Drake Enters Pacific via Magellan Strait

1578

Francis Drake's Golden Hind passed through the Strait of Magellan in sixteen days, the fastest crossing yet, and emerged into the Pacific. A storm scattered the accompanying ships. Drake found himself alone on an ocean where no English vessel had ever sailed, raiding Spanish ports with complete surprise. His subsequent Pacific coast raid captured twenty-six tons of silver, the most profitable act of piracy in Elizabethan history.