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In search of sunken ships: reflections of Britain’s colonial past
Britain’s involvement in the Transatlantic slave trade and the historical injustices of colonialism and the British Empire have been much in the news in recent months. In Britain and the Ocean Road, maritime historian Ian Friel asks how Britain got caught up in these nefarious activities. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports on what the new book reveals.
As the 16th century turned into the 17th, few would have predicted that Britain would become a major sea power with an empire on which the sun never set. Sir Francis Drake completed his circumnavigation of the globe in 1580, but he was only the first Englishman to do so. In fact, the first such voyage started out from Spain in 1519 and was led by Ferdinand Magellan until his death in 1521, at which point Juan Sebastián Elcano, the Basque sea captain, took over and completed the first voyage round the globe on 6 September 1522.
On his three-year expedition, Drake sacked many Spanish ports and towns in the Americas, captured several Spanish ships, and found hospitality in Portuguese tradin
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