A few years later John Lambert, a former general of the New Model Army in the English Civil War, was moved to Drake's Island from Guernsey, where he had been imprisoned since 1662.

In June 1774 the first recorded submarine fatality in history occurred north of Drake's Island, when a carpenter named John Day perished while testing a wooden diving chamber attached to the sloop Maria.

Following World War II Drake's Island remained under the administration of the War Office, which, despite having announced in 1956 that it was no longer needed for defence purposes, did not finally vacate the island until 1963, when Plymouth City Council obtained a lease from the Crown with the aim of establishing a youth adventure training centre there.

In the end, a bidding war commenced between the then Plymouth Argyle chairman, Dan McCauley, and a Cheshire-born businessman who wanted to open it to the public.

[4] In 2003, Plymouth City Council turned down a planning application from McCauley to build a hotel and leisure complex complete with helipad.

[citation needed] By 2014 the island contained derelict military barracks and buildings from the Napoleonic era, and an MoD radio mast.

[5] With planning consent secured in April 2017, details were released showing how the Grade II-listed Island House, barracks block and ablutions building could be linked to form a £10 million-plus hotel and spa complex containing 25 bedrooms.

[7] Phillips plans to open the island to the public with a museum and heritage centre, thirty years after previously closing.