This episode revolves around one man who is celebrated as a legend, martyr, and hero of his countrymen from the 1500’s to this day. His name, Sir Francis Drake, revered for his exploits of being the only sailor and pirate to have travelled round the globe and survived. His reputation is today’s celebration in his home country, England. Admirably, his birth town, Plymouth, has his names and sculpture in every street, every bar, and in the middle of the town. Until his death and burial at sea, he was the richest and most famous sailor in the entire civilization of the 1500’s.
Sir Francis Drake was born poor to an uneducated preacher and farmer. His father once gifted him a sailing vessel and his love for sailing was born. Like every other sailor, Drake had to climb the ladder of success by serving as a crew man in other ships. He worked diligently and hoped to captain his own ship someday. On this particular journey to trade some slaves to the Spanish port (now the New Mexico), Drake encountered the incident that would earn him his glory and fame, perhaps that was the most significant moment of his life. Spanish pirates ambushed them and massacred the English men. Ships, loot, English lives and crew were lost in the massacre.
It was at this moment that Drake’s bitterness for the Spanish grew and he sought revenge. He did not directly choose the slave trade route but he rose to become more than a pirate, but a privateer. There is a very clear and fundamental difference between the two titles: a pirate kills ambushes and loots as he wills, but a privateer is empowered by the queen, given the mandate to return England’s glory and bear her wrath to her enemies. Drake laid siege to several Spanish fleets, looted, killed, and earned his fame and riches, as well as a very fearful nickname bestowed on him by the Spaniards: ‘’EL-Drace’’ translated to mean ‘’The Dragon.”
Around the 1580’s, Drake rose to become the vice admiral of the English fleet. He commanded hundreds of men and earned his right of fame spread across the land. After his coronation by the queen, he thwarted the attempted Spanish attack on England and defeated them in 1588. A true war hero of his time.
However, patriotic exploits aside, the true secret of Drake’s riches was actually as a result of his robbery ambush in Panama. Drake was said to have set out with a handful of his men, partnered with a French captain, and even had some help from some former Spanish slaves. It was the most successful robbery of the century, similar to what would be known today as a bank heist.
A Spanish mule train of up to 190 mules, carrying up to 300 pound in weight of gold, silver, and jewels. The calculations reveal that that mule train was carrying approximately 57,000 pounds of treasure – that is hundreds of millions of dollars in today’s world.
Josh Gates sets out with Jim, an English treasure hunter and one of the foremost people versed with the knowledge of Drake’s life and every move throughout history to find the lost treasure of Drake. Why was this? Because after the robbery, the Spanish guards fled with some mules and horses leaving all that fortune behind. This was a great thing, but there was one problem; Drake’s men were not enough to carry all the treasure before the guards return with reinforcements. So each man carried his own weight in treasure, approximately 40 pounds per man. The rest of the treasure was buried in the jungle – this same jungle that Josh and Jim tread in search of the treasure.
Armed with metal detectors and unwavering determination, both men begin their search around the jungle area pinpointed by Jim’s expertise as the area most likely Drake buried the treasure. In a space of over five hours, they find two amazing clues that they are in the right path. First, they find the handle of a bell buried in the sands – that bell would have been on the neck of one of the mules, so this was a fascinating discovery. Secondly, they found the handle of a sword, peculiar to the 1500’s. These clues not only restore hope, but prove that in that area, there was indeed a conflict; the conflict between Drake’s men and the Spanish guards. Simply surreal. Unfortunately, after many more hours, there is no sign of treasure anywhere and Jim would have to return with more men and equipment. However, Josh sets out for another adventure.
History records that Drake died at sea and was placed in a lead coffin and thrown into the sea. Josh heads due west to the city of Portobello to find the coffin of the great Sir Francis Drake. Josh meets with a team that have previously searched the sea and found pieces of a shipwreck in 2011, further pointing to the fact that those were Drake’s ships known to have been set ablaze rather than left to the Spanish.
The story goes that in an attempt to ambush Portobello treasures while it was being shipped out, Drake fell ill and died, forcing his men to retreat and set the ships ablaze. The wreckage was what was previously found. After hours of search, Josh and the team find more wreckage and more fascinating, cannons! These cannons were shot after Drake died in his honor, and now, centuries after, are found beneath the same sea he once sailed on. His coffin, still yet to be discovered.
Here’s the question that begs answers from this episode: Drake was actually a pirate; a thief that profited from deceit, greed, and slavery, yet he’s being portrayed as a hero centuries after. Today, Drake would be equal to a vicious dictator. Should he really be celebrated?
