He and his men brought back both the leaves and the practice of smoking to England in 1565, though the practice did not gain in popularity until years after. Hawkins son Richard was capture by the Spanish in 1593 in the South Atlantic. With Sir Francis Drake they raise a fleet of 27 ships to attack the Spanish in the West Indies. They set sail from Plymouth on 29 August 1595. Storms and the Spanish fleet hampered the effort to get his son back. Then on 12 November 1595 it was reported that Hawkins died at sea close to Puerto Rico. In Chatham, Kent there is a Hospital named after Hawkins, and there was a flyover, however this was later demolished. In Plymouth the council had voted to strip Hawkins name from a square. Hawkins gained notice again in June 2006, more than four centuries after his death, when his descendant, Andrew Hawkins, publicly apologised for John Hawkins's actions in the slave trade. Andrew and 20 friends from the Christian charity Lifeline Expedition knelt in chains before 25,000 Africans to ask forgiveness for his ancestor's involvement in the slave trade at Independence Stadium in Bakau, the Gambia. The Vice President of the Gambia Isatou Njie Saidy symbolically removed the chains in a spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness.