The Drake-captured rumor raced across all Europe within days

Evidence

Drake is captured! The news winged its way from Cologne to Mainz and so to Munich, Linz and Vienna. Drake is captured! Paris told Lyons and Lyons told Turin and Turin told all Italy, though Venice had already had the same story, among others, in its own diplomatic pouches. — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 807

Categorization

• XREF: News-diffusion pattern parallels how viral misinformation spreads along trade/diplomatic routes today. — connects to: A detailed rumor claimed Drake was captured and England’s fleet destroyed — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 803
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 807