The Pirate Queen (76 page)

Elizabeth I in
The Pelican Portrait
, thought to be painted by Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1578. The pelican is a symbol of purity, but given the year of painting, it could also have been a symbolic and secret tribute to Sir Francis Drake, who was circumnavigating the globe aboard the
Pelican
, later renamed the
Golden Hind

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, painted roughly the same time as Elizabeth’s
Pelican Portrait
opposite.

King Philip II of Spain, who had a sneaking admiration for Elizabeth, despite being her nemesis for over forty years.

Lord Admiral Charles Howard followed in the Howard family tradition when he became lord admiral. A Catholic, and a close cousin of the queen, he remained her devoted servant during her lifetime.

Map of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean by Jacques Dousaigo that was available to Philip’s Spanish navigators, and stolen by Elizabethan adventurers.

An Elizabethan chart of the Virginia Coast.

Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley, the queen’s lord chancellor and longest-serving minister, famously riding his donkey.

Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s loyal spymaster.

Sir John Hawkins, Elizabeth’s slave trader and later treasurer of the navy. Hawkins had a vision of making England a world power by elbowing his way into the Spanish American Empire through trade.

Sir Francis Drake was Elizabeth’s most gifted and audacious mariner. While his ship was the second to circumnavigate the globe, it is unlikely that this had been his original intent. The lure of American gold and rich prizes from Spanish vessels were most likely his target, but to bring these home safely, his only hope of eluding Spanish capture was to strike out across the Pacific. Fortunately for Drake and his men, he also captured valuable Spanish charts and a Portuguese pilot who knew the Pacific.

The priceless jeweled Drake Cup (right) that was given to Drake by Elizabeth with her gratitude for his achievements at the time he was knighted aboard the
Golden Hind
(formerly called the
Pelican
).

The Drake Chair (pictured at University of Oxford’s Divinity School) is one of three known chairs that remain in existence today. After Drake was knighted aboard ship, the
Hind
remained in London for several years, until she had begun to rot. Eventually, she was broken up for scrap, and the only known remnants of the ship are these three chairs.