Circumnavigation traveling west from Europe, in 1521, Magellan reached a region of Southeast Asia (in the Malay Archipelago), which he had reached on previous voyages traveling east. Magellan thereby achieved a nearly complete personal circumnavigation of the globe for the first time in history. In 1577, Elizabeth I sent Francis Drake to start an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas. Drake set out from Plymouth, England in November 1577, aboard "Pelican", which Drake renamed "Golden Hind" mid-voyage. In September 1578, he passed through the southern tip of South America, named Drake Passage, which connects the southwestern
Thomas Doughty (explorer) established the idea that a ship's captain was its absolute ruler, regardless of the rank or social class of its passengers. Doughty befriended Drake during Drake's military actions in Ireland. Drake, Doughty and John Wynter left Plymouth, England in 1577, purportedly on a simple trip to Alexandria. Drake's real mission was to interfere with Spanish treasure fleets in the New World; whether he proceeded with the full knowledge and sanction of Queen Elizabeth I, and whether his original intent was the circumnavigation of the globe are still topics of scholarly debate (see Kelsey, "Sir Francis Drake: the Queen's Pirate.") The