Plymouth Armada heroes: The Hawkins family
^ I-P j^o(1^A5aMu^ ^ iji) 4^ '% i-fC HVT y^ "cr'Lt^^-<£,ri' /-• '^ ^^ -/5'^^SS- ^«? ■* ^ (Suar^^J^^^g) Plymouth Armada Heroes. O^^^Glgj^i^i^e) Ipmttli ^pada §^ii^: THE HAWKINS FAMILY. Original Portrait^; Coats of Arma and other lUuBtrationg. MARY W. S. HAWKINS. "JV/L D ESPERANDUM.'' "Nothing is to be Despaired of." ' Bold let us follow through the foamy tides, Where fortune better than a father guides, 'Avaunt, Despair!' when Teucer calls to fame, The same your augur, and your guide the same." — Francis. ^ <\ \ PLYMOUTH: WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, GEORGE STREET. mdccclWxxviii. "'Tis opportune to look back upon old times, And contemplate our forefathers ; Great examples grow thin, And to be fetched from the past world." — Sir Thomas Browne to Thomas le Gros. f- tS.ff, I 888 BEING THE TERCENTENARY of the defeat of the Great Armada of Spain, a Narrative of the lives of some members of the Hawkins family of Devon, intimately connected with the Town of Plymouth during the sixteenth century, may be of interest to all West -Country men, especially as three of them. Sir John Hawkins, his elder brother, Captain William Hawkins, and his son. Sir Richard Hawkins, com- manded three ships — the Victory, the Giyfyji, and the Swallow — and greatly distinguished themselves in the several actions against the Spaniards. These three famous sailors may be justly considered the Plymouth Armada Heroes of I 588. ^ir 3JoIjn l^atol^ms. " O ! Famous Ancestor, I boldly claim, For thee and for thy deeds a foremost name. In that great time three hundred years ago When all our strength was taxed '\o ward the blow, Of haughty Philip ; thou to high command Wert by thy Sovereign called, and from the land Thy practised eye, quick glancing o'er the main. Descried afar the galleons of Spain : Then, as they proudly up the Channel sailed, Not for a moment blanched thy cheek or quailed Thy steadfast spirit, eager to pursue Thine ancient foe and contests past renew : See ! Thou art slipped and eager for the fray — The Victory bears exulting on their way Thy gallant Seamen thirsting for the fight. Which made them victors and thyself a Knight ; As Santa Anna fell a noble prize. While rival squadrons looked with wondering eyes On Hawkins, and begrudged him not his fame. Or this fresh triumph added to his name." J. L. H. PREFACE OR some years I have been collecting information about the deeds of our ancestors, but without a thought of publication, until many- friends suggested that I had enough matter — and much that had never been in print — to publish a book, which at this time particularly would be of public interest, and which will, I hope, repay those kind friends and subscribers who have been so ready with their support. I am desirous of expressing my special thanks to the Countess of Rosebery for having a photograph taken for me of the jewel and miniature of Sir John Hawkins in her possession ; also to the Marquis of Lothian for permission to have a photograph of the picture of Hawkins, Drake, and Candish ; to the Governors of Sir John Hawkins's Hospital at Chatham for permission to reproduce the illustration of the chest containing the charter of incorporation granted by Queen Elizabeth, together with the hatchments of coats of arms; to Messrs. Macmillan for the use of their plates of the Armada sailing up Channel ; to the Editor of the Leisure Hour and Mr. Wymper for the loan of the plate of the Ark Royal; to the Rev. Bradford R. J. Hawkins for the photograph of the ivory bust of Sir John Hawkins ; to Mr. R. S. Hawkins for the photograph of the portrait of Sir Richard Hawkins ; to the Hakluyt Society for permission to use their engravings of Slapton ; to Mr. Clements Markham, C.B., f.r.s., for the loan of the block of a vessel of the Armada period, and kind help in many ways ; and to Mr. R. N. Worth, F.G.S,, for his able assistance. viii Preface. I must also acknowledge the courtesy of many of the clergy of South Devon in allowing me to look over their Church Registers to obtain the necessary genealogical information. Besides family and private papers, and manuscripts lent me, my chief authorities are : The State Papers at the Record Office ; Wills at Somerset House, at Exeter, and the Heralds' College ; the Plymouth Corporation Records ; all the County Histories of Devon — Westcote, Risdon, Polwhele, Lysons, Moore, &c. ; Worth's and Jewett's Histories of Plymouth ; Hawkins's and Fox's Kingsbridge ; Hasted's Kent;' Histories of Rochester ; Stow's Sttrvey and Annals ; Camden's Britamtia ; the Collections of Hakluyt and Purchas ; Monson's Naval Tracts ; Lidiard's Naval History ; Abraham Darcie's Annals ; Fuller's and Prince's Worthies ; Barron's Naval Worthies ; Pinkerton's Voyages ; Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins in his Voyage to the SontJi Seas ; Payne's Elizabethan Seamen ; Froude's History of England; Martin's and Duke Yonge's Histories of England ; Creasy 's Battles ; Valentine's Sea Fights ; Worth's Sir John Hazvkins ; Fox Brown's English Merchants, &c. Mary W. S. Hawkins. Hayford Hall, Buckfastleigh, S. Devon. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE William Hawkins the Elder ... ... ... i CHAPTER //. The Second William Hawkins ... ... ••• 8 CHAPTER III. Sir John Hawkins ... ... ... ••• 17 CHAPTER IV. The Armada ... ... ... ... ••• 79 CHAPTER V. Sir Richard Hawkins, "The Complete Seaman" ... iiS CHAPTER VL William Hawkins the Third ... ... ... ••• ••• 142 CHAPTER VII. Descendants of Sir Richard Hawkins ... .•• ••• ••• 16 1 Pedigree (facing) ... ... • • •■• ••• ••• ^7" Appendix ... ... ••• ••• ■•• ••• ••• ^77 " Haile then my native soile ! Thou blessed plot, Whose equall all the world affordeth not ! Show me who can ? So many cristall rils, Such sweet cloth'd vallies, or aspiring hills ; Such wood-ground, pastures, quarries, wealthy mynes, Such rocks in whom the diamond fairly shines, And if the earth can show the like again, Yet will she fail in her sea-ruling men. Time never can produce men to ore-take The fames of Greenvil, Davies, Gilbert, Drake, Or worthy Hawkins, or of thousands more, That by their powers made the Devonian shore Mock the proud Tagus ; for whose richest spoyle The boasted Spaniard left the Indian soyle Bankrupt of store, knowing it would quit cost By winning this though all the rest were lost." — Britannia's Pastorals (Book ii. Song 3). By William Brownk, poet, born  Sir John Hawkins, and  Hospital, Chatham ... 57 Miniature of Sir John Hawkins, and Jewel  Anna" by Sir John Hawkins ...  asterisks are prefixed are in the Superior Edition only. " Plym christneth that town which bears her noble name ; Upon the British coast, what ships yet ever came, That not of Plymouth hears, where those brave navies lie From cannons thund'ring flote, that all the world defy; Which to invasive spoil, when the English list to draw, Have checked Hyberia's pride, and kept her still in awe. Oft furnishing our dames with India's rare devices, And lent us gold and pearl, with silks and dainty spices." — Drayton's Polyolbion. Plymouth Armada Heroes: THE HAWKINS FAMILY. CHAPTER I. 22IilUam iE)a\ultins tlje Cltier, LYMOUTH in the sixteenth century was very different from the Plymouth of the present day. A chart, drawn in the time of King Henry VHL, shows that the whole town was then situated in the neighbourhood of Sutton Pool ; that the Castle stood near where the Citadel now is, the site of which was partly occupied by bulwarks ; and that a chain was thrown across the entrance of Sutton Pool : so that the old town of Sutton, or Plymouth, in appearance and size was something like Dartmouth now, with the houses rising one above another from the water's edge up the hill to St. Andrew's Church and the Castle. The town was incorporated by Act of Parliament of King Henry VI., 1439-1440, "within these bounds" [there was an older corporation of some kind] ; " namely, between the Hill called the Winnrigge and the back of Surpool, towards the North, unto the great ditch, and from thence to the North of Stoke Damerell fleet, by the shore of that fleet to Milbrooke bridge inclusively. From thence toward the East by the Middleditch of Houndscombe bridge to Thornhill Park, thence to Lipson bridge, and from thence by the sea- shore, continuing to the Lare and Catt of Hingston Fishtorre and East King, thence to the said hill of Winnrigge, as the bounds and metes there plainly showed." The Mayor and Commonalty were to hold the Borough of the King by Afis. paid yearly into the Exchequer, and to make stone towers and B Plymouth Arrnada Heroes. fortifications about the town for defence. William Kitherige was the first Mayor appointed by the King, and afterwards the Mayor was to be chosen every year upon St. Lambert's day and sworn on Michaelmas day before 1 1 o'clock. The Mayor and Commonalty to make Burgesses (or Freemen) as often as they pleased for the government of the town. Plymouth was the home or birthplace, not of one distinguished sailor of the Hawkins family only, but of three generations in succession, of men who were celebrated as naval heroes for a period of one hundred years, extending over the reigns of Henry VHI., Edward VI., Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and James I. These Hawkinses were an extraordinary race — "gentlemen," as Prince quaintly phrases, "of worshipful extraction for several descents," but made more worshipful by their deeds. " For three generations they were the master spirits of Plymouth in its most illustrious days ; its leading merchants, its bravest sailors, serving oft and well in the civic chair and in the House of Commons. For three generations too they were in the van of English seamanship ; founders of England's commerce in south and west and east ; stout in fight, of quenchless spirit in adventure — a family of merchants, statesmen, and heroes, to whom our country affords no parallel." Arms of Hawkins and Amadas. The Hawkins Fa7iiily The arms of Hawkins, as given above, were probably used from the time of Edward III. The castle of Manconseil was taken and garrisoned by three hundred men, under Rabigois of Deny, an Irishman, and Franklyn and Hawkins, two English esquires, in 1358. The origin of these arms is most likely from this expedition, the scaling ladder being represented by the saltire, and the fleurs-de-lis being on the standard of France, which was captured. The name of Hawkins is derived from the village of Hawking, in the Hundred of Folkstone. Osbert de Hawking, in the reign of Henry II., was an ancestor of Andrew Hawkins of Nash Court, near Faversham, Kent, in the reign of Edward HI.; which Andrew married Joan de Nash, an heiress, by whom the Hawkinses became possessed of Nash Court, and from whom are descended the Hawkinses of Devon. A branch of the Hawkinses of Nash Court probably settled in Plymouth during the fifteenth century. John Hawkins held lands in the town under the Corporation before 1480, and was dead by or before 1490, when his heirs held them. This was before the Hawkinses were at Tavistock.* William Hawkins, son of John Hawkins (who had lived at Tavistock), and Joan, daughter of William Amadas, of Launceston, was born probably at Plymouth towards the end of the fifteenth century. He was an officer in the navy of King Henry VI H. Being one of the principal sea captains in the West of England, he obtained a high and just reputation for his skill and experience, and was held in great esteem and favour by the King. He is thought to be the same Hawkins who in 15 13 was master of the "Great Galley," one of the i&w Royal ships of that time. This William Hawkins was a man of large fortune and estates, owning considerable property in Plymouth, and one of the richest (if not the richest) men in the town. His name stands fifth on the oldest extant list of Plymouth freemen. He was Receiver of Plymouth in 1 524-1 525 ; and in the Corporation books he is mentioned in 15 27-1 528, when he with others manned the bulwarks to defend the " arrogosye ageynst the ffrenchemen." Item received of tharrogosyef for defending their ship against the French- men that would have taken her, xvj'^ xiv^ iv''. Hawkins also sold to the town a quantity of gunpowder, 196 lbs. at 6d. a lb., and two brass guns, paid for in three annual instalments of £%. The first voyage into the Southern Seas in which any Englishman was * The family occur as holding property in Plymouth in a rent roll of 1485. t The argosy ; probably a large Spanish merchantman. Ply7nouth Armada Heroes. concerned was that of Sebastian Cabot, from Seville to the River Plate, in April, 1527. This expedition was set forth by Spanish merchants; but one Robert Thorne and his partner advanced 1,400 ducats, "principally for that two Englishmen, friendes of mine,* which are somewhat learned in cosmographie, should goe in the same ships, to bring me certain relation of the situation of the country, and to be expert in the nauigation of those seas." The voyage was intended for the Moluccas. We ha>ve no means of knowing who these two " cosmographical Englishmen " were ; but the first independent expeditions, and the first to proceed from England, to the there- after famous Spanish Main, sailed from Plymouth Sound, and were the private ventures of our Plymouth merchant, William Hawkins the elder, who was thus one of the earliest pioneers to Brazil in the reign of Henry the Eighth. As William Hawkins made at least three voyages (the second and third in 1530 and 1532 respectively), his earliest can hardly have been later than 1528, v/hen "he armed out a tall and goodlie ship of his own of 200 tons," called the Paul of Plymouth ; his desire being to venture further than the ordinary short voyages made to the various coasts of Europe at that time. In this ship William Hawkins made his three long and famous voyages to Brazil — "a thing very rare in those days, especially for our nation"! — touching at the coast of Guinea, where he trafficked with the negroes, and procured elephants' teeth and other commodities, and then crossing the Atlantic to Brazil to exchange his cargo for other goods, with which he returned to England. In Brazil he behaved himself so wisely with the savage people that he grew into great familiarity and friendship with them ; insomuch that on his second voyage, in 1530, one of their savage kings was contented to take ship and return with him to see the wonders of England ; Captain Hawkins leaving Martin Cockeram, of Plymouth, behind as a pledge of their king's safe return. They arrived safely in England, and the Brazilian chief was taken to Whitehall and presented to Henry VIII. On seeing him the King and Court were much astonished, and not, as was said, without cause; "for in his cheeks were holes made, and therein small bones were planted, standing an inch out from the said holes, which in his own country was reported for a great bravery. He had also another hole in his nether lip, wherein was set a precious stone about the bigness of a pease ; all his apparell, behaviour, and gesture were very * Thorne. f Hakluyt. The Haivkins Family. strange to the beholders" — as may be imagined; he being the first savage chief brought to England. " Having spent nearly a year in this country, and the King with his sight fully satisfied, Captain Hawkins was returning with him to Brazil ; but it fell out on the way that, by change of air and alteration of diet, the savage king died at sea, which was feared would be the cause of Martin Cockcram, his pledge, being put to death by the savages ; but they were persuaded of the honest dealing of our men with their prince, and restored the hostage to his friends, who with their ship freighted and furnished with the goods of the country, returned to England." Martin Cockeram lived at Plymouth for many years after this adventure. William Hawkins made his third voyage in 1532, and on his return was chosen Mayor of Plymouth, 1532-3. In which year "King Henry VHI. married Anne Bollen, in November, 1532; Queen Katharine being divorced by Parliament. Queen Elizabeth was born 7th September, 1534."* In 1535 Hawkins lent money to the Corporation of Plymouth, receiving ;^4 a year until the loan was returned. He was again Mayor in 1538-9, the year in which the King first established a Council for the West at Tavistock, and images in churches were pulled down. In 1539 he was elected "Burgess," or member of Parliament, with James Horswell. Thus William Hawkins was one of the oldest members of the Plymouth Corporation, when, in 1540, he duly accounted for the proceeds of the "Church juells, plate, and furniture," taken by the Corporation at the Reformation, which had been delivered to him when mayor, and sold, apparently in London. A much larger quantity of Church plate and jewels was handed to him in 1543-4, "to by therw"^ for the towne gunpowder, bowys, & for arrowys." These were purchased in London — 10 barrels of gunpowder, 20 bows, and 30 sheaves of arrows. Plymouth at this time, as would appear from the practical use thus made of the Church property as relics of Popery, had become strongly Puritan. During Queen Elizabeth's reign the local Puritan feeling, moreover, grew by the Huguenots making the port their head-quarters, and also by the frequent expeditions made from Plymouth against the Spaniards. William Hawkins himself was thoroughly imbued with the Reforming spirit. In 1544, William Hawkins purchased the manor of Sutton Valletort, or * Plymouth Corporalion Records, in which it was the custom to enter the more remarkable events, local and national. Ply^nouth Ai^mada Heroes. Vawter (which remained in the Hawkins family until 1637-8), of Sir Hugh Pollard, for 1000 marks; and his other property in Plymouth included quays and warehouses on Sutton Pool. Among the deeds entered in the Plymouth "Black Book" we find, "28*'' Henry VHL, Margery Pyne and others to W"\ Hawkins, merchant, conveyance of a tenement and garden in a certain venella, on the east of Kinterbury Street." In 1545, one between Peter Gryslyng and William Hawkyns ; while 37th Henry VHI. a deed was registered in the " Black Book " transferring property in Plymouth from John Talazon, of North Petherwin, to William Hawkins. In 1545-6, £4. was paid to Wm. Hawkins "for the Burgesses of the Parliament;" while in 1547 he was again chosen to represent the community, and in the following year received £14. for his services. He must have been very popular in Plymouth ; for he was also elected member of Parliament i'^i I553» with Roger Budokeside (a connection of his through his mother, Joan Amadas). He died towards the close of the year. A deed dated 8 February, 1554,* states that "Henry Hawkins clerkf (in orders), recently of Plymouth, brother and heir of William Hawkins Merchant recently deceased, for a sum of money gives up land in Plymouth to William Hawkins son of Joan Trelawny." William Hawkins married Joan, sole daughter and heiress of Roger Trelawny, Esq., of Brightorre, third son of Sir John Trelawny and Blanche Pownde. \ His two sons, William and John Hawkins, the distinguished seamen and naval heroes, entered the service with great advantages, owing to the wealth and experience of their father. * The family of Hawkins of Cornwall also come from and bear the arms of Hawkins of Nash Court, Kent. The ancestor of the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart., of Trewithan, settled in Cornwall in 1554. It is probable that he went into Cornwall from Plymouth, and was the Henry Hawkins mentioned above, who in this year 1554 describes himself as recently of Plymouth. t Edmund Tremayne's father, in 1524, presented Henry Hawkins with the living of Lamerton. X Over the west gate of the town of Launceston, now removed, were the arms and effigy of Henry V., below which was the following rhyme — " He that will do aught for mee, Let hym love well Sir John Tirlawnee." Sir John Trelawny was with the King at Agincourt in 141 5, and as a i^eward for his bravery had the three oak, or laurel leaves, added to the family arms, with a pension of ^20 per annum. The Hawkins Family. Plymotith Armada Heroes. CHAPTER II. Clje ^eronn 2IlilUam i^aUiluns, APTAIN WILLIAM HAWKINS, elder brother of Sir John Hawkins, was admitted to the freedom of Plymouth in 1553, where he held a most influential position, as extracts from the Corporation Records show. He was regarded as Governor of Plymouth ; and had more to do with the affairs of the town than any man of his time. In 1 561 we have "Item paid to M'' Hawkins for money paid at Bristol for inrolling the Charter £\ ;" and also "paid to M' Hawkins for fetching of the Ordynance from the Island to the Castle £2'.' The Hawkinses owned considerable property in the vicinity of Sutton Pool; and in 1558 an Act of Parliament fixed Hawkins's Quay as the sole legal quay for landing goods. It was afterwards the property of Sir John, and then of his son Sir Richard Hawkins. Captain William Hawkins was Mayor of Plymouth in 1567-8, when the earliest code of bye-laws extant for the regulation of Sutton Pool and the shipping therein was passed. Also "the wache on Midsummer night was renewed, which had not been used XX years before that time ;" and the large sum (!) of 2s. A^d. was paid for the "newe cuttinge of the Gogmagoge, the picture of the Giant, at the Hawe." The last vestiges of this ancient memorial on the Hoe disappeared in 1671, no doubt to make room for the Citadel. In this year (1567-8) the war in the Low Countries began; and Mary Queen of Scots fled into England, and was imprisoned in the Castle of Carlisle. * William Hawkins was a large shipowner, and in 1568 his Plymouth cruisers were the terror of Spain ; and not only was he a wealthy shipowner and * Plynionth Corporation Records. I j^J^^'^Ljf^^^ '^^^^^xy^"^^*''^' f^^ft) '^'^'''■^^'1 "^^f^^^ ar^^ o oners t'Cue^ -mo)i'6ccmofy ^/fu/n. ^i/^a^r^^ ^2 (^ Autographs of William Hawkins, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Richard Hawkins. The Hawkins Family. merchant prince, but, like so many members of his family, a renowned sea captain. He saw sharp service in the Spanish Main at Porto Rico, held a commission under the Prince of Conde, and made Cattewater a rendezvous — coming as he did from a staunch Protestant family — of the Huguenot fleet. Elizabeth assisted the Huguenots to maintain the civil war in France by supplying the Prince of Conde with 50,000 crowns and ten ships of war, wherewith he was enabled to raise the blockade of Rochelle, and to take the field with his land forces, which the Duke of Guise had shut up in that port. In 1568 the Duke of Alva had expected* that the wars in the Netherlands would pay their own expenses, and had promised Philip that a stream of gold a yard deep should flow into the Spanish treasury from the confiscated hoards of the heretic traders. The troops had won victories, but they had gained no plunder by them, and were fast breaking into dangerous mutiny. So pressing were the Duke's difficulties that the King of Spain had to borrow ;^ 5 00,000 from two banking-houses at Genoa. The contract required them to deliver the loan in silver dollars at Antwerp, and the chests were sent round by sea, being divided among many vessels for safety. Information of the prize getting wind, the precious fleet had been chased, scattered, and driven into the English harbours, and the treasure for which Alva was waiting was hiding in Fowey, Plymouth, and Southampton, Diaz, the captain of one of these treasure ships, on entering Plymouth harbour, found thirteen French cruisers there, with six English consorts, carrying the flag of the Prince of Conde. They were scouring the Channel, their commissions empowering them, in the service of God, to seize any Catholic ship that they came across, of any nation. They brought in their prizes under the eyes of Diaz and sold them, the Mayor f being one of the most forward purchasers. Diaz began to fear that there was no escape for him, and he had special ground for uneasiness. John Hawkins had not yet returned from San Juan de Ulloa,t nor had any news of him arrived; but the disaster was known on board the Spanish ships, and as most of the cruisers at Plymouth were owned by William Hawkins, the Spaniards feared that unless they could extricate themselves before the truth came out short work would be made of them. They knew that Sir John might be looked for any day. To put Plymouth in good humour therefore, one of them, who professed to have just returned from the Indies, * Froude. -,t William Hawkins. X Vide Chapter III. C lo Plymouth Armada Heroes. pretended to bring the information for which the town was longing, and dressed his tale to flatter the national pride and gratify Hawkins's friends and family. "Sir John had been in the enchanted garden of Aladdin, and had loaded himself with gold and jewels. He had taken a ship with 800,000 ducats, sacked a town, and taken heaps of pearls and jewels. A Spanish fleet of forty-four sail had passed a harbour where he was dressing his ships. On board this Spanish fleet a council of war had been held to consider the prudence of attacking him ; but the admiral had said, ' For the ships that be in harbour I will not deal with them, for they being monstrous ships will sink some of us and put us to the worst, wherefore let us depart on our voyage.' And so they did. ' The worst boy in those ships might be a captain for riches ;' and the Spaniard wished he had been one of them." This story might have answered its end had there been time enough for it to work ; but the wind which brought the fable brought the truth behind it. Two days later William Hawkins sent to Cecil the news of the real catastrophe. The first rumour of the disaster at San Juan de Ulloa — where the treach- erous Spaniards fell upon and massacred the English, in the fleet under John Hawkins, during peace between England and Spain — reached William Hawkins at Plymouth by the 3rd December, 1568, in a letter from Spain, written by Benedick Spinola, saying that the English fleet was totally destroyed. This was a declaration of the purposed treachery and intentions of Spain — there not being time enough for the news to have reached England from Ulloa at this date. The report was enough for William Hawkins. He at once wrote to Cecil, asking that enquiry might be made, and recompense taken of " King Philip's treasure here in these parts." However, if the Queen would not "meddle in the matter," he asked no more than that her subjects should be allowed to do so. " Then I trust we should not only have recompense to the uttermost, but also do as good service as is to be desired, with so little cost. And I hope to please God best therein, for that they are God's enemies." It was not until the 20th January, 1569, that there was full assurance of the evil tidings. That night the Judith reached Plymouth ; and that night, without a moment's delay, William Hawkins sent a letter to the Privy Council, and one to Cecil, with such hasty details as he could bring together, sending also his "kinsman and servant," young Francis Drake, who had returned in t\\Q Judith, reporting that Hawkins and all with him were massacred by the The Hawkins Family. 1 1 treacherous Spaniards, as bearer of the news. What had become of his brother John he knew not. " My brothers safe return is very dangerous and doubtfull." But he knew very well that his brother and himself had lost at least ;^2000, and as the acting partner moved for recompense, either out "of those Spanyards goods here stayed," or what he thought still more satisfactory, by the Queen giving "me leave to work my own force against them." Four ships he was ready to set forth at once of his own, besides one already in commission, William Hawkins to Sir William Cecil. Right Honorable, — My bownden dewtye alwayes had in Remembrance it may please your honor to be advertisyd that this present hour there is come to Plymouth one of the small barkes of my brothers fleat, and for that I have neither wrytynge nor any thing else from him I thought it good and moste my dewty, to send you the capetayne of the same barke, being our kinsman called Fransyes Dracke for that he shall thoroughly informe your honor of the whole proceedyngs of these affayres to the end the Queues Ma"^ may be advertisyd of the same, and for that it doth plainly appear of their manyfest injuries from time to time offered, and our losses only in this voyage two thousand pounds at at least, besydes my brothers absense, which unto me is more grefe.than any other thing in this world, whom I trust, as god hathe preserved, wyll likewise preserve, and send well home in safety. In the meane tyme my humble suit unto your honor is that the Queue's Majeste will when time shall serve see me, her humble and obedyent subjecte, partly recompensed, of those Spanyards goods here stayd. And further if it shall please her grace to give me Leave to work my own selfe against them, to the end I may be the better recompensed, I shall be the more bownde unto her highnes which I pray god long to live, to the glory of god, and the comfort of her subjectes. If I may have any warrant from her Ma"^ or from your honor I shall be glad to set forth four ships of mine own presently I have already commission from the Cardanal Shatyllyon for one ship to serve the princes of Navare and Conndye but I may not presume any further without commission in these things I shall desire your honors to be advertisyd by my servant Francis Dracke and I shall daily pray for your honors estate long to endure. From Plymouth the xx"" of January at night 1568. By your honors always to command W" Hawkyns. [Endorsed] To the right honorable Sir W™ Cecil* * Sta, Pa. Doin. (Eliz. ) 12 Plymouth Armada Heroes. [This is No. 36, vol. 49 ; No. 37 is the same, with the following addition.] And for that my brothers safe return is very dangerous and doubtfull, but that it resteth in gods hands who send him well if it be his blessed will By your honors always W" Hawkvns. [Endorsed] To the Right honorable and my singular good Lordes, the Lordes of the Privy CounselL* When William Hawkins was thus moving the Court to allow him to declare war on his own account, his brother — whose absence was to him " more grefe than any other thing in this world" — was near the English shores, reaching Mount's Bay with the Minion on the 25th January, 1568; where- upon "one of the Mount for good wyll came away immediately in poste" to Plymouth. WilUani Hawkins to Sir William Cecil. Ryght Honorabell, — My bownden dewty alwayes had in Remembrance it may please your honor to be advertysed that I am credybly informyd of my brothers aryvall with the Menyon in Mounts bay in Cornwall not from hym nor any of his company but by one of the Mount for good wyll came immediately away in poste uppon the speache of one of his men who was sent a lande for help of men and also for cables and ankeres for that they had but one, and their men greatly weekened by reson he put ashore in the Indyas a C. [hundred] of his men for the salfe gard of the reste and also that he should caste overbowrde not v days before xlv men more and the rest being a lyve, were fain to live vij days uppon a noxe heyde [an ox head] who uppon the wind being esterly I sent away, for his sucker a barke with xxxiiij mariners store of flesh vytles two ankers iij cables and store of small warpes with other necessaries as I thought good. I am assured to hear from him self this night at the furthest and then I will certify your honor with spead agayne, and so for this tyme I leave to trouble your honor any further praying for the increase of your honors estate. From Plymouth the 27th of January 1568 By your honors always to comande, W" Hawkvns. [Endorsed] To the right honorable Sir W" Syssell Knt.* William Hawkins did not neglect local affairs for national or personal. The New Conduit was built by him in 1569-70, and was apparently associated with the Market Cross, which stood in Old Town near the * Sta. Pa. Dom. (Eliz.) The Haivkins Family, intersection of Treville Street. In 1578-9, while he was Mayor, "the Governor's House on the Barbican was buildecl ; " and in 1579-1580 he had also the charge of procuring the patent which gave Plymouth authority over St. Nicholas Island with its fortifications. Itm p'^ to W" Hawkins esquyre for money laid out in ^curing the patent for the Ilonde, and for his charge in the suit thereof xxij//. In 1580, he, together with Thomas Edmonds, was commissioned to seal with the common seal the necessary documents relating to the transfer of that island to the Crown. In 1580 the King of Spain seized the kingdom of Portugal, whose king came into England, and lay awhile at Mount Edgcumbe. 1 580-1. The plague was so great in Plymouth that the mayor was chosen on Cat Down. 600 persons died; [a sign Plymouth was then but thinly peopled, and a small town]. 1584-5. The Queen undertakes the protection of the Hollanders. The Barbican stairs built; the Queen gives a rent of ;£2>9 i°-^- i°^- fo'' the maintenance of the Island.* In 1 581-2 Hawkins sailed on a voyage to the West Indies, taking with him his nephew. Sir Richard Hawkins. During this voyage they visited the Margarita pearl fishery. " In anno 1583, in the island of Margarita, I was at the dredging of pearl oysters, after the manner we dredge oysters in England ; and with my own hands I opened many, and took the pearls out of them, some greater, some less, and in good quantity." f When Drake, in 1585, without opposition burnt San Jago, Cates, who wrote the account of the voyage, says, that none of the officials or the inhabitants came and asked the English that aught might be spared.! " The cause of their unreasonable distrust (as I do take it) was the fresh remembrance of the great wrong they had done to old Mr. William Hawkins of Plymouth, in the voyage he made four or five years before, when they did both break their promise, and murthered many of his men." In 1588, the memorable year of the arrival of the Armada, William Hawkins was Mayor of Plymouth, and the great local preparations to meet * Plymouth Corporation Records. t Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins. X Barrow's Life of Drake. H Plymouth Armada Heroes. the Spaniards were carried on under his direction, " Several great ships were being made ready for sea." We are also told that " Plymouth fitted out seven stout ships every way equal to the Queen's men of war," evidently owing largely to William Hawkins's experience, and chiefly owned by the Hawkinses. A letter written by William Hawkins from Plymouth, dated i/th P'ebruary, 1587, gives a vivid description of the work. " The Hope and the Nonpareil are both graved and bottomed and the Revenge now aground. We have and do trim one side of every ship by night and the other by day. The ships get aground so strongly and are so staunch as if they were made of a whole tree. The doing of it is very chargeable [costly], being carried on by torchlights and cressets in the midst of a gale of wind, which consumes pitch, tallow, and furze abundantly." Captain William Hawkins commanded the Griffin, of 200 tons and 100 men, against the Armada. During his whole life William Hawkins was thus employed in good works for, and improvements in, the town of Plymouth, and engaged in the greatest enterprises set forth by the port. No Plymouth merchant ever held such a position of trust and honour, or used it to such good account. Arms of Hawkins and Halse. The Hawkins Family. 15 William Hawkins was married twice. By his first wife he had one son, William, also in the navy, who was afterwards ambassador at the Court of the Great Mogul, and three daughters — Judith, Clare, and Grace. By his second wife, Mary, daughter of John Halse, of Kenedon (by his second wife, Joan, daughter of William Tothill), he had four sons — Richard, Francis, Nicholas, and William, and three daughters — Frances, Mary, and Elizabeth. His widow survived him and became the first wife of Sir Warwick Hele, of Wembury. William Hawkins's three youngest sons were baptised at St. Andrew's Church, Plymouth, in 1582, 1584, and 1587. A daughter (Grace) was buried in 1582, and another daughter (Clare) was married there, in 1587, to Robert Michell. There is a curious entry in St. Andrew's Church Register which is interesting, as another proof that William Hawkins, and not Humphrey Fownes,* was Mayor the Armada year. " Margarit Crumnell (servant .?) unto Mr. Hawkins, Mayor, was buried 5th July, 1588." William Hawkins died on the 7th October, 1589, and was buried at Deptford, Kent. Sir John Hawkins erected a monument to the memory of his brother in St. Nicholas Church, Deptford, which was in existence in Thorpe's time (it is now removed), with this inscription : " Sacrse perpetu?eque memorise Gulielmi Hawkyns de Plimouth armigeri ; qui veras religionis varus cultor, pauperibus prsecipue naviculariis munificiis, rerum nauticarum studiosissimus, longinquas instituit ssepe navigationes : arbiter in causis difficilissimis requissimus, fide, probitate, et prudentia singulari. Duos duxit uxores, e quarum una 4 ex altera 7 suscepit liberos. Johannes Hawkyns eques auratus, classis regioe quaestor, frater msestissimus posuit. Obiit spe certa resurgendi 7 die mensis Octobris anno domini 15 89." The following is a translation : " To the ever living memory of William Hawkyns of Plymouth esquire ; who was a worshipper of the true religion; a munificent benefactor to poor mariners; skilled * Humphrey Fownes is represented as Mayor in Lucas's picture of the game of bowls. 1 6 Plymouth Armada Heroes. in navigation; oftentimes undertaking long voyages; a just arbiter in difficult cases; and a man of singular faith, probity, and prudence. He had two wives, four children by one, and seven by the other. John Hawkins, Knight, Treasurer of the Queen's Navy, his brother, most sorrowfully erected this. He died in the sure and certain hope of resurrection, on the yth day of October, in the year of our Lord 1589." W^\\\ of saaitam pjatufu'ns. I William Hawkins of PUmouth Esq. C**^ Oct. 1589 My body to be buried in place Sr sort as my brother S*" John Hawkins Knt. 