The son of Captain Hawkins, who became a national hero of England in the era of Elizabeth I, a famous navigator, pirate and slave trader, and the pioneer of the Black Triangle trade, John Hawkins, trained as an 11-year-old trainee sailor on one of the family's armed civilian ships.

Passing 4 p.m., John followed one of the three armed civilian boats along the Taima River into one of the many harbours southwest of Plymouth. After the ship docked in port, John and Brady Hawkins, another midshipman in the family, began to work on the ship's orders to knock rust, sand, paint the asphalt, and wash the deck.

"John, are you done brushing over there?" A crisp voice rang in my ears.

John Hawkins looked up and saw that it was his cousin Brady calling him, grinning and replying, "I'm going to do it a little longer." ”

Brady, who was kneeling on the deck, threw the brush in his hand towards the deck, crossed his hands on his waist, and looked up at the clear sky, "John, today is the Lord's Day, can't you go ashore earlier?" ”

"Hurry up, you can go ashore when you're done."

"My lord, when will these days come to an end?"

"Brady, when we die on the family ship, those days will come to an end."

"Smack...!" A big furry hand slapped on Brady's little head, and a sturdy-looking adult man stood beside Brady and looked down at him, "Work hard, you kid will only be lazy." ”

Brady glanced at John, who was a few steps away from him, and stretched out his little finger to raise his head and quibbled, "Boatswain, John is also lazy, why don't you talk about him?" ”

The boatswain glanced in John's direction and then at Brady, "Although John is the son of the patriarch, he is also brushing the deck, what qualifications do you say you can not brush?" ”

Brady frowned, pouted and looked up at the boatswain, then buried himself again and continued to brush the deck without saying a word. John, who was also kneeling on deck, peeked at the boatswain and smiled at Brady, "Hey, hurry up, I'll treat you to something to eat when you're done and go ashore." ”

"What to eat?" Brady didn't even lift his head, but he was lying on his stomach and kept dipping in water and scrubbing the deck.

"You can eat whatever you want. Well, why don't we go buy two roast chickens, one for each person? John leaned on his stomach and turned his face to the right to look at his cousin.

"No problem. However, I still have to drink ale. ”

"Wine is fine."

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While the two boys knelt on the deck and chatted as they worked, their father was in the living room talking passionately about something they were about to do. Brady's father, Richard Hawkins, excitedly paced back and forth in front of his brother William, looking up at his brother as he paced, "William, with this privateer license, we can openly plunder the ships of the French." ”

John's father, William Hawkins, crossed his legs and supported his chin with his hand in thought, looking at Isabel who was sitting on his left, "Miss Isabel, what do you think?" We just plundered the ships of the French? ”

Isabel propped her hands on the armrests of the seat, stood up neatly and came to the other party, and glanced at Richard who was standing on the side, "Captain, just plundering the French will not rob a lot of treasures. I mean, we can use the ban on French cargo as an excuse to plunder the ships of Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. ”

Richard pondered with one hand behind his back and his beard with the other, and quickly raised his head to look at the other party, "Miss, Spain is still our ally at present, and Portugal and the Netherlands have not joined the war against France, so we won't cause trouble if we do this, right?" ”

Isabel took two steps to the left with her hands behind her back, then turned around and walked back to look at Richard, "There's trouble. After speaking, he looked at Captain Hawkins, who was sitting on the throne, "Captain, I will give you the privateering license, but I will not bring trouble to you. ”

Captain Hawkins nodded thoughtfully, "Miss, we'll talk about looting other countries' ships later." Now, can you tell me about your grant? ”

Isabel smiled slightly, "Captain, I funded you and your family just to deal with the trouble your brother said. ”

Richard became interested when he heard this, and hurriedly took two steps forward to look at the other party, "Miss, can you tell me in more detail?" ”

"Of course. With this permit issued by His Majesty, we can plunder the ships of any country, including the ships of the French, as long as we do not get caught by them, right? ”

"Yes, miss."

"How can we not be caught or discovered by other countries? My opinion is that the money I have financed should be used to buy new ships, artillery and sailors. If we are not to be recognized as English by ships and sailors of other countries, we must change what we look like. ”

After saying that, she saw the two brothers again. At this point, Captain Hawkins, who was still thinking, lowered his arm and left his seat. Coming to the place behind Isabel and Richard, he turned to look at her, "Miss Isabel, I think that even if we buy new ships and guns, we may still find out that the ships of other countries are our hands. ”

When Isabel was about to speak, Captain Hawkins shook her head and said, "Miss, if you want to avoid being discovered by other ships, well, there is only one way to go. ”

"Captain, I suppose this is a complete wipe out of all ships and crews, isn't it?" Isabel looked at each other with her arms folded.

"Completely cleared? Miss, do you mean to blow up and sink the entire fleet of ships and then kill all the crew? Richard, who was standing a few steps away beside her, looked a little surprised.

At this time, there was a period of silence in the parlor, and the other three were lost in thought, except for Jomanon Beard, who was alone tasting Spanish wine. Richard looked down in thought, and suddenly raised his head to look at Isabel who was pacing slowly, "Miss, if we are discovered by other ships, will there be any serious consequences?" ”

Isabel had already thought about the consequences, so she looked at each other calmly, "King Charles V of Spain will cut off all overseas trade with England, causing the kingdom's economy to suffer great losses. ”

Captain Hawkins stroked his beard and turned his face to focus on hers, "Miss, is there anything better you can do?" ”

After thinking about it, Isabel still expressed her opinion, "The first point is to pretend to be French or Portuguese or Dutch to rob Spanish ships. The second point is to plunder the treasure convoys of the Spanish colonies, and kill all the Spaniards after grabbing the treasure. ”