ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how early modern history and culture explored and debated, and redefined, the role of the maritime hero and what was meant by heroism at sea. It aims to assess maritime heroism in relation to both people and objects produced from a range of European countries and cultures, but due to reasons of space, its chief areas of focus are the English traditions of oceanic heroism. In turn, maritime activities and achievements became key cultural markers of, and justifications for, Europeans’ beliefs about the superiority of their value systems, and their physical and mental characteristics. The established, apparently natural connection between maritime command and ‘degree’ only broke down slowly on English ships, but Francis Drake’s profound and drastic action certainly loosened its bonds. The ideological debate Drake’s circumnavigation presents about heroism, maritime leadership, and individual authority is present elsewhere in The Principal Navigations.
