Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Medal commemorating the voyage of Sir Francis Drake

Medal commemorating the voyage of Sir Francis Drake

c1589
Silver
Bequest of Sir William Dixson, 1952
DN / M 1144 / Item a

In 1577 the English explorer and adventurer Francis Drake was secretly commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I and her ministers to raid Spanish ports and merchant ships along the Pacific coast of the Americas.

This fine silver medal is the earliest dated map of Drake's daring and profitable voyage, which generated enormous riches for the queen’s treasury and made Drake the second European to circumnavigate the world (the first was Magellan). It was engraved by the Dutch cartographer and instrument maker Michael Mercator, grandson of the great cartographer and mathematician Gerard Mercator. The eastern hemisphere is shown on one side of the medal, and the western hemisphere on the other. The base maps are derived from a map of the Americas which had been published in Hakluyt’s De Orbe Novo, (On the New World) in 1587. The medal is believed to be one of nine still in existence.

Incorrect date

On the medal, the date of Drake’s landing on the coast of California is incorrectly noted as 1580; the correct date is 1579.

Eastern hemisphere

One side of the medal shows the eastern hemisphere, including ‘Terra Australis Nondum Cognita’ (south land not yet known). Drake’s route is shown by a dotted line with tiny ships. There are a number of inscriptions on the medal. At the start of the outward route is ‘Exitus Draci’ (Drake departs); near the Cape of Good Hope is ‘Reditus’ (return), following that is a sailing ship. Many place names are inscribed, as are the Equator, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and the Arctic and Antarctic circles.

Western hemisphere

The reverse side shows the western hemisphere. ‘No. Guinea’ is shown as part of Terra Australis. The dotted line marking Drake’s route is continued from the obverse with the following inscriptions: ‘D.F. Fra exitus anno. 1577 id Dece’ (Sir Francis Drake’s departure in 1577 on the Ides of December, ie 13 December); ‘Reditus anno 1580, 4 Cal Oc’ (Return in the year 1580, on the 4th of the calends of October, ie 28 September); near the southern tip of South America is ‘In R. Elisabetae 1579 ab. Anglis (by the English reign of Elizabeth, 1579); in North America ‘Nova Albion ab Anglis 1580 inuenta’ (New Albion discovered by the English, 1580) and ‘Meta incognita inuenta ab Anglis 1576’ (Meta incognita discovered by the English, 1576) and ‘Bacallaos ab Aug 1490’ (Bacallaos by the English, 1490).