Today in 1585 Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth for what would be called The Caribbean Raid. The pseudo-war between England and Spain had been heating up, and much of that had to do with piracy of Spanish ports and it would culminate in 1587 when Drake raided Spanish mainland in the Singeing of the King’s Beard in Cadiz.
For this raid, though, he went to the Spanish islands in the Caribbean with seven large ships and 22 smaller ones. He reached Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands on November 17, where he duly plundered and burned the town. On the 29th they set sail across the Atlantic and reached Santo Domingo on New Year’s Day 1586. They plundered and extorted a ransom, then moved on to Cartagena, where they occupied the town until March 26. Again they plundered, and collected a ransom. Finally they went to Florida, where Drake captured and destroyed St. Augustine. He was back in England by July 22, with boats brimming with Spanish gold and treasure.
The Spanish were not pleased with this English pirate.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Author Tony Riches on Francis Drake
Episode 31: Trade and Exploration in the 16th century
Also, check out last year’s special feature from the Podcast Magazine.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.