John Hopkins

Maria's ultimate fate, as well as the fates of the two enslaved men abandoned with her, have been lost to history.

After leaving Indonesia, the Golden Hind sails across the Indian Ocean before rounding the Cape of Good Hope and making it back into the Atlantic.

Despite the dubious events of the journey, when Drake arrives in Plymouth on the 26th of September 1580, he is received as a hero.

For circumnavigation proves his immense talents as a seaman, and he has soon showered with honours.

Queen Elizabeth even orders his ship dragged ashore at Deptford as a memorial to the first Englishman to complete a round-the-world voyage.

A reconstruction of the vessel can still be visited today.

In 1581, Drake is knighted and named Mayor of Plymouth for a term.

With the Queen's permission, he buys the splendid Buckland Abbey, a monastery turned private estate in Devon.

And, after his first wife dies, a couple of years later, he marries a younger woman, Elizabeth Sydenham, the only child of a rich Somerset family.

Drake continues with his raiding activity, raising his notoriety among the Spanish and cementing his reputation as a great threat to their garrisons and coastal towns.

Relations between England and Spain continue to deteriorate.

Incensed by the news of Drake's knighthood, Philip responds by placing on his head a bounty of 20,000 ducats, an unimaginable fortune.

Undeterred, in March 1587, Drake signs a contract with a group of London merchants to supply ships for a further raid.

But he has another mission too.

Amid reports that King Philip is preparing to attack England, Drake is tasked with gathering intelligence on the Spanish fleet.

just before drake departs the queen withdraws her permission to attack spanish ports but the message either does not reach him or he ignores it instead he marshals his fleet and sails for cadiz in southern spain it is the 19th of april 1587 and an english fleet is approaching cadiz harbor on the southern tip of spain

The deck of Drake's flagship, the Elizabeth Bonaventure, is alive with activity.

No sooner has one order been shouted than another is given, as sailors swarm up the rigging, adjust the sails, or man the cannons.

One sailor, a topman, whose job it is to handle the upper sails and rigging, jumps down to tie off a rope, securing it to the portside rail.

The wind is with them and the mainsail billows overhead, stretched taut, carrying them ever closer to the town.