Brixham lighthouse, Iron Age fort and national nature reserve. Warships have been seen in Torbay from the days of the Vikings, up until 1944 when part of the D-Day fleet sailed from here. In 1588, Brixham watched Sir Francis Drake attacking the Spanish Armada after he had (so the legend goes) finished his game of bowls on Plymouth Hoe. Today in Brixham harbour, there is a full-sized replica of the ship, the "Golden Hind", in which Drake circumnavigated the globe; visitors can go on board. For centuries, ships going down the English Channel have come into Torbay to seek refuge from
Francis William Drake Francis William Drake Francis William Drake (1724 – 1788/9) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of vice-admiral of the red. Not much is known of Francis William's early life. He was born in Buckland Monachorum, Devon in 1724 and was baptized on 22 August that year. He was the third son, and the second surviving son, of Anne Heathcote and Sir Francis Henry Drake. This line of Drakes descended from the brother of Elizabethan naval hero