John Hawkins, the son of
a merchant, was born in Plymouth in 1532.
He became a sea captain and in 1562 became the first Englishman to
start capturing people in Sierra Leone and selling them as slaves
to Spanish settlers in the Caribbean. The following year his cousin,
Francis Drake, joined him in these activities.
As it was illegal for the settlers to buy from foreigners, Hawkins
and Drake soon came into conflict with the Spanish authorities.
In 1571 Hawkins was involved
in a plot with Philip II to assassinate
Elizabeth I. However, he changed sides
and his information helped William Cecil
to have the main conspirators arrested and executed.
Hawkins was rewarded by
being appointed Treasurer of the Navy. In 1577 John Hawkins helped
to introduce a new type of warship. This ships were longer in relation
to their breadth (about three to one) and with the forcecastle and
sterncastle greatly reduced. The mainmast was placed further forwardand
the sails were flatter. This ships were more manoeuvrable than any
warships that had been built before.
In July 1588 131 ships
in the Spanish Armada left for England.
The large Spanish galleons were filled with 17,000 well-armed soldiers
and 180 Catholic priests.
On hearing the news Charles
Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, held a council-of-war.
Lord Howard decided to divide the fleet into squadrons. Hawkins, Francis
Drake and Martin Frobisher were
chosen as the three other commanders of the fleet.
Howard went in his flagship,
the Ark Royal (800 tons and a
crew of 250). Frobisher was given command of the largest ship in the
fleet, the Triumpth (1,110 tons
and a crew of 500 men) whereas Drake was the captain of the Revenge
(500 tons and a crew of 250) and Hawkins was aboard the Victory
(800 tons and a crew of 250).
Lord Howard decided that
the Spanish Armada should be attacked at both ends of the crescent.
The Ark Royal attacked the right
wing and the Revenge and the Triumph
attacked Juan Martinez, de Recalde, commander of the Biscayan squadron
on the left. Recalde on board the San Juan
de Portugal decided to come out and fight the English ships.
He was followed by Gran Grin and
the two ships soon got into trouble and had to be rescued by the Duke
of Medina Sidonia on board the San Martin.
At the end of the first
day's fighting, only one ship was sunk. This was Spain's San
Salvador when a tremendous explosion tore out its stern
castle and killed 200 members of the crew. It was later discovered
that a gunner's carelessness resulted in a spark reaching the gunpowder
in the rear hold.
The following morning Francis
Drake and the crew of Revenge
captured the crippled Rosario.
This included Admiral Pedro de Vales and all his crew. Drake also
found 55,000 gold ducats on board.
That afternoon Medina Sidonia
announced that if any Spanish ship broke formation the captain would
be hanged immediately. He also told his captains that they must maintain
a tight formation in order to prevent further attacks from the English
ships. This decision meant that they could only move towards Dunkirk
at the speed of the slowest ship.
Constantly harassed by
the English ships the slow moving Spanish
Armada eventually reached Calais without further loss. The English
fleet now dropped anchor half a mile away. Soon afterwards they were
joined by Lord Henry Seymour and his squadron of ships that had been
controlling the seas off Dunkirk. This increased the English fleet
by a third and was now similar in size to that of the Spanish fleet.
The Duke
of Medina Sidonia now sent a message to the Duke
of Parma in Dunkirk: "I am anchored here two leagues from
Calais with the enemy's fleet on my flank. They can cannonade me whenever
they like, and I shall be unable to do them much harm in return."
He asked Parma to send fifty ships to help him break out of Calais.
Parma was unable to help as he had less than twenty ships and most
of those were not yet ready to sail.
That night Medina Sidonia
sent out a warning to his captains that he expected a fire-ship attack.
This tactic had been successfully used by Francis
Drake in Cadiz in 1587 and the fresh breeze blowing steadily from
the English fleet towards Calais, meant the conditions were ideal
for such an attack. He warned his captains not to panic and not to
head out to the open sea. Medina Sidonia confidently told them that
his patrol boats would be able to protect them from any fire-ship
attack that took place.
Medina Sidonia had rightly
calculated what would happen. Charles Howard
and Francis Drake were already organizing
the fire-ship attack. It was decided to use eight fairly large ships
for the operation. All the masts and rigging were tarred and all the
guns were left on board and were primed to go off of their own accord
when the fire reached them. John Young, one of Drake's men, was put
in charge of the fire-ships.
Soon after midnight the
eight ships were set fire to and sent on their way. The Spaniards
were shocked by the size of the vessels. Nor had they expected the
English to use as many as eight ships. The Spanish patrol ships were
unable to act fast enough to deal with the problem. The Spanish captains
also began to panic when the guns began exploding. They believed that
the English were using hell-burners (ships crammed with gunpowder).
This tactic had been used against the Spanish in 1585 during the siege
of Antwerp when over a thousand men had been killed by exploding ships.
The fire-ships did not
in fact cause any material damage to the Spanish ships at all. They
drifted until they reached the beach where they continued to burn
until the fire reached the water line. Medina
Sidonia, on board the San Martin,
had remained near his original anchorage. However, only a few captains
had followed his orders and the vast majority had broken formation
and sailed into the open sea.
At first light Medina Sidonia
and his six remaining ships left Calais and attempted to catch up
with the 130 ships strung out eastwards towards the Dunkirk sandbanks.
Some Spanish ships had already been reached by the English fleet and
were under heavy attack. San Lorenzo,
a ship carrying 312 oarsmen, 134 sailors and 235 soldiers, was stranded
on the beach and was about to be taken by the English.
With their formation broken,
the Spanish ships were easy targets for the English ships loaded with
guns that could fire very large cannon balls. The Spanish captains
tried to get their ships in close so that their soldiers could board
the English vessels. However, the English ships were quicker than
the Spanish galleons and were able to
keep their distance.
The battle of Gravelines
continued all day. One of the most exciting contests was between Francis
Drake in the Revenge and Duke
of Medina Sidonia in the San Martin.
Drake's ship was hit several times before being replaced by Thomas
Fenner in the Nonpareil and Edmund
Sheffield in the White Bear, who
continued the fight without success.
All over the area of sea
between Gravelines and Dunkirk fights took place between English and
Spanish ships. By late afternoon most ships were out of gunpowder.
The Duke of Medina Sidonia was now forced to head north with what
was left of the Spanish Armada. The English
ships did not follow as Charles Howard
of Effingham, Lord High Admiral, was convinced that most Spanish ships
were so badly damaged they would probably sink before they reached
a safe port.
That evening Francis
Drake wrote to a friend: "God hath given us so good a day
in forcing the enemy so far to leeward, as I hope in God the Duke
of Parma and the Duke of Sidonia shall not shake hands this few days".
John Hawkins was also pleased with his day's work: "All that
day Monday we followed the Spaniards with a long and great fight,
wherein there was great valour showed generally by our company...
Our ships, God be thanked, have received little hurt."
Hawkins also showed concern
for his men: "The men have long been unpaid and need relief."
Charles Howard was also angry that
his men had not received their wages. He was also disturbed by the
condition of his men. The lack of fresh water caused an outbreak of
disease. As they were still waiting for their wages to be paid they
were even unable to buy fresh food for themselves. Howard wrote bitterly:
"It is a most pitiful sight to see, here at Margate, how the
men, having no place to receive them into here, die in the streets.
I am driven myself, of force, to come a-land, to see them bestowed
in some lodging; and the best I can get is barns and outhouses. It
would grieve any man's heart to see them that have served so valiantly
to die so miserably."
After the Armada rounded
Scotland it headed south for home. However, a strong gale drove many
of the ships onto the Irish rocks. Thousands of Spaniards drowned
and even those who reached land were often killed by English soldiers
and settlers. Of the 25,000 men that had set out in the Armada, less
than 10,000 arrived home safely.
For his role in the victory
Hawkins was knighted by Elizabeth I.
Sir John Hawkins
went on another exhibition to the Caribbean and died in Puerto Rico
in 1595.
Spanish
Armada Activities
(1)
John Hawkins, letter sent to Francis
Walsingham after the battle of Gravelines
(July, 1588)
All that
day Monday we followed the Spaniards with a long and great fight,
wherein there was great valour showed generally by our company ...
In this fight there was some hurt done among the Spaniards... Our
ships, God be thanked, have received little hurt. . . Now their fleet
is here, and very forcible, it must be waited upon with all our force,
which is little enough. There should be an infinite quantity of powder
and shot provided... The men have long been unpaid and need relief.
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Although
his cousin Sir Francis Drake is more famous, Sir John Hawkins
(1532-1592) was a more successful seaman and played a pivotal
role in the history of England and the emergence of the global
slave trade. Although he committed treason, murder and adultery
at various points in his career, he was nonetheless knighted
in 1588 for his role in defeating the Spanish Armada. In this
impressive book, Harry Kelsey, research scholar at the Huntington
Library, tells the story of this extraordinary man. (Harry Kelsey,
Yale University Press, ISBN 0 300 09663 1, £25.00)
|
Harry
Kelsey, Sir John Hawkins (Yale University Press)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
