Summary Of Drake Destroys St. A. Augustine By Sir Francis Drake

Denys Klimyentyev

Filled with a desire to enact vengeance upon the Spanish, the infamous English corsair Sir Francis Drake and his crew set sail for the Spanish colonies in North America and the Caribbean. He gained a fearsome reputation when he captured Santo Domingo and Cartagena, two very well defended and lucrative possessions in quick succession. Though at the time Drake seemed like an all conquering corsair, he met his match and was surprisingly repulsed by the Spanish in the relatively minor colony of St. Augustine in La Florida. In the work Drake Destroys St. Augustine, James A. Covington describes this part of Drake’s adventures.

The thesis of this work is to not only convey the strategic importance of St. Augustine for the Spanish

Augustine. The Queen of England, Elizabeth I sought to curb the power of the Iberians, likely fearing Spanish plans for conquering England or seeking further glory. She then enlisted Drake, who at that point already had a deep-rooted hate of the Spaniards, to attack Spanish possessions and to retrieve any riches he may find along the way. Covington sourced the narrative mainly from two primary accounts of Drake’s exploits, Papers Relating to the Navy in the Spanish War and The Principal Navigations, along with several secondary and biographical

He understood the threat that Drake posed and had prepared defenses to deal with the English onslaught, learning from Drake’s victories at Santo Domingo and Cartagena. He wisely evacuated the women and children, enlisting the help of friendly Indian tribes to do so. He set up whatever barriers he could given his limited time and resources, including an unfinished fort leading to St. Augustine. So when when Drake’s fleet arrived on Anastasia Island, they found that their flank attempt was rebuffed by vicious, continuous cannon fire from the entrenched Spanish defenses. The all-conquering Drake had been forced to retreat by a force a fraction of the size of