Sir Francis Drake playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe English pointer The Old Navy Pay Office

The Old Navy Pay Office

and soldiers on the right

Plate 17 from The zoological miscellany

One putto holds a scroll bearing the legend: 'Ecce Philosophorum Princeps'

'Our Vigilance Committee'

Sir Francis Drake playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe English pointer The Old Navy Pay OfficeSir Francis Drake playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe, 1588 (c1900). The famous game of bowls supposedly played by Sir Francis Drake whilst awaiting the arrival of the Spanish Armada. The story, probably apocryphal, goes that when Drake was informed that the Armada had been sighted, rather than putting to sea immediately, he decided that he had time to 'finish the game and beat the Spaniards too'. From Peeps into the Past by Trelleek, published c1900.