For our history project on the Age of Exploration, I decided to write about the English Sea Dogs. In my rough draft, I wrote that the Sea Dogs were a group of polite merchants who sailed only to sell cloth and food. I said they worked mainly for the king of Spain and helped him guard his treasure ships. I explained that they sailed mostly in the Indian Ocean during the 1400s and never attacked any other ships. I added that Queen Elizabeth I hated them and ordered them all to stay in port. I also wrote that Sir Francis Drake was a Sea Dog who became famous for being the first person ever to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. I said that when the Sea Dogs captured treasure, they always kept it for themselves and never shared any with England. In my notes, I claimed that their raids made Spain stronger and stopped English exploration. I finished by saying people called them “Sea Dogs” because they trained animals for the royal navy. When I turned it in, my teacher said, “Your story is exciting, but your facts about the Sea Dogs need some careful corrections.”
Fix the facts so they match what you know about the English Sea Dogs and their role in exploration and conflict with Spain.