Sir Francis Drake: The Queens Pirate

In this new biography, Harry Kelsey shatters the familiar image of Sir Francis Drake. The Drake of legend was a pious, brave, and just seaman who initiated the move to make England a great naval power and whose acts of piracy against his country's enemies earned him a knighthood for patriotism. Kelsey paints a different and far more interesting picture of Drake as an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country, a man who became a captain general of the English navy but never waged traditional warfare with any success.

In this lively biography, Harry Kelsey shatters the legend of Sir Francis Drake. Drawing on much new evidence, he replaces the familiar image of a pious, brave, and just seaman with a more interesting picture of an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country.