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Why was Sir Francis Drake buried at sea near Portobelo?

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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.

Sir Francis Drake was not buried at sea because of a specific choice or ritual, but rather because he died while on a military expedition. During his final voyage to the West Indies to raid Spanish possessions, the fleet he commanded was decimated by a fever.

Drake succumbed to this illness—possibly dysentery—on January 28, 1596, while his fleet was off the coast of Portobelo, Panama. Following his death at sea, he was buried there, reportedly in a lead coffin.12