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The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake - Brief Article - Book Review
Contemporary Review, Oct, 2003
Samuel Bawlf. Alien Lane. 20.00 [pounds sterling]. 400 pages. ISBN 0-713-99589-0. Sir Francis Drake is the most famous navigator of the first Elizabethan age, especially for his audacious spirit in harrowing the Spanish fleets laden with South American gold and for being the first man to sail round the world.
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For Mr Bawlf, however, these achievements are not the whole story and in this investigation, first published in the United States by Walker Publishing, he looks for a 'secret' aim. It was, he claims, to discover if America was 'a separate continent from Asia, or were they joined north of the Pacific Ocean'? Some claimed there were two continents separated by what was called the 'Strait of Anian'. The only way to find out was to sail south, round South America, Africa and Asia. In exchange for the right to attack Spanish ships Drake agreed to what the author calls 'the most daring naval expedition and the most ambitious voyage of exploration ever conceived'. Mr Bawlf describes Drake's 38,000 mile trip with gusto and, by using new manuscript sources, has given us a unique insight into a venture even more dangerous than we had imagined. (T.G.R.)
COPYRIGHT 2003 Contemporary Review Company Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
