these two brothers, who received their training in expeditions of discovery.
But they were only the two first among that galaxy of explorers and discoverers who created the English navy and saved England. They were the first, but their compeers Drake and Hawkyns were perhaps the greatest as commanders in war and as administrators in time of peace. John, the son of that famous old William Hawkyns of the Brazil voyages, was born in 1532, and in his youth made divers voyages to the Canary Islands, where he obtained much information respecting the trade of the West Indies. He heard, among other things, that there was a great demand for negroes at St. Domingo and in the Spanish Main, and that they could easily be obtained in Guinea. His plan was approved by several London capitalists, as well as by Mr. Benjamin Gonson, the Treasurer of the Navy, who became the father-in-law of the young adventurer, probably before he sailed.
John Hawkyns was thirty years of age in 1562, when he received command of three ships, the Solomon, of 120 tons, the Swallow, of 100 tons, and the small barque Jonas. The orders he gave to his sailors were: — "Serve God daily; love one another; preserve your victuals; beware of fire; and keep good company." Proceeding to Sierra Leone, he got on board, partly by force and partly by other means, as many as three hundred negroes, besides other merchandise. Crossing the Atlantic, he visited the ports of Isabela, Puerto de Plata, and Monte Christi, on the north coast of the island of Santo Domingo. He disposed of all his negroes, and received in exchange so valuable a cargo that he returned home in September, 1563, with much profit, both to himself and to the merchant adventurers who fitted out the expedition. But Hakluyt was only able to get but a brief account of the first West Indian voyage of John Hawkyns.
The story of the second voyage of John Hawkyns is well told by John Sparke the younger, who was on board one of the ships as a volunteer. On the 18th of October, 1564, four vessels, named the Jesus of Lübeck, of 700 tons, the Solomon, of 140 tons, and the Tiger and Swallow of 50 and 30 tons respectively, sailed from Plymouth under the command of Hawkyns, who proceeded, as on the previous voyage, to the Coast of Africa, and in January, 1565, made sail from Sierra Leone for the West Indies with a cargo of slaves. After touching at Dominica and other islands, Hawkyns anchored off Burburata on the coast of Venezuela. Here he was
