Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 21. I'm your host, Jack Heneman,

and I'm recording this sidebar episode, A Pirates Tale, on May 6, 2021, in Austin, Texas,

with very sweet birdies making noises outside. I'm going to put it in the

can and release it next week when I'm teaching in Ukraine, as previously reported, so you'll be

listening to this starting roughly May 13th, 2021. At least if I can upload it from Ukraine. A sidebar episode is off the main

timeline and something of a bonus. This one is a bit of a spontaneous experiment. As we

travel to Florida Keys for a vacation much deserved by my wife, who's been working very hard, and not at all deserved by me,

I read a good part of Samuel Balfe's book, The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake 1577 to 1580.

This is part of my advance reading for Drake's exploration of the west coast of the United States

on a secret mission for Queen's exploration of the West Coast of the United States on a secret mission

for Queen Elizabeth I first of England. The book includes a prelude chapter that I thought so

good and so evocative of the tradition of privateering and piracy in exactly the part of the

country in which I was vacationing, that I'm going to read it aloud and hope that

Mr. Balth, B-A-W-L-F, accepts my recommendation that you buy as book, as modest compensation,

for my fair use of a tiny part of it. Herewith, a pirate story with some commentary toward the end.

In the second week of August, 1568, a fleet of eight seaworn ships sailed through the Yucatan

Channel, bound for the Straits of Florida, and thence, home to England.

Board is flagship, the Jesus of Lubbock, that sounds like a city in Texas, but it's

L-U-B-E-C-K, their captain-general John Hawkins was satisfied with the results of their voyage.

As in his previous expeditions, he had had to contend with

King Philip's injunction against his Spanish colonies trading with foreigners. However, Hawkins had

assembled a sufficiently imposing force to overcome the reluctance of Philip's officials at several

...