THE ARMADA IN THE CHANNEL.

351

upon what he supposed to be the general's ship, but it proved to be the vice-admiral's, Alonso de Leyva's. Soon after, Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher played stoutly with their ordnance upon the rear of the enemy where Recalde, the admiral, commanded; that officer endeavoured to prevent his ships from flying to the main fleet, till his own ship was rendered nearly unserviceable, and he was then fain, "with much ado," to hasten thither himself. "The duque then gathered together his fleet, which was scattered this way and that way, and hoisting more sail, held on his course with what speed he could. Neither could he do any other, seeing both the wind favoured the English, and their ships would turn about with incredible celerity which way soever they pleased to charge, wind, and tack about again.” The Spaniards then felt a cause of weakness in their excess of strength, "their great ships being powerful to defend but not to offend, to stand but not to move, and therefore far unfit for fight in those narrow seas; their enemies nimble, and ready at all sides to annoy them, and as apt to escape harm themselves, by being low built, and easily shot over. Therefore they gathered themselves close in form of a half-moon, and slackened sail, that their whole fleet might keep together. a smart fight, in which he had injured the enemy much, and suffered little or no hurt himself, lord Effingham gave over the action, because forty of his ships were not yet come up, having scarcely indeed got out of the haven.*

After

During the night, the St. Catalina, which had suffered greatly, was taken into the midst of the fleet to be repaired; and Oquendo's ship (of 800 tons) was set on fire, (it is said) by a Flemish gunner, whose wife had been abused and himself outraged by the commanding officer of the troops on board. It was part of their general orders, that if any ship took fire, those that were near were to make from her, sending, however, their boats to succour her; this was so well observed that no

* Hakluyt, 595. Speed, 860. Camden, 411.

other ship was injured, and the fire was quenched, though not before the upper works were consumed; but more diligence than humanity was shown in this, for after taking out whatever was of value that could be saved, when they abandoned the hulk they left in it some fifty of their countrymen, 66 miserably hurt." That night, also, in the confusion which this fire occasioned, Valdez's galleon ran foul of another ship, broke her foremast, and was left behind, and none coming to her assistance, "the sea being tempestuous and the night dark," the lord admiral supposed that the men had been taken out, and without tarrying to take possession of the prize, passed on with the Bear and the Mary Wolf, that he might not lose sight of the enemy in the darkness. He thought that he was following Drake's ship, which ought to have carried the lanthern that night; it proved to be a Spanish light, and in the morning he found himself in the midst of the enemy's fleet, "but when he perceived it, he cleanly conveyed himself out of that great danger." In the eagerness of hope Drake had forgotten or disregarded his orders, and engaged in close pursuit of five great ships, which he supposed to be enemies, but which, when he came up with them, proved to be Easterlings, holding their course by these contending fleets, and protected by them from all danger of pirates. But the whole of the English ships, except the two which followed the admiral into so perilous a situation, lay to during the night, because the lanthern was not to be seen, nor did they recover sight of the admiral till the following evening. Drake himself had the good fortune to fall in with Valdez, who, after some parley, surrendered, seeing that resistance must have been vain. The prize was sent into Plymouth; and Drake's men paid themselves well with the spoil of the ship, wherein were 55,000 ducats in gold, which they shared merrily among them. The hulk of the galleon was also carried into Weymouth, to the great joy of the beholders; though the upper works had been consumed, and most of the

crew burned.

THE SPANISH ARMADA.

353

The gunpowder in the hold had not

taken fire, "to the great admiration of all men.'

On Tuesday the 23d the Spaniards were off Port- July land, and the wind came about into the north, so that they 23. "had a fortunate and fit gale for invading the English."

But the English,

agile and foreseeing all harms, recovered the vantage of the wind." After they had for some time manoeuvred for this object, they prepared on both sides for action, the Spaniards 66 seeming more incensed to fight than before. And fight they did, confusedly, and with variable fortune; for on the one side the English manfully rescued some London ships that were hemmed in by the Spaniards, and on the other the Spaniards as stoutly rescued their admiral Ricalde when he was in danger." "On this day was the sorest fight, yet with no memorable loss on either side." A great Venetian ship and some smaller ones were surprised and taken by the English. On their part captain Cock died with honour in the midst of the enemies, in a small ship of his own. Though this was the most furious and bloody skirmish of all, the loss was little, because the English, having given their broadsides, presently stood off, never exposing themselves in close action, but satisfied with levelling their guns with sure aim against those great ships, "which were heavy and altogether unwieldy. Neither did the lord admiral think good to adventure grappling with them, as some unadvisedly persuaded him. For the enemy had a strong army in his fleet, but he had none: their ships were of bigger burthen, stronger and higher built, so as their men fighting from those lofty hatches must inevitably destroy those who should charge them from beneath. And he knew that an overthrow would endamage him much more than a victory would advantage him. if he were vanquished he should very much endanger all England; and if he conquered he should only gain a little honour for beating the enemy." On the other hand the Spaniards were not less wary: they "gathered * Hakluyt, 597, 598. Speed, 860. Camden, 412.

For

themselves close into a roundel, their best and greatest ships without, securing the smaller and those which had suffered most;" so that it was apparent that they meant as much as possible to avoid fighting, and hold on to the place appointed for their junction with the prince of Parma.*

July There was no wind stirring on the morrow, and only 24. the four great galleasses were engaged, these having much advantage, by reason of their oars, while the English were becalmed; the English, however, galled the enemy with chain-shot, therewith cutting asunder their tacklings and cordage. But they were now constrained to send ashore for gunpowder, the want of which ministered displeasure, it is said, if not suspicion, to many, that a scarcity should thus be felt on our own coast. Those persons did not reflect how freely it had been expended during the three preceding days. The same day a council of war was held, and it was resolved that the fleet should be divided into four squadrons under the command of the four "most skilful navigators, whereof the lord admiral in the Ark Royal was chief, Drake in the Revenge led the second, Hawkins the third, and Frobisher the fourth. Out of every squadron, also, small vessels were appointed to give the onset and attack the enemy on all sides simultaneously in the dead of the night." This design took no effect for want of wind. The Spaniards, meantime, "observed very diligent and good order, sailing three and four, and sometimes more, in a rank, and following close up one after another, and the stronger and greater ships protecting July the lesser." The morrow was Santiago's day, and the Spaniards not improbably were animated by the hope that their patron saint might exert himself as visibly that day on their behalf as they had been taught to believe he had so often done against the Moors. The St. Anna not being able to keep up with the rest was set upon by some small ships: three galleasses came to her rescue; against these the lord admiral himself advanced,

25.

* Hakluyt, 598. Speed, 860. Camden, 412.

THE SPANISH ARMADA.

355 and lord Thomas Howard in the Golden Lion: their ships being towed, because of the calm, they plied their guns with such effect that the galleon was not brought off without much difficulty, and from that time no galleasses would venture to engage. By this time they were off the Isle of Wight; and according to the Spaniards, the English, encouraged as it seems by success in the last encounter, battered the Spanish admiral (then in the rear of his fleet) with their great ordnance, approached closer than they had before done, and shot away his mainmast; but other ships came to his assistance, beat them off, and set upon the English admiral, who escaped only by favour of the wind which sprung up when he most needed it.* The English relate that they shot away the lantern from one of the enemies' ships, and the beak-head from a second, and did much hurt to a third, and that Frobisher extricated himself with great ability from a situation of great danger. The lord admiral knighted the lord Thomas Howard, lord Sheffield, Roger Townsend, Hawkins, and Frobisher, for their behaviour on that day. Both parties appear to have demeaned themselves gallantly, and both, to have been rendered more cautious. The Spaniards say that from that time they gave over what they call the pursuit of their enemy; and they despatched a fresh messenger to the prince of Parma, urging him to effect his junction with them as soon as possible, and withal to send them some great shot, for they had expended theirs with more prodigality than effect. Without knowing of this intention on their part, the English also came to a resolution that they would make no further attack upon the Spaniards till they should arrive in the straits of Calais, where they should be joined by lord Henry Seymour and sir William Winter, with their squadrons. †

That same day the lord admiral received welcome assurances from Havre that no attempt in aid of the enemy would be made by the Guises, which there had † Camden, 144. Hakluyt, 599.

* Camden, 413. Turner, 670