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 were to become the Queen's secrets of the Realm, and Drake and the other participants of his voyages on the pain of death sworn to their secrecy; she intended to keep Drake's activities away from the eyes of rival Spain. Drake presented the Queen with a jewel token commemorating the circumnavigation. Taken as a prize off the Pacific coast of Mexico, it was made of enamelled gold and bore an African diamond and a ship with an ebony hull. For her part, the Queen gave Drake a jewel with her portrait, an unusual gift to bestow upon a commoner, and