Third Voyage (con.) & Unstable Relations

“If all the miseries and troublesome affaires of this sorrowful voyage should be perfectly and thoroughly written, there should need a painful man with his pen, and as great a time as he had that wrote the Hues and deaths of the martyrs. “

~ John Hawkins.

On March 27, 1568 Hawkins and his men reached the Spanish territory of Dominica. They had a very hard time trading slaves, since the King banned any trade with the English. This of course did not stop Hawkins and Francis Drake. In Rio de la Hache, they entered a town by force and “by friendship of the treasurer, [they] obtained a secret trade; where upon the Spaniards resorted us by nigh, and bought of us to the number of 200 Negros” (Hawkins 73). Hawkins was believed to have had a secret Asiento, which literally means “Negros contract” and is an agreement between the Spanish crown and an individual to deliver slaves to Spanish colonies.

In August of the same year, Hawkins and his men were caught up in a huge storm off the coast of Florida. The six ships were severely damaged, so Hawkins took shelter in Port St. John de Ullua. They stayed there for a month with permission from the Viceroy, Don Martin Enriquez. During a dinner, the Viceroy and his Spanish fleet ambushed Hawkins. In Hawkins own account, he writes, “Now when the Jesus and the Minion were gotten aboard two ships, length from the Spanish fleet, the fight began hot of all sides” (Hawkins 78). Most of his ships were destroyed, and his men barely escaped on the Minion.  Hawkins and his men were almost out of food and supplies. When they landed on an Island in hope of finding food and water, half of his men stayed on the Island out of desperation, while Hawkins and the rest sailed home. It is said that many of the men suffered greatly from the Inquisition of Mexico, or were even sold as slaves.

 

Hawkins Coat of Arms

After this third and unfortunate journey, England and Spain had unstable relations. In 1588, Hawkins fought the Spanish again, and was knighted for his leadership. During the 1560’s Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish King’s relations were beginning to deteriorate due to religious differences. King Philip II’s act to suppress the Protestant movement ended up starting a rebellion in the Netherlands. Queen Elizabeth meanwhile, reinstated the Act of Royal Supremacy, which took out any papal authority. Hawkins and Drake were also a leading cause of War. They, with the support of the Queen, wanted to break the Spanish monopoly on the Atlantic Slave Trade. The English do eventually break the Spanish monopoly, but not until the late 17^th century. In 1585, Elizabeth I signed a treaty with the Dutch, to help them rebel against the Spanish rule, thus beginning the Anglo-Spanish War.

Morgan, H. (2006, September 1). Teaching the Armada: An introduction to the Anglo-Spanish War, 1585-1604. History Ireland.

HAWKINS' THIRD SLAVERY VOYAGE. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2015

C N Trueman "Sir John Hawkins"

historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 17 Mar 2015. 19 Nov 2015.

Markham, C., & Hawkins, J. (1878). The Hawkins' voyages during the reigns of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and James I. England: Hakluyt Society.

http://www.slavevoyages.org

SLO # 8,9,&10 

Slave Trade Developments & Hawkins Third Voyage

By the sixteenth century capitalism was growing in Europe. Over sea markets and colonies were becoming popular and more competitive. This time was particularly beneficial for the merchants and pirates. The merchants became a new class and had a strong influence in public affairs. After Hawkins’ first voyage, the government became interested in the Slave Trade. Agricultural developments were also a part of the slave trade. New products being grown and produced over seas also meant more customers. Sugar became one of the main products that came out of English Slave Trade. According to The Transatlantic Slave Trade: A History, “Sugar, almost unknown to medieval Europe, began to be grown on plantations in the Mediterranean during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, moved in the fifteenth century to the Spanish and Portuguese islands in the Atlantic off the African coast, and migrated to America in the sixteenth” (Rawley 9). 

New ship technology started developing in the sixteenth century as well. They needed to be equipped to sail the vast Atlantic Ocean. Ships developed rigging and hull construction, which enabled the ships to cope with Atlantic winds and currents. A quadrant was also developed to make it possible to determine latitudes (Rawley 9).

Hawkins pretty much enterprises slave trading in England. After having a successful voyage, Queen Elizabeth is fascinated by the profits.  Hawkins becomes the “head of a syndicate, and unofficial agent of the crown”(Rawley 131). In 1567, Hawkins set out on another voyage, but this time as an owner of one of the six vessels; the Queen owned two others. His second cousin, Sir Francis Drake was also with Hawkins on this journey. During this voyage, Hawkins became involved in a local African war. John Hawkins himself in, The Hawkins’ voyages during the reigns of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and James I, writes an account of this experience,

        

        There came to us a Negros, sent from a King, oppressed by other Kings his neighbors, desiring our aide, with promise, that as many Negroes as by these wares might be obtained, as well of his part, as of ours, should be at our pleasure: whereupon we concluded to give aide, and sent 120 of our men, which the fifteenth of January, assaulted a town of the Negroes of our Allies adversaries, which had in it 8000 Inhabitants (Hawkins 70).

Thomas Cavendish (1560-92), Sir Francis Drake (1540?-96) and Sir John Hawkins (1532-95)

After this brutal encounter, Hawkins looses six men and forty more were injured, but gains about 500 slaves and other merchandise (Hawkins 72). Hawkins and his fleet of six ships, carrying hundreds of slaves, embark on the journey to the Spanish Americas. Here, he will have a very close encounter with a strong Spanish fleet…

Markham, Clements R., and John Hawkins. "The 3rd Unfortunate Voyage." In The Hawkins' Voyages during the Reigns of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and James I, 70-80. Surrey [England: London : Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1878.

Rawley, James A., and Stephen D. Behrendt. 2005. The Transatlantic Slave Trade : A History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed November 12, 2015).

http://www.slavevoyages.org

SLO #5,6,7

Library to Computer

After we had the librarian come to our class, I went to the library. I went to the library with the hopes of finding a book to check out about my time period but instead I found myself on the computer and searching the online database. I used the steps she showed and found “Factor markets in Nieboer conditions:pre-colonial West Africa,c.1500-c.1900”. It has a lot of information for me to use for my blog post about my time period. Cant wait to use it for my blog post soon.

AUSTIN, GARETH. "Factor Markets in Nieboer Conditions: Pre-Colonial West Africa, c.1500-c.1900." Continuity and Change 24.1 (2009): 23-53. ProQuest. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.

Library

I often come into the Library at my school to study and do homework, but today I went to actually check out a book. I tried to look around the bookshelves on my own for a bit. The overwhelming number of book titles and sections quickly had me confused, so I decided to ask for help at the Reference desk. I told the lady at the desk that I was doing a research project about the British Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade from years 1500 to 1640.  She seemed excited to help me. She showed me how to look up books on the library website, how to find the books, and how to navigate the online database. After she showed me everything I needed to know, I asked for her name (Jean), and thanked her. I then went and tried to look for a book, and I was successful. I checked out a book titled Sins of the Fathers: A Study of the Atlantic Slave Traders 1441-1807.

John Hawkins' Second Voyage

In the last blog post we left off with the introduction of John Hawkins. Upon further research into the voyages of John Hawkins, I discovered Hawkins was actually the captain of all of the ships that sailed in 1563, along with his friend and fellow captain, Hampton. Hawkins was indeed involved with Sir Lionel Duckett and Thomas Lodge, two of the owners of the three ships. Markham states in the book The Hawkins’ Voyages, “his worshipful friends of London: namely, with sir Lionel Duckett, sir Thomas Lodge, and M. Gonson (his father-in-law)… All which persons liked so well of his ' intention, that they became liberal contributors and adventurers in the action” (Markham 5). Having such friends will probably be a factor in the Queen’s decision to promote John’s second voyage.

John Hawkins was from a family of navigators and traders. He made voyages to the Canary Islands as a young boy. Early on, John saw a demand for slaves in St. Domingo and among other places; this sparked his interest in the slave trade and eventually gained support from influential friends. One of those friends would be his soon to be father-in-law, Benjamin Gonson, the Treasurer of the Royal Navy.

John Hawkins

Hawkins second journey was in 1565. Queen Elizabeth owned and leased the ship, Jesus of Lubeck, to Hawkins. There were three other ships that also made the journey: Salomon, Tiger, and Swallow. Out of about a total of 300 slaves, some were disembarked in the port of Isabella, and the rest were sold in the port of Monte Cristo. One of the ships, according to Markham, trying to sell merchandise [slaves] in Spanish territory, was not successful because Hawkins refused to pay the taxes imposed on him by the Spanish. This interaction resulted in a decree banning English ships from trading in the Indies.

Jesus of Lubeck

On their way back, Hawkins ship stopped at a colony in Florida. One of the men traveling with Hawkins was John Sparke. He recounts the experience they had in Florida by describing the environment, “it flourisheth with meadow, pasture ground with woods of cedar and cypres, and other sorts, as better cannot be in the world…”(Sparke 58). He also observed the use of Tobacco, “The Floridians when they travel have a kind of herbe dryed, which with a cane, and an earthen cup in the end, with fire, and the dried herbs put together do suck through the cane the smoke thereof, which smoke satisfieth their hunger”(Sparke 57).  This was the first experience the English had with Tobacco. In an article titled, Tobacco in Colonial Virginia, it states, “The plant had first been brought to England in 1565, perhaps from Florida by Sir John Hawkins, and by the 1610s there was a ready market in Britain for tobacco” (Salmon 2013). The article later goes on to describe the process of Tobacco growing,

 “No matter the variety or where it was planted, tobacco was a notoriously labor-intensive crop…To avoid the time-consuming process of cutting trees and clearing land, planters used the Indian method of cultivation: they girded trees to kill them, burned the underbrush, and then planted tobacco and other crops among the stumps and under dead trees”(Salmon 2013).  

Not only did Tobacco plantations lead to the destruction of the land, it also led to the need for more laborers. Going back to Sparke’s recount of his time in Florida, he already saw the need for more laborers, “And this mayis was the greatest lack they had, because they had no laborers to sowe the same, and therefore to them that should inhabit the land it were requisit to have laborers to till and sowe” (Sparke 57).

Fort Carolina, Florida 

Indians sowing seeds, Florida

SLO 4 & 5

Markham, Clements R., and John Sparke. The Hawkins' Voyages during the Reigns of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and James I. Surrey England: London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1878. Print.

Salmon, E. J., & Salmon, J. Tobacco in Colonial Virginia. (2013, January 29). In Encyclopedia Virginia.