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
Speedwell (1577 ship) Speedwell (1577 ship) Speedwell was a 60-ton pinnace that, along with "Mayflower", transported the Pilgrims and was the smaller of the two ships. A vessel of the same name and size traveled to the New World seventeen years prior as the flagship of the first expedition of Martin Pring. "Speedwell" was built in 1577, under the name "Swiftsure", as part of English preparations for war against Spain. She participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada. During the Earl of Essex's 1596 Azores expedition she served as the ship of his second in command, Sir Gelli Meyrick. After hostilities with