The Dragon’s Forge

Plymouth, 1567. Tom Rouse, the son of an English father and a Spanish mother, is recruited as an interpreter for the Atlantic expedition led by John Hawkins and accompanied by the young Francis Drake. His command of Spanish makes him useful in negotiations, interrogations and encounters across the Caribbean, but it also leaves both English and Spanish crews uncertain of his loyalty.

The voyage carries Tom into the violent commercial world of Elizabethan seafaring, where trade, enslavement, private enterprise and armed coercion are difficult to separate. As the expedition moves through Spain’s American empire and towards the confrontation at San Juan de Ulúa, Tom witnesses the experiences that shape Drake’s hostility towards Spain and the beginnings of his reputation as a commander.