Hawkins–Drake Voyage of 1567–1569

John Hawkins led his third Atlantic slaving voyage from Plymouth in 1567, with Francis Drake commanding one of the smaller vessels. The expedition transported enslaved Africans to Spanish America and attempted to force or negotiate sales in ports where English trade was prohibited.

After storms and damage, the fleet entered the harbour of San Juan de Ulúa near Veracruz. A Spanish fleet arrived and initially negotiated an agreement, but fighting broke out in September 1568 and most of the English ships were destroyed or captured.

The voyage is important to fiction about Hawkins and Drake because it joins English maritime expansion, the transatlantic slave trade and the growth of Anglo-Spanish hostility before the formal war.