Sir Francis Drake and Slavery:  Some Background

by Steve Wright

Drake’s experience with the slave trade and people held within bondage to another as property is a progression from one who twice participated in the odious activity to one who earnestly fought against slavery for decades.

Even though slavery was illegal in England during the 16th century, the slave trade was only finally transformed when efforts to end it resulted in the 1833 Slavery Abolition Law. This was long after Drake sailed the oceans. During Drake’s life, it was illegal under Spanish law for Englishmen to sell any cargo—human or otherwise—in the Spanish Main. However, the lure of immense financial rewards outweighed the dire risk of being caught so the slave trade developed.

Sir Francis Drake

Wikimedia Commons Image

As such, Drake first served on a slaving expedition sponsored by John Hawkins when he sailed from England under the command of John Lovell on November 9, 1566.  After seizing cargos from Portuguese in the Atlantic off the northwest coast of Africa, Lovell took a Portuguese prize of human cargo in February of 1567.  Efforts to sell the people along the Spanish Main were futile as the locals violently rejected trade.  They, too, feared retribution for for trading with the interloping Englishmen. Lovell eventually released his 92 Africans ashore and returned to England.  His venture was a financial bust.

In September of 1567, Hawkins took personal command of a similar expedition comprised of six ships. This enterprise included two vessels belonging to Queen Elizabeth:  the Jesus of Lübeck and the Minion.  Hawkins would give Drake command of a small ship, the Judith.  On this journey, Hawkins was able to seize 150 slaves from Portuguese vessels.  Then in Africa, during January 1568, Hawkins was invited by leaders from the Sapi people to ally against a fortified town of Mande people, African invaders from the east.  With difficulty, the mixed force overran the town and the Englishmen kept 250 of the survivors as human chattel to be transported to the Caribbean.  Reluctant to break Spanish laws, Spain’s tenacious royal representatives in the area again made dealing difficult when Hawkins attempted to conduct business with them. Profit was minimal, and it was soon lost in a series of events that befell the English expedition.

On August 12, the English fleet was clutched by a storm that lashed them for eight days.  Finally, on September 15, four ships reached safe harbor at the Spanish port, San Juan d’Ulua.  Despite the awkward circumstances of illegally being in Spanish territory, Hawkins negotiated safe harbor with the local authorities so he could affect repairs and leave.  To the Englishmen’s dismay, an armed fleet of 13 Spanish ships soon arrived with the viceroy, Don Martin Enriquez.  The two sides exchanged hostages and co-existed uncomfortably next to each other in the port until Enriquez broke the agreement on September 23 and stormed the English ships.  In the ensuing battle, Hawkins barely escaped with the Minion and Drake with the Judith.  All others and their crews were lost.  While Hawkins spared his hostages; Enriquez did not reciprocate.

Relations between Spain and England continued to simmer in cold war circumstances as time progressed.  Hawkins and Drake would emerge as major players in the ongoing conflict with Hawkins taking charge of building of a naval fleet of innovative ships that would eventually outclass the Spanish galleons.  This eventually set up a period of English maritime domination that would last into the 20th century.  Drake would be a major player in the cold war as he would never forget Enriquez’s treachery and—by extension—King Philip’s of Spain.  During this time, Drake’s attitude toward slavery and Blacks underwent profound change.

In his many subsequent ventures against King Philip’s worldwide empire, Drake’s application of a new found affection for enslaved people would become prominent.  While in Panama during 1572–1573, Drake took an escaped slave, Diego, into his employ.  Diego remained with Drake for years and accompanied him on the circumnavigation.  In addition to allying with escaped slaves in Panama, Drake would free slaves he came across for the duration of his maritime career, and his reputation as a savior was well known among the Spanish held slaves as he rescued them by the hundreds.

In 16th century England, it was highly improbable for a person to encounter a conversation regarding the matter of slavery.  In his twenties, Drake did not question his seniors’ miserable business practices and simply abided by them for the time being.  This dramatically changed when Drake’s capacity to sympathize with the Blacks whom he had once enslaved was kindled at San Juan d’Ulua.  He understood the brutally unfair infliction of betrayal as an aggrieved person.  The events at San Juan d’Ulua were a taproot for Drake in many ways, and the marked change in his personal disposition toward slavery and Blacks is clear.  From that point forward he rejected the slave trade, developed a reputation among slaves; his crewmen; and the Spaniards as a friend to blacks, used numerous opportunities to liberate enslaved people across the world, and received enslaved people when they bolted to the safe haven they knew he offered. 

 Further Reading:

• Abd-Allah, Umar Faruq (2005).  Turks, Moors, and Moriscos in Early America.  Nawawi Foundation.

• Drake, Sir Francis; Vaux, W.S.W. (2005).  The World Encompassed. 

• Kaufman, Miranda (2017).  Blacks and Tudors, The Untold Story. 

• Nichols, Philip.  Sir Francis Drake Revived.

• Nutall, Zelia (2017). New Light On Drake.

• Sugden, John (2006).  Sir Francis Drake.