Francis Drake promised his estates to his wife, then signed them to his brother 2 days before dying at sea, and the brother won the lawsuits

Francis Drake bought Buckland Abbey in Devon in 1581 after his voyage around the world. His marriage settlement with the heiress Elizabeth Sydenham, signed on 9 February 1585, required him to leave her Buckland and the manors of Yarcombe, Sherford and Sampford Spiney. Drake's will of August 1595 gave her only the household goods at Buckland and a life lease of the Plymouth mills. On 27 January 1596, at sea, he signed a codicil and an indenture. The indenture settled Buckland and his other English lands on his heirs, and if there were none, on his brother Thomas. The codicil made Thomas sole executor. Yarcombe went to a cousin, Francis Drake of Esher, on condition that he pay Thomas £2,000 within two years. Drake died childless off Portobelo and was buried at sea in a lead coffin. The cousin refused to pay, and the parties went to court. A county court upheld the will in 1598. In the end the courts upheld Thomas's powers as executor. Elizabeth remarried Sir William Courtenay of Powderham. Thomas's line held Buckland as the Drake baronets until the childless 5th Baronet died in 1794. The estate was broken up in 1946. Captain Arthur Rodd bought the abbey and gave it to the National Trust (1947 or 1948; sources differ)^†. In 2011 divers financed by Pat Croce found two of Drake's scuttled ships. The coffin has not been found. Drake's Drum is at The Box, Plymouth.