Job Hartop

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Job Hartop (also Hortop) was an English seaman and traveler. He served as chief gunner on Captain John Hawkins’ third voyage to the Caribbean. After the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa in 1568 he was captured by the Spanish and forced to row as a galley slave. A ship he was on was later captured, and he managed to return to England.

Hartop said he was born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, and grew up as a powder-maker in Redriff (now Rotherhithe). In 1567 he joined the Jesus with Hawkins as part of the gunner’s crew and took part in the voyage that ended at San Juan de Ulúa. He escaped in the Minion and sailed north of the river Panuco, then to Mexico City, where he stayed for about two years. He was sent to Vera Cruz to catch passage to Spain; he almost was hanged for trying to escape on the way. After arriving at San Lucar he was put in a prison at Seville.

Hartop and companions including Barrett (former master of the Jesus), Gilbert, and four others escaped again but were recaptured. Barrett and Gilbert were executed; Hartop was sentenced to ten years in the galleys, later extended to twelve. He was briefly used as a laborer in the mint’s treasurer’s house.

In October 1590, at San Lucar, he stowed away on a Flemish ship that was captured by the Galeon Dudley, bringing him back to England. He landed at Plymouth on December 2, 1590, and returned to Rotherhithe. His autobiography appeared in 1591 and again in 1598 in Hakluyt’s collection. He claimed to repeat conversations twenty-three years old verbatim, but he had no notes, so some details may not be reliable.