An adventurous journey with the most famous pirate of them all, Sir Francis Drake.

Sir Francis Drake was a pirate. He worked for the queen. The queen tried to make sure the other kingdoms weren't thinking that she was ok with Drake attacking other kingdom's ships. She didn't want the other kingdoms suspecting anything because she didn't want to go to war. While on voyages, Francis didn't want to kill any captains, for the use of navigation. Francis made about £50,000. About £40,000 went to the queen of England, but Francis got to keep about £10,000.

I really wouldn't want to travel with Drake. I don't want the risk of dying in every battle Francis wants to fight. The only reason I would want to travel with him is for the money. I also cant imagine not being on land for more that a week. I wouldn't know what to expect from the other crew, each crew has its own techniques. I'm also to lazy to remove barnacles from a ship. The only reason I would join the crew is to help my family.

You are Francis Fletcher, a young preacher going on a trading mission to Alexandria, Egypt with Francis Drake as your captain, so you thought. You've heard stories of Drake's raids against Spanish ships and you don't know where this voyage will take you, to Egypt or around the world raiding and plundering. The real destination of the trip is revealed you are going to attempt to find the Northwest passage! When the ships anchor a Port St. Julian the crew is uneasy, Thomas Doughty is accused of plotting against Drake! He is beheaded and the ship your on, the Pelican is renamed the Golden Hinde in honor of Sir Christopher Hatton whose crest featured a hinde. Around present day Argentina storms hit and one ship sinks another is lost, the surgeon and gunner on your ship are washed away. After the storm around Peru you raid and steal a Spanish ship called the Cacafuego. Zárate the captain is taken hostage and every thing is stolen except for expensive clothes, which he pleaded he could keep. In the Palau islands (Indonesia) the ship is raided by natives but most are killed, Drake kills twenty with a cannon and we kept our riches from raids. Once you made it home Drake is knighted Sir Francis Drake and Queen Elizabeth profits 36,000 pounds (British money) from the trip, she lost 1,000 from investing in it and Drake keeps 10,000.
I think this book is pretty good, it gives history and a nonfictional first person story. If you like pirates and explorers this book is for you. It has several descriptive pictures along with reasonable captions. It has a lexile of 960 if you're looking for a high lexile interesting nonfiction book. I would recommend this book to people who don't like nonfiction because this book has action in it, like the beheading of Thomas Doughty. I give this book four stars its good but not great. ( )

This book was interesting and funny. The cartoon pictures allowed me to take in historical information in a light-hearted way which would be appealing to students into the middle school years as well as elementary. This book would be a great source for struggling readers to use also. The funny illustrations and cartoon-like format would lend itself to students giving informational reading a chance. I liked the addition of a glossary and index as well.

Very good book, not for the queasy hearted.