Born out of the sea 400 million years ago Drake’s Island has been a place of pilgrimage, a refuge, a fort, a prison, an observatory and an adventure centre. The fortifications have defended Plymouth from the time of the Spanish Armada to the World Wars. It has been the starting point for the voyages of discovery of some of the greatest of our explorers, Drake, Cook and Darwin. Still a place of mystery and rumour follow in the footsteps of Drake discovering Drake’s Island and the lives of those that lived there.
LATEST POSTS
THE 1890’s – BREECH LOADING QUICK FIRE GUNS ARRIVE AND GUNNER McCORMICK SELLS HIS WIFE
The last decade of the 19th Century began with Gunner Dawson of the Island Garrison saving the life of Gunner Kelly....
THE 1880’s A SLIGHT DIFFICULTY FIRING THE ONE O’CLOCK GUN ON TIME
The first reliable breech loading guns became available in 1880 so less than a decade after the Palmerston Fort on the...
MASTER GUNNER ABSCONDS TO THE AMERICAS AFTER LARGE SCALE FRAUD DISCOVERED
By 1874 the first set of Army Reforms known as the Cardwell Reforms after the Secretary of State for War had been...