Lot 133
[Elizabeth I] Sir John Hawkins - Architect of the English Navy That Defeated the Spanish Armada. (1532-1595) English naval administrator and commander, privateer; he was also the first English slave trader. Cut signature on 1¾ x 2 5/8" paper, dated 1594 in later pencil, mounted on an 11¼ x 9¾" album leaf with an engraved portrait and biographical note. Appointed treasurer of the navy in 1577, he became the chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. It was he who directed the building of the swifter, more heavily-armed ships which would withstand the Spanish Armada in 1588. Hawkins was third in command (after Lord Charles Howard and his relative Sir Francis Drake) during one of the most important battles in English history, and during which he was knighted. It was also Hawkins who devised the strategy of setting up a naval blockade at the Azores to intercept Spanish ships, laden with treasure, returning from the New World. Estimate Value $300 - UP
Bonham's, May 11, 1999, lot 388.
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| Realized $600 |
