Elizabethan Sea Dogs

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The Sea Dogs:. Clockwise from upper right: Francis Drake, Humphrey Gilbert, John Hawkins, Walter Raleigh, Richard Hawkins, Richard Grenville, Martin Frobisher, John Davis.

The Sea Dogs were a group of English privateers and explorers authorised by Queen Elizabeth I to raid England's enemies, whether they were formally at war with them or not. Active from 1560 until Elizabeth's death in 1603, the Sea Dogs primarily attacked Spanish targets both on land and at sea, particularly during the Anglo-Spanish War. Members of the Sea Dogs, including Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake, also engaged in illicit slave trading with Spanish colonies in the Americas.^[1][2]