From the beginning of the disturbances in the Low Countries his vessels cruised in the Channel; nominally privateers, they bore a close resemblance to pirates.
On 20 January 1568–69, he sent to Cecil the news of the disastrous defeat of his brother John at San Juan de Lua, and requested that a share of the Spanish goods detained in Plymouth might be allotted to him in compensation.
These ships were apparently owned jointly with his brother John; it is impossible to distinguish between the two, the more so as neither of them seems to have taken any personal part in the acts complained of; but the name of Hawkyns, in its French form Haquin, or in Spanish Achines, became a sound of terror in the narrow seas.
[3] During his third mayoralty he helped to fit out from Plymouth seven ships against the Armada, was active in collecting reinforcements for the fleet, and in April 1589 contributed 25l.
He died on 7 October 1589, and was buried in the church of St. Nicholas, Deptford, where a monument to his memory was erected by his brother, but no trace of it now remains.