English Sailors

Spain dominated much of the trade with its American territories. English attempts to trade there or seize Spanish treasure challenged that dominance. Elizabeth could benefit from sailors’ successes without paying the entire cost of their expeditions: private investors financed voyages in the hope of sharing the profits.

Hawkins, Drake and Raleigh contributed in different ways. Hawkins developed profitable English involvement in the slave trade; Drake combined privateering with exploration; Raleigh promoted and financed attempts at colonisation.

John Hawkins: profit through the slave trade

John Hawkins was the first English sailor to profit significantly from the transatlantic slave trade. His voyages followed a triangular pattern connecting England, West Africa and the Spanish Caribbean. The people transported across the Atlantic were enslaved Africans, taken by force and sold: these voyages depended on violence and exploitation, not simply an exchange of goods.

On his first voyage in 1562, Hawkins sailed to West Africa carrying cloth and trinkets. He seized enslaved people and transported them to the Spanish West Indies. After selling them, he returned to England with money, hides and sugar. The substantial profit encouraged further investment.

His second voyage in 1564 was financed by a group of investors. Elizabeth supplied one of the ships and held a share in the venture. Again, Hawkins transported enslaved Africans to the Spanish Caribbean and made a profit. The queen’s involvement shows that these voyages were not merely the activities of isolated adventurers: the Crown participated in and benefited from them.

The third voyage, in 1567–1568, ended very differently. Hawkins’s fleet sheltered at the Spanish-controlled Mexican port of San Juan de Ulúa. A newly arrived Spanish fleet initially agreed to a truce, but then attacked. Most English ships were captured or destroyed, although Hawkins escaped.

Francis Drake also took part in this voyage. The attack hardened both men’s hostility towards Spain. It helps explain the connection between attempts to profit from Caribbean trade and later English raids against Spanish ships and possessions.

Francis Drake: privateering against Spain

A privateer attacked another country’s ships with royal backing. Unlike an independent pirate, a privateer had the support of a ruler, although that support was not always openly acknowledged. Elizabeth sometimes backed raiding informally, allowing her to benefit while denying responsibility to Spain.

Drake’s 1572–1573 raids in Panama established his reputation. Spanish silver crossed the Isthmus of Panama on its journey towards Europe. Drake attacked these routes, including Nombre de Dios, and intercepted treasure shipments. His raids therefore targeted the movement of wealth that helped sustain Spanish power.

Privateering offered several benefits. Sailors and investors could gain wealth; Elizabeth could receive a share without funding a complete royal expedition; and England could challenge Spain’s overseas dominance. However, the same attacks increased Spanish anger and worsened relations between the two countries.

Drake’s circumnavigation, 1577–1580

Between 1577 and 1580, Drake became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe: he sailed all the way around the world. His ship was the Golden Hind.

This was not only a voyage of discovery. Drake raided Spanish ports along the South American coast and captured the Spanish treasure ship Cacafuego, which carried a valuable cargo of silver. The voyage produced enormous returns for its investors, and Elizabeth received a share of the profits.

Its importance went beyond the treasure. The voyage expanded English knowledge of Pacific routes and showed that Spanish shipping in those waters was within English reach. It enhanced England’s reputation as a maritime power capable of challenging Spain.

Spain demanded that Elizabeth punish Drake. Instead, she knighted him aboard the Golden Hind after his return. Her response rewarded his achievement and signalled support for a man whose attacks had directly challenged Spanish interests.

Later voyages: from raiding to open confrontation

As relations with Spain deteriorated, Drake’s expeditions became more openly connected with royal policy. In 1585, he attacked Spanish territories in the Caribbean. These raids reflected a shift from less openly acknowledged privateering towards public confrontation.

In 1587, Drake attacked Cadiz, destroying around thirty Spanish ships and seizing supplies. This disrupted preparations for the Spanish Armada and delayed them by about a year. The attack became known as ‘singeing the King of Spain’s beard’: it damaged Spanish preparations without defeating Spain itself.

Not every expedition succeeded. Drake’s 1589 expedition to Portugal failed to achieve its objectives and cost more than it gained. On a final Caribbean expedition in 1595–1596, both Hawkins and Drake died of disease: Hawkins in November 1595 and Drake in January 1596. That expedition also failed.

These setbacks qualify the image of uninterrupted maritime success. Earlier voyages could be highly profitable, but better-defended Spanish shipping and the rising costs of war made later raiding less rewarding.

Walter Raleigh: organising English colonisation

Walter Raleigh was a favourite at Elizabeth’s court. He received a royal patent granting rights to claim land and establish settlements on the North American coast. He named the territory Virginia, in honour of Elizabeth, the ‘Virgin Queen’.

Raleigh’s main contribution was as an organiser, financier and promoter. He arranged attempts to establish a colony on Roanoke Island, off present-day North Carolina, rather than personally leading the settlers.

The first Roanoke colony, 1585–1586, was led by Ralph Lane and contained around one hundred settlers. Supplies became inadequate and relations with local indigenous peoples grew increasingly hostile. When Drake stopped there in 1586 on his return from the Caribbean, the settlers accepted his offer to take them home. The colony was abandoned.

The second attempt began in 1587, when John White led 117 settlers to Roanoke. White returned to England for supplies, but the Armada crisis delayed his return until 1590. He found the settlement empty, with the word ‘CROATOAN’ carved on a post. The settlers’ fate has never been established, and the settlement became known as the Lost Colony.

Why Raleigh’s ambitions had limited results

Roanoke exposed the difficulties of maintaining a distant settlement. Supplies had to cross the Atlantic; journeys were costly and dangerous; and communication was too slow to resolve problems quickly. Private financing was insufficient for the scale of the task. At the first colony, conflict with indigenous peoples compounded these difficulties; at the second, war delayed essential support.

Raleigh also voyaged personally. In 1595, he travelled up the Orinoco River in South America searching for El Dorado, a mythical city believed to contain great quantities of gold. He found nothing of commercial value.

Nevertheless, Raleigh continued to promote colonisation after Roanoke’s failure. His projects helped sustain the ambition to establish English settlements overseas and provided experience for later ventures. No permanent English colony survived Elizabeth’s reign: Jamestown was founded in 1607, under James I. Raleigh’s importance therefore lies more in organising and encouraging colonisation than in achieving a lasting Elizabethan colony.