He is considered to be the first English merchant to profit from the Triangle Trade, selling enslaved people from Africa to the Spanish colonies in the West Indies in the late 16th century.

In response, along with his cousin Sir Francis Drake, he raised a fleet of ships to attack the Spanish in the West Indies.

John Hawkins was born to a prominent family of ship builders and captains in the naval port of Plymouth in Devon.

[6] Hawkins made voyages to the Canary Islands in the years leading up to 1561, and there he had learnt about the Atlantic slave trade – taking people from Guinea off the African coast and selling them in the Spanish Caribbean colonies.

The queen allowed Hawkins to charter one of her ships for the trip, the 700 Ton Jesus of Lübeck and for it to fly her flag, the Royal Standard.

[6] On 3 April 1565, Hawkins arrived at Borburata in Venezuela, as trade was prohibited, he carried out a fake threat of force with the local governor's collusion.

[6] Hawkins brought back to England the sweet potato and tobacco, which was initially used as a narcotic; smoking did not gain in popularity until years later.

[14][15] The queen had forbidden Hawkins from going to sea but she relented, and he arranged a third slave voyage, departing Plymouth on 2 October 1567.

Arriving at the African coast, he could not secure enslaved people with ease because the local Portuguese agents were unwilling to trade with him.

At Rio de la Hacha, the governor refused him permission to trade, so Sir Francis Drake shot at his house and Hawkins took over the town in a battle, before selling the enslaved people.

[6] In 1578 Hawkins was appointed Treasurer of the Navy, briefly he worked alongside his father-in-law, Benjamin Gonson, before taking full control of the position.

The commission, under William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Francis Walsingham, and Drake, concluded that there was no corruption, and that the Queen's Navy was in first-rate condition.

Hawkins had an extensive influence on the outcome of the engagement not only through his command, but because his improved ship designs, while acting as Treasurer of the Navy, had given the fleet more firepower and speed.

[6] After that victory, Hawkins urged the seizure of Philip II's colonial treasure, in order to stop Spain re-arming.

One decisive action might have forced Philip II to the negotiating table and avoided fourteen years of continuing warfare.

Instead, the voyage failed and the King was able to use the brief respite to rebuild his naval forces and, by the end of 1589, Spain once again had an Atlantic fleet strong enough to escort the American treasure ships home.

[6] In 1593, Richard Hawkins, his son, was defeated and captured by the Spanish at a naval battle called the action of San Mateo Bay.

With his cousin, Sir Francis Drake, John Hawkins raised a fleet of 27 ships to attack the Spanish in the West Indies.

The historian Geoffrey Elton appraised Hawkins as "one of the founding-fathers of England's naval tradition ... he was a man of commanding presence and intellect, of outstanding abilities as a seaman, administrator, fighter and diplomat.