Englishman, seeing the statue, would be inclined to say, "Is this all
that Germany has to tell of the great captain who led our navy against
the Spanish Armada; the first Englishman to sail around the world; the
most daring explorer, clever naval commander, expert seaman, brave
soldier, loyal friend, and gallant enemy of his time?" A Spaniard, on
the contrary, might well exclaim, "Why did Germany erect a statue to
this terrible man whom our poets call Dragontea [Dragon], this greatest
of all pirates, this terror of the sea?" All this, and more, might be
said of one man, who began life as a ship's boy.

At the time Drake first went to sea, England and Spain were by no means
friendly. Henry the Eighth of England had ill-treated his wife, who was
a Spanish princess. In addition he had drawn the English people away
from the Church of Rome. These things were most displeasing to Spain,
but there was still another reason for disagreement. The interests of
the two countries were opposed commercially, and this was the most
important cause of contention.

Spain claimed by right of discovery, and gift of the Pope of Rome, all
the land in the new world except Brazil (which belonged to Portugal),
and held that no explorers or tradesmen, other than her own, had any
rights on her waters or in her ports. English seamen denied much of this
claim, and so frequent were the disputes arising upon the subject that
the English sailors adopted as a maxim, "No peace beyond the line,"
meaning the line which was, by the Pope's decree, the eastern boundary
of the Spanish claim.

The favorite prey of the British mariners was the treasure ships
carrying to Spain the precious cargoes of gold and silver from the rich
mines of the new world. With the far richer ships of the Philippine and