Francis Pretty

Last updated
Francis Pretty
OccupationMan-at-Arms
LanguageEnglish
NationalityEnglish
Period Elizabethan
GenreDiarist
SubjectExploration
Title page of the 1617 edition of Emanuel van Meteren's publication of Pretty's diaries in Dutch Title page of Beschryvinge vande overtreffelijcke ende wydtvermaerde zee-vaerdt vanden edelen heer ende meester Thomas Candisch.jpg
Title page of the 1617 edition of Emanuel van Meteren's publication of Pretty's diaries in Dutch

Francis Pretty was a Suffolk gentleman, [1] diarist, sailor, and man-at-arms, who wrote a detailed account of the circumnavigation of the globe with Thomas Cavendish (1588). Due to the dubious legality of the expedition, accounts were officially suppressed; the earliest unofficial accounts were published in Dutch by Emanuel van Meteren who purchased the diary. Excerpts of the diary were also included in Richard Hakluyt's 1582 and 1589 treatises on British explorations of North America, before he published the Cavendish diary in its entirety in 1600.

Pretty is also often credited for the account of Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation (1577–1580). [2] [3] [4] [5] According to Henry Raup Wagner however, it is highly unlikely if not impossible for Pretty to have written the account, as there is no evidence that he took part in that expedition, while there is evidence that he did not do so. [6] This is the account of Drake's expedition, in which the privateer's contact with native peoples along the coast near 38°N (present-day California) is mentioned. There Drake would have left "a plate, nailed upon a faire great poste, whereupon was ingraven her Maiesties name, the day and yeere of our arrivall there, with the free giving up of the province and people into her Maiesties hands, together with her highnes picture and armes, in a peece of six pence of current English money, under the plate, where under was also written the name of our Generall." [7] This description provided the basis for the Drake's Plate hoax.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Drake</span> English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)

Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer and privateer best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580. This was the first English circumnavigation, and third circumnavigation overall. Having started as a simple seaman, in 1588 he was part of the fight against the Spanish Armada as a vice-admiral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circumnavigation</span> Complete navigation around the Earth

Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body. This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Cavendish</span> English privateer

Sir Thomas Cavendish was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and return by circumnavigating the globe. Magellan's, Loaisa's, Drake's, and Loyola's expeditions had preceded Cavendish in circumnavigating the globe. His first trip and successful circumnavigation made him rich from captured Spanish gold, silk and treasure from the Pacific and the Philippines. His richest prize was the captured 600-ton sailing ship the Manila Galleon Santa Ana. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England after his return. He later set out for a second raiding and circumnavigation trip but was not as fortunate and died at sea at the age of 31.

<i>Golden Hind</i> Ship captained by Francis Drake

Golden Hind was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as Pelican, but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden hind. Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drake's world voyage. A full-sized, seaworthy reconstruction is in London, on the south bank of the Thames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Davis (explorer)</span> English explorer and navigator (1550–1605)

John Davis was one of the chief navigators of Queen Elizabeth I of England. He led several voyages to discover the Northwest Passage and served as pilot and captain on both Dutch and English voyages to the East Indies. He discovered the Falkland Islands in August 1592.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Albion</span> Historical name of the United States Pacific coast

New Albion, also known as Nova Albion, was the name of the continental area north of Mexico claimed by Sir Francis Drake for England when he landed on the North American west coast in 1579. This claim became the justification for English charters across America to the Atlantic coast and soon influenced further national expansion projects on the continent. Drake's landing site has been identified as Drake's Cove, which is part of Point Reyes National Seashore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa</span> Spanish explorer and writer (1532–1592)

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532–1592) was a Spanish adventurer, author, historian, mathematician, and astronomer. His birthplace is not certain and may have been Pontevedra, in Galicia, where his paternal family originated, or Alcalá de Henares in Castile, where he later is known to have studied. His father Bartolomé Sarmiento was born in Pontevedra and his mother María Gamboa was born in Bilbao, Basque Country.

Thomas Doughty was an English nobleman, soldier, scholar and personal secretary of Christopher Hatton. His association with Francis Drake, on a 1577 voyage to raid Spanish treasure fleets, ended in a shipboard trial for treason and witchcraft, and Doughty's execution.

The European explorer-colonial historical record in North America begins in the second half of the 16th century, with ongoing European exploration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emery Molyneux</span> English globemaker (died 1598)

Emery Molyneux was an English Elizabethan maker of globes, mathematical instruments and ordnance. His terrestrial and celestial globes, first published in 1592, were the first to be made in England and the first to be made by an Englishman.

Sir Richard Martin was an English goldsmith and Master of the Mint who served as Sheriff and twice as Lord Mayor of the City of London during the reign of Elizabeth I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Island (Cape Horn)</span> Phantom island in the South Atlantic

Elizabeth Island is the name given to an island off the tip of South America visited by Sir Francis Drake in September 1578, during his circumnavigation of the globe. The island was not seen again and is regarded as a phantom. Various suggestions have been offered as to where Drake landed.

The Cimarrons in Panama were enslaved Africans who had escaped from their Spanish masters and lived together as maroons. In the 1570s, they allied with Francis Drake of England to defeat the Spanish conquest. In Sir Francis Drake Revived (1572), Drake describes the Cimarrons as "a black people which about eighty years past fled from the Spaniards their masters, by reason of their cruelty, and are since grown to a nation, under two kings of their own. The one inhabiteth to the west, the other to the east of the way from Nombre de Dios".

<i>Desire</i> (ship) Ship sailed by 16th-century explorers Thomas Cavendish and John Davis

The Desire was the 120 ton flagship Thomas Cavendish built for his highly successful 1586–1588 circumnavigation of the globe. The Desire was only the third ship to circumnavigate the globe after the Victoria of Ferdinand Magellan and the Golden Hind of Francis Drake. After this expedition Cavendish was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England who was invited to a dinner aboard the Desire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Fletcher (priest)</span> English priest and explorer

Francis Fletcher was a priest of the Church of England who accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his circumnavigation of the world from 1577 to 1580 and kept a written account of it.

Vice-Admiral Sir John Wynter or Winter (1555–1638) was an explorer and naval officer in the English Navy Royal. As a ship's captain in the Drake expedition of 1577-1580, he was the first European to cross the Strait of Magellan from west to east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Drake's circumnavigation</span> 1577 trip by the English explorer

Francis Drake's circumnavigation, also known as Drake's Raiding Expedition, was an important historical maritime event that took place between 15 December 1577 and 26 September 1580. The expedition was authorised by Queen Elizabeth I and consisted of five ships led by Francis Drake. Termed a 'voyage of discovery', it was in effect an ambitious covert raiding voyage and the start of England's challenge to the global domination of Spain and Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Cavendish's circumnavigation</span> British naval voyage 1586–1588

Thomas Cavendish's circumnavigation was a voyage of raid and exploration by English navigator and sailor Thomas Cavendish which took place during the Anglo–Spanish War between 21 July 1586 and 9 September 1588. Following in the footsteps of Francis Drake who circumnavigated the globe, Thomas Cavendish was influenced in an attempt to repeat the feat. As such it was the first deliberately planned voyage of the globe.

Norman J. W. Thrower (1919–2020) was an American scholar noted for his work in history, geography, and surveying practices. His areas of expertise included mapping, surveying, Sir Francis Drake, Isaac Newton, Edmond Halley. He was also a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and authored several books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Francis Drake's circumnavigation</span> Historical event

On 15 November 1577, Francis Drake began a circumnavigation which would last for 1046 days. Before this journey, only a single expedition had completed a circumnavigation, one pioneered by Ferdinand Magellan. On Drake's voyage, Drake was the first Englishman to navigate out of the south Atlantic Ocean and during the journey, he established the first overseas possession claims executed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. At its completion, this was the longest voyage humans had made to date.

References

  1. Hart, Albert Bushnell; Curtis, John Gould (1897). American History Told by Contemporaries. Macmillan. p.  81.
  2. Thompson, Gunnar (2010). Commander Francis Drake & the West Coast Mysteries. Lulu.com. p. 103. ISBN   978-0-557-49486-6.
  3. Kelsey, Harry (2001). Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. 88 (footnote 97). ISBN   0300084633.
  4. Thrower, Norman Joseph William, ed. (1984). Sir Francis Drake and the Famous Voyage, 1577–1580: Essays commemorating the quadricentennial of Drake's circumnavigation of the Earth. University of California Press. p. 201. ISBN   978-0-520-04876-8.
  5. The widely distributed Harvard Classics, Volume 33 of 1910 led to this generally-accepted error. C.W. Eliot, ed. (1910). "Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Around the World". Harvard Classics. Vol. 33. Voyages and travels, ancient and modern. P.F. Collier and Son. p. 207. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  6. Wagner, Henry Raup (1926). Sir Francis Drake's Voyage Around the World, Its Aims and Achievements. San Francisco: John Howell. pp.  238–240.
  7. Hakluyt, Richard (1589). The famous voyage of Sir Francis Drake into the South Sea and there hence about the whole Globe of the Earth.