John Drake (pirate)

John Drake (c. 1560–1600s) was an English pirate who made incursions against the Spanish Empire on the shores of the Río de la Plata.[2]

John Drake
Personal details
Bornc. 1560
Devon, England
Died1600s
England
NationalityEnglish
RelationsFrancis Drake (his uncle).[1]
OccupationPiracy
Military service
Allegiance Kingdom of England
Years of service1575-1600s
RankCaptain
Battles/warsAnglo-Spanish War

Biography

Around 1583, John Drake and his crew departed from the port of Plymouth to the south of the Atlantic ocean.[3] The ship under his command was wrecked on the shores of the Río de la Plata, being captured by the Charruas Indians with whom he remained captive for some time.[4]

In 1584, he was arrested in Buenos Aires by the Spanish authorities, being sent to the city of Santa Fe, where he was interrogated through the intervention of an English interpreter, before conqueror Don Juan de Torres de Vera y Aragón and the notary Don Francisco Pérez de Burgos.[5]

After his interrogation, John Drake was sent to Asunción and then to Lima, where he was tried and sentenced to a lifetime of captivity. In 1587, a Portuguese pilot reported he was alive and well in Peru. He never returned to England.

References
  1. Historia de la Universidad:, Luis Antonio Eguiguren
  2. Buenos Aires: desde sus orígenes hasta Hernandarias, Enrique de Gandía
  3. The British in the Caribbean, Cyril Hamshere
  4. Historia marítima argentina, Departamento de Estudios Históricos Navales
  5. La dragontea de Lope de Vega Carpio ..., Lope de Vega
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