J. S. Fletcher 
In the Days of Drake [PDF ebook] 

Though he is today best remembered for the mysteries he began writing later in his literary career, English author J. S. Fletcher got his start in fiction as a writer of historical tales. In the Days of Drake immerses readers in the heady era of sixteenth-century British sea exploration in a rip-roaring yarn told from the perspective of a salty old sea dog who has retired and is looking back over his life.