Admiral Sir John Hawkins was an English slave trader, naval commander and administrator, merchant, navigator, shipbuilder and privateer.
Background
Hawkins was born in 1532, to a prominent family in Plymouth in the county of Devon. He was the second Bastard of William Hawkins and Joan Trelawny, daughter and sole heir of Roger Trelawny of Brighton, Cornwall. William Hawkins was a merchant, shipowner and sea captain who successfully avoided permanent entanglement with either of the religious factions in the English Reformation, serving in Parliament under both Henry VIII and Mary I. William was especially well known in the court of Henry VIII as one of the principal sea captains, dating from his voyage to the New World in about 1527 (a first for an Englishman). The young John and his older brother grew up following their father's trade.
Education
Hawkins's letters and memoranda suggest that he was not very well educated.
Career
As a youth, Hawkins made a number of voyages to the Spanish-held Canary Islands, where he first learned of the profits to be made from selling African slaves in Spain's American colonies. Gonson and his friends helped supply Hawkins with three ships for his first slaving voyage, in 1562.
Ignoring Portugal's nominal control over Africa, he captured several hundred people into slavery. Sailing to Cuba, he exchanged his live cargo for enough "hides, ginger, sugar, and pearls" to fill his original fleet and two more ships. By September 1563 he and three of his vessels were safely back in England; the others had been sent to Spain.
English trading rights with Spain and its possessions had been secured by treaties in the reign of Henry VII. The Spanish maintained that their American colonies were not included in these agreements and virtually prohibited foreign trade with the New World. Since Hawkins had failed to obtain a proper license, his ships which reached Spain were seized, and their rich cargoes confiscated.
Although Hawkins's efforts to regain his goods proved futile, his profits were enormous. Courtiers and nobles joined merchants and naval officials in backing a new expedition in 1564, and Elizabeth loaned Hawkins a ship, the Jesus of Lubeck. After some fighting against Africans, the slave-laden fleet made a slow passage to the Venezuelan coast. There the English found that the Spanish government, alarmed by Hawkins's earlier activities, had forbidden the colonists to trade with foreigners. To persuade them to break the law, Hawkins landed armed parties which (without actually fighting anyone) "captured" towns long enough to set up a brisk trade and to provide alibis for nervous local authorities. The profits of this voyage far exceeded those of the first, and a third expedition seemed inevitable.
Moderates on the Privy Council blocked the intended voyage for a year, during which time Hawkins's fleet, anchored in Plymouth harbor, fired on several Spanish ships which had attempted to approach too closely. By October 1567, while the Spaniards were still protesting this incident, Hawkins sailed for the west coast of Africa. With him again was the Queen's Jesus and, among some smaller ships, the Judith, commanded by his relative Francis Drake.
At first all went as before. Portuguese and Africans alike were unable to resist the English, and the Spaniards in the New World were readily coerced into illicit trade. Then, in September 1568, pleading the effects of a storm on his flotilla, Hawkins put into the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulla (Veracruz), where he hoped to sell his remaining cargo while refitting. A day later a well-armed Spanish fleet anchored in the harbor. Despite pledges of good faith, fighting broke out, and the English had the worst of it. Hawkins was forced to abandon most of his companions, goods, and ships and, after an agonizing passage, reached England in January 1569.
Forbidden to attempt the forcible release of his friends, Hawkins pretended to join the service of the King of Spain. With the approval of the Privy Council he so deceived Philip II that the King released the captives, made Hawkins a grandee, and sent him £40, 000; the voyage had finally shown a profit.
During the 1570s and 1580s Hawkins left the sea. He became member of Parliament for Plymouth, survived an attempted assassination, and succeeded his late father-in-law as treasurer and then as comptroller of the navy. Hawkins prospered in his new posts; while his ethics were certainly questionable, he made many improvements in naval construction. When war came with Spain in 1587-1588, the English ships designed and fitted by Hawkins proved far superior to those of the enemy. As commander of the Victory (built to his specifications) and rear admiral of the fleet, Hawkins was knighted for his part in the English victory. Paradoxically, Spain's navy improved after its defeat, and Hawkins's first post-Armada venture in company with Martin Frobisher was a dismal failure.
By August 1595 Hawkins was at sea once more; as second-in-command to Drake, he went again to the West Indies on what was to prove an English disaster. He, however, died before the voyage was well under way and was buried at sea off Puerto Rico on November 12, 1595. Hawkins willed a large sum of money to Elizabeth, but his most valuable legacy was to the nation as a whole: the eminently seaworthy ships he had designed and built.
Achievements
Hawkins was considered the first English trader to profit from the Triangle Trade, based on selling supplies to colonies ill-supplied by their home countries, and their demand for African slaves in the Spanish colonies of Santo Domingo and Venezuela in the late 16th century. One of the foremost seamen of his time, Hawkins was the chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. He was knighted for gallantry.
There is not much known about Hawkins's religious belief. He just followed his gut and all he ever cared and worshiped was his ships and the sea.
Views
Hawkins was a true lover of his ships and voyages. However, he had his own thoughts that helped him to around countries, travel unlimited in the seas and make trades with countries that were new to trades.
Quotations:
"Our ships, God be thanked, have received little hurt."
"The men have long been unpaid and need relief."
"Like all citizens, Ms. McNeill has the right to be free from unlawful employment practices such as sex discrimination and retaliation."
"This kind of prelude was succeeded by the concerto itself which he executed with a degree of spirit and firmness that no one has ever pretended to equal."
Membership
Parliament for Plymouth
,
United Kingdom
Connections
In 1559 Hawkins married Katharine Gonson, the daughter of the treasurer of Queen Elizabeth I's navy.
Father:
William Hawkins
Mother:
Joan Trelawny
She was the daughter and sole heir of Roger Trelawny of Brighton, Cornwall.
