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SEA HAWKS OF EMPIRE by Ralph E. Bailey

SEA HAWKS OF EMPIRE

By

Publisher: Dutton

Fictionized biography of a character of whom, frankly, I had never before heard,- one John Davis, 16th century scientist, navigator, adventurer, who helped establish the English and Dutch trade routes. He sought via Greenland, the northwest passage; he helped destroy the Spanish Armada; he sailed for Sumatra with the Dutch; he went on the first expedition of the East India Company; he died at the hands of Japanese pirates. Here we follow the beginnings of world trade; the determination of the Dutch and English to break the stranglehold of the Spanish and Portugese. Lots of interesting and little-known historical material dressed up with some fictional characters, imagined but plausible incidents. From the fictional point of view the story limps a bit and the dialogue is unreal. But the freshness of the material and the light it throws on the period makes it worthwhile, as supplementary reading.