THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



Orders were at once despatched to the Indies that no 

 English vessel should be allowed to trade there. 



Hawkins intended to trade there. In 1564 he 

 equipped a fleet of five ships, among them the Jesus 

 of Lubecky a ship of the Royal Navy, lent him by the 

 Queen. He collected his negroes and proceeded with 

 them, this time, to the ports of the Spanish Main. 

 Negro slaves were much coveted ; and by a mixture of 

 persuasion and armed force he succeeded in disposing 

 of them all. He brought back to England a handsome 

 profit for those who had financed his expedition. 

 The of air of Y{\s third voyage, begun in 1567, is a date in English 

 Ulioa. history. It brought him into open conflict with the 



Spanish galleons ; it proved the weakness of the Spanish 

 power ; it settled him in his life-long enmity to Spain ; 

 and it baptised with fire the greatest fighting sailor of the 

 age, Francis Drake. The father of Francis was Edmund 

 Drake, a Protestant seaman, who, after performing a 

 chaplain's duties in Edward VTs Navy, took orders 

 and was given a Vicarage under Elizabeth. He had 

 twelve sons ; ' and as it pleased God to give most of 

 them a living on the water, so the greatest part of them 

 died at sea.' The eldest and most famous of them had 

 been conversant with the sea from boyhood, and when his 

 Hawkins and cousin, John Hawkins, was preparing this third expedi- 

 Drake. tion, he was entrusted, at the age of twenty-two, with the 



command of the Judith^ a bark of fifty tons. The Queen 

 contributed two great ships, and did her best to allay the 

 suspicions of the Spanish ambassador. Hawkins had 

 more trouble than formerly in laying hands on his 

 negroes, and much more trouble in disposing of them. 

 The West Indian ports were warned and closed against 



48 



