John Hawkins

Who was John Hawkins?

Admiral Sir John Hawkins was an English shipbuilder, naval administrator and commander, merchant, navigator, pirate and slave trader. He was considered the first English trader to profit from the Triangle Trade, based on selling African slaves in the Spanish colonies of Santo Domingo and Venezuela in the late 16th century.

As treasurer and controller of the Royal Navy, Hawkins rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588. One of the foremost seamen of 16th-century England, Hawkins 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. He later devised the naval blockade to intercept Spanish treasure ships leaving Mexico and South America.