Francis Drake is a legend of our schooldays, pirate of the high seas, hero of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, knighted by England's Queen. But what kind of man was he? In his lifetime he was described as 'a cowardly knave or traitor,' as 'the vilest villain, falsest thief and cruelest murderer that was ever born'. Yet the circumnavigation of 1577-80 stands as one of the great navigational feats of all time, difficult to denigrate or credit to anyone else. Although its success infuriated his enemies and betters, Drake at once became a popular folk hero in England and a sixteenth century millionaire, buying an abbey for his new home. In The Queen’s corsair, Alexander McKee brings his unique understanding of seafaring of the period together with his considerable narrative skill, to tell the story of that extraordinary journey, whose quatercentenary this book marks. This voyage was remarkable for the amount of detailed testimony which it produced, including much reported speech, so that we can almost hear Drake and his crew talking. Not least in importance are the depositions of Drake's prisoners, Spanish, Portugese, Flemings and Greeks. Hitherto, their stories have been little drawn upon. Here are fascinating studies of a sixteenth-century English raider in action off an enemy coast. We grasp Drake's tactics, so bold as to make victory often bloodless, and see something of the strict discipline, the elaborate rituals, the social life, the religious observances — and sense the very real hatreds that under-lay the theological disputes. We glimpse Drake's techniques for dealing with prisoners, many of whose depositions survive. We learn how he extracted information by alternate harsh and soft treatment and, if that didn't work, then by fright and pain; and how he primed them with the points that he wanted conveyed to the Spanish authorities. It is doubtful that such a close study of Drake has ever been made. We see him in depth, in close-up, his very words repeated nearly verbatim; under great pressure, at his wit's end what to do. The character which emerges in the end is not after all too unlike the hero of the schoolbooks but his achievements are another matter.They are infinitely greater than we could have imagined.