Sir Francis Drake was the most dashing of the many ambitious seamen to serve Queen Elizabeth I. His was an age when the world seemed there for the taking, whether in the form of riches, glory or lasting renown. For a God-fearing Protestant of good yeoman stock, turning the highs seas into an English lake seemed nothing less than a birthright -- especially if the only people in one's way were Catholics. In this masterly new biography, Stephen the shows how Drake deliberately and skillfully fashioned himself into the very image of the English Protestant hero -- the little man who took on the might of Spain.