acts of folly which might seriously injure her merchants and endanger the well-being of her kingdom. “The voyage,” he promised, “would give no offence to the least of her Highness’s allies and friends.... It was only to lade negroes in Guinea, and sell them to the West Indies, in truck for gold, pearls, and emeralds, whereof he doubted not but to bring home great abundance, to the contention of her Highness, and the benefit of the whole realm.”[133] [Sidenote: departs, October 1567,] His arguments, or it might be the greatness of the temptation, overcame his sovereign’s scruples, and in October 1567, Hawkins sailed from Plymouth with five well-appointed vessels, including the Queen’s ship, the _Jesus_, which carried his flag, and among his crew was Francis Drake, his kinsman, who afterwards became famous or infamous, as our readers may interpret his career, in the maritime history of England. [Sidenote: and secures extraordinary gains.] The voyage was prosperous beyond Sir John’s most sanguine expectations. At Sierra Leone he formed an alliance with an African tribe, then at war with their neighbours; sacked a densely peopled town, was rewarded with as many prisoners as his ships could carry; and, in the spring of the following year, found himself among the Spanish settlements conducting a business fully answering his most glittering hopes. Where the ports were open he found an easy market for his slaves, and when the governors resisted his attempts to open negotiations, he carried his purpose by force of arms, for in either case the planters were eager to deal with him. Ere the summer was over he had amassed a very large sum of money[134] in bars of gold and silver, and other commodities, materially enhanced by even more desperate and depraved measures than that of slave dealing, as stray vessels, with valuable property on board, too frequently became objects of his plunder. [Sidenote: Attacked by a Spanish fleet and severely injured.]