to withstand his attempts, but shall be forced
to give place to his insatiable malice, which is most terrible
to be thought of, but miserable to suffer."

These were the compelling reasons for England's entry into the
war. The aid to Holland and the execution of Mary, on the other
hand, were sufficient to explain Philip's attempted invasion. The
grievance of Spain owing to the incursions of Hawkins and Drake
into her American possessions, and England's desire to break Spain's
commercial monopoly, were at the time relatively subordinate, though
from a naval standpoint the voyages are interesting in themselves
and important in the history of sea control and sea trade.

_Hawkins and Drake_

John Hawkins was a well-to-do ship-owner of Plymouth, and as already
stated, Treasurer of the Royal Navy, with a contract for the upkeep
of ships. His first venture to the Spanish Main was in 1562, when
he kidnapped 300 negroes on the Portuguese coast of Africa and
exchanged them at Hispanola (Haiti), for West Indian products,
chartering two additional vessels to take his cargo home. Though
he might have been put to death if caught by either Portugal or
Spain, his profits were so handsome by the double exchange that
he tried it again in 1565, this time taking his "choice negroes
at L160 each" to Terra Firme, or the Spanish Main, including the
coasts of Venezuela, Colombia, and the Isthmus. When the Spanish
authorities, warned by their home government, made some show of
resistance, Hawkins threatened bombardment, landed his men, and
did business by force, the inhabitants conniving in a contraband
trade very profitable to them.

On his third voyage he had six vessels, two of which, the _Jesus
of Lubeck_ and the _Minion_, were Queen's ships hired out for the
voyage. The skipper of one of the smaller vessels, the _Judith_,
was Francis Drake, a relative and protege of the Hawkins family,
and then a youth of twenty-two. On September 16, 1567, after a
series of encounters stormier than ever in the Spanish settlements,
the squadron homeward bound was driven by bad weather into the
port of Mexico City in San Juan de Ulua Bay. Here, having a
decided superiority over the vessels in the harbor, Hawkins secured
the privilege of mooring and refitting his ships inside the island
that formed a natural breakwater, and mounted guns on the island
itself. To his surprise next morning, he beheld in the offing 13
ships of Spain led by an armed galleon