Vera descriptio expeditionis nauticae Francisci Draci Angli, cognitis aurati [cartographic material] : qui quinq[ue] navibus probe instructis, ex occidentali Anglia parte anchoras soluens, tertio post decimo Decembris An[n]o MDLXXVII, terraru[m] orbis ambitum circumnavigans, unica tantu[m] navi reli

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Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872. Vera descriptio expeditionis nauticae Francisci Draci Angli, cognitis aurati [cartographic material] : qui quinq[ue] navibus probe instructis, ex occidentali Anglia parte anchoras soluens, tertio post decimo Decembris An[n]o MDLXXVII, terraru[m] orbis ambitum circumnavigans, unica tantu[m] navi reliqua (alijs fluctibus, alijs flamma correptis) redux factus, sexto supra vigesimo Sep. 1580, circa 1587.

Vera descriptio expeditionis nauticae Francisci Draci Angli, cognitis aurati [cartographic material] : qui quinq[ue] navibus probe instructis, ex occidentali Anglia parte anchoras soluens, tertio post decimo Decembris An[n]o MDLXXVII, terraru[m] orbis ambitum circumnavigans, unica tantu[m] navi reliqua (alijs fluctibus, alijs flamma correptis) redux factus, sexto supra vigesimo Sep. 1580, circa 1587.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/775728689

Manuscript map of the world showing the route of Francis Drake's circumnavigation between 1577 and 1580. The map is executed by an unidentified hand, in pen and ink and watercolor on vellum. It is a reduced copy of the map Drake had made for Queen Elizabeth I upon his return in 1581. The original larger map was destroyed by fire, making the present manuscript map the earliest extant to mark the route of Drake's circumnavigation. The present map was probably drawn around 1587 since it not only tracks (with a light-brown line) the route of Drake's ship The Golden Hind on its trip around the world in 1577-1580, but also illustrates the route and activities of his Caribbean voyage of 1585-1586 (marked with a dark-brown line). The artist of the present manuscript map may be Baptista Boazio, page to Lieutenant General Christopher Carleill. Boazio served as draftsman and mapmaker on Drake's West Indian voyage of 1585-1586. His maps of that voyage were published in Walter Bigges' Summarie and true discourse of Sir Francis Drakes West Indian voyage (London : Richard Field, 1589). The regions of great discoveries made under Elizabeth are marked by flags bearing the cross of St. George. In northeast America, just below the Arctic circle, is shown "Meta Incognita", taken possession of in the queen's name by Frobisher in 1577. Towards Florida is shown "Virginia-Colonia ducta in hunc continentis partem a Gualtero Raulege equie 1583." Cape Horn is marked "Elizabetha". Finally, in northwest America, the region of Nova Albyon, corresponding to the present northwest United States, including northern California and Oregon, which were discovered by Drake on his circumnavigation, is described as "Noua Albyon sic a Francisco Draco equite dicta, eiusde incentore, An 1579, qui bis ab inclois eode die Regiae Maiestatis nomine diademate coronatus est." The general delineation of northwest America is much improved from all previous efforts; a more accurate mapping would not appear until after 1700. The map appears to lay claim to much of the territory of North America on behalf of Britain, with the border of British realms delineated in green, while Nova Hispania is in pale pink. A significant omission on the map is any allusion to John Cabot's discoveries for Henry VII on the northeast coast of America, and such comment may have been left out because Cabot's were not Elizabethan discoveries. Insets in the bottom corners of the map illustrate two major incidents of Drake's circumnavigation. The inset at lower left shows Drake's ship being towed to port at Ternate, in the Moluccas (the Spice Islands), where Drake would successfully trade with the sultan for large amounts of cloves. The inset at bottom right shows the grounding of the Golden Hind on a reef at Celebes (Sulawesi). The line running north to south at the center of the map is marked off to indicate latitude; a similar line intersecting at right angles shows longitude.

1 map : pen and ink and watercolor ; 21.9 x 42.8 cm, on sheet 23.5 x 45.8 cm.

Yale Center for British Art