John Hopkins

Building on the knowledge and experience gained in the previous decade, he joins a group of French pirates raiding Spanish outposts in Panama.

They spend several months terrorizing poorly defended ships and ports in lightning-fast attacks.

These missions are not without peril.

In one such expedition, Drake loses two of his brothers, John and Joseph, off the coast of Panama.

The first sustains a gunshot wound, while the second dies of an unknown disease that tears through the crew.

Drake orders an autopsy to learn more about the sickness that killed Joseph, attempting to save others with the knowledge gleaned from his brother's corpse.

Notwithstanding the personal cost, this voyage turns out to be one of Drake's most successful.

Because it is at this moment that he discovers the route by which the Spanish transport the silver they have mined in South America to the Atlantic coast, from where it is shipped back to Seville.

Over the coming years, Drake becomes legendary for his raids on the Spanish main, coastal settlements in the Caribbean Sea, from Mexico down to Colombia and Venezuela.

The legal basis for these attacks on Spanish settlements is shaky.

To the Spanish, Drake is a pirate and a criminal, plain and simple.

But his raiding missions are often funded by leading noblemen and ministers.

When the queen herself backs him, the funds come with tacit royal support, though this can always be withdrawn if he poses too great a diplomatic threat.

Though for much of Drake's life England and Spain are not at war, relations between the two nations are always strained.

As such, it is a fine line that the Protestant Elizabeth must walk between angering Europe's greatest Catholic power and profiting from Drake's raids.

Drake's own motives for attacking Spanish possessions, and the legal basis under which he believes he operates, can perhaps be traced back to the incident at San Juan de Alúa.

Maybe he sees his actions as lawful restitution for goods lost in that attack.

But some believe that other forces may have driven him.

Less high-minded motives have also been suggested for his raids.

After his attack on the Spanish silver train, Drake returns to Plymouth a wealthy man.