Francis Drake, the end of his adventures.

Base in the port of Panama

Drake , frustrated by the poor results he was obtaining, proposed to the then Queen Elizabeth a bold operation against Spanish America, whose main objective was to establish a permanent English base in Panama , in order to then put the Spanish domains in the Caribbean in check.

He tried to capture a galleon in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but Spanish gunners from Morro Castle hit the bridge of his ship, killing two English officers on the spot, although Drake survived.

Shortly afterwards, he attacked San Juan again, only to be defeated once more by five Spanish frigates under the command of Don Pedro Téllez de Guzmán.

Francis Drake's defeats in Panama

It took about 120 brave Spanish soldiers commanded by Captains Enríquez and Agüero to defeat the fleet captained by Francis in Panama in January 1956. Francis, at the age of 53, fell ill with dysentery.

On the 28th of that same month he died off the coast of Portobelo.

Expulsion from the Caribbean

The English fleet would again be defeated at the Isle of Pines by a Spanish squadron sent to expel them from the Caribbean; the outcome of the expedition, which in addition to the death of Drake also cost the life of John Hawkins, would be three ships captured by the Spanish, 17 ships sunk or abandoned, 2500 dead and 500 prisoners.

Return of the English fleet and the death of Francis Drake

The news of his death reached Spain through a letter from the Spanish general Bernardino Delgadillo de Avellaneda at the end of March.

Subsequently, on June 20 of the same year, Licenciado Andrés Armenteros sent a letter to the Duke of Medina Sidonia in which he reported the return of the English fleet to England, adding (erroneously or falsely) the news that Drake's body was on one of these ships , inside a barrel.

And that concludes the story of Francis Drake and his adventures. I hope you enjoyed it.