Around 1540 the ship, which had mostly been used for representative purposes, was acquired by Henry VIII, King of England, to augment his fleet.

She, along with Samson, was used in an unsuccessful attempt to raise Henry VIII’s flagship, Mary Rose, after she foundered during the Battle of the Solent.

In 1563, Jesus of Lübeck was chartered to a group of merchants by Queen Elizabeth I, becoming involved in the Atlantic slave trade and smuggling under John Hawkins, who organized four slave voyages to West Africa and the West Indies between 1562 and 1568.

During the last voyage, Jesus, along with several other English ships, encountered a Spanish fleet off San Juan de Ulúa (modern day Vera Cruz, Mexico) in September 1568.

The heavily damaged ship was later sold for 601 ducats to a local merchant.