparing Spanish and other sources, to identify new details about the course of the expedition, omitted for various reasons by the authors of English testimonies about Drake's voyage. Spanish sources are actively introduced into the scientific turnover during the XX century, changing the idea of the course of the first English circumnavigation expeditions. Despite the repeated information in the testimonies about the actions of English corsairs off the Pacific coast of the New World we can trace the dynamics of Drake's actions, understand how his plans changed as he moved along the coast. Witness testimony allows us to imagine the scale of the booty captured by the British during their plundering raid, to trace the peculiarities of corsairs in Spanish waters on the eve of the open Anglo-Spanish conflict. Numerous testimonies of the captives of the English corsair help to recreate the image of Drake and his companions, to determine the peculiarities of their perception by the subjects of the King of Spain.