Britannica Sources used in this answer

How did disease affect Sir Francis Drake’s final fleet in the Caribbean?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Portrait of Sir Francis Drake with a lace ruff collar, mustache, and short curly hair, painted in oil on panel. The background includes his name in gold lettering. — Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake, oil on panel, after an engraving attributed to Jodocus Hondius, c. 1583; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

During Sir Francis Drake’s final voyage to the Caribbean to raid Spanish possessions, the fleet he commanded was decimated by a fever. Drake himself succumbed to this illness, or possibly dysentery associated with the condition, and died at sea on January 28, 1596, near Portobelo, Panama.12