She was originally known as Pelican, but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden hind (a female red deer).

Queen Elizabeth I partly sponsored Sir Francis Drake as the leader of an expedition intended to pass around South America through the Strait of Magellan and to explore the coast that lay beyond.

Before setting sail, Drake met the queen face-to-face for the first time and she said to him, "We would gladly be revenged on the King of Spain for divers injuries that we have received.

[3] The design of the Golden Hind was based on the Spanish built nao Victoria,[4] the first ship to circumnavigate the world, and is described as a "mid-16th-century warship during the transition from the carrack to the galleon," and measured about 120 tons.

[7] On 1 March 1579, now in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Ecuador, Golden Hind challenged and captured the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de la Concepción.

[12] Over half of the proceeds went to the crown - her share of the treasure came to at least £160,000: "enough to pay off her entire government debt and still have £40,000 left over to invest in a new trading company for the Levant.

In 1668, the keeper of the stores at Deptford, John Davies of Camberwell, had the best remaining timber of Golden Hind made into a chair now called the Drake Chair which was presented to the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford,[5][13] where it remains (with a replica in the Great Hall, Buckland Abbey, Devon, Drake's home and now maintained by the National Trust).

[16] A replica of Golden Hind has been permanently moored in the harbour of the sea port of Brixham in Devon (GB-TOB 50°23′48″N 3°30′46″W / 50.39667°N 3.51278°W / 50.39667; -3.51278) since 1963 following its use in the TV series Sir Francis Drake, which was filmed in and around the bays of Torbay and Dartmouth.

Since 1996, she has been berthed at St Mary Overie Dock, in Bankside, Southwark, London, where she is open to the public and hosts a range of educational programmes.

[20] A replica of Golden Hind formed part of the children's playground at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, on the recommendation of Agatha Christie.