John Hawkins

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

Early career

John Hawkins was probably the first major English slave trader, although some point to John Lok in 1553. His first voyage, of 1562, led three small ships to the Sierra Leone coast in order to capture slaves. He left Africa with a cargo of around 300, having seized them from the Portuguese. Despite having two ships seized by the Spanish authorities, he sold the slaves in St. Domingo and thus made a profit for his London investors. His voyage caused the Spanish to ban all English ships from trading in their West Indies colonies.

Related Topics:
Slave trader - John Lok - 1553 - 1562 - Sierra Leone - Portuguese - Spanish - St. Domingo

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In 1564 the Queen rented him a huge old 700-tonne ship the Jesus of Lubeck, and he set forth on his second voyage along with three small ships. This was a longer and more extensive voyage than the first. In conducting several inept slave-raids, he alienated the Portuguese who were used to dealing peacefully with local leaders for slaves. The Portuguese then misled him about the presence of gold at Bymba, which he disastrously attacked. Giving up the idea of raiding, he later canoed up river south of Taggarin (Cape Tagrin) where the expedition purchased slaves from local leaders. The expedition again proved a financial success, although he had to force the Spanish colonies to trade with him at gunpoint.

Related Topics:
1564 - Bymba - Taggarin - Cape Tagrin

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His third voyage was in 1567. Hawkins again traded for slaves with local leaders, and also augmented his cargo by capturing the Portuguese slave ship Grace of God and its human cargo. He took about 400 slaves across the Atlantic on the third trip. At Vera Cruz he was chanced upon by a strong Spanish force that was bringing the new viceroy to the colony there. Only two of the English ships escaped destruction, and Hawkins' voyage home was a miserable one.

Related Topics:
1567 - Vera Cruz

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Although his first three voyages were semi-piratical enterprises, Queen Elizabeth I was in need of money and England saw pirates as fighting England's battles at their own cost and risk.

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