CHAPTER XXX.

SEA-FIGHTS OFF FLORES AND CAPE CORRIENTES, 1591.

And now ensued a most unequal battle, in which the first ship of war ever taken by the Spaniards was lost. The squadron gained the offing, all save the vice-admiral's ship, the Revenge, which was hemmed in between the isle of Flores and the fleet. There are two reasons assigned for this circumstance; one is, that Sir Richard Grenville lingered too long for his men, who were straggling on shore; another, that he was courageously obstinate, and would not make his escape by flight, or, as Camden has it, would not let the pilot steer the Revenge so that she should seem to turn her stern upon the enemy.

Though he had ninety sick men on board, he cleared away for battle, and strove to break through. the Spaniards, on board of whose fifty-three ships there were no less than 10,000 soldiers. In the annals of war, perhaps there is not a more unequal conflict. At three in the afternoon a close battle began. Many times-fifteen it is stated-the Spaniards boarded him, but they were always repulsed, and killed, or flung into the sea. At one and the same time he was laid aboard by the St. Philip, a seventy-eight-gun ship, of 1,500 tons, and four more of the largest in the Spanish fleet, crowded with soldiers, who by a cross fire of muskets and arquebuses, below and aloft, swept his deck. In some were 200, in others 500, and in some 800 troops, besides armed mariners. He had never less than two large galleons alongside, and these were relieved from time to time by fresh ships. The sun set, and darkness came on, but under the clear starry sky of the Azores, the unequal fight was maintained, with all the fury that religious rancour and national hate would inspire, with much of contemptuous triumph in the hearts of the English, and to the two former emotions was added a longing for vengeance in those of the Spaniards. In the beginning of the fight, the George Noble, of London, having received some large shot through her, fell under the lee of the Revenge, and her captain asked Sir Richard if he could in any way serve him, but as she was only a small victualling ship, Grenville bid him shift for himself and leave the Revenge to her fate.

He received

went below to have it dressed.
another shot in the head while under the hands of
the surgeon, who was killed by his side. He re
turned on deck, faint and weak, but high in spirit
as ever, and still the fight went on. By daybreak
his crew began to want powder, and soon the last
barrel was expended. By repulsing such a succes-
sion of boarding parties, their pikes and swords were
broken and otherwise destroyed; forty of the crew
were killed out of one hundred and three, their
original number, and all the rest were more or less
wounded; the masts had been shot away, the
whole rigging cut to pieces, and the ship had
become an unmanageable hulk.

On finding her in this crippled condition when day dawned, Sir Richard proposed to the ship's company "to trust to the mercy of God, not to that of the Spaniards, and to destroy the ship with themselves-to die, rather than to yield to the enemy!"

To this desperate resolution the master-gunner and a few seamen consented, but the rest opposed it; so Grenville was compelled to surrender himself as a prisoner of war, and, after a fifteen hours' engagement, was carried on board the ship of Don Alphonso Bassano. By this time the Revenge had six feet of water in her hold, three shot-holes under water, and all her bulwarks beaten away. had been engaged not only with the fifteen ships that boarded her, but in reality with the whole Spanish fleet of fifty-three ships; she had received, upon a computation, 800 cannon-shot, and the fire of nearly 10,000 soldiers and seamen."

"She

In this sharp and unequal action, the Spaniards lost four ships, more than 1,000 men, and several officers of distinction. Lord Howard would seem to have but indifferently seconded the desperate valour of Grenville. We are told that though his force was so small, he would have continued the engagement with the enemy, notwithstanding their vast superiority, had he not been dissuaded by his officers from an undertaking so rash. However, they fought bravely as long as they had the weathergage, and did all that could be expected of them, till darkness came on, when the squadron bore off and left Grenville to his fate. Notwithstanding what has been said in excuse of these officers, says an old naval historian, it is more than probable that if they had behaved with the same vigour and resolution as Grenville and his ship's company did, "they might have given a good account of the Early in the action Sir Richard Grenville had Spanish fleet. At least the history of this reign received a wound, but he never left the upper furnishes us with more than one such example. It deck till eleven at night, when he was again will be said they had on their side Necessity and wounded in the body by a musket-ball, and then | Desperation, two violent spurs to urge them on;

Between three in the afternoon and daylight next morning did the single English ship maintain a close fight with fifteen of the largest vessels in Bassano's fleet, and, by the well-directed fire of her guns, sunk four of them. Among these were their greatest galleon and the admiral of the hulks.

Cape Corrientes.]

THE BARQUE CONTENT.

173

but every commander in the fleet might have made Windsor. He was subsequently engaged with Lord that his own case.”

The very next day after this unfortunate action the Plate fleet, of fourteen sail, for which the English had waited so long, hove in sight of Don Alphonso's. Thus, had Howard stayed but one day longer, or had the fleet from the Groyne been one day or two later, the Indian squadron might have fallen into the hands of the English, with many millions of treasure, which the sea afterwards swallowed.

On the second day after the action, Grenville, whose valour was highly praised by the Spaniards, died of his wounds on board the ship of Bassano. His last words were :—

"Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind; for that I have ended my life as a true Englishman ought to, fighting for his country, queen, religion, and honour; my soul willingly departing from this body, leaving behind the lasting fame of having behaved as every valiant soldier (sic) is, in his duty, bound to do."

Five days afterwards, the Revenge, having been refitted, perished off the isle of St. Michael, "making good her name," as she had 200 Spaniards on board; and the fourteen ships of the Plate fleet went down with her. On his homeward voyage, Lord Howard made some amends for his loss at the Azores by the capture of several rich Spanish ships. Among others, he took one bound for the West Indies, in which, besides much booty, were found 22,000 Indulgences for the Spaniards in America-documents on which the English sailors set but small value. We read that about the same time Thomas White, a Londoner, in another Spanish capture, found no less than 2,000,000 of similar papers. These had cost the King of Spain 300,000 florins; but he could have sold them for 5,000,000 in the Indies. Before Bassano attacked Lord Howard's squadron at Flores, the latter had taken at least twenty ships coming from St. Domingo, India, and Brazil. Among these were two literally laden with gold and silver, and all were sent to England. Lord Howard, says Sir William Monson, kept the sea so long as his provisions lasted, and by his prizes nearly defrayed the whole expense of the expedition.

Sir Richard Grenville was probably one of the Grenvilles of Wootton-under-Barnwood, in Buckinghamshire, where an honourable family of that name had existed from the time of Henry I.

Lord Thomas Howard for his services was afterwards created Earl of Suffolk, and installed a Knight of the Garter. The original plate of his installation still remains in the ninth stall at St. George's Chapel,

Monteagle in the discovery of the Gunpowder Treason; became Lord High Treasurer of England; and died at a green old age, in 1626.

The next most memorable or interesting seafight of this year is one that occurred on the 13th of June, 1591, off Cape Corrientes, a bold and cliffy promontory on the coast of Cuba, between the Spaniards and four English ships, one of which was a small barque belonging to Sir George Carey. The latter, who was Marshal of Her Majesty's Household, Captain of the Isle of Wight, and was afterwards Lord Hunsdon, Lord Chamberlain, and Captain of the Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, would seem to have been cruizing among the West Indian Isles, but whether on the queen's service or for his own personal profit is not very clear from Hakluyt.

It would appear that when off Corrientes, about five in the morning of the 13th of June, he discovered six Spanish ships, four of which were armados, then a general name for armed craft, viz., the admiral and vice-admiral, of 700 tons each, other two of 600, and two of 100 tons each. Believing them to be the Carthagena squadron, Sir George "bore up to them with joy," and with his own ship, the Swallow, and the Hopewell, came to leeward of the Spanish admiral, while the barque, which was named the Content, bore down upon the viceadmiral, "and ranging along by her broadside, aweather of her, gave her a volley of their great guns and small-arms, and then coming up with another smaller ship, ahead of the former, hailed her in such a manner that she sheered off."

While engaging the latter ship, the crew of the Content saw with alarm clouds of smoke rising from the ship of Sir George Carey, and the Swallow (330 tons and 160 men) and Hopewell steering wide of him, with all the sail they could make. The Content bore towards him, to yield assistance if required; but in this movement fell to leeward of the two small vessels, who designed now to close in and board her; and then a three hours' engagement ensued between them. The Content had no great guns, but only one minion, or 4-pounder; one falcon, or 2-pounder; one saker, or 5-pounder; and two porte-bases. Her commander was Captain Nicholas Lisle; her crew consisted of only a lieutenant, master, master's mate, and twenty men.

This little barque, so slenderly manned and lightly armed, maintained a three hours' fight with the other two ships, who alternately drove her northward, no assistance being rendered her by either the Hopewell or Swallow. Meanwhile, Sir George Carey, after fighting for a time with the