Drake & The Utmost Island - Gordon Frickers Marine Art

What did Francis Drake discover when the Golden Hind arrived at the place his crew called the “Utmost Island”?

"Drake & The Utmost Island", 76 x 51 cm (30" x 20"), £2,573 by Gordon Frickers.

What did Drake discover when the Golden Hind arrived at the “Utmost Island” of South America?

Make no mistake, The Golden Hind is not an anonymous galleon. The Golden Hind is one of the most famous ships in English history and the only ship to have appeared on a coin of this renowned seafaring nation.

Today there are people who dispute, deny Francis Drake and his crew credit for discovering what is now known as Cape Horn.

The case for Francis Drake and the Golden Hind discovering Cape Horn, much of it in their own words, is the subject of a very original, carefully researched article and is available upon your request via our ‘contact’ page.

There is a strong case to allow Francis Drake the credit for the discovery of the “utmost Island” of South America, today known as Cape Horn.

Contact Us

Mobile : + 6 10 66 19 26,

Landline : + 33 (0) 9 79 01 93 20

WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger to ‘gordonfrickers’

Telegram.com works sometimes.

E : artistfrickers at gmail.com

Email: artistfrickersatgmail.com : note, the ‘at’ is to fool robots and should be replaced with @ : if it arrives I always reply.

Websites : www.frickers.co.uk/art (marine & aviation)

& www.artfrickers.com (Landscapes & portraits).

Significance

Remote, gale swept Cape Horn is a pillar, a guardian not even Hercules knew of.

Cape Horn is the southern anchor of America. Off Cape Horn the great Southern Ocean current which circles our planet like a vast unchecked river, is squeezed into a relatively narrow, relatively shallow 400 mile wide passage between the Americas and the bleak, frozen vastness of Antarctica.

Cape Horn painting, a detail’ — Cape Horn painting, a detail

On a warmer tack, the ship that reached the Utmost Island is the only ship ever to have appeared upon British coinage, the illustrious Golden Hind.

Golden Hind’s captain Francis Drake remains to this day the most famous Englishman of his time known though out Europe, variously as a hero and a devil, a dragon.
Certainly Francis Drake was, is and forever will be one of England’s greatest heroes, an inspiration in his day and to later generations including Anson, Nelson and Winston Churchill.

Drake is best known for his exploits against the then super power, Spain, as a privateer, pirate and slaver. However this image is distorted and overlooks his spectacular achievements as a brilliant navigator and as a daring explorer.

This latter quality is one of the reasons for this discourse.

Among Drake’s very many achievements there is the important matter of the land we now call Cape Horn.

Important because the discovery of the sea way that is today still marked on charts as ‘Drake’s Passage’, altered human history speeding up of world trade and enabling the more rapid development of the USA and Australia.

The open seaway off Cape Horn when discovered by Europeans has altered human history enabling the speeding up of world trade including the more rapid development of the USA, Australia and the Pacific Ocean lands.

The Golden Hind eventually reached the “utmost island” on October 28^th 1578 and departed on the 7th of November 1578.

The ocean passage those men discovered, clearly stating they could see from ocean to ocean, is to this day named on charts as ‘Drake’s Passage’.

The case to credit Drake with the discovery of the “Utmost Island” of South America.

This discovery represents the most significant discovery and geographical advance of Drake’s voyage.

Drake first suspected that the Magellan Strait was not as many map maker’s had predicted, a passage between two great continents, South America and Terra Australis while in the process of navigating the Magellan Straits.

Two days after exiting the Magellan Straits the Golden Hind sailed into real trouble, for two months a series of severe storms drove the Golden Hind South and ended on the 28^th of October.

Drake is reported by Fletcher to have said he saw God’s purpose in these storms and sensed they would make a great discovery.

Drake thought they might reach the huge southern continent Terra Australis, predicted by Gerardus Mercator and many other geographers of Drake’s time.

The men of the Golden Hind found a broken chain of islands with an open seaway at their most southerly cape.

They found a broken chain of islands with an open seaway

Drake realised that if Terra Australis existed it lay farther South than he could see, nearer the South Pole.

The “utmost island of Terra Incognita, to the southward of America, whereat we arriving, made both seas to be one and the self same sea, and that there was no farther land beyond the heights of that island, being to the southward of equinoctial 55° and certain minutes, to divide them; but that the way lay open for shipping in that height without let or stay, being the main sea”. Source, World Encompassed, the Penser edition, by F. Fletcher, Chaplin on the Golden Hind.

Oct. 28 “our troubles did make an end, the storm ceased, and all our calamities removed; as if God, all this while, by his secret providence, had led us to make this discovery (the utmost island), which being made… he staid his hand…and refreshed us.” (F. Fletcher, eye witness, World Encompassed).

Why would Queen Elizabeth I upon Drake’s return, order Drake’s log book to be kept as a state secret unless it had very sensitive information?

Francis Drake circumnavigation, a unique detail,

In the context of Cape Horn, three contenders for that secrecy immediately come to mind.

1. the discovery of a substantial body of open sea to the South of ‘the utmost island’.

2. Drake formally claimed the islands for England, the first such claim made during Elizabeth’s reign, calling them the Elizabeth Islands thus preceding his naming of Nova Albion (California).

3. Drake was actively looking for alternatives to the Spanish claimed and soon to be Spanish fortified Magellan Straits. Golden Hind’s attempt to find a North West passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans also indicates the commitment to explore.

Very unfortunately The Golden Hind’s log book is said to have been destroyed in a fire, although intriguingly, Samuel Pepys claimed to have copied parts of the log.

Pepys document may survive in the Pepys archives although as far as I know, no one has looked for it.

Pepys’s was noted for his unbending passion for efficiency and honesty.

It is said, England’s Lord of the Admiralty in the early 17th Century, had a copy of Sir Francis Drake’s pocket sized book of nautical maps. Drake also inscribed it with his signature. It is now housed at the Pepys Library on the campus of Magdelene College outside London and was featured in the “History Channel” video “The Galleon” part of the “Great Ships” video trilogy. The main map folds out and the booklet contains nautical charts, compass bearings, ocean currents and major ports of European cities. The book is very small 3 1/2″ inches wide and 4″ inches in height.

We know that The Golden Hind carried at least three maps and pilotage information.

Thus Drake soon suspects there may be open sea beyond the islands of the Magellan Strait, see page 91 in The World Encompassed.

While traversing the strait, he noticed the many islands and waterways leading off the passage pioneered by Magellan.

Drake was quick to recognise the possibility that South of America further South would be found islands fractured into more islands with seaways between.

In his World Encompassed, Fletcher wrote “it cannot be said that there is only one passage, but rather innumerable”.

“They allege the narrowness of the straight, and want of sea room… they are herein no less deceived… it cannot be said that there is only one passage, but rather innumerable, it is most certain that a seaboard all these islands, there is one large and main sea” (Fletcher, World Encompassed).

This would certainly be a reference the Pacific Ocean and does suggest they thought it very possible the fragmentation they saw indicated other passages further South connecting the two great oceans were yet to be discovered.

We know that two days after The Golden Hind exited the Magellan Strait, she was driven 400 miles southward by a series of irresistibly fierce storms.

During the stormy weeks the ‘Elizabeth’ abandoned the voyage to return to England.

Some of the Golden Hind crew said they heard cries of distress one dark stormy night.

For certain, the ‘Marigold’ was lost with all hands.

Meanwhile the Golden Hind some of the time managed to take refuge amongst some small islands.

She was though, blown ever South until finally reaching the “utmost island” on October 28th.

Drake was quite philosophical about this trail which some saw as a set back. Drake saw this as “the will of providence”.

Differing accounts from the primary sources have lead historians to question which “utmost island” this could be.

The opinion is either Henderson Island or Cape Horn, depending on the degrees recorded.

John Drake a cousin of Francis, twice stated and The World Encompassed concurs, 56° S. Francis Fletcher, a parson, not a professional navigator, wrote 55 ° S and the Portuguese pilot on Golden Hind, Nino da Silva wrote 57°.

* It’s improbable but by no means impossible the authors of those numbers for their own reasons, deliberately gave false public information while concealing the true location

It’s been well said that “knowledge is power” so there’s a motive for you to consider.

Henderson Island is found at 55° 36’ while Cape Horn, is at 55° 58′ 28.19″ S, Longitude, 67° 16′ 10.80″ W.

Cape Horn, a Drake Series painting detail.

To rely on the degrees recorded and ignore the words recorded is I suggest, to misunderstand the prevailing situation.

In effect this is imposing modern high standards of navigation that were impossible during the 16^th century and this is to dispute what those men wrote. In effect calling them at best wrong, at worst, liars.

This also raises two other intriguing questions.

* If the claim is untrue, how and why would the men of the Golden Hind have invented the claim, who benefits?

Whatever the truth, would you want to face Francis Drake and call him a braggart and liar?

Not me thank you!

The ‘other side of the coin’ is that many navigators and historians agree that it is highly likely Drake did see and land just as he claimed, on the “utmost Island” of South America the island that is now called Cape Horn.

Where ever it was, we are told that with typical Elizabethan ‘sang -froid’, cool, nonchalance and daring the Golden Hind was anchored and a party went ashore to explore.

The adventurers were blissfully unaware of the fearsome reputation the “utmost island” was soon to gain.

Francis Fletcher (the ship’s priest) was one of the party who went ashore.

He wrote the cape “is island were growing wonderful plenty of the small berry with us named currants…” Fletcher, World Encompassed, P 88.

“Myself being landed, did, with my bag, travel to the southernmost point of the island, to the sea on that side where I found that island to be more southerly three parts of a degree than any of the rest of the islands.

Where, having set up on end a stone of some bigness, and with such tools as I had purpose ever about me when I went on shore, had engraven her majesty’s name, her kingdom, the year of Christ, and the day of the month…” Fletcher, World Encompassed, P 88.

Unsurprisingly this stone has never been found; or has it?

If you were a 16^th or even a 20^th century Spaniard and found that stone with it’s territorial claim for England what would you think and do?

Chuck it over the cliff is a plausible, probable reaction.

Much the same may have been the fate of the brass plate Drake left in California.

Meanwhile back on the rock, we don’t know if the hikers took a picnic but we do know Drake was reported to stretch himself out at the southernmost point of the island and declare that he had been further South than “any of them, yea, or any man as yet known”.

This is a story he later gave to Richard Hawkins and others.

This tale and the dramatic gesture certainly agrees with what we know of Drake’s character.

It’s an action typical of Drake and Drake’s words make clear he thought he was on the most southerly land of all the Americas.

You want to argue with Drake?

I wish you Good luck with that !

The landing at Cape Horn proved to be one of the most important geographic discoveries made on this very extraordinary voyage of global circumnavigation for a number of reasons.

As Fletcher indicated in his logbook, the discovery of this wide ocean dispelled the long-held belief in Terra Incognita, a mythical continent below the Magellan Strait.

Instead, there were found to be nothing but broken islands “encompassed with sea on every side”.

This open sea extended into the Atlantic Ocean, and would eventually make the voyage between the two great oceans much easier.

However, even long after Drake’s death, England did not wish to impart such information to her enemies.

Queen Elizabeth I having read Drakes logs and notes, seen his paintings, ordered all should be held as a state secret.

Fletcher as an eye witness wrote “...departing thence and taking our farewell from the southernmost part of the world known, we altered the name [on their map] of those Southernly Islands from Terra Incognita (for so it was before our coming thither….) to Terra Nunc Bene Cognita, A Land Now Well Known, that is Broken Islands”. Fletcher, World Encompassed, P 88.

Here is as Significance many have missed.

Fletcher wrote in his story, World Encompassed, P 88.

* “taking our farewell from the southernmost part of the world known,”

* “A Land Now Well Known, that is Broken Islands”. (Meaning the Golden Hind people now knew this region well).

This strongly suggests that regardless of the 3 different positions recorded by the on board navigators, the people of the Golden Hind fully appreciated the significance of what they we seeing.

Francis Drake series of paintings, a detail from The Utmost Island

We should remember, although Golden Hind’s navigation was outstanding for its day it was not always precise by modern standards.

Fletcher has clearly indicated in his logbook, the discovery of this wide ocean dispelled the long-held belief in Terra Incognita, a mythical continent below the Magellan Strait.

There is only one other earlier claim recorded and it is a rather dubious claim.

Half a century earlier, after a strong gale had pushed them South from the entrance of the Strait of Magellan, the crew of the Spanish navigator Francisco de Hoces ‘thought’ they saw a land’s end in 1525.

Francisco de Hoces gave no latitude or longitude, no compass bearings or any information other than the rather hazy, they ‘thought’ they saw land.

Thus this claim, “thought they saw a land’s end” is less supportable, more doubtful, generally dismissed as trivial when compared to the claim made by Francis Drake and several of his senior crew.

How would Drake have worked out his Latitude and longitude?

What did the pilot de Silva say about the ‘utmost Island’ and did he dispute or contradict Fletcher’s account?

Of the second question, as far as I know de Silva is not on record as having disputed or contradicted Fletcher’s account.

Another factor, the weather after the series of severe storms that forced the Golden Hind South would have been reasonably calm at least for a few days.

This would enable the people to land on any Island in the Tierra del Fuigo chain, which notably, they had by their own accounts, already done several times elsewhere on other islands.

During the calmer weather the recorded comments of the senior members of the crew indicate it’s reasonable to think the viability would gave been good, about 20 miles at sea level, so they’d have seen Islands to the south of them if they were anywhere but on the “utmost Island”, Cape Horn Island.

While it’s true their navigation was by today’s standards, less than perfect, these were not stupid people.

Of the twenty-eighth of October Francis Fletcher recorded “our troubles did make an end, the storm ceased, and all our calamities removed; as if God, all this while, by his secret providence, had led us to make this discovery, which being made… he staid his hand…and refreshed us.” World Encompassed.

Fletcher also wrote, “utmost island of Terra Incognita, to the southward of America, where we arriving, made both seas to be one and the self same sea, and that there was no farther land beyond the heights of the island, being to the southward of the equinoctial 55(degrees) and certain minutes, to divide them; but that the way lay open for shipping in that heigh without let or stay, being the main sea.”

Cape Horn, Latitude: -55° 58′ 28.19″ S, Longitude: -67° 16′ 10.80″ W

Source Latitude and longitude of Cape Horn https://latitude.to/articles-by-country/cl/chile/1606/cape-horn

In Drake’s day the extreme violence of which the Southern Ocean is notoriously capable, was unknown.

Drake was the first navigator to coast Tierra del Fuego, so none of the islands were named.

* He had foul weather for most of his time on that coast so few opportunities to record approximate latitudes, dates and geographical descriptions. Despite which he made significant discoveries including correcting the overall bearing of the west coast of South America.

Cape Horn was named in 1616 by navigator Willem Schouten, captain of the “Eendracht” on a voyage from The Netherlands.

They named the cape Kap Hoorn after their home town.

Schouten and his crew are the first known to round Cape Horn intentionally.

It’s clear from their account they already knew of the seaway South of the cape.

* A question raised is how did Schouten know?

The cape was just possibly discovered by accident by Spaniard Francisco de Hoces but this likely has more to do with Spanish territorial claims than actual events.

Some Spanish and Latin American historians refer to the Mar de Hoces, Sea of Hoces.

Wikipedia which is not a very accurate source of information offers us “The island (meaning the Island Drake and his companions landed on), was not seen again and is regarded as a phantom”

In contrast, as black is to white, we have a very unequivocal statement from Fletcher, “the way lay open for shipping in that heigh without let or stay, being the main sea”.

Strong words from a man on a phantom island.

The Wikipedia statement stands along with several other equally bizarre opinions posing as plausible explanations, all aimed at denying the Golden Hind got anywhere near Cape Horn Island.

When I read these critics I’m reminded of the many others who like Jason and the Argonauts were cheerfully consign legends to myth and the trash can of history but have the last laugh at their critics.

I’m aware The Argonauts mythical voyage is proven to be practical sailing directions, we now know that Vikings were in N America, the Ra voyage, Kon Tiki and many others show how often contemporary people have not understood what early pioneers really achieved and what these men are trying to convey to us.

Before his circumnavigation we know Drake consulted widely.

He acquired at least three maps and as much written pilotage information as he could buy so in this context his remark about ‘ God’s purpose’ make sense even to the most God-less doubters of the 21^st century.

* The actions related by Fletcher and others with Drake strongly suggests the men of the Golden Hind were fully aware of their discovery which in turn makes Cape Horn Island by far the most likely candidate and the suggestion of Henderson Island unlikely.

Either way Drake saw enough to convince him that there was an open sea passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific south of the Magellan Strait and that Terra Australis was out of sight if it existed.

How Drake could know that without being on the utmost island is when one looks at maps of Tierra del Fuego hard understand. The maps clearly show which island is ‘the utmost island’, there is no mistaking that.

More likely and most notably the cape can claim it was discovered by one of the most famous Englishman of all time, Sir Francis Drake.

Francis Drake and the Golden Hind.

The Golden Hind’s successful return to Plymouth in 1580 did much to broaden English knowledge of our globe and proved to be an inspiration for later English explorations.

The ship Drake used to become the first Captain to circumnavigate this planet was custom built to his order, including with a double skin bottom.

Pelican was most probably built at Plymouth, Francis Drake’s home port whose shipwrights would have understood his specification and probably armed at London when Queen Elizabeth I’s cannon were stored.

The Pelican was named after a bird that appears in the royal heraldry of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Pelican was renamed Golden Hind when off South America

The Golden Hind is not an anonymous galleon, she is one of the most famous ships in English history.

Francis Drake was a sturdily build man who stood about 5’ 5” (1.52 m) tall.

He is today variously described as a foremost national hero, captain and admiral, knight of the realm, MP for Plymouth, Queen’s favourite and counsellor, most famous seaman of his time in all Europe and less flatteringly as a corsair, daring pirate and slave trader.

There is another neglected side to this amazing man.

Francis Drake was a devout Protestant, an inspiring leader, a fierce patriot, a visionary and an extraordinarily humane man.

Drake was a daring explorer who became befriended by most of the ‘local’ people he met, a real trailblazer, a pioneer who carefully recorded as much as he could of what he saw, a very skilled seaman and an underrated highly skilled navigator.

Here you find a ship and crew who did truly “boldly go where no man has gone before”; and made a fortune by their daring.

Today we know that Drake’s passage is particularly hazardous as it’s often the playground of very strong winds, huge waves, strong currents, fogs, icebergs and worse.

These dangers have made Cape Horn notorious among sailors’ as a graveyard for many, a place others will remember for the rest of their lives.

To this day, more than 446 years later, despite the doubters, professional charts record the seas between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica in honour of the Golden Hind’s captain, as ‘Drake’s Passage’.

Drake paintings — Francis Drake and The “Utmost Island”.

order your painting easily

You can own this painting from here easily, safely using £ bank to bank or by credit card Purchase Now via PayPal in any currency or in instalments by arrangement, contact us.

What did Francis Drake discover when the Golden Hind arrived at the place his crew called the “Utmost Island”?

Share this: