First knighthood awarded to a privateer

A privateer is a pirate given authority or licence to capture merchant shipping and share the spoils between the captain, his crew and the commissioning government. The Englishman Sir Francis Drake is acknowledged as one of the most notable sailors and naval commanders of the 16th century. Born in Tavistock, Devon, UK, c. 1540, he went to sea at the age of 13 and soon became a captain making profitable trading voyages to the West Indies and engaging in actions against the Spanish ports in the Caribbean and Spanish colonies on the American coast. In 1577, Elizabeth I tasked him to undertake an expedition to the Spanish colonies on the American Pacific coast. The expedition plundered as it progressed, and eventually Drake became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, returning to fame and acclaim in England in September 1580 with a rich cargo of spices and Spanish treasure. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581 – the first knighthood ever awarded to a privateer. Drake was a vice admiral of the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. He died on 28 January 1596 of dysentery off the coast of Portobelo, Panama.