Burnham-On-Sea author Michael Turner has just released what is being described as ‘the biggest pictorial, topographical biography ever written’ on the life and voyages of the eminent 16th-century seafarer and civic leader Sir Francis Drake.
His four‑volume epic, Drake in England, arrives as a single slip‑cased set containing 845 pages of full‑colour maps, drawings, portraits and documents.
The first three volumes follow Drake’s famous voyages, while the fourth turns its gaze inland, exploring the lesser‑known world of Drake the civic leader, Drake the landowner and Drake the Queen’s prize commissioner.
Michael says this final volume aims to rebalance modern views of Drake by placing greater weight on what his contemporaries actually wrote about him.
What makes the publication even more remarkable is the story behind it. Michael began researching Drake in 1980, embarking on a decades‑long quest that took him through 46 countries and overseas territories.
His fieldwork reads like an adventure in its own right: trekking through the Panamanian rainforest to retrace Drake’s march, crossing the Sahara Desert, and travelling by tugboat, yacht, gyrocopter, helicopter, light aircraft, 4×4, motorbike and even cargo ship.
Diplomatic letters eased his passage through war zones and coups, and he became the first explorer to reach some regions since the missionaries. Along the way he endured an injurious mugging and two brief imprisonments—experiences he recounts with the same calm precision that marks his scholarship.
The result is a body of work that Burnham-On-Sea can proudly claim as homegrown, even if its scope spans the globe.
The books are available to view and order through Waterstones, Foyles and www.michaelturnerpublications.co.uk, and they are also stocked locally at The Picture Business on Abingdon Street.
