The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I

“The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I; Her Pirate Adventurers, and the Dawn of Empire,” Susan Ronald, 2007, 471 p.  Harper Collins, Publishers.

         Queen Elizabeth (1533 - 1603) had many problems when she succeeded “Bloody Mary” as Queen of England, and the departure of Mary’s husband, Philip of Spain.  Many wanted her throne - Mary Queen of Scotland and Philip II of Spain, for two. Elizabeth’s advisors were exceptionally sage and loyal, chief among them were William Cecil, Lord Burghley.  Elizabeth was the first woman to rule England in her own right.

           The first overwhelming need was for security, and along with this need was money of which she had little.  She had promised Mary to pay her debts.    She was able to survive Catholic threats of the Papacy.  She also survived more than 20 assassination attempts.  Piracy was the answer.   Foreign ships were the targets as these gentlemen adventurers   made history with their three slices of loot.  It was 1/3 for the Queen, 1/3 for the people who put up the ships and l/3 for the adventurers. First, however, there was 10% off the top for customs officials.    Portuguese and Spanish were the main targets as the ships returned to European ports. Economic matters were solved, and the road to the empire had begun.  “Harvesting the sea” went on, especially profitable for England as the Spanish planned the ill-fated Armada to invade England.  I was particularly engrossed with the fleet destruction of the Spanish in 1587.  I was ignorant of this Spanish defeat and can only wonder at the Spanish for not learning from this prior defeat of the Armada.  Santa Cruz was to head the Armada.  Philip was ready to push forward and made, he thought, England with the Low Countries just another conquered country.   Drake had other ideas.

              With the Queen’s fleet added to his fleet of ships he left Plymouth in April 12, 1587 and he wreaked havoc a year before the Armada on the Spanish fleet in Cadiz.  Only 60 ships remained seaworthy for the invasion of England the next year; 24 ships were lost at a value of 6 million dollars.  The Queen was delighted. 

       Still the Armada, led now by Medina Sidonia, came on.  It must have been a sight – all the Spanish lined up to progress to the English Channel - 127 ships with 7,000 mariners and 15,000 soldiers to disembark to subdue the English.  They were to join 17,000 from the Isle of Wight.  But the ships were bottled up in the Channel.  They couldn’t   turn around.  Some of them escaped to go around England on the west side, around to Scotland and to England on the north side, around Ireland and south to Spain.  

          This history is quite exciting and should be widely read.  It continues with the New World colonies; mention is made of ill–fated Pocahontas.