Harry Kelsey

I think one of the biggest surprises from this biography is that Francis Drake didn't come into his own as a pirate until he was 36 years old. At an early age, he was put under the care of his Hawkins relatives, a-well to-do merchant family. He sailed with John Hawkins, actively participating in the slave trade, something other historians have apparently glossed over. But Hawkins narrowly avoids capture after Drake abandons him to the Spanish after an unsuccessful raid. He had no qualms with partnering with Dutch or French pirates either, but they better keep up. Continuous raids offered gold, silver, and wine but also yellow fever and in one instance execution.

Eventually he would take part in the Irish campaign of 1575 and even circumnavigate the globe, the first by an English commander. I have no doubt that sections comparing the various maps of his global voyage could've been trimmed down significantly. But if you can power through this part, the book really picks up again. This was no longer the South America of Magellan's day after all. He didn't stop there either. The raids of the West Indies, the raid on Cadiz and of course the defeat of the Spanish Armada was the pirate history I was here for.

While I do agree that Kelsey "shattered" the popular, patriotic image of this English hero, I don't think he nailed Drake as a person. Drake as a husband? As a friend in court? In that regard, Kelsey didn't come through, but you know actions speak louder than words. We can certainly judge Drake by how cruelly he treated his shipmates, his disregard for authority, and by his greed. At least he had the skills to back it up. There's a reason the Spanish called him "the Dragon" and why Elizabeth I favored him as a leader. He was every bit the lucrative pirate, even if he didn't want to be referred to as one.… (meer)

While not as lively as Kelsey's biography of Sir Francis Drake, this book is as much about Hawkins' important (if controversial) career as a naval administrator and as a possible double agent of Spain as it is about the man's activities as a slaver, merchant, and privateer. To put it another way Kelsey mostly comes to critique Hawkins, not so much to praise him, and those looking for Elizebethan daring-do by self-made men should look elsewhere for unambiguous high adventure; the focus of the book is often more on court and organizational politics. Still, for all the gimlet eye that Kelsey trains on Hawkins, he seems to have a grudging admiration for Drake's mentor that he did not display for the nominally more glamorous pupil.… (meer)