First victory

Following the defeat at San Juan de Ulua, Drake vowed for revenge and thus made two minor
voyages to the West Indies, in 1570 and 1571, of which little is known. It was in 1572 that he
embarked on his first major independent enterprise. He planned an attack on the Panama isthmus,
known to the Spanish as Tierra Firme and the English as the Spanish Main. This was the point at
which the silver and gold treasure of Peru had to be landed and sent overland to the Caribbean Sea,
where galleons from Spain would pick it up at Nombre de Dios. He left Plymouth on May 24, 1572,
in two small vessels, the Pascha (70 tons) and Swan (25 tons), and with a crew of 73 men. With this
force Drake proposed to capture the important town of Nombre de Dios. His first raid there came
late in July, 1572. The raid succeeded initially and Drake and his men captured the town and its
treasure. However his men noticed that Drake was bleeding profusely from a wound and they
insisted on withdrawing to save his life, leaving the treasure. He remained in the vicinity of the
isthmus for almost a year, raiding Spanish shipping and attempting to capture a treasure shipment.
In 1573, he joined up with a French buccaneer, Guillaume Le Testu, in an attack on a richly laden
mule train. This raid succeeded beyond any of their wildest dreams and Drake and his companions
found that they had captured around 20 tons of silver and gold. It was far too much for the few men
to carry off and so much of the treasure was buried (which may have given rise to all subsequent
stories of pirates and buried treasure). The Frenchman Le Testu was wounded, captured and later
beheaded. The small band of adventurers dragged as much gold and silver as they could carry back
across some 18 miles of jungle-covered mountains to where they had left their small raiding boats,
however when they got there their boats had vanished. Drake and his men, downhearted, exhausted
and hungry, now had nowhere to go and the Spanish were not far behind. At this point Drake
showed exceptional leadership. He rallied his men, buried the treasure on the beach and built a raft
to sail himself and two volunteers ten miles along the fearsome surf-lashed coast to where he had
left his flagship. The raft was continually awash up to their chests and the salt water and the burning
sun caused them much suffering. However, they pushed onwards until they reached their ship.
When Drake finally stood on her deck his men were alarmed at his bedraggled appearance. Fearing
the worst they asked him how the raid had gone. Drake, in spite of everything, could not resist a
joke and teased them by looking downhearted. Then he laughed, pulled a necklace of Spanish gold
from around his neck and said "Our voyage is made, lads!" By August 9, 1573, he was back in
Plymouth, a rich man and ready for more adventure.