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The secrets of the past are all
around us, hidden in our streets,

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buried under our feet, and
in this series I'll be uncovering

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those secrets as I explore
Britain's most historic towns.

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I'll decipher physical clues...

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Look at that. It's covered
with lizard-like scales.

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..and get to know some extraordinary

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characters who are often overlooked.

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He operated like a spy master.

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They lied. They deceived.
They cheated.

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With the help of Ben Robinson's
eye in the sky,

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I'll discover which towns
across the UK

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reveal the most about each period
in British history,

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and find out how those stories
still resonate today.

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3,880.

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More and more individuals
are still dying from the plague.

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Oh!

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Oh, my goodness!

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From the adventurous Elizabethans
to the elegant Georgians,

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from medieval knights through
to the height of empire,

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I'll tell the story of an era
through the story of a single town.

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Today, I'm in Britain's
most Elizabethan town...

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Secret courtyard.

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It's rather like Jeff Bezos living
above the Amazon warehouse. Yeah.

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..a town that helped forge
a brand-new, indomitable England,

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and usher in its first golden age.

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She's absolutely dripping
in pearls and gems, isn't she?

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Home to ruthless pirates

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who stole millions as England
entered the slave trade,

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but were acclaimed as heroes.

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There's this mixture
of being patriotic,

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and then also getting rich.

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If you really want
to understand the Elizabethans

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in all their crafty,
contradictory glory,

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and the emergence of this new,
world-encompassing myth of England,

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then Plymouth is the place to come.

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21st-century Plymouth is a city

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that's home to a quarter
of a million people,

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and it's also a busy, thriving port

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with regular ferries
going across to France and Spain.

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It has a thriving
maritime community,

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the sea is crucial
to the economy here.

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And Plymouth has always played
a pivotal role

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in this country's defences
down the ages.

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It's home to Devonport,

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which is the largest naval base
in western Europe,

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and it's the reason why
in the Second World War

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the Luftwaffe flattened
half of the city.

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The naval presence that worried
Hitler so much stretches back over
450 years.

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Tucked away on the south coast
of Devon, 16th-century Plymouth

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may have been isolated
from the rest of the country,

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but its position at the gateway
to the English Channel

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made it utterly crucial
to Britain's trade and defence,

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a fact that wasn't lost
on the Elizabethans.

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The Elizabethan era began
when the daughter of Henry VIII

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and his ill-fated second wife,
Anne Boleyn,

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was crowned Queen of England
and Ireland in 1558.

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Elizabeth's 45-year reign saw
England blossom from bankrupt
backwater

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to global player, laying down
the foundations for an empire

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that would soon exploit
great swathes of the globe.

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There are no records of Elizabeth,
actually, ever setting foot

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in Plymouth, but it's claimed
that here on The Hoe

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is where Francis Drake casually
finished his game of bowls

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before sailing off to destroy

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the supposedly
invincible Spanish Armada.

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But like many of the best stories,
it's not exactly true,

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but what's certain is that Plymouth
was playing a crucial role.

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It was at the heart of the action
during the Elizabethan age.

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How was it that a small,
relatively remote town

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of just a few thousand people
became such a key player?

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To understand that, first I need
to know what kind of kingdom -

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or indeed queendom -
Elizabeth inherited.

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I'm meeting historian
Dr Miranda Kaufmann to find out.

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When Elizabeth came to the throne,
what did she inherit?

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A real quagmire of problems.
The country's in debt.

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It was a religiously divided
country.

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She had enemies abroad

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and to make it even worse,
she was a woman.

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And a single woman. Yes.

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So, you know, presumably with no...
Well, no prospect of marriage or...

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Oh, no, there were loads of
prospects... ..were people expecting
her to get married?

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There was a huge pressure on her
to get married immediately.

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You know, people were looking
to her to find a man

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who could then be their king. Yeah.

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Her sister, Mary, had been drawn
into Spain's war against France,

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which had been disastrous.

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Just that January,
England had lost Calais,

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the last English foothold
on the Continent.

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She was going to make
England Protestant again,

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which was going to lead to it,
to being really isolated

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in Catholic Europe.

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So, in its stubborn pursuit
of sovereignty,

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England found itself at loggerheads

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with an all-powerful
European neighbour.

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Sound familiar?

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Despite poor foreign relations,
England was still trading

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with Catholic Europe,
still exporting to the continent.

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Valuable commodities, like locally
mined tin, were very much in demand.

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And with an array of tidal rivers
all ending at Plymouth,

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the town soon became
a key export hub.

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As is so often the case, one or two
businesses start to do really well,

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and then a whole load of others
take off in their wake,

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and before you know it,
Plymouth is a boom town.

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I entered a prime part of
Elizabethan Plymouth, an area today

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referred to as the Barbican.

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A few remaining blocks
of businesses and houses

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tucked away down by the waterside.

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Archaeologist Win Scutt
knows every inch

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of this old mercantile district.

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It does feel like we're getting
into the heart of old Plymouth here.

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It is nice, you've got all
this lovely granite and slate,

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and the Plymouth limestone as well.

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Despite many buildings dating
to later centuries, a walk

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down New Street can still
transport you back 450 years.

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It's these beautiful
Elizabethan doorways.

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Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is that original?
The carvings, that's original.

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That's lovely. Lovely work.

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There's a couple here
with angels on them.

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This one is an original Elizabethan,
isn't it?

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Yes, look at the angels on the top
here. Oh! Aren't they beautiful?

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Yeah, they're lovely.

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So, there's lots of Elizabethan
Plymouth surviving here

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in New Street.

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Built for prosperous French
wine merchant Thomas Yogge,

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Prysten House was one
of the finest houses

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in Elizabethan Plymouth.

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This would have been the place
to live in the 16th century.

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Now part of a restaurant,

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the house is open to the public,

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but I'm lucky enough
to be getting a private tour.

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Mind your head.

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Look at this. This is gorgeous.

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Isn't it fantastic?
Secret courtyard. Yes.

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It's just shouting prestige.
The merchant here wants

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to show his affiliation
with France, with Venice,

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with all the great traders
of Europe, I think,

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because he's importing
wine, you know.

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I mean, it feels really
Mediterranean.

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But this is where all the barrels
and all the...the warehouses...

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Essentially, this is rather like
Jeff Bezos living above the Amazon
warehouse.

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Yeah. He's living upstairs,

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but all the work, he can keep
a direct eye,

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and come out of those doors,

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and see his staff working
or not working, you know,

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so he can supervise the whole
operation.

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Surveying his empire, yeah. Exactly.

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Other successful merchants had
their premises

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in the tight streets
of the old town.

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A lot of work's been done.

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We've had specialist contractors,
and they've come from all over
the country.

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This restoration really is
a work in progress

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and heritage officer Hannah Pooley's
team are still uncovering

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original Elizabethan features.

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OK, are you ready? Yeah, yeah.
Let's go in.

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Come on in.

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Welcome to 32 New Street.
Oh, this is great.

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Quite lucky with this house because
it's the most authentic version

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of an Elizabethan house
left in Plymouth,

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and that's why it's so special.

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It's quayside position made
this house a prime location

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for sea captains and entrepreneurs.

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They'd come here to the middle
of Plymouth

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when it was bustling and busy

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to work and be near
their businesses.

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So, it's office space? Yeah,
and sleeping. Yeah. Yeah.

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So, some of them would have
two rooms.

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They might have an office at the
front and a bedroom at the back.

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Some people rented one room

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so they would have done everything
in that one room.

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Among the many exotic goods
being traded on Plymouth's quayside

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was tobacco, which was obviously
being sampled right here on site

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as these were found
under the floorboards.

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They must be some of the earliest
clay pipes in England.

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Yeah, this is the most complete
early pipe we found.

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And this dates, again, 17th century,

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maybe a bit earlier.

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Yeah, I don't know an enormous
amount about clay pipes,

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but I do know that the styles
vary a lot over time,

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and that they're very dateable.
They do.

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And you can see the bowl here is
much bigger... Yeah.

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..and the bowl on the Elizabethan,
or slightly later, is smaller,

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and that's because tobacco
costs so much more.

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It's quite extraordinary, isn't it,
to think about these foodstuffs

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and things like tobacco
that seem quite ordinary now...

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Yeah. ..but this is the first time
that people had seen them, had
access to them in Europe.

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Yeah, absolutely, and then
for hundreds of years,

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they smoked them in this house.

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Yeah, you can imagine these rooms,
can't you, all misty... Yes.

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..with the pipe smoke
and these kinds of deals

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being struck about the next ships
coming in.

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But at the back it was
Castle Street,

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and Castle Street was renowned for
pubs, and for sex work as well.

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So, there were lots of women
working back there,

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and it's very possible that the men
that were living in these rooms,

194
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away from their families, were
having a bit of fun of their own.

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Easy access to all of that slightly
salacious side of life in a port.
Absolutely.

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Later on, it would become known as
Damnation Alley. Damnation Alley!

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Yeah. So it tells you something
about what life was like there.

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I love that. Yeah.

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So, you know, they've struck
a good deal... Absolutely.

200
00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:29,800
..off they go out the back. Yeah.

201
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If sealing a deal
Elizabethan style raises an eyebrow,

202
00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:38,600
many of the intrepid men who sailed
from Plymouth would employ

203
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far more morally compromised
methods,

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and use them
with Elizabeth's blessing.

205
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They'd open up new worlds,
create new trading opportunities,

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and protect England
from enemy forces,

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but there weren't any epaulettes
on the shoulders of these men.

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They were pirates.

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I'm in Plymouth to learn how,

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00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:09,160
during the eventful reign
of Elizabeth I,

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this small town helped change
the course of England's history,

212
00:12:13,680 --> 00:12:16,120
from being an also-ran nation

213
00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:20,480
to becoming a country whose empire
would eventually span the globe.

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00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:26,240
I've already seen evidence
of an economy based on exotic goods,

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00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,480
but there was also
a thriving fishing industry here,

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with sailors crossing the Atlantic

217
00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:34,000
to catch cod off the coast
of Newfoundland

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00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:38,000
to be traded back here
and in foreign ports.

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However, not all local sailors
were above board.

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Aerial archaeologist Ben Robinson
has launched his drone

221
00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,120
from the headland across the water

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00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,880
to get a better look at
why Plymouth was the perfect place

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00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:54,160
to get up to no good.

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That's beautiful.

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I'm getting a brilliant sense here
of why this is considered

226
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to be one of the finest
natural harbours in the world.

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00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:05,000
It's got a wide-open mouth
to the sea,

228
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,280
relatively sheltered,
but easy to access.

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I can see all the headlands here,
all the outcrops of rock.

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There's little inlets,
there's little bays,

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00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:15,560
there's little beaches,

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00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:17,920
there's reefs,
there's rocky outcrops.

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We've got fishermen,
we've got cargo boats -

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all manner of vessels.

235
00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:25,280
So, the mariners in this place
would have been mixing

236
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:27,240
all sorts of activities together.

237
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Perhaps as fishing was a bit quiet,
they'd have been doing other things.

238
00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:35,480
Perhaps some of these things
were a little bit non-legitimate,

239
00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:36,840
a little bit nefarious.

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00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:38,600
And if you want places to hide,

241
00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:41,480
places to slip under the noses
of the authorities,

242
00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:43,520
this harbour has got them.

243
00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:47,920
In the 1560s, many of these rogue
ships that had sailed from Plymouth

244
00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:50,720
returned loaded
with valuable treasures

245
00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:55,040
stolen from Europe's richest,
most powerful nation.

246
00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:00,960
Spain had grown rich by plundering
the Americas for its wealth

247
00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:03,560
and was also Queen Elizabeth's
archenemy.

248
00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:06,760
I've met up with Dr Elaine Murphy

249
00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,360
to learn more
about the role pirating played

250
00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:11,680
in the European power struggle.

251
00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:14,720
Elaine, why was there so much enmity
between Spain and England

252
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,160
at this point in time?

253
00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:18,520
Well, there's a huge problem
for the Spanish

254
00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:20,960
with a lot of English pirates
attacking Spanish merchant

255
00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,680
and fishing fleets
in the Channel and the North Sea.

256
00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:26,440
But why are the Spanish
in the Channel? I don't understand.

257
00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,120
There's a lot of Spanish trade
to the Spanish Netherlands -

258
00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:31,920
the modern Netherlands and Belgium -

259
00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:33,720
because the Spanish rule there,

260
00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,440
but the Dutch are in revolt
against them.

261
00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,760
Right. So they're trying
to gain their freedom.

262
00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:38,680
Yeah.

263
00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:41,920
You also have the problem that Dutch
privateers, called Sea Beggars,

264
00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,640
who are fighting
against the Spanish,

265
00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:48,120
are using English ports
and are being permitted by Elizabeth

266
00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,400
to sell their goods
and get supplies here,

267
00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,160
so this is really alienating
King Philip II of Spain.

268
00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:56,760
Aw, you can see it. He must
have been incredibly frustrated.

269
00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,400
You know, not only are the English
attacking his ships,

270
00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,720
but they're also supporting
these Sea Beggars as well.

271
00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:03,440
It's really frustrating for Philip.

272
00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,920
Two men in particular were
really annoying King Philip.

273
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,520
Both were from South Devon,
they sailed from Plymouth,

274
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,280
and they were also cousins.

275
00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,000
John Hawkins was a master seafarer

276
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,960
and, arguably,
England's first-ever slave trader.

277
00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,520
He stole slaves
from Portuguese ships

278
00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:29,320
and sold them into a life of
appalling misery in the West Indies,

279
00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:32,600
actions effectively sanctioned
by Queen Elizabeth

280
00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:37,200
who awarded Hawkins a coat of arms
with a bound slave at the top.

281
00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:41,600
Sailing with him
and playing his part

282
00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,960
in stealing from Spain and Portugal
and the rise of the slave trade,

283
00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:48,920
was Hawkins' cousin Francis Drake,

284
00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,000
who also ended up working
for his queen.

285
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:56,040
I'm visiting The Box,

286
00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:59,600
Plymouth's almost-finished
new museum and gallery,

287
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:01,880
to see something remarkable.

288
00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,400
Oh, that's fantastic.

289
00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,760
I know we're here
to talk about pirates, Alice,

290
00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:08,800
but don't be distracted
by the mammoth in the room.

291
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:10,480
It's a bit difficult
not to be distracted

292
00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:12,320
by the mammoth in the room, though,
isn't it?

293
00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,120
It's absolutely amazing,
it's really beautiful.

294
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:16,840
So, the galleries
we've come through,

295
00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,520
those will be open to the public
when the museum does open,

296
00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:20,960
but this is all behind the scenes.

297
00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,440
Yes, this is here
in the archival store in The Box,

298
00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,280
so this bit won't be open
to the public.

299
00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:27,880
I'm here to see
an incredible piece of evidence...

300
00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:29,160
Be very careful with it.

301
00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,080
..that directly connects
Drake's actions

302
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:35,480
to the existential needs
of his queen and country.

303
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,400
Beautiful, isn't it?
It's lovely, look at that seal.

304
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:41,760
Absolutely beautiful Elizabethan...
That's Elizabeth?

305
00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:44,240
That's Elizabeth on the seal.
So, it's a really beautiful seal.

306
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,000
Really, really well preserved. Yeah.

307
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,400
You can make out details
of her face and her ruff.

308
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,680
That's lo... And it's on vellum.

309
00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:52,560
"Elizabeth by the grace of god,

310
00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:54,880
"Quene of England,
France and Ireland.

311
00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:56,360
"Defender of the faith...

312
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:57,960
"To my loving and faithfull subject,

313
00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,680
"Sir Francis Drake
knight greeting..." Drake, there.

314
00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:03,240
Yes. Yeah.
And what's she saying in it?

315
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,280
She is ordering him
"the performance of such matters

316
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:08,960
"which have been committed
to your charge".

317
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,280
So, she's not actually giving them a
specific commission to do something,

318
00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,680
she's put him in charge of a fleet
to attack the Spanish at Cadiz.

319
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,320
But she's not mentioning Cadiz.
She's not mentioning the Spanish.

320
00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:21,640
It's all very obscure here. Yes.

321
00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,200
This document's all about
how he's in charge of the fleet

322
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,000
and how everybody must obey him.

323
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,520
And there's kind of a bleak
reference to "the matters"

324
00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:33,920
that she's committed to his charge.
"Such matters", yeah.

325
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,280
That gives her
a bit of a get-out, doesn't it?

326
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,080
A bit of a get-out,
and it gives Drake a lot of leeway

327
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,440
to do whatever he sees as right.
Yeah.

328
00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,440
The queen gives Drake some ships
to sail with him on this voyage,

329
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,760
but most of the ships
are privately owned,

330
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:49,160
so they're private men of war.

331
00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:51,520
So, they're going to attack
the King of Spain,

332
00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:53,880
but these men are also going
to hope to get rich from this.

333
00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,560
They're going to hope
to capture Spanish prizes.

334
00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:00,080
So it's both a pre-emptive strike
and a privateering voyage.

335
00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,240
Having sailed from Plymouth in 1587,

336
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:10,320
Drake's small fleet attacked
the Spanish fleet in port at Cadiz,

337
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:12,120
in Southern Spain.

338
00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:14,840
It was an audacious operation

339
00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,280
that successfully delayed Spanish
preparations to invade England.

340
00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:23,200
And, as usual,
Drake made sure he returned home

341
00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:26,360
with his ships full of treasure.

342
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:30,360
So, he's acting privately, but very
much under the aegis of Elizabeth.

343
00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,720
Yes, the queen is caught up
in everything

344
00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,720
and will take a share
of all the profits these men make.

345
00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:38,760
Yeah. I mean, in some ways,
it reminds me of, I don't know,

346
00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:41,400
stories of espionage today where,
you know,

347
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,480
spies are doing things
obviously with...with the blessing

348
00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,120
and with the encouragement
of the countries they're acting for.

349
00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:50,560
But then, er, then the countries
can completely deny

350
00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:51,840
any connection with it.

351
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:53,840
I think that's important -
the deniability.

352
00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,240
But also you don't want to say
where you're going in this,

353
00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:58,560
because what if this fell
into Spanish hands?

354
00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,440
Or what if a Spanish spy found it?

355
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,440
So there's this mixture of serving
the Crown, being patriotic,

356
00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:06,760
and then also getting rich,

357
00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:08,680
which is that lovely combination
of privateering

358
00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,040
that Drake has really learned
over a long time

359
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:13,320
from people like his mentor,
Sir John Hawkins.

360
00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:18,240
Drake continued
to plunder and harass

361
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:23,280
the galleons of Spain and Portugal,
whose empire Spain now controlled.

362
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,760
Infuriated, Europe's most
powerful nation was ready for war

363
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:30,200
with England.

364
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:34,680
The scene was set for Plymouth's
two most notorious sailors

365
00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:39,000
to turn from state-sponsored pirates
to saviours of their nation.

366
00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:49,520
I'm in Plymouth,

367
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,400
a city whose streets were said
to have been paved with gold

368
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,760
during Elizabeth's golden era.

369
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,360
And that gold came from Spain,

370
00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:03,760
stolen by Plymouth's famous
and globally feared pirates.

371
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:08,120
I think their activities changed the
whole mood of England in the 1570s -

372
00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:09,880
it began to swagger,

373
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:12,200
it puffed out its chest,

374
00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:16,600
and strode around the ring
of European politics,

375
00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:22,120
and unashamedly set out
to antagonise the Catholic world.

376
00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:26,520
England began to believe
that it was a contender.

377
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,080
Arguably, the man who was doing the
most to create this new confidence

378
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,400
was Francis Drake,
Plymouth's superstar sailor.

379
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:45,560
Sometimes, it seems this town is
one great homage to Drake.

380
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:47,120
There's a shopping centre

381
00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:49,480
which actually draws parallels
with the man himself.

382
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,360
In 2006, it was crowned
worst new building in Britain,

383
00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:57,760
but another panel decided it was
"shopping location of the year".

384
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,640
Drake provoked
the same sort of reaction.

385
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,640
A flawed hero today,

386
00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:07,080
Elizabethans simply couldn't ignore
his success.

387
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,800
Drake wrote accounts
of his adventures,

388
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:11,760
and it's fair to say
that he presented

389
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:14,720
an extremely generous portrait
of himself.

390
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:20,840
He wanted to describe himself
as a heroic maritime genius.

391
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,160
But he was hated by Spain
and the rest of Catholic Europe.

392
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,520
He stole their slaves
and their gold.

393
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,880
He was also hated
by the English court,

394
00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:32,320
who thought that he was
a jumped-up Plymouth peasant.

395
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,880
But Drake knew that his queen
and country were broke,

396
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,320
and that if he could change that,

397
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,000
he would be accepted
into her inner circle.

398
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,440
What he needed was the ultimate haul
of Spanish treasure.

399
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,880
In 1577, Drake set out from Plymouth

400
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,040
for the gold-rich Pacific Coast
of South America,

401
00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,200
girded by the treacherous
Magellan Straits.

402
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:04,600
Once through, Drake had free rein
over the undefended ships

403
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,920
and ports of the entire west coast
of the Americas.

404
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,160
In his ship, the Golden Hind,
Drake looped up the coast,

405
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,920
loading up with unheard of amounts
of Spanish treasure,

406
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,320
even claiming what is now California
for his queen.

407
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,760
He set off for home via the Pacific
and the southern tip of Africa.

408
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:32,200
Drake's epic three-year voyage
made him a national hero,

409
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,720
but alongside the gold in his cargo,

410
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,840
once again, there were slaves.

411
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,240
Miranda Kaufmann has
been studying these voyages.

412
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:42,680
So, was it all as heroic

413
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:44,600
as perhaps we're sometimes
led to believe?

414
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:45,640
Of course not.

415
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:47,080
Something that really shocked me

416
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:48,760
that I don't think
many people know about

417
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,960
is they capture
this African woman called Maria

418
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:54,320
on one of the Spanish ships,

419
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,880
and then they abandon her,
heavily pregnant,

420
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,480
on an island somewhere in Indonesia,

421
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:01,440
with two other African men

422
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,760
that have also joined the ship
on the voyage.

423
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:05,200
Do we know what happened to her?

424
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,840
Does...does history record?
No, no.

425
00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:08,960
But I mean, well...

426
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,000
I mean, whether she even survived
the childbirth

427
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,800
in those circumstances is, you know,
anyone's bet. Yeah.

428
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,400
And no-one knows
who the father was either.

429
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:17,720
So, by that time, then,

430
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:20,640
by the time they'd abandoned Maria
on the island,

431
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:24,000
they're continuing to head west,

432
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,760
and eventually they get
all the way back to Britain.

433
00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:28,240
How much money had he made?

434
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,560
Well, we know that Elizabeth herself
pocketed more

435
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,640
than her usual annual revenue
of £250,000.

436
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:36,960
She got more than that.
Her whole revenue? Yes.

437
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:37,920
From...from the thing.

438
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:39,800
He takes his cut, you know,

439
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,120
and along the way he's knighted,
he's made Mayor of Plymouth,

440
00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:45,840
he becomes an MP,
he gets his own coat of arms.

441
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,400
You know, he's made it.
And he buys this place.

442
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:49,800
And he buys this place.

443
00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:58,120
Buckland Abbey is a monument
to Drake's success.

444
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,360
The boy from a small house in Devon
had become

445
00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:04,880
not only the first Englishman

446
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,320
to command a complete
circumnavigation of the globe,

447
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,120
he was now a firm favourite
of his queen,

448
00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:14,080
and Lord of the Manor.

449
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,400
What a beautiful place.

450
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:18,760
For Drake,
there was a delicious irony

451
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,520
in moving
into this particular property.

452
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:23,840
Oh, this is fantastic.

453
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:28,240
By using intermediaries,
he'd tricked his posh local rival,

454
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,680
Sir Richard Grenville,
into selling it to him.

455
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,840
So, is that Elizabethan -
that ceiling and the friezes?

456
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,480
Yeah, so this would have been
what Grenville put in.

457
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:42,280
The date above the fireplace
is 1576.

458
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,400
So, Drake didn't need to do much
decoration, then, when he arrived.

459
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,360
He could walk straight in
and start partying. Yeah.

460
00:24:48,360 --> 00:24:50,040
To honour his achievements,

461
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,120
Drake was granted
his own coat of arms,

462
00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:57,440
a clear symbol of acceptance
in the Elizabethan era.

463
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:00,640
Oh, that's a splendid coat of arms.

464
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,600
And then, at the bottom,
it says "Sic Parvis Magna".

465
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,360
My Latin is a bit rusty.
So - "From small, big".

466
00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:07,640
MIRANDA CHUCKLES

467
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,240
"From humble beginnings
to greatness."

468
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,600
That sounds better.
That's more poetic, isn't it?

469
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:13,800
Yeah, a little bit.
SHE CHUCKLES

470
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,840
Alongside a knighthood, Elizabeth
gave Drake this astonishing brooch,

471
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:22,440
here being worn by Mrs Drake
in this ostentatious portrait.

472
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:26,640
So, this is Drake's wife.

473
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,200
Yes, and who he marries in 1585.

474
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:32,240
And she is dressed so sumptuously.

475
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,160
I mean, she's dripping in pearls.

476
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,320
And I must say there's more
than a passing resemblance here,

477
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,040
surely, to Elizabeth.

478
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,000
Well, it was the fashion, wasn't it?

479
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:42,920
Elizabeth was dressed
in high fashion.

480
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,640
This lady, also Elizabeth,
dressed in high fashion.

481
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,000
With the ruff and the pearls
and the...

482
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,280
You know,
this was the look to go for.

483
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,320
Drake, now bursting with confidence,

484
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:56,800
turned his mind
from global adventures

485
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,320
to improving his own back yard.

486
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,040
With its great inlets of brackish,
tidal waters,

487
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:08,760
Plymouth badly needed
a consistent supply of fresh water.

488
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,800
Now, as mayor, Drake used his guile

489
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,440
to lobby Parliament
for funds to create one.

490
00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,680
Some of the resulting structures
still exist today,

491
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:26,000
and Ben Robinson has taken a trip
up onto Dartmoor to take a look.

492
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,160
There we go.

493
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,480
Starting to get a bit of height now,

494
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,160
and things are suddenly becoming
a lot clearer.

495
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,760
I can see what I'm looking for
starting to emerge.

496
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:41,240
It's a curving earthwork,

497
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,000
a channel, a leat.

498
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:47,400
This is Drake's Leat -
an artificial watercourse.

499
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,800
And the idea of this
was to bring fresh water

500
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:54,560
down from Dartmoor where there's
an abundance of the stuff.

501
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:59,600
And what it intended to do was
to help scour out the harbour

502
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:01,560
with this flow of fresh water,

503
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,920
but also to be used for firefighting
and to provision the navy.

504
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,680
Very, very important.

505
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,520
Can we just get
a little bit lower, Max?

506
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,600
Yeah, that's good. Great.

507
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,640
So, we're zooming in now.
Crikey, we're flying along it.

508
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,240
It's a narrow channel.
It's only about six foot wide.

509
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,880
It's...it's fairly shallow,
two foot deep.

510
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,520
But that's all that was needed
to carry this water down.

511
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:38,400
This is a Victorian reservoir,
but it would have been a mill pond

512
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,040
for one of Drake's mills.

513
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:42,400
There was a flour mill right here.

514
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,120
Because, you see,

515
00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:47,240
the water from the leat
never reached the sailors,

516
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,280
and instead Drake took
full advantage

517
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,920
of this new water course
and built mills along it.

518
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:57,320
It might be the first example of
a big public infrastructure project

519
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:01,720
that only ended up benefiting
a very small number of people.

520
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,360
Something that mayors in Britain
and around the world have been

521
00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:06,880
working hard to perfect ever since.

522
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,400
Drake brazenly embezzled funds
for his own gain,

523
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,720
and naturally got away with it,

524
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,480
a fact that might have been
hard to swallow

525
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:20,760
for the less well-off
in Elizabethan England.

526
00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:26,120
Back then, people
without any financial security,

527
00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:30,040
especially women, were subject
to a harsh system of justice

528
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:31,920
administered by the church court.

529
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,080
I've headed to St Andrew's Church,

530
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:37,960
which was used
as an informal courtroom.

531
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,960
I'm meeting historian Dr Todd Gray,

532
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:45,280
who's been studying a revealing
archive of the trials held here.

533
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,440
These documents
from the church court are fantastic,

534
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:55,280
because they are the words
which are meant to have been spoken

535
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,960
in anger or in malice -
the slander cases.

536
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,680
So, this one here,
a group of women overhear

537
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:08,200
one woman being told by a man,
Moses Goodyear,

538
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:12,600
to "go back to the stairs
and to the stable",

539
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:16,080
implying that this woman has been
having illicit sex

540
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:17,520
in a number of places... Mm, yeah.

541
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:19,480
..including on the stairs
and in the stable.

542
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,360
So, it's basically about somebody
being called a whore.

543
00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:23,720
Basically, yes.

544
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:25,720
In this one, it's "whore".

545
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:31,840
It could be bobtail, punk, queen,
harlot, strumpet.

546
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:36,240
There are about 30 words one can
call a woman with immoral ways.

547
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:38,880
Yeah.
We judge women by their virtue,

548
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,320
men by their honesty.

549
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:43,960
OK.
It doesn't sound particularly fair.

550
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:46,280
So, have you got
some specific examples

551
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,560
of some choice slander here?

552
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:49,880
"Ninnyhammer".

553
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:51,000
What's that?

554
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,040
Ninnyhammer's a bit of a blockhead,

555
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:55,680
a stubborn man... Yeah.

556
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:56,800
..a stupid man.

557
00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,120
Whereas a ninnycock is...

558
00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:00,440
Sounds rude. Yeah.

559
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:01,680
..it's...

560
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:07,640
..a man whose wife has left him
sexually redundant.

561
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,320
Oh.

562
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,120
Whereas in this case,

563
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,720
we have two women who are arrested
for being poor.

564
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:16,360
Just for being poor?

565
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:20,280
They are found in a ditch sleeping.

566
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,400
They are thought to be beggars.

567
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:24,840
They can't be begging,

568
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,480
and they are pushed back
to where they come from.

569
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,000
But before that,
and as we see in here,

570
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,600
they are to be going
"to the next market day

571
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:36,960
"to be whipped about the town
as whores and vagabonds".

572
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:38,600
Oh, my goodness.

573
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:42,440
And they were, they had their hands
tied to the back of a cart,

574
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,280
they had their tops taken off

575
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:46,120
and then whipped
until they were bloody

576
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:47,600
going through the streets.

577
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,520
And you would have had somebody
with a tin pot and a spoon

578
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:52,280
making noise before,

579
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,680
and it was this great
sort of procession,

580
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:58,560
humiliation, shame,
but physical punishment on top.

581
00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,040
Yeah, yeah.
And of course, it's a spectacle.

582
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,320
Nothing like enjoying
a good spectacle.

583
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:08,680
A system of justice that administers
such harsh punishment

584
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:10,960
to a simple homeless woman,

585
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:12,520
yet turns a blind eye

586
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:15,600
to Drake's wholesale plunder
begs the question -

587
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,200
how did he get away with it?

588
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:19,960
He's got a moral imperative.

589
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,280
You know, he's doing it
for the right reasons.

590
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:24,200
He says he's doing it for God.

591
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:25,960
He's not doing it for money, then?
No.

592
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,120
He happens... His...

593
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,360
He just happens to be making money.
His justification always is

594
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:33,520
he's doing it as a good Protestant
against the Catholics...

595
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:35,520
Yeah. ..against the Pope.

596
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:37,760
So he's got moral right on his side.

597
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,880
It seems morality could be
quite flexible for the Elizabethans.

598
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,840
But the double standards
of men like Drake would drive

599
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:53,160
an even deeper wedge
between Protestants and Catholics.

600
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,760
So many of the power struggles
during the Elizabethan era seem,

601
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:02,160
on the surface of it,

602
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:05,360
to be about two versions
of Christianity

603
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,760
pitted against each other.

604
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:11,280
Queen Elizabeth I is Protestant.

605
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:16,760
Mary Queen of Scots,
beheaded in 1587, is Catholic.

606
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,560
And then there's this epic battle

607
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,480
between Protestant
and Catholic forces at sea.

608
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:29,280
But really that's all about trade,
money and power.

609
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,040
After years of suffering
not only the indignity

610
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,280
but real financial losses

611
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:40,160
as the trade and military routes
of the Catholic Spanish Empire

612
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:44,000
are disrupted
by Protestant English pirates,

613
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:47,320
King Philip of Spain finally cracks.

614
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:49,560
Retribution was coming.

615
00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:00,440
I'm in Plymouth to discover
why it was the Elizabethan era's

616
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:02,920
most infamous and important town.

617
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,040
In the 1560s and '70s,

618
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,520
as the home port
of Queen Elizabeth's Sea Dogs,

619
00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,400
it was teeming
with craft and cunning

620
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:16,720
that had been driving Prince Philip
of Spain mad with frustration.

621
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:23,440
The English were constantly
stealing goods from the Spanish,

622
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:26,720
and the island of Britain
stood in the way -

623
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,120
blocking Spanish trade routes
to northern Europe.

624
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,480
By the late 1500s, Queen Elizabeth
and all her advisors knew

625
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:38,400
that Spain would eventually
declare war on England,

626
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,280
but they just didn't know
when that was going to happen.

627
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,680
They also knew that Spain had
the most powerful navy in the world

628
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:48,600
whilst all they had was
a ragbag collection of old ships

629
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:51,240
and borrowed merchant vessels.

630
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:53,680
But, here in Plymouth,

631
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,080
what they DID have
were the most knowledgeable

632
00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,440
and experienced sailors
in the world,

633
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,760
and this is where John Hawkins
comes back into our story.

634
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:11,680
Incredibly, Hawkins had risen
from slave-trading pirate

635
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:16,040
to become the unrivalled supremo
of Elizabeth's navy,

636
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:18,360
tasked with whipping it into shape

637
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,200
for the inevitable confrontation
with Spain.

638
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:28,040
A typical Tudor warship,
such as the Mary Rose,

639
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:32,440
was top-heavy,
slow and cumbersome to manoeuvre -

640
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:37,400
qualities that helped her capsize
in Portsmouth harbour in 1545.

641
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:42,400
Spanish galleons followed
many of the same design principles.

642
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,800
Hawkins favoured the ideas of
innovative shipwright Matthew Baker,

643
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:51,600
whose designs prioritised speed,
mobility and stability.

644
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:55,000
Built in 1763,

645
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,040
this covered slipway
in Plymouth's Devonport Naval Base

646
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,320
is the oldest remaining
in the world.

647
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,440
It's currently used
by Will Sterling,

648
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,480
whose team use
centuries-old construction methods

649
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:12,640
and who understands the influence
of Hawkins on warship design.

650
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:14,200
You're the latest

651
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,520
in a long line of shipwrights
that's worked here, then.

652
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:17,640
Maybe so, yeah.

653
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:21,360
What do you think was
the main difference in ship design

654
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,400
as we move into the Elizabethan era?

655
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:27,160
Hawkins was the figurehead of a move
to make the boats deeper,

656
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,560
and made them more stable,
they could carry more guns,

657
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,000
get your ballast lower down.

658
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,760
But also, and more importantly,

659
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:37,200
it meant that they could go
closer to the wind.

660
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,000
So Hawkins is designing boats,
or at least commissioning boats,

661
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,920
that were designed with a hull
that rode lower in the water.

662
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,320
Is that a differently shaped hull?
Maybe so.

663
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,480
And it might be easiest
to explain that

664
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:53,800
by looking at these two boats here.

665
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,320
Both those boats are
the same length.

666
00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:58,640
Boat on the left -
quite a shallow boat...

667
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:00,080
Yeah. ..60 tonnes.

668
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,240
And on the right, you've got
quite a deep boat - 160 tonnes.

669
00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:05,600
In terms of the displacement?
The displacement, yeah.

670
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:08,520
So, just because
she's that much deeper,

671
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:10,400
she's almost three times the weight,

672
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:12,680
yet the same size
on top of the water.

673
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:16,920
All that extra room made space

674
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:20,440
for new longer-range,
rapid-fire cannon,

675
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,760
which English armourers had been
at the forefront of developing.

676
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:29,640
Manoeuvrability plus fire power
meant the small English fleet

677
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,960
was suddenly a much more
formidable fighting machine.

678
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:37,200
But there were the basics
to attend to as well.

679
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,560
The shipyards of Plymouth
had to make sure

680
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,480
these wooden ships were
as watertight as possible.

681
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,760
So, you're just finishing off
this ship, then? Yeah, yeah.

682
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:47,280
Will is showing me a technique

683
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:49,760
employed
by Elizabethan shipbuilders.

684
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,280
Oakum is a tarred felt that seals
the gaps between the planks.

685
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,840
You're sort of bunching it up
into the seam,

686
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,120
and this is just getting it
into the seams.

687
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:04,360
It seems amazing that that's going
to be watertight enough.

688
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:06,640
Yeah. No, really watertight
and really strong.

689
00:37:07,720 --> 00:37:10,040
Will makes it look really easy.

690
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:13,200
Definitely something
I can have a go at, surely?

691
00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:15,160
All you've got to do
is get it in the seam,

692
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:17,440
and then you can tap it in
a bit more afterwards.

693
00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:22,360
The wages were based on
how many feet you caulked in a day.

694
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,400
Oh, my goodness.
Do you think you've done enough?

695
00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,040
I'm not going to make enough
for dinner, I don't think.

696
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,520
Luckily, John Hawkins had
far more skilled shipwrights

697
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,720
to help build his ships
for the new Queen's Navy.

698
00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:39,920
And because he was treasurer
of the Navy,

699
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,720
crucially, he controlled
the purse strings.

700
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:46,680
Hawkins had the access to the funds.

701
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:50,480
So, we can all have great ideas,
but making those ideas happen,

702
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:52,200
you need to have access to money.

703
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,160
Yeah. So it's not private enterprise
and innovation,

704
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,480
this is state-sponsored R&D. Yeah.

705
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,080
They're pitted against those
European powers. What they...

706
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:01,160
Yeah, that's it.

707
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,000
No, that's it.
They're pitted against them,

708
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,320
and they're trying to make sure
that they're the best,

709
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:06,560
and they want to have that edge.

710
00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:11,440
Hawkins got Elizabeth's
new navy ready just in time,

711
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,960
because in July 1588,

712
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:17,440
the greatest fleet of warships
the world had ever seen

713
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:20,120
hove into view
just off the coast of Plymouth.

714
00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:24,560
Ah, we've been here before.

715
00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:27,080
This is the bit
where Francis Drake,

716
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:31,040
who by now was Vice Admiral
of the English fleet,

717
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:35,600
nonchalantly finishes off his game
of bowls on Plymouth Hoe.

718
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:37,960
That takes us into the realms
of mythology,

719
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:40,840
we need to wrestle ourselves
back to reality

720
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:42,880
and look
at what was actually happening

721
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:46,000
out there in Plymouth Harbour
over this couple of weeks.

722
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,320
Ben Robinson is out on the headland

723
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,920
with his state-of-the-art
crow's nest

724
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:55,840
to give us the bigger picture of
that first great Battle of Britain.

725
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:08,200
If you could just pan round
just to the left a little bit,

726
00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:09,440
that would be great.

727
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,400
So, I can now get the view.

728
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:13,720
This is where the English fleet
had to navigate -

729
00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:15,320
through these waters,

730
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:17,840
out through the sound,
into the open sea.

731
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,880
And the tide was against them.
The winds were against them.

732
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,800
There was a strong south-westerly
blowing, much like today,

733
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:29,200
and they literally had to
haul themselves out of the harbour.

734
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,560
They mustered off Rame Head,
at the mouth of the sound.

735
00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:34,960
And they knew the Armada was
waiting for them.

736
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:36,640
And we've got a view here,

737
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:39,480
a near contemporary view
of what was going on.

738
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,080
And here we are here.

739
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:43,920
Here are the English ships
off to meet the Armada,

740
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:47,840
which is
in this vast crescent formation -

741
00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:49,600
great defensive formation.

742
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:53,640
The ships with the big guns can
protect all the lightly armed ships,

743
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:56,960
the cargo ships, the troop carriers
in the centre there.

744
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:59,840
The plan of the Armada is
to rendezvous

745
00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:04,240
on the coast of the Netherlands,
pick up a massive invasion force.

746
00:40:04,240 --> 00:40:08,800
And the target is London -
striking at the capital itself.

747
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:13,440
If that happens, it's all over -
game over - the kingdom's lost.

748
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:16,280
The Armada moors up at Calais here,

749
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:19,400
and during the night,
Drake sends fire ships.

750
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,920
These are ships set on fire,
full of incendiary gunpowder,

751
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,240
to disrupt the moored Armada.

752
00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:27,600
And it works.
They're in a complete panic.

753
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,000
Some of them slip their anchors
and head out to sea.

754
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:31,720
Some of them stay where they are.

755
00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:34,600
The English are out-gunned,
but they've got speed on their side,

756
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,440
they've got manoeuvrability
on their side.

757
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:40,360
They can position themselves,
get in, attack, and get out again.

758
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:42,280
The Spanish are panicked by this.

759
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:44,240
The English have broken up
the fleet,

760
00:40:44,240 --> 00:40:46,720
they chase them
up the east coast of England.

761
00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:49,480
The Spanish have to carry on
round Scotland,

762
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,120
and they're lashed
by ferocious Atlantic storms.

763
00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:54,880
They're dispersed, they're wrecked.

764
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,200
They've lost. The English have won.

765
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:07,200
It was an astonishing outcome,
the Spanish were so sure

766
00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:09,560
that they were just going
to romp to victory,

767
00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:13,960
that their admiral, Medina Sidonia,
has identified Mount Edgcumbe House,

768
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:16,280
just over there
on the hill in Cornwall,

769
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:17,800
as his future home.

770
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:19,120
He never got it.

771
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:25,080
Plymouth's two knights of the sea
wouldn't enjoy their status

772
00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:27,040
as national heroes for long.

773
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:32,760
Unable to resist the rich rewards
of long voyages,

774
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,280
both Hawkins and Drake returned
to the Caribbean,

775
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,160
where they both died at sea.

776
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:42,400
But their deeds had already inspired
hundreds of others

777
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:43,840
to follow in their wake.

778
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:53,120
There is another famous son of Devon
who we haven't heard much about yet,

779
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,440
but he was often here in Plymouth,

780
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,360
and quite closely linked
with Queen Elizabeth,

781
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,000
if we're to believe the stories.

782
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:05,080
He is, of course, Walter Raleigh.

783
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:08,760
I've caught up with Todd Gray again

784
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:11,520
to find out
how this iconic English name

785
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:14,520
fits into Plymouth's
Elizabethan saga.

786
00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:18,560
Todd, you can't really come
to Plymouth and talk about history

787
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:20,080
without mentioning Raleigh.

788
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:23,160
Well, Raleigh's the flip side
to Drake -

789
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:28,440
he's handsome, he's charming,
he's an intellectual, he's a writer.

790
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,240
Born 50 miles away,

791
00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:33,920
but his colonisation attempts
start off from here.

792
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:39,520
He's a very rich figure
that we know an awful lot about,

793
00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:44,480
and he has this idea of colonisation
rather than smash and grab.

794
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,080
So he's not a privateer
like Drake, then?

795
00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:51,640
He does do some of that,
but that's not his main thrust,

796
00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:53,200
I think, what his legacy is.

797
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:57,600
His legacy is establishing
a new England in the Americas.

798
00:42:57,600 --> 00:42:59,960
He wants to colonise
the whole of the coast,

799
00:42:59,960 --> 00:43:02,280
and he owns
3,000 miles of coastland.

800
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:03,760
It doesn't quite work... Mm.

801
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,760
..and it takes a little while
for it to succeed.

802
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:12,720
Disease and starvation meant
Raleigh's colonies all failed.

803
00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:18,320
And in 1603, a tired Queen Elizabeth
died without an heir.

804
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:20,880
However, the colonising zeal

805
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,360
that was pioneered
by the Elizabethans

806
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:25,320
would take root in a big way,

807
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,200
thanks to a certain ship
named Mayflower

808
00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:32,720
that sailed from right here
in Plymouth in 1620.

809
00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:35,680
The only way
they can colonise New England

810
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:38,000
is by exporting Puritans.

811
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:42,400
Yeah. Religious fundamentalists
will bear it, they'll stick it out -

812
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,400
the cold, the miserable conditions,
the poverty -

813
00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:48,080
just so that they have a place
to pray in their way.

814
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:51,800
So, we get rid of them,
they start up New England,

815
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:54,440
and then it turns
into a land bonanza.

816
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,160
Yeah. So more and more people
go out there for the land,

817
00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:58,640
and they change the colony.

818
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:01,000
It's quite deeply
uncomfortable history, isn't it,

819
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,360
the idea of going over
to another country,

820
00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:05,760
another continent,
and just seizing it for yourself?

821
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:07,800
There were people there already.

822
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:09,520
Yeah. I find it quite strange.

823
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:12,440
I mean, I have ancestors
who were on the Mayflower.

824
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:13,800
Do you? So, we weren't...

825
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,080
You don't? I do. You traced it back?

826
00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:18,160
I do. I have Stephen Hopkins.

827
00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:21,280
And they weren't
religious fundamentalists,

828
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:23,000
they were land-grabbers. Yeah.

829
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:25,920
So, instead of bigots,
they were thieves.

830
00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:28,880
So, I'm slightly better with that.

831
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:31,520
But, look, you're here now,
there are the Mayflower steps,

832
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:35,520
your ancestors stepped off these
steps, onto those ships,

833
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:38,080
and off they went. Yeah.
And you're back here.

834
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:40,640
Apart from it wasn't those steps,
because they're Victorian.

835
00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:42,280
No, they're Victorian.
But never mind.

836
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,320
They're like the steps they would
have used when they came down.

837
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:47,640
Yeah. How does that feel?

838
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:50,840
Well, I think
a little uncomfortable. Yeah.

839
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:54,840
You know, it's not something
to be happy about.

840
00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:57,200
It's something
that happened in the past. Yeah.

841
00:44:57,200 --> 00:44:59,800
I think it's a... Yeah.
It's a good time to look and...

842
00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:02,560
..look back to the Elizabethan era,

843
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:04,880
Britain's relationship
with the world,

844
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:06,280
think about where we are now. Yeah.

845
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:13,120
The Puritans called
their American colony Plymouth,

846
00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:15,760
and just over 150 years later,

847
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,440
their descendants were living
in a new independent country.

848
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:23,640
But by then, Britain's
growing empire was about to enter

849
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:26,960
its most omnipotent global phase.

850
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:30,960
An empire built on momentum
gained in the expansionist,

851
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:36,000
sometimes violent,
often extraordinary Elizabethan era.

852
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,760
Plymouth was at the heart of it all,

853
00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,320
its bustling dockside streets

854
00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:44,120
bursting with the ideas
of entrepreneurs,

855
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:49,320
its intrepid mariners pushing
at the envelope of exploration,

856
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:53,920
bringing back a bounty that would
save a queen from bankruptcy.

857
00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:55,280
And those two men,

858
00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:59,240
those second cousins
who went from being pirates

859
00:45:59,240 --> 00:46:01,840
to heroes of the nation.

860
00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:07,280
This, for me, is why Plymouth is
Britain's most Elizabethan town.

861
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:14,600
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