Book Description

Excerpt from Sir Francis Drake's Memorable Service Done Against the Spaniards in 1587 This terrible Visitation on the coasts of the Spanish monarch Drake, who appears to have been as witty as he was bold, was wont jocosely to term the singeing of King Philip's beard. From Cadiz Sir Francis directed his course towards the Azores, where his customary good fortune attended him. Off the island of Terceira he fell in with and captured a stupendous and richly-laden carrack, returning from a lengthened voyage to the East Indies. As well from the commodities as from the journal, charts, and other papers and documents found on board that prize, our merchants learned for the first time the immense commercial resources of the East. It was, in fact, the capture of this magnificent vessel that suggested the first idea of establishing the East India Company. The name of Drake, although he did not live to see the company incorporated by royal charter, is thus identified with the most superb acquisition of the British crown. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.