John Hawkins

:(Disambiguation: you may be looking for Sir John Hawkins - the friend, attorney, executor and biographer of Dr. Samuel Johnson).

1570-1587

Hawkins pretended to be part of the Ridolfi plot to betray Queen Elizabeth in 1571. He offered his services to the Spanish, in order to obtain the release of prisoners and to discover plans for the proposed Spanish invasion of England.

Related Topics:
Ridolfi plot - 1571 - Spanish - Prisoner

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His help in foiling the plot was rewarded, and in 1571 Hawkins entered Parliament to become an MP. He also became Treasurer (1573 - 1589) and Controller of the Royal Navy.

Related Topics:
1571 - Parliament - MP - 1573 - 1589 - Royal Navy

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His Navy financial reforms upset many who had vested interests - principally Baker and Pett - and these concocted a Royal Commission on Fraud against him in 1583. But he was found innocent.

Related Topics:
Baker - Pett - 1583

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John Hawkins was determined that his navy, as well as having the best fleet of ships in the world, would also have the best quality of seamen, and so petitioned and won a pay increase for sailors, arguing that a smaller number of well motivated better paid men would achieve substantially more than a larger group of disinterested men.

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Hawkins made important improvements in ship construction and rigging, he is less well known for his inventiveness as a shipwright, but it was his idea to add to the caulker's work by the finishing touch of sheathing the underside of his ships with a skin of nailed elm planks sealed with a combination of pitch and hair smeared over the bottom timbers, as a protection against the worms which would attack a ship in tropical seas. Hawkins also introduced detachable topmasts that could be used in good weather and hoisted in heavy seas. Masts were more forward, and sails flatter. His ships were longer and the forecastle and sterncastle were greatly reduced in size.

Related Topics:
Rigging - Caulk - Elm - Pitch - Forecastle - Sterncastle

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