his book presents Drake not only as a great seafarer, but also a tactical genius, and as such is at odds with some other works -- such as The Armada Papers (see below). Drake was undoubtably a great sailor and leader, but some other accounts show him to have been a bit erratic; this book glosses over or forgives all of his mistakes at the Armada battles, Lisbon, and Panama. The book is very well written and quite entertaining in any case, and a good companion to more skeptical works.

-back to the bookliste-