Cruz, Hawkins on his return to England
formed an African company out of the leading citizens of London. Three
vessels were fitted out, Hawkins being commander and part owner. The
size of them is remarkable: the _Solomon_, as the largest was called,
120 tons; the _Swallow_, 100 tons; the _Jonas_ not above 40 tons. This
represents them as inconceivably small. They carried between them a
hundred men, and ample room had to be provided besides for the blacks.
There may have been a difference in the measurement of tonnage. We
ourselves have five standards: builder's measurement, yacht measurement,
displacement, sail area, and register measurement. Registered tonnage is
far under the others: a yacht registered 120 tons would be called 200 in
a shipping list. However that be, the brigantines and sloops used by the
Elizabethans on all adventurous expeditions were mere boats compared
with what we should use now on such occasions. The reason was obvious.
Success depended on speed and sailing power. The art of building big
square-rigged ships which would work to windward had not been yet
discovered, even by Mr. Fletcher of Rye. The fore-and-aft rig alone
would enable a vessel to tack, as it is called, and this could only be
used with craft of moderate tonnage.

The expedition sailed in October 1562. They called at the Canaries,
where they were warmly entertained. They went on to Sierra Leone, where
they collected 300 negroes. They avoided the Government factories, and
picked them up as they could, some by force, some by negotiation with
local chiefs, who were as ready to sell their subjects as Sancho Panza
intended to be when he got his island. They crossed without misadventure
to St. Domingo, where Hawkins represented that he was on a voyage of
discovery; that he had been driven out of his course and wanted food and
money. He said he had certain slaves with him, which he asked permission
to sell. What he had heard at the Canaries turned out to be exactly
true. So far as the Governor of St. Domingo knew, Spain and England were
at peace. Privateers had not troubled the peace of the Caribbean Sea,
or dangerous heretics menaced the Catholic faith there. Inquisitors
might have been suspicious, but the Inquisition had not yet been
established beyond the Atlantic. The Queen of England was his
sovereign's sister-in-law, and the Governor saw no reason why he should
construe his general instructions too literally. The planters were eager
t