Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/137

 VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 121 Francis Drake was born near Tavistock in the year 1545.* His father was a tenant of the House of Bed- ford, occupying lands which had belonged to the Abbey of Tavistock, and was related by marriage to the Haw- kinses of Plymouth. He was a Protestant, and must have been held in favour by the Russells, for the young Francis was godson of the second Earl, after whom he was named. Trouble rising in the neighbourhood under the Six Articles Act, the Drakes were driven out of Devonshire, and went to Chatham, where, on the acces- sion of Edward, the old man, having a gift that way, became a preacher among the sailors of the King's fleet, and afterwards taking orders, was made Vicar of Upnor, on the Medway. Being brought up among seafaring peo- ple Francis took early to the water. He served his time as an apprentice in a Channel coaster, and his master, who had been struck with his character, left the vessel t to him in his will when he died. He was then twenty- one. His kinsman, John Hawkins, was fitting out his third expedition to the Spanish main, and young Drake, with a party of his Kentish friends, went to Plymouth and joined him. The adventure ended in the disaster at St John de Ulloa ; Hawkins, Drake, and a handful of their comrades, barely escaped with their lives, and Drake at least lost all that he possessed. He was soon upon his feet again. In 1572, as has been alreadv related, ' he made himself whole with the 1 Diafce's oarly history soon be- came mythical. Every variety of account is given of his origin. Cam- den, whom I follow, says that ' ho relates no mere than was told him by Drake himself.'