The Golden Hinde off Ternate, 1579
The Golden Hinde is shown sailong off the volcanic island of Ternate in the Maluku Islands — the fabled Spice Islands — which Drake reached in November 1579 during his circumnavigation of the globe. The small English galleon, flying a ragged St George's cross, passes before the mountainous green coastline on a bright tropical day, her hull dark against the vivid blue of equatorial waters.
Drake's arrival at Ternate was a navigational achievement and an opportunity for valuable trade. The island's sultan, Babullah, was in conflict with the Portuguese and welcomed the English as potential allies. Drake took aboard six tons of cloves — a cargo worth a fortune in European markets — and promised ships for the Sultan in return: something he would never fulfil his part of. The Golden Hinde had already plundered the Pacific coast of Spanish America; the Spice Islands represented the next prize on a voyage that combined exploration, privateering and piracy.
The composition places the ship in profile against the towering volcanic landscape, emphasising the disparity of scale between the small Elizabethan vessel and the vast, unknown world she was navigating — a 120-ton ship, 18 months from home, at the far end of the Earth. Sold through Marine Artists gallery.
Interested in a similar subject? Commissions of Age of Discovery subjects are always welcome.
This Painting Found Its Home.
Yours Is Waiting.
If this work caught your eye, a commission allows us to create something with the same spirit — a vessel, a stretch of water, a moment in maritime history that means something to you.
You don’t need to have all the details. Many commissions begin with nothing more than a name or a memory. We’ll work out the subject, the setting, and the composition together.
Leave your details and I’ll reply personally, usually within one working day.
