Drake was born in Tavistock sometime between 1541 and 1543 but no record exists of the exact date. Whilst still a boy, his family moved from Devon to Chatham in Kent where they lived on an old, laid up ship. The young Drake became an apprentice on a small trading ship which he inherited on the death of its master. However, he sold the ship and joined a relative, John Hawkins in the first slaving voyages, bringing African slaves for work in the Caribbean. These expeditions were undertaken with a number of ships but during one trip, the Spanish attached the ships and only two survived.

Returning to England, Drake made two successful trading voyages to the West Indies between 1570 and 1572 and in 1572 commanded two ships on a marauding voyage against the Spanish. Returning to England with a cargo of captured Spanish silver he was next sent to Ireland to help quell a rebellion there.

Queen Elizabeth I commissioned him in 1577 to undertake an expedition against Spanish colonies on the Pacific Coast of America and he sailed from Plymouth with 5 ships in December 1577. Two of the ships had to be abandoned, but by August 1578 the three remaining ships left the Atlantic and sailed in to the Pacific. However, severe storms destroyed one ship and forced another to turn back. Drake sailed on in the "Pelican" which he had renamed "Golden Hind" and successfully attacked Spanish possessions.

He also captured a number of Spanish ships and subsequently returned to England via Java, the Indian Ocean and Cape of Good Hope arriving at Plymouth in 1581, becoming the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I on board the Golden Hind and became mayor of Plymouth. He was also a member of Parliament in 1584 and 1585. Later in 1585, Drake again sailed for the West Indies, this time with a large fleet. He carried out many raids on Spanish colonies and is credited with the introduction of tobacco to Britain.

In 1587, Drake was sent by the Queen to destroy the Spanish fleet at Cadiz and the next year was a vice admiral of the fleet that destroyed the Spanish Armada, an event commemorated by a set of stamps issued in 1988, after which he returned to Parliament. In 1595 he was sent, with Sir John Hawkins on an expedition against the Spanish in the West Indies, but both men caught dysentery and died. They were both buried at sea.

The stamp was designed by Marjorie Saynor and was printed by Harrison's in photogravure on chalk surfaced paper with the Queen's head printed in gold and then embossed. The design depicts the explorer in front of a globe sho wing the area of the world he explored. Records show that 8,502,300 stamps were sold before it was withdrawn on 17 April 1974. This stamp and the othe rs in the set can be acquired from Pennyred.