Francis Drake is Drakes Bay, California. Drake left the Pacific coast, heading southwest to catch the winds that would carry his ship across the Pacific, and a few months later reached the Moluccas, a group of islands in the western Pacific, in eastern modern-day Indonesia. While there, "Golden Hind" became caught on a reef and was almost lost. After the sailors waited three days for convenient tides and had dumped cargo, they freed the barque. Befriending a sultan king of the Moluccas, Drake and his men became involved in some intrigues with the Portuguese there. He made multiple stops on his way
Francis M. Drake the Centerville National Bank, of which he was president until his death. On July 17, 1895, he was nominated by the Republican Party for governor of Iowa. He was elected governor by an overwhelming majority on November 5, 1895, serving 1896 through 1898. He founded and endowed Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. It was named after him, and he served as president of the board of trustees. He also contributed to other colleges and gave to churches and missionary societies of many creeds. He died in Centerville, Iowa, in 1903, and is buried in Centerville’s Oakland Cemetery. Francis M.