Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596) was the most famous sea captain of Elizabethan England. When Drake returned to England in 1580 after his three-year voyage around the world, Elizabeth visited him on board his ship the Golden Hind and knighted him. In 1587 he conducted a daring raid on the Spanish fleet at Cadiz that delayed the onset of the Armada by a year. His strategem of using fireships against the Armada was crucial to the outcome. The fear of Drake among the Spanish added to his renown in England.