Drimys winteri stamens. The fruit is a bluish berry. When Sir Francis Drake sailed round the world in 1577-80, of the four ships accompanying the "Golden Hind" at the outset, the only ship that successfully rounded Cape Horn with him was the "Elizabeth", captained by John Wynter; the two ships separated in a storm and Winter turned back. Presumably he had sickness on board, for he sent a boat ashore to search out medicinal herbs. He returned in 1579 with a supply of "Drimys" bark, and for centuries before vitamin C was isolated, "Winter's Bark" was esteemed as a preventive and remedy
Francis Drake apprenticed him to his neighbour, the master of a barque used for coastal trade transporting merchandise to France. The ship's master was so satisfied with the young Drake's conduct that, being unmarried and childless at his death, he bequeathed the barque to Drake. Francis Drake married Mary Newman at St. Budeaux church, Plymouth, in July 1569. She died 12 years later, in 1581. In 1585, Drake married Elizabeth Sydenham—born circa 1562, the only child of Sir George Sydenham, of Combe Sydenham, who was the High Sheriff of Somerset. After Drake's death, the widow Elizabeth eventually married Sir William Courtenay of