Sir Walter Raleigh: An Incorrigible Sea Dog

Sir Walter Raleigh was a famed sea dog whose life story took a slightly different trajectory than the other famous sea dogs, including Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher, and John Hawkins. He founded Roanoke Colony and believed in El Dorado. He was among those incorrigible sea dogs who kept on raiding even after Spain and England were finally at peace. This eventually backfired and he was imprisoned for many years, ultimately being executed by James I.

Raleigh: Queen’s Favorite

Born in Devon, Walter Raleigh grew up to be physically ideal: tall, dark, and handsome. A contemporary historian named John Clapham described him as, “Framed in so just a proportion, and so seemly in order, as there was nothing in him that a man might well wish to have been added or altered.”

Moreover, he was also outstandingly learned; he was not only a pirate, but also a scholar, a poet, a soldier, sailor, war hero, colonizer, and big dreamer.

Raleigh had courtly manners. There’s a possibly apocryphal story that he spread his cloak over a mud puddle for Elizabeth I to step on. Whether or not the puddle was real, he indisputably managed to attract the queen’s attention and became captive of her personal guard, the title for this literally was ‘Esquire of the Body’. For many years, there were rumors of a forbidden mutual attraction between the two of them. Certainly they were very close allies, and ultimately the queen’s favoritism made him many enemies.

An Unlikely Hero

Raleigh dreamed of colonizing North America and was the mastermind behind Roanoke Colony, although he never went to visit it himself. That’s just as well as Roanoke went badly. Francis Drake had to rescue the survivors.

Raleigh had another bad idea when he impregnated, and then married, one of the queen’s maidens without her permission, which infuriated the queen. For what it’s worth, Raleigh and his wife, Bess Throckmorton, do seem to have been in love. The queen later forgave him, at least in part, but when she died, Raleigh was never trusted as a proponent of James I’s succession.

Convicted on highly dubious grounds of treason, Raleigh was locked in the Tower of London between 1603 and 1616, where he read and wrote. Oddly, his trial turned him into a popular hero because he held himself well and the prosecutor didn’t.

This article comes directly from content in the video series The Real History of Pirates. Watch it now, on Wondrium.

Voyage to Find El Dorado

Raleigh was released in 1616 in order to voyage to Orinoco and find El Dorado. He had spent 20 years collecting stories and rumors of the fabled golden empire. However, he seemed to have missed that while he was in prison, the court had committed to the idea of peace with Spain. His preparations made clear that if he happened to run into the flota, then that was another good way to find fabled gold.

The mission was an almost total failure. Raleigh wrote, “As Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins died heart-broken when they failed of their enterprise, I could willingly do the like.” However, the expedition included the body capture of the Spanish town of Santo Mae.

The last of the great sea dogs, Raleigh was executed for endangering the peace with Spain, and those who had accompanied Raleigh on the voyage carried his head home in a red leather bag.

Fascinating Ambivalence of Pirates

Men like Raleigh offer a perfect example of the figure of the pirate as ambivalent: a national hero and international villain, someone whose crimes are only crimes if the government on land says so. Raleigh has had enduring cultural legacies precisely because of this fascinating ambivalence.

In 1719, George Sewell, a physician turned writer presented a stage drama called, The Tragedy of Sir Walter Raleigh. Sewell presented Raleigh as a patriotic English martyr to Spain, which is not quite well supported by history. Politically though, it was a timely theme since the War of the Spanish succession had just ended in 1714, and the Peace of Utrecht had won Britain the asiento, the ascent of the Spanish empire for Britain to participate openly in the Transatlantic enslaving trade. A play about a heroic English sailor and a villainous Spaniard was primed to go over well.

Common Questions about the Incorrigible Sea Dog, Walter Raleigh

Historian named John Clapham described Sir Walter Raleigh as, “Framed in so just a proportion, and so seemly in order, as there was nothing in him that a man might well wish to have been added or altered.”

Since Sir Walter Raleigh was in prison from 1603 to 1616, he missed knowing that the court had committed to the idea of peace with Spain. When he was released in 1616 in order to voyage to Orinoco and find El Dorado, his preparations made clear that if he happened to run into the flota, then that was another good way to find fabled gold. However, the expedition included the body capture of the Spanish town of Santo Mae. Thus, Raleigh was executed for endangering the peace with Spain.

Men like Walter Raleigh offer a perfect example of the figure of the pirate as ambivalent: a national hero and international villain, someone whose crimes are only crimes if the government on land says so. Raleigh has had enduring cultural legacies precisely because of this fascinating ambivalence.

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