
On Wilder Seas
On Wilder Seas is a historical novel inspired by the true story of Maria, the woman who sailed on the Golden Hind during Francis Drake’s circumnavigation voyage in 1579.
As Drake’s secret mission takes the ship into the Arctic north, Maria, an escaped slave, makes a bid for true freedom. On Wilder Seas centres Maria in her own story for the first time and shines a new light on Drake’s famous voyage.
The book is inspired by the ‘Anonymous Narrative’, an eye-witness account of the voyage kept at the British Library in London. From a Spanish ship off the coast of Guatemala, the narrative tells us: ‘Drake tooke… a proper negro wench called Maria, which was afterward gotten with child between the captain and his men pirats, and sett on a small island to take her adventures.’
Reading this casual dismissal of Maria and her fate sparked an enquiry into the possibilities of her life that resulted in my novel.