Eh Kevin, have you EVER studied British Naval History? Have you ever studied European Naval History? I somehow very much doubt it.

From one of your links:
"Sir John Hawkins was an Elizabethan privateer and cousin of Sir Francis Drake. He was the first to kidnap the native African population and sell them in Europe or America."

Now taken at face value, this appears on a BBC web-site - By Christ it must be true!!! - Unfortunately not. Please tell me Kevin where abouts in Europe did Sir John Hawkins sell his slaves - Just one documented instance please.

Please refer to N. A. M. Rogers book "Sovereign of The Seas" - an excellent history book, specialising in European Naval History. In referring to this book you would find exactly what the state of English naval expertise was during the reign of Elizabeth I. Up until Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the world it was about as much as possible for the average English sea captain to find the Isle of Wight, let alone some specific spot on the West Coast of Africa and thence to some lucrative market for slaves in some Spanish, or Portuguese colony that they were forbidden to trade with (Hey Kevin, you've got to remember that around this time Spain and England weren't actually getting along) The English and the Dutch rebels actually made their living by attacking homebound Spanish trade, not by selling them slaves - True?

Have you ever been down to Brixham in Devon, Kevin? Have you ever had a look at the replica of Drake's "Golden Hind", formerly known as the "Pelican". It was fairly representative of English ship building of the time, some vessel's might be slightly larger, some slightly smaller. Now I am 6ft 2inches tall, the vessel has two decks, upper deck and main gun deck. To span the main gun deck I could lie down head to toe three times. Where did Sir Francis & Co stow the slaves Kevin? Certainly not on the upper deck it's tiny and needed to be clear to enable the crew to work the ship. Certainly not on the main gun deck as that was where the crew of the vessel lived and that was from where they fought the ship, not really conducive to stowing a whole load of slaves for export to your enemies foreign possessions. How's the logic of this holding up so far Kevin? So far we haven't even addressed the logistical requiremnts involved in feeding and watering all those slaves plus the crew.

Just because some BBC web-site says something, just because the Guardian says something does not necessarily make something true. By all means read it, then apply a bit of logical and reasoned thought to it. In this case it simply does not add up.