Comments by "Ray Purchase" (@raypurchase801) on "Dan Davis History" channel.

  1. HELLO DISTANT COUSIN! My grandmother's maiden name was Drake. We're supposedly descended from Drake's younger brother, Edmund. My gran's family continued to serve in the RN. I've inherited a seaman's chest which belonged to my ancestors. On a visit to HMS Victory in Portsmouth, I saw that the Victory contained the exact same type of mass-produced chest.
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  2. Spain in the 1580s and '90s was stealing vast quantities of gold from the Aztecs and others. The gold funded Spain's conquest and invasion across much of Europe. Drake helped to redress the balance. His circumnavigation of the globe brought back sufficient gold to pay off the English monarchy's entire national debt.
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  3. FUN FACT: Francis himself had no offspring, but the descendants of his siblings live in Devon to this day. My grandmother's maiden name was Drake. My mum's line is supposedly descended from his younger brother, Edmund. The Drakes used to have a big import/export business. My mum was excited to read a newspaper story about a senior Devonshire policeman's daring activities in the 1970s. No big deal - we're ALL related if you go back far enough. Errol Flynn's "The Sea Hawk" was originally intended to be Drake's story, but the REAL story didn't fit a movie so a completely fictitious character was invented.
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