SirFrancis Drake - Columbia - South America.

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MD – Sir Francis Drake – Cartegena, Columbia, South America.

Sir Francis Drake, born in Tavistock, is one of the counties most famous Devonians.His exploits in the latter part of the 16th century, made him one of Queen Elizabeth’s the First, one of her favourite subjects.Many voyages to central America as a Privateer, resulted in the accumulation of much wealth, for himself and the Crown.

A few years ago, aboard the cruise ship “Sundream”, one of the ports of call was Cartegena, in Columbia. This beautiful city was a interesting place to visit. On a tour of the city, it was fascinating to learn about how Sir Francis, was remembered in the history of the city.

Sir Francis paid a couple of visits to the city. On his first visit, he burnt the place down, which did not go down to well with the residents. On his second visit, he demanded gold, or he would set fire to the place again. This time the locals paid up, but still he caused havoc among the population. He was n nicknamed, “El Draco”, “The Dragon”, by the Cartegenians.

It is interesting to think, for some he was a hero, and for others, a bad Hombre..

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On leaving port, in passage to Jamaica, all power and systems onboard Sundream failed. The ship drifted for several hours, at night, and with no engines. Then, all of a sudden, the engines re-started, and the ship made it's way once more to Montego Bay. Due to no air conditioning, passengrs slept on deck under the stars. Maybe not everything haas changed since Drake's time.