Sir Francis Drake (England) and Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese)served as captains of two of the most famous voyages that circumnavigated round the world. Ferdinand Magellan became popular for being the first explorer to circumnavigate round the world. He sailed from Spain through to South America; a journey that led him to discover the Strait of Magellan and the Pacific route (Modern History Sourcebook, 2019). Though Magellan’s voyage achieved the first ever circumnavigation of the world, it confronted numerous dangerous challenges. Some of them include starvation, diseases and bad weather.
While Magellan’s crew was crossing the Pacific Ocean, they ran out of supplies such as food because they had carried very little. This caused many of his members to succumb to starvation (Pigafetta, 2012). Those who survived had to eat sawdust, rats and leather. Intense starvation forced some of his sailors to mutiny and capture three ships. Sadly, they did not succeed. Also, Magellan’s voyage encountered lots of bad weather, for instance, there were lots of rough seas and at times, when their ships turned southwards, the weather became extremely cold.
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Magellan’s voyage also had some Christian based experiences. They spread Christianity on their way. For instance, while sailing through Spain in the 1500s, he met the Philippines as he was searching for a Western route towards the East Indies (Pigafetta, 2012). He landed on Cebu Island in central part of Philippines. His arrival in Cebu represented Spain’s first attempt to convert the Philippine nation into a Roman Catholic nation. It all started when Magellan met with Chief of Cebu Island. This chief had an ailing grandson and Magellan cured the boy. In gratitude, the Chief ordered for a mass baptism where 800 of his followers were baptized as Christians.
On 27 th April 1521, skirmishes erupted in the Island of Mactan, known today as Philippines and a local King called Magellan’s crew to assist him (Modern History Sourcebook, 2019). This King had become Magellan’s ally when they first landed on Cebu Island. Sadly, during the skirmishes, a poison arrow killed Magellan.
Sir Francis Drake was An English explorer who led the second circumnavigation of the globe in a single expedition. He sailed round the world from 1577 to 1580(Pretty, 1956). He was the first explorer to finish the voyage as captain and to carry out the expedition during the entire circumnavigation. During his journey, he focused on exploring much of the northwest side of the modern day United States. He had a strong dislike of Spain, which encouraged him to loot and destroy as many vessels from Spanish as possible (Pigafetta, 2012).
Just as Magellan’s voyage, Drake and his men also experienced numerous challenges. Many of these challenges were because he had declared to fight the Spanish armada. When they were halfway round the globe, they met many furious Spaniards travelling to England. Interestingly, this helped Drake because it challenged him to follow the footsteps of Magellan. Eventually, Drake succeeded because he became the first explorer from England to lead a voyage and circumnavigate the whole world. They also suffered extreme weather conditions similar to those experienced by Magellan’s voyage (Pretty, 1961). Another challenge involved a mutiny aboard his ship experienced a mutiny and he successfully executed the mutineers. When his ship was on the high seas scurvy erupted among his crew members. Another sailor and explorer known as Sir Bernard Drake also sought to challenge Drake. Elizabeth I decided to bestow Francis Drake for leading a successful circumnavigation by giving him the honorary title of a knighthood. As for Drake, he was interested in adopting the coat of arms belonging to the Drake of Ash family. Sadly, the aforementioned Sir Bernard Drake was the head of this family. Francis Drake proceeded to claim a kinship. In response, Bernard Drake declined. This forced the queen to intercede and she granted Francis Drake the heraldic arms. While sailing to the Caribbean in 1596, dysentery attacked Drake and he finally died at age 54 years old (Pretty, 1961).
Drake’s victories during his exploration served to cement English dominance at the sea. Until today, the Spanish, especially the Armada has never recovered completely from Drake’s attacks. His success allowed the English to establish itself as a great empire and weakened the Spanish grip in the New World. Besides this, Drake also helped England to claim most parts of the West Coast of Northern America.
Both Magellan’s and Drake’s voyages set out with differing goals. However, they set out to achieve their goals with several ships, crews and made a huge impact. Both of them were skilled captains and explorers who had acquired knowledge of the sea while still young. Drake and Magellan had a prolonged bitter quarrel and were seeking revenge against another country. For instance, Magellan was interested in Portugal. Therefore, he sailed in order to help Portugal. Actually, Magellan was very instrumental in Portugal’s acquisition of significant control over the Indian Ocean (Pigafetta, 2012). Also, he played a major role in the fall of Malacca commonly referred to as the crowning of Portuguese victory. Magellan played a key role in countless voyages, discoveries and battles for Portugal. However, when the King of Portugal learnt that Magellan was selling what the country had won back to the enemies, he sent him away. So, Magellan was banned from entering Portugal. As such, he took his knowledge to Spain. In an effort to benefit Spain and personally revenge against Portugal, Magellan approached King Charles and he was allowed to set out an expedition. As for Drake, he was angered by the cruel punishments that Spaniards gave English prisoners (Pretty, 1956). This motivated him to wage a relentless fight against Spain. As a matter of fact, it only took him two days to sink and steal almost 40 ships belonging to Spaniards. Also, during his exploration, he led numerous raids on Spanish colonies.
References
Modern History Sourcebook (2019). Ferdinand Magellan's Voyage Round the World, 1519-1522 CE. Retrieved from https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1519magellan.asp
Pretty, F. (January 01, 1961). Sir Francis Drake's famous voyage round the world. Voyages and Travels.
Pigafetta, A. (2012). Magellan's Voyage: a Narrative Account of the First Circumnavigation . Dover Publications. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1890168.
Pretty, F. (January 01, 1956). Sir Francis Drake's famous voyage round the world, begun in November, 1577. Harvard Classics, 33, 199-228.Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1580Pretty-drake.html
