Golden Hind Golden Hind Golden Hind was an English galleon best known for her privateering circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake. She was originally known as "Pelican", but was renamed by Drake mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden 'hind' (a female red deer). Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drake's world voyage. One full-sized, still sailable reconstruction containing original pieces of the galleon exists in London, on the south bank of the Thames. Queen Elizabeth I partly sponsored Sir Francis Drake as the
Speedwell (1577 ship) bottom of the bay. "Speedwell" is also mentioned several times in battle-action scenes in the historical fiction novel, "Armada: A Novel", written by Charles Gidley Wheeler and published in 1987. 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