3-047-183 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'They Made Rough Rafts of Tree-Trunks', c1929. Francis Drake and his men '...sacked Venta Cruz and intercepted several convoys of mules...laden with silver weighing nearly thirty tons...their means of carrying were not equal to their opportunity, and so, taking what they could, they hid the remainder to await future conveyance...they made rough rafts of tree-trunks, and went in search of [their pinnaces], finding them after much hard labour and precarious navigation. This accomplished, they...made for home, landing at Plymouth on Sunday, August 9, 1573'. English pirates in South America during the 16th century. From "Heroic Deeds of Great Men", by C. Sheridan Jones and Alfred Miles, illustrated by Howard Davie and Harry Payne [Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd, London, c1929]