This is a very well researched and generally very readable biography of the great sea captain and adventurer. He was of humble origins and the year of his birth is not known (some time between 1538 and 1546). This rise from humble origins inspired great loyalty from his men later on, but sometimes resentment and discomfort from his maritime peers so, for example, he could not be appointed supreme commander of the fleet fighting the Spanish Armada, but had to be vice admiral to Lord Howard of Effingham (though they seem to have worked together well). This book traces his career from his early roles as an officer on John Hawkins's slave trading missions through his numerous and, frankly, rather repetitive missions to attack Spanish colonies in the New World. These actions are sometimes described as piracy or private adventuring: and yet there was no state navy in the sixteenth century and all missions were at least partially and sometimes wholly financed privately, though Drake was not primarily motivated by personal gain, but a profound belief in the cause of his Protestant Queen and country. His circumnavigation of the globe is covered slightly disappointingly briefly (this was my chief reason for reading the book), whereas there is extensive coverage of the Armada invasion and repulsion. Little is known about Drake's personal life - he had two wives but no children and his heir was his younger brother Thomas. A good examination of his life. 4.5/5 ( )