In Drake's Wake The World Voyage
Michael Turner, Paul Mould Publishing, 2006
In Drake's Wake The World Voyage
Once again, Michael has produced an interesting and readable book. This latest instalment in a series of five topographical biographies cleverly intertwines a detailed and well-written account of Drake's circumnavigation with Michael's accounts of his travels In Drake's Wake to photograph all the Drake locations that begin and finish in England from 1576 - 1583. The book is illustrated with superb and evocative photographs from Michael's slide collection. The illustrations are enhanced by unique contributions from the late Raymond Aker of the Drake Navigators Guild. John Thrower's cartographic skills provide copious and excellent maps. John's seascape picture is again used for the front cover, where the attractive presentation of the book begins.
There can be little left to know about Sir Francis Drake's seafaring exploits after the penning of two biographical volumes so thoroughly researched that they leave barely a tide unturned, a landfall untouched. In Drake's Wake The Early Voyages and In Drake's Wake The World Voyage, both by Michael Turner, combine the best elements of academic research and swashbuckling adventure. In The Early Voyages we see Drake at his most audacious, slave-trading with Hawkins off the west coast of Africa, stealing gold and silver from the Spaniards in Panama, and helping the Earl of Essex in Ireland. The World Voyage, which the author personally undertook, experiencing his own hair-raising escapades - among them being stabbed, burned beaten up, jailed and shipwrecked - shows him making his detailed preparations, and the circumnavigation mile by nautical mile. Both books are amply illustrated with photographs and maps, three of which are claimed to show where Drake buried stolen booty.
