ELIZABETHAN SEA-DOGS

A CHRONICLE OF DRAKE AND HIS COMPANIONS

BY WILLIAM WOOD

_1918, Yale University Press_

Printed in the United States of America




PREFATORY NOTE


Citizen, colonist, pioneer! These three words carry the history of the
United States back to its earliest form in 'the Newe Worlde called
America.' But who prepared the way for the pioneers from the Old World
and what ensured their safety in the New? The title of the present
volume, _Elizabethan Sea-Dogs_, gives the only answer. It was during the
reign of Elizabeth, the last of the Tudor sovereigns of England, that
Englishmen won the command of the sea under the consummate leadership of
Sir Francis Drake, the first of modern admirals. Drake and his
companions are known to fame as Sea-Dogs. They won the English right of
way into Spain's New World. And Anglo-American history begins with that
century of maritime adventure and naval war in which English sailors
blazed and secured the long sea-trail for the men of every other kind
who found or sought their fortunes in America.