SIR FRANCIS DRAKE AND THE WEST COUNTRY MEN, EVIL SLAVE TRADERS

I was born in Yealmpton in 1948, and brought up in Plymouth, where I attended Hyde Park Primary. I can remember Miss Hannaford, when I was about 9, extolling the virtues of the British Empire, and of Sir Francis Drake, one of the greatest explorers to sail out of Plymouth during the Elizabethan age. Three times Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Drake is honoured by a statue on Plymouth Hoe, close to a bowling green which is named after him. During my lifetime, I have heard lots of bad things about Drake, but I only just learnt from my flatmate what an utterly evil slave trader he was. (Along with Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Richard Grenville, and Sir Walter Raleigh, and others known collectively as the West Country Men who conspired to found the beginnings of the British Empire). I'm not sure anymore as to whether I'm proud of the history of Plymouth.



                                                           




                                                       ARTICLE BY TIM VICARY


 Here is the evidence. In 1567 the young Francis Drake sailed to Sierra Leone in a fleet commanded by his cousin, John Hawkins. Here they bought, stole and captured some 500 African slaves which they transported to the Spanish Main and sold to Spanish colonists. But although the colonists were happy to buy the slaves, they were less happy about the vendor; their King, Philip of Spain, had made it very clear that English and French merchants should be kept out of his New World Empire, and treated as pirates.
                                                          DRAKE WIKI

                                                          BIOGRAPHY.COM

                                                          STUMU HISTORY MEDIA

                                                          HISTORIC UK

                                                          IMPERIAL PLYMOUTH

                                                          HISTORIC LANDMARKS

Although every location in Britain, however large or small, oozes history and heritage, there are not many places which can challenge Plymouth in the way that its history connects it to so much of the wider World. This is due to Plymouth's central role in Britain's maritime history and in particular the role of the Royal Navy and the Dockyards built to service it. For much of its history, Plymouth's fortunes have risen and to some extent fallen with the ebb and flow of Empire. Plymouth led the way in the initial and crucial phase of England's exploration and its search for new trading opportunities during the Tudor era. It served as a base to help defend the islands from becoming a colony of other powers, be it Spain, France or any other would-be invader. South West mariners were at the forefront of colonisation in the recently discovered New World lands of North America and the Caribbean. Geographically, the South West peninsular provided an ideal starting point for anyone wishing to travel across the Atlantic or further afield after marine technology opened up this new highway of trade, exploration and colonisation
                                                                         

BBC HOME

England's first slave trader The English chapter in the history of African slavery began in Plymouth and is remembered every year. Each year, African Remembrance Day pays homage to the millions of Africans who perished during 500 years of enslavement.

Held every year on 1 August, African Remembrance Day reflects on the lessons and challenges resulting from over 500 years of African enslavement. It brings people together in mourning for those who perished during this painful period  in Africa's long and turbulent history. Interestingly the English chapter in the history of slavery begins in Plymouth. John Hawkins was England's first slave trader. In 1562 he sailed from The Barbican in Plymouth with three ships and violently kidnapped about 400 Africans in Guinea, later trading them in the West Indies. A bound slave was Hawkins' crest Between 1562 and 1567 Hawkins and his cousin Francis Drake made three voyages to Guinea and Sierra Leone and enslaved between 1,200 and 1,400 Africans. According to slavers' accounts of the time this would probably have involved the death of three times that number. The pattern was consistent. Hawkins sailed for the west coast of Africa and, sometimes with the help of other African natives, kidnapped villagers. He would then cross the Atlantic and sell his cargo, or those who survived the voyage, to the Spanish. The slave trade was better business than plantations. Hawkins' personal profit from selling slaves was so huge that Queen Elizabeth I granted him a special coat of arms, which has a c. He was appointed as Treasurer for the Navy in 1577 and knighted in 1588 by the Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, following the defeat of the Spanish Armada. For Hawkins, the trade ended in 1567 when his fleet, which included a ship commanded by Francis Drake, took shelter from a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. The Spanish were also there. In the chaos and fight that followed, many of his men were killed. Remembering African ancestors Hawkins escaped in one ship and Drake in another. He'd lost 325 men on that voyage but it still showed a financial profit. However, slavery continued after Hawkins and, although banned in England in 1772, it continued in the colonies until the 19th century. In Plymouth there are numerous public monuments to his achievements, including Sir John Hawkins Square. While Plymouth has publicly remembered John Hawkins as 'England’s first slave trader', there are no public monuments to the thousands of Africans killed and enslaved by Hawkins and Drake - nor the millions who perished in the period that followed. African Remembrance Day pays homage to those who perished and those who survived. Portrait of Sir John Hawkins (1532–95) 16th century oil by unknown artist Copyright National Maritime Museum