Drake: The Life and Legend of an Elizabethan Hero

by Stephen Coote

2005 Pocket Books trade paperback, Stephen Coote (Napoleon and the Hundred Days). Sir Francis pirate, explorer and Protestant zealot, a man princely in his bearing, heroic if sometimes foolhardy in his enterprise, a genius at once awe-inspiring and riddled with faults. He is the archetypal Elizabethan sea-dog, and Stephen Coote's brilliant new book rescues him from the dusty pages of history to breathe new life into one of the great maritime adventure stories. - Amazon

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Tudor Period, Pirates

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Stephen Coote is the author of several acclaimed biographies including Royal Survivor: The Life of Charles II, Samuel Pepys, and John Keats: A Life. He was educated at Magdelene College, Cambridge and at Birkbeck College, University of London. He lives in Oxfordshire, England.

Reviews

[Luka Novak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough biography of this interesting person. However author spends too much time examining the myth around him and how his image was crafted by later English and British historians (or "historians"). Which those of us who are not British may not be familiar with, so in the end he debunks myths people don't even know exist. Plus frequent references of various 19th century books will likely fly over most non British heads.

Book does offer a glimpse into his mentality and how piracy, sorry, privateering, protestant zealousness, big ego and the like meshed together to create the man he was and how he crafted the image. Sadly books spends too much time on the image of Drake and too little on what he actually did. His involvement in actual fight with armada is given less space than how he was later hailed as laying foundation of British empire.

Not really a good starting point as author assumes prior knowledge and knowledge of various works about him, just an interesting angle.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a chance encounter that made me interested in the topic and I was curious to learn more. (I mean really, what actually happened during the great age of piracy?) Not the most exciting and yes, probably a bit longer than it needed to be, but... it did the job of telling the story of Sir Francis Drake thoroughly. There are surprising few good books on Drake, one of the more fascinating figures in modern history, largely because there aren't great records from the time, this book seems to do a good job of filling in the gaps from research.

It didn't feel overly negative towards Drake like some other reviews mention, I think maybe just honest about portraying the times they lived in. The history of humanity is pretty brutal and it's worth seeing it as it actually is, not in the painted over fantasy world that we usually read in history books. In any case, the author had equal treatment for the Spanish.

Solid read, very interesting subject.

[Judi K · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all that the author repeated the phrase "For all that" this was an interesting read and I could imagine that Drake's life would make a good movie or TV series. It could have done with some maps though.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parts of the book are well-written enough, but overall the book is too long, too repetitive, and too biased against Drake. If the Victorians went too far in their hero-worship of Drake, this author goes too far in the other direction. After all, even if Drake was a pirate motivated by greed, he was also one of the greatest mariners of all time, and he still both provoked the Spanish Armada and, more than any other individual, single-handedly defeated it. The author is constantly bashing Drake, and is so full of smug contempt for him, that I began to wonder why anyone would write a biography of someone he so obviously despises. In addition to all of this, the lone map is woefully inadequate in the face of hundreds of Elizabethan place-names.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen Coote has written a fine biography of Drake. Published in 2003 it follows the Elizabethan mariner's voyages in great detail and flows like a great adventure novel.
Even the blights of Drake's career, such as the leaving of Hawkins at San Juan de Ulua in the Gulf of Mexico in 1562, or the execution of Thomas Doughty at Port St.Julian on the circumnavigation voyage, are excused as the actions of a ruthless seadog.
His piratic booty, taken from Spanish and Portuguese ships provided Elizabeth with enough finances to found the Levant Company, which later became the East India Company. His name and reputation became the scourge of the Spanish for over thirty years in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific, as Francisco Draques raided the riches of the Spanish and paved the way for the high seas to become an English lake.
To follow the Pelican/Golden Hind voyage on Google Earth gives an incredible view of this 16th century Master of the seas. Down the coast of Argentina, around the Straits of Magellan, to Chile, Nicaragua, Mexico, California, Palau, Indonesia, and back to Plymouth in time to raid Cadiz in 1587 and hold the post of Vice Admiral and fight the Armada in 1588.
Of the many Elizabethan seadogs such as Hawkins, the Cabots, Frobisher, Grenville, Lord Howard and Raleigh, it is Sir Francis Drake's name that is synonymous with the era. Even today it is hard to separate facts and myths. Myths that Drake himself promoted in his lifetime, and beyond.

[Andy Grayson · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the most annoying and tedious books I've ever read, against some stiff competition. Why "Stephen Coote" (who?) has chosen to write about a subject he hates so very much is unclear- every page seems to contain at least six references to how selfish/greedy/dishonest/bigoted Drake apparently was, and how appalling the English are in general. The whole thing is clearly more of a clumsy virtue-signal from the author than a biography, desperate to tell us how right-on his views are and how he's cleverly avoided believing gung-ho Victorian history.

That Drake, despite his outlook obviously not being the same as a 21st century revisionist, actually accomplished some pretty impressive maritime stuff is barely mentioned, or if it is it's buried amongst much arch-eyebrowed "supposedly"s and "claimed to be"s etc. It's a half-baked undergraduate's attempt to please a particularly rabid po-faced Marxist lecturer. "Learn History with Dianne Abbott".

Excruciating.

[Fade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book after Napoleon and the Hundred Days, hoping for more of the same witty, insightful prose. I did not get it. The problem seems to be that there's such a paucity of hard primary evidence on Drake, compared to Napoleon, that the entire text is littered with careful "seem" and "suppose" and "might have" statements that distract and water down the prose. It doesn't help either that Drake is such a thoroughly unlikable figure.

I can't blame the author for either of these things; it's proper for him as a historian to be careful about presenting shaky evidence as fact, and he certainly can't help that Drake was an asshole. But I ended up not finishing the book on account of the morass of uncertainty and general lack of interest. It's probably still a solid, well written piece of history, for those who are already interested in the topic for its own sake.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this book up on a lark at Oxfam and wasn't disappointed. A well-written, clear and engaging account of one of Elizabethan England's most in/famous persons. Coote maintains a readable prose throughout, doesn't labor the many rich points or delve into hagiography. He also manages to avoid overloading the reader with unnecessary dates.

Throughout the book Drake is placed within the wider context of the religious turbulence and exploratory spirit of the 16th century, while also being shown as not entirely worthy of the later platitudes which cast Drake the circumnavigator and cunning pirate as the progenitor of Britain's later sea-borne Empire.

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a boy, Sir Francis Drake was my hero. In my fantasies, I sailed the Golden Hind with him as he circumnavigated the world, defying the Spanish and Portuguese monopolies. I watched as he casually finished a game of bowls before setting out to defeat the Spanish Amada. Coote gives us a more realistic view of the man. Well researched with an extensive bibliography, this book nevertheless reads like an exciting novel. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Elizabethan period of English history.

[Tim Weakley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been very interested in biographies this year and this was actually one which I had had on my shelf for a long time but had never read. It’s a book about Sir Francis Drake, the Elizabethan pirate/adventurer…depending upon your point of view. There was nothing really unexpected in this book but overall it was a good telling of his life. I think the early time period could have been fleshed out a little more but that is always limited by the amount of information actually available.

[Jyv · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all that the author repeated the phrase "For all that" this was an interesting read and I could imagine that Drake's life would make a good movie or TV series. It could have done with some maps though.

[Nigel Seed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well researched book with considerable detail about the man and his times. Very well written and highly readable. Recommended.