Sir John Hawkins

 

 

Slave-trading pioneer; treasure-hunting pirate; high-ranking naval commander; spy; war hero – Sir John Hawkins was many things to many people. Over 400 years later, his descendants are still apologizing for the part he played in a major crime against humanity – the transporting of slaves from Africa to the Americas.

 

 

The career of Sir John Hawkins illustrates just how closely the expansion of the British empire was connected with violent crime, not only on the high seas but on land. Sir John has the dubious distinction of being the man who pioneered the British slave trade: with the blessing – and financial backing – of Queen Elizabeth I.

Sir John made a number of voyages to Africa to capture slaves, also hijacking foreign slave ships on the way. He then brought the first slaves over from Africa to work in the Caribbean, making himself and the monarchy a handsome profit in the process. Moreover, throughout his long and eventful career, Sir John continued to work as a privateer, targeting mostly Spanish treasure ships, and encouraging other pirates to do the same.

Yet despite this career of lawlessness, Sir John Hawkins became one of the most highly respected seafaring figures of his day. He was an admiral in the Royal Navy, and was knighted for his role in repelling the Spanish Armada. He was also known as an innovator, vastly improving the design of ships in the British naval fleet, and introducing better rates of pay for sailors, which resulted in a much more well-organized force. In addition, he imported a number of new commodities to Britain, including potatoes and tobacco. Few men have had such an impact on history – largely negative, but in some ways positive – as this 16th century adventurer, who appears to have straddled the roles of slave-trading privateer, treasure-hunting pirate, high-ranking naval commander, innovative shipbuilder, reforming administrator and courageous explorer with ease.

 

In search of slaves

John Hawkins was born in Plymouth in 1532, the son of a merchant named William Trelawney and his wife Joan. He was the second cousin of Sir Francis Drake, with whom he was to join forces later in life, when the two fought side by side in the Spanish Armada. Following his father’s footsteps, as a young man Hawkins became a merchant, and soon found a new commodity to import to Europe and the Americas: slaves.

In 1562, Hawkins gathered together a group of investors, assembled a small fleet of ships and made his first voyage to Sierra Leone. On the way, he attacked and overwhelmed a Portuguese slave ship, capturing over 300 slaves. He then travelled on to the African coast, where he captured more slaves, with the help of local slave traders there. Finding a market for them in the Caribbean, he began to ply the trade route across the Atlantic that would become central to one of history’s most appalling crimes against humanity: the wholesale transporting of slaves from Africa to the West Indies and Americas, involving brutality, starvation, disease, death, exploitation and the ultimate decimation and subjugation of generations of African people.

 

Vast profits

Returning to Britain, Hawkins was received with honour, having made a massive profit for his investors, and for his next voyage in 1564, he received royal patronage from Queen Elizabeth I. She helped him to pay for a very large ship, the Jesus of Lubeck, which was accompanied by three smaller vessels. This time, he captured around 400 Africans, transported them across the Atlantic, and sold them as slaves in what is now Colombia. He then set sail for Britain, arriving back two years later. Once again, he was received warmly, having made another vast profit for his investors.

 

Spanish attack

Hawkins’ next voyage, however, was not so successful. He captured around 400 slaves, some of them from Africa and some from a Portuguese slave ship, the Madre de Deus. His passage across the Atlantic was successful, but just as he was entering the waters of what is now Vera Cruz, Mexico, he was attacked by a Spanish fleet. All but two of his ships were destroyed, and he was forced to turn tail and head for home.

Once home, Sir John decided to stay put for a while and became a spy, helping to uncover a Spanish plot to invade Britain, for which he was rewarded with a political post as a Member of Parliament. His wife, Katherine Godson, whom he had married in 1567, had connections in high places as a result of her father Benjamin’s job as treasurer of the Royal Navy. When his father-in-law died, Hawkins took over the post and began to make many reforms in the navy. Such was the opposition from outraged traditionalists that he was taken to court on trumped-up charges of corruption, but the commission set up to investigate the charges cleared him, finding that on the contrary, the Royal Navy had improved considerably since he had taken over.

 

Triumph and disaster

Hawkins’ innovations included reforming pay and conditions for sailors, which produced a more obedient and skilful force. He also pioneered new shipbuilding methods, including caulking the underside of ships so that they were more resistant to rot and worms, and making changes to rigging so that the ships sailed faster. These improvements were to prove crucial in 1588, when the Royal Navy was pitted against the Spanish Armada. Hawkins took part in the battle as Rear Admiral, fighting alongside Francis Drake and Martin Frobisher. As is well known, the Royal Navy were victorious, and Hawkins was knighted, as were Sir Francis and Sir Martin.

In 1589, Hawkins sailed with Drake on a large armed mission to capture the Spanish treasure fleet, but this venture was unsuccessful. He then involved himself in charity work, setting up a hospital. His final voyage, in 1595, was a treasure-hunting expedition to the Caribbean, again with Sir Francis Drake, but this ended in disaster when both of them became ill with dysentery, and died off the coast of Puerto Rico.

 

Final legacy

Sir John wrote an account of his third voyage to Africa, which is entitled An Alliance to Raid for Slaves. This gave an explanation of the slave trade at the period, describing how the raids took place with the help and support of African merchants who were willing to sell their countrymen and women for profit, a situation which still exists to this day in many African countries. There seems to have been little understanding on his part that the slaves were human beings and should be treated as such; instead, they were captured like animals and shipped abroad to labour without pay in the plantations of the Caribbean, in a sickening trade that lasted for hundreds of years, until the abolition of slavery in the 19th century.

Thus, despite his many positive innovations, Sir John is remembered for a negative one: the pioneering of the British slave trade. In 2006, Sir John Hawkins’ descendant Andrew Hawkins gave a public apology for his ancestor’s behaviour, travelling to Sierra Leone to speak in front of a crowd of 25,000. When asked whether it was worth saying sorry for crimes that took place over 400 years ago, he replied simply, ‘Yes. It’s never too late to say sorry.’ However, as some commentators have pointed out, Europeans like Sir John Hawkins were not solely to blame for the slave trade: it was rife in Africa well before he began to participate in it, and today, continues to be a shameful reality in many African countries.