Admiral
Sir John Hawkins (also spelled as
Hawkyns) (
Plymouth 1532 – 12 November 1595) was an
English shipbuilder, naval administrator and commander,
merchant,
navigator, and
slave trader. As treasurer (1577) and controller (1589) of the
Royal Navy, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the
Spanish Armada in 1588. He later devised the naval blockade to intercept
Spanish treasure ships. One of the foremost seamen of 16th-century England, he was the chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. In the battle in which the Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588, Hawkins served as a vice admiral. He was knighted for gallantry.
William, John's father, was a confidant of
Henry VIII of England and one of England's principal sea captains, having sailed to the New World ca. 1527. Sir
Francis Drake, John's second cousin, helped him in his second voyage.
The first Englishman recorded to have taken slaves from Africa was
John Lok, a London trader who, in 1555, brought five slaves from
Guinea. A second London trader taking slaves at that time was William Towerson whose fleet sailed into Plymouth following his 1556 voyage to Africa and from Plymouth on his 1557 voyage. Despite the exploits of Lok and Towerson, John Hawkins of Plymouth is often considered to be the pioneer of the British slave trade, because he was the first to run the
Triangular trade, making a profit at every stop.
listed under 'privateer' by english Wikipedia, e sotto 'pirata' dal wikipediano italiano
