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diff --git a/old/66958-0.txt b/old/66958-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3873479..0000000 --- a/old/66958-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1858 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Last Fight of the Revenge, by -Walter Raleigh - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Last Fight of the Revenge - -Author: Walter Raleigh - -Illustrator: Frank Brangwyn - -Contributor: Henry Newbolt - -Release Date: December 17, 2021 [eBook #66958] - -Language: English - -Produced by: deaurider, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST FIGHT OF THE -REVENGE *** - - - - - -[Illustration: “It may be truly said that the commandment of the Sea is -an abridgement or a quintessence of a universal monarchy.” - - Francis Bacon -] - - - - -THE LAST FIGHT OF THE REVENGE - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: - - THE LAST FIGHT OF THE - REVENGE - BY S^r WALTER RALEIGH - - WITH AN INTRODUCTION - BY HENRY NEWBOLT, - M.A., AND ILLUSTRATIONS - BY FRANK - BRANGWYN, A.R.A. - - LONDON: GIBBINGS AND - COMPANY 1908 -] - - - - -CONTENTS - - - Some Appreciations _page_ 11 - - Introduction 15 - - Facsimile of original Title Page 57 - - The Last Fight of the Revenge 61 - -[Illustration] - - - - -LIST OF PLATES - - - 1. Queen Elizabeth going on board the Golden Hind - (_By kind permission of the Committee of - Lloyd’s Register_) _page_ 19 - - 2. The Last Fight 59 - - 3. Galleons in Harbour 73 - - 4. Loading the Galleons 85 - - 5. The Galleon Fair 97 - - 6. A Captured Galleon (_From a picture in the - possession of Colonel Goff_) 105 - -[Illustration] - - - - -SOME APPRECIATIONS - - -“In the year 1591 was that memorable Fight of an English _Ship_ called -the _Revenge_, under the command of S^r Richard Greenvill; Memorable (I -say) even beyond credit, and to the Height of some Heroicall Fable. And -though it were a Defeat, yet it exceeded a Victory.” - - Sir FRANCIS BACON - -[Illustration] - -“S^r Richard Greenfield got eternall honour and reputation of great -valour, and of a experimented Souldier, chusing rather to sacrifice -his life, and to passe all danger whatsoever, then to fayle in his -Obligation.... And rather we ought to imbrace an honourable death then -to live with infamie and dishonour, by fayling in dutie.” - - Sir RICHARD HAWKINS - -[Illustration] - -“Than this what have we more! What can be greater!” - - JOHN EVELYN - -[Illustration] - -“Struck a deeper terror, though it was but the action of a ship, into -the hearts of the Spanish people; it dealt a more deadly blow upon -their fame and moral strength than the destruction of the Armada -itself.” - - J. A. FROUDE - -[Illustration] - -“Perhaps in all naval history there never was a more gallant fight than -that of the Revenge off the Western Isles.” - - PROFESSOR ARBER - -[Illustration] - - -[Illustration] - - And the sun went down, and the stars came out far over - the summer sea, - But never a moment ceased the fight of the one and the - fifty-three. - Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-built - galleons came, - Ship after ship, the whole night long, with her battle-thunder - and flame; - Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her - dead and her shame. - For some were sunk and many were shatter’d, and so could - fight us no more-- - God of battles, was ever a battle like this in the world - before? - - _Tennyson, “The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet.”_ - - _By permission of Messrs Macmillan & Co., Ltd, the owners of - the copyright._ - -[Illustration] - - - - -INTRODUCTION - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - -Which is the greatest name upon the roll of English ships? Which is the -most sure of a lasting and effectual renown? There was a day when all -England would have given but one answer. If you ask the Elizabethan of -1580, you will find him very positive upon the point, and not a little -exalted. Drawn round the world by the Divine - -[Illustration] - -Hand, under the Northern and Southern Pole stars, victor over a -hundred enemies, ballasted with royal treasure, & steered by the -captured charts of Spanish Admirals, the little ship that sailed as -the _Pelican_, comes home again as the _Golden Hind_. She brings her -fabulous booty and her still more fabulous romance from Plymouth Sound -to Deptford, and then and there the great names of the past--the -_Christophers_, the _Great Harrys_, the _Dragons_ and the _Swans_--are -all finally eclipsed. Drake, kneeling upon her deck, receives his -knighthood from the hand of Gloriana, and the _Golden Hind_ herself, -bidding farewell for ever to wind and wave, is laid up as a national -monument--“consecrated to perpetuall Memory.” - -[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH GOING ON BOARD THE GOLDEN HIND] - -[Illustration] - -She is remembered still, but it is hardly for her own sake; her -story is a part of Drake’s, and not the greatest part. Question your -Elizabethan again some ten years later, and hers is no longer the name -that he will give you; he will speak of things that are even nearer -to his heart, and to ours; for though an Englishman will always, I -suppose, lick his lips over a tale of treasure, it is the fighting -and not the plunder that he is really fitted to enjoy, and in his -imagination even the jewels of the _Golden Hind_ will shine with a less -bright and steady glow than the battle-lanterns of the _Revenge_. - -The _Revenge_ is a part of no man; she saw many captains and more -triumphs than one. She had a personality, as great ships always have; -she had a career, a life of her own. She has a life after death; not -only a posterity but a true survival. - -[Illustration] - -She may be said, in no merely figurative sense, to be on active service -still. If the day ever comes when she no longer helps to keep the sea -for us, it can only be when Time shall have paid off the British Navy. - -The last of her successes is more freshly remembered by our friends -than by ourselves. A neighbouring potentate, whom pride in his English -descent had exhilarated to a pitch of splendid audacity worthy of an -Elizabethan, challenged us by a telegram encouraging a vassal State to -throw off the suzerainty of the Queen. If the message meant anything, -it was a promise of armed support; but the promise had none of the -Elizabethan hardihood to back it, and proved bankrupt as soon as the -Flying Squadron put to - -[Illustration] - -sea. It was not that this force was unknown, or suddenly created; -the ships had long been on the Navy List, their names, guns, tonnage -and complement all as familiar to the German Kaiser as to the rest -of the world. But there was a sense abroad of something more than -brute strength: a memory of great traditions, of inherited skill, of -undaunted and indomitable tenacity. When on that January 15, 1896, the -English Admiral hoisted his flag in the _Revenge_, and Her Majesty’s -Marines marched on board under the command of Captain Drake, the enemy -disappeared from the seas, and we made haste to forget another naval -victory. - -The lesson, we may hope, remains; this was not a triumph of physical -force. The challenger’s nerve, and not his ships, failed him; he feared -his - -[Illustration] - -own destruction more than he desired ours. In an age even more -materially minded, if possible, than those which went before it, we are -increasingly diligent to measure our armour and our guns, to reckon up -our horse-power and the number of our hits at target practice. It is -not for any man to blame us; we should be wrong if we neglected these -things, but we should be still more wrong if we forgot for a moment -that there were years in our history when it was not we but our enemies -who had the advantage of armament, and that whether by combination or -otherwise, such a time may come upon us again. Build as we will, we -cannot secure ourselves against it for ever; but we can forestall it by -facing it with the remembrance of the past. It was by moral superiority -that the - -[Illustration] - -Elizabethans came through their trial. The Spaniards were contending -to maintain their hold upon the wealth of the world, and they fought -as men will fight in such a cause--courageously, but not desperately; -the English fought as, at sea, they must always be fighting, for -national existence, and they took care--it was a great part of their -strength--to leave their enemies in no doubt that they meant in every -engagement to make the affair fatal to one side or the other. This is a -policy which we did not follow in the latest of our wars; we may have -been justified, we had our reasons, and we paid the full price; but -on the day when we abandon it upon the sea, we shall have thrown away -our only sure defence and our deadliest weapon. Men and nations are -never so nearly invincible and never half so terrible as when they are -armed with contempt of death; and that such an ardent temper can defy, -discourage and destroy mere bulk or numbers, “even beyond credit and to -the Height of some Heroicall Fable”--this is the meaning of the last -fight of the _Revenge_. - -[Illustration] - - -[Illustration] - - -II - -It was in 1577, the year in which the _Golden Hind_ sailed from -Plymouth on her ever-memorable voyage, that the _Revenge_ first -took the water. Probably, says Arber (but I cannot find upon what -authority), she was built at Chatham by Sir John Hawkins. According to -Sir John Laughton she was launched at Deptford. Ships - -[Illustration] - -are the children of predestination, as every sailor knows: from the -moment when they leave the slips they are either lucky or unlucky. -In the opinion of the younger Hawkins the _Revenge_ “was ever the -unfortunatest Ship the late Queene’s Majestie had during her Raigne.” -He supports this view by a list of hairbreadth escapes, which might as -easily be quoted to prove her the especial care of Providence, many -times miraculously preserved to be the scourge and dishonour of the -Queen’s enemies. First, says Sir Richard, “Comming out of Ireland with -Sir John Parrot, she was like to be [but was not] cast away upon the -Kentish coast.” Then, in 1586, “in the Voyage of Sir John Hawkins, she -struck aground coming into Plimouth, before her going - -[Illustration] - -to Sea”; but to sea she went nevertheless. Upon the coast of Spain -she was “readie to sinke with a great Leake,” and (though she did not -sink) “at her return into the harbour of Plimouth, she beat upon Winter -Stone”--again without fatality. She escaped a still greater danger -when, soon after, she twice ran aground in going out of Portsmouth -Haven, lay twenty-two hours beating upon the shore, and was forced off -with eight feet of water in her, only to ground again “upon the Oose,” -where she stuck for six months, until the following spring, testifying -to the skill of those who built and the clumsiness of those who sailed -her. Being at last got off and brought round into the Thames to be -docked, “her old Leake breaking upon her, had like to - -[Illustration] - -have drowned all those which were in her.” Neither then, however, nor -in any of her mishaps, does she appear to have actually drowned anyone, -not even when, in 1591, “with a storme of wind and weather, riding at -her moorings in the river of Rochester, nothing but her bare Masts -overhead, shee was turned topse-turvie, her Kele uppermost.” One might -have thought that this final proof of her indestructibility would -convince her detractor. Drake, at any rate, knew a good sea-boat when -he saw one, for he chose her for his flagship when he sailed against -the Armada as Vice-Admiral, and the Calendar of State Papers contains, -under the date of November, 1588, a “Device of Lord Admiral Howard, -Sir F. Drake, Sir W. Wynter, Sir John Hawkyns, Capt. Wm. Borough and -others, for the construction of four new ships to be built on the - -[Illustration] - -model of the _Revenge_, but exceeding her in burthen.” (She was but of -500 tons herself, and carried at most 260 men and forty guns.) To this -evidence we may add the statement of a Spanish prisoner, bearing the -delightful name of Gonsalo Gonsalez del Castillo, who writes in 1592 -that in England “they have been much pained by the loss of one of the -Queen’s galleons, called the _Revenge_; they say she was the best ship -the Queen had, and the one in which they had the most confidence for -her defence.” - -Such was the _Revenge_, and, if she had her share of misfortune she -had also her full share of prosperous service. She bore Drake’s flag -as Vice-Admiral from January 3, 1588. On May 23, at the head of sixty -sail, she escorted the Lord Admiral Howard into Plymouth; then, till -July 12, - -[Illustration] - -she watched and longed for the “felicisima Armada.” On Saturday -the 20th, while the enemy crept up Channel in heavy rain, and the wind -fell lighter and lighter, she tacked and tacked her way out painfully -through a night of deadly anxiety. She had her reward. On Sunday, -“conspicuous with an extravagant pennant and a banner on her mizzen, -and fighting almost at grappling distance,” she battered Don Juan -Martinez de Recalde in the _Santa Anna_. Towards evening the Admirals -held Council on board her; when night fell her lantern led the fleet, -until Drake, finding himself among strange sail, extinguished it and -lay by for daylight. Howard and the rest went after the Spanish lights, -and when dawn came the _Revenge_ found herself alone, - -[Illustration] - -and drifting within a few cables of the huge _Nuestra Señora del -Rosario_, flagship of Don Pedro de Valdes, Captain-General of -the Andalusian Squadron and one of Sidonia’s best officers. The -Captain-General was “spoiled of his mast the day before,” and had -smashed his bowsprit in collision; but he tried to stand out for -conditions of surrender. The Vice-Admiral replied that he was Drake, -and had no time to parley. That ended the matter; the galleon went into -Dartmouth “under the conduction of the _Roebuck_” and the _Revenge_ -“bare with the Lord Admiral, and recovered his Lordship that night, -being Monday.” Aboard of her went poor Don Pedro and forty of his -officers; also their cash, to the tune of fifty thousand ducats. - -[Illustration] - -On Tuesday the 23rd, the prisoners, or those of them who were allowed -on deck, witnessed the battle off the Isle of Wight, the failure of the -galleasses with their countless oars, and the rescue of the _Triumph_, -in which our first _Victory_ and our first _Dreadnought_ distinguished -themselves. They saw, too, in the bird-like line-ahead flights of the -_Revenge_ and her consorts, their quick concentrations and dispersals, -what Mr Julian Corbett has described as “the first dawn of those modern -tactics which Blake and Monk were to develop and Nelson to perfect.” By -the end of the day they were probably all deaf; the unknown eyewitness -who wrote the _Relation of Proceedings_ for Howard, declares that -“there was never seen a more terrible value of great shot, nor more hot -fight than this was; for although the musketeers - -[Illustration] - -and harquebusiers of crock were then infinite, yet could they not be -discerned nor heard for that the great ordnance came so thick that a -man would have judged it to have been a hot skirmish of small shot, -being all the fight long within half musket shot of the enemy.” - -On the 24th fresh ammunition arrived, and the fleet was divided into -four squadrons, of which _Revenge_ was to lead the second. - -On Thursday the 25th, in a calm, the galleasses ventured again and were -finally knocked out of the fight. For the next two days “the Spaniards -went always before the English Army like sheep” until on Saturday -evening they suddenly came to an anchor off Calais. - -On the night of Sunday the 28th, the Lord Admiral “caused eight ships -to be fired and let drive amongst the Spanish fleet; whereupon they -were forced to let slip or cut cables at half and to set sail.” When -day came, Howard stopped to take a prize, and it was the _Revenge_ -who led the last great chase northwards, pounding Sidonia himself in -the huge _San Martin_, sinking, scattering and driving ashore his -followers. “It was the hour,” says Mr Corbett, “for which Francis Drake -had been born.” But glorious as it was, it was not yet the hour for -which the _Revenge_ had been built. - -[Illustration] - - -[Illustration] - - -III - -Drake was beyond doubt the greatest man who ever set foot in the -_Revenge_, but it was not for him, or any like him, to sail her to the -fulfilment of her unparalleled destiny. The imagination of two great -peoples has made of him an almost supernatural hero, a gigantic figure -of romance; but in spite of his inexhaustible courage, - -[Illustration] - -his dazzling fortune, and the touch of extravagance which he caught -from the spirit of his time, he was neither a Don Quixote nor a Prince -Fortunate of mere adventures. For him there was nothing that could not -be dared, but it must be dared with method and for an end in view; -for him wisdom could never be “wisdom in the scorn of consequence.” -Setting aside their natural bravery and the fashion of the day, there -was little in common between this heroic prototype of the modern -Englishman, and Sir Richard Grenville, the inheritor of a temperament -which has long been practically extinct among us, and was even then the -characteristic of a dwindling - -[Illustration] - -class. The men of courage without discipline, of enthusiasm without -reason, of will without science--a type of arrested development -surviving from the days beyond the Renaissance--fell with the Stuart -Kings and were finally buried with the rebels of the ’45. It is easy to -say that they were of no use, these turbulent, insensate, self-willed -children of aristocracy; at the least they added colour and vivacity -to life, and these are something; now and again they had their great -moments, when folly touched the height of tragedy, and left a true -inspiration for those who are not too sober or too senile to receive it. - -Men have always liked to think of definite characteristics as the -hereditary possession of certain families--often, no doubt, without -much justification, but surely not altogether so in the - -[Illustration] - -case of the Grenvilles. Reading their records without any preconceived -belief, we cannot but hear one note ringing out again & again through -at least three centuries and a half. We hear Sir Richard’s grandson, -Sir Bevil--it goes without saying that he was a Cavalier--swearing “to -fetch those traitors out of their nest at Launceston, or fire them in -it.” We see him, “after solemn prayers,” charging furiously “both down -the one hill and up the other” at Bradock Down; or again dying on the -brow of Lansdowne Hill, after he had stormed it in the face of cannon, -“small shot from the breastworks” and “two full charges from the -enemy’s horse.” - -His brother, another Sir Richard, was a Cavalier, too, and a Grenville -to the backbone; hated by his men for his iron discipline--“no doubt,” - -[Illustration] - -says Clarendon, “the man had behaved himself with great pride and -tyranny over them”--he was even more intolerable to his superiors; he -flatly refused to act under Hopton, and drove the Prince of Wales to -imprison him in despair. A more attractive, but still characteristic, -member of the family was Bevil’s son, Denis, Archdeacon of Durham, -whom we find, after James II had already fled the kingdom, preaching -in the midst of his enemies “a seasonable loyall Sermon”; collecting -a war fund from the prebendaries for his fallen sovereign; bolting -to Scotland on horseback; captured, but escaping to France; coming -back incognito and escaping again. Ardent Jacobite and equally ardent -Protestant, he defied the Court at St Germain to convert him to -Romanism, and when they would - -[Illustration] - -not allow him to read the English Service, consoled himself by -publishing at Rouen a manifesto with the exquisite title of “The -Resigned and Resolved Christian and Faithful and Undaunted Royalist in -two plain farewell Sermons and a loyal farewell Visitation Speech.” - -It must be admitted that even so late as the eighteenth century--the -Venerable Denis lived till 1703--these gentlemen were the opposite -of tame; even when they were “Resigned” they were at the same -time “Resolved” and “Undaunted.” This is even more true of their -fourteenth-century ancestor, Sir Theobald, the first Grenville of -whom I have found anything essential to relate. He, at the age of -twenty-two, thought fit to rebel against the paternal despotism of John -Grandison, Bishop of Exeter, who had - -[Illustration] - -instituted a nominee of Sir John Raleigh’s to the Grenville family -living of Kilkhampton, in defiance, it would appear, of the lawful -patron’s rights. Sir Theobald made war at once in the best Grenville -manner. At dawn on Sunday, March 24, 1347, he invaded the Manor of -Bishop’s Tawton with 500 followers “armed with divers kinds of weapons, -offensive and defensive, after the fashion of men going to mortal war.” -They stormed the Manor-house, the Sanctuary and the Manse; killed -some of the defenders, took plunder to the value of two hundred marks -(the Bishop’s estimate) and otherwise “multipliciter perturbarunt -pacem et tranquillitatem Domini nostri Regis.” The Bishop’s peace and -tranquillity being also disturbed, he at once excommunicated the entire -army. Sir Theobald - -[Illustration] - -then brought and won an action against Raleigh in the King’s Bench; -the Bishop’s man appealed to Rome, with the inevitable result; the -King’s Bench judgement was annulled, with costs against Sir Theobald. -Cheered by this, the Bishop sent the Abbot of Hartland and the Prior of -Launceston to Kilkhampton one fine July day to put things to rights. -The Grenville army, with faces masked and painted, bows bent and -arrows notched, met the Church Militant in a narrow lane and routed -it shamefully; the pursuit lasted for a mile, and Sir Theobald then -fortified and held Kilkhampton Church for several days. After eighteen -months more of contumacy, peace was made; from the terms we may judge -how hard the Grenville had pressed his tremendous adversary. He knelt, -it is true, and confessed his guilt--there - -[Illustration] - -there was no denying that--but the Bishop, in return for this -preservation of his dignity, had to revoke his own institution and -admit a new rector upon Sir Theobald’s presentation; Raleigh got -nothing but the barren pleasure of reading aloud the Act of Submission. -The significant points of the story are to me, first, that this boy of -twenty-two gained his end in the teeth of all Rome; second, that to -gain it he cared not what he did or suffered; and last, that it was -never worth the money or the crimes it cost him. - -It is vain, I think, to deny that in such a family group as this, Sir -Richard Grenville of the _Revenge_ would be in every sense at home. His -record is plain. In 1585, when Raleigh’s first colony for Virginia set -out from Plymouth in seven ships, it was Sir Richard who took command -of it, - -[Illustration] - -though he knew little of seamanship, and still less, apparently, of -government. Letters from Lane, the head of the colony, to Secretary -Walsingham, and dispatches from the treasurer to Raleigh himself, set -forth Grenville’s “intolerable pride” and his “insatiable ambition.” -His behaviour to his subordinates was such that they desire to be freed -from any place where he is to carry any authority in chief. But what an -irresistible fighter he is! On the homeward voyage he falls in with “a -Spanish ship of 300 tunne, richly loaden”; having no boats, he boards -her with an improvised one, “made with boards of chests, which fell a -sunder, and sunke at the shippes side as soone as ever he and his men -were out of it.” He reached - -[Illustration] - -home at the end of October, and was off again in the following April, -when the Justices of Cornwall report to the Council, Sir Richard having -evidently neglected to do so, that, “being about to depart to sea, he -has left his charge of 300 men to George Greynvil.” On this voyage he -sacked the Azores, took “divers Spanyardes” and performed “many other -exploytes,” but he reached Virginia too late to be of any service to -the colony, which had already left for England. Then came the business -of the Armada, in which he had at least three ships of his own engaged, -though he got little chance of distinguishing himself in his station -off the coast of Devon and Cornwall. His next voyage was that in the -_Revenge_: and here again, in the one memorable action of his life, we -cannot but see the working of the peculiar character which is visible -in all the rest. - -[Illustration] - -“This Sir Richard Greenfield was a great and a rich Gentleman in -England,” says a contemporary, the Dutchman Linschoten, “and had great -yearly revenewes of his owne inheritance: but he was a man very unquiet -in his minde, and greatly affected to warre: in so much as of his owne -private motion he offered his service to the Queene: he had performed -many valiant acts, and was greatly feared in these Islands [i.e., the -Azores], and knowne of every man, but of nature very severe, so that -his owne people hated him for his fiercenes and spake verie hardly of -him: for when they first entered into the Fleete or Armado, they had -their great sayle in a readinesse, and might possiblie enough have -sayled - -[Illustration] - -away: for it [i.e., the _Revenge_] was one of the best ships for sayle -in England, and the Master perceiving that the other shippes had left -them, and followed not after, commanded the great sayle to be cut, that -they might make away: but Sir Richard Greenfield threatened both him, -and all the rest that were in the ship, that if any man laid hand upon -it, he would cause him to be hanged, and so by that occasion they were -compelled to fight, and in the end were taken.” - -Sir William Monson, another contemporary, has left behind him a similar -account, first printed in 1682. “Upon view of the Spaniards, which were -55 sail, the Lord Thomas warily, and like a discreet General, weighed -Anchor, and made - -[Illustration] - -signs to the rest of his Fleet to do the like, with a purpose to get -the wind of them: but Sir Richard Grenvile, being a stubborn man, ... -would by no means be persuaded by his Master, or Company, to cut his -main Sail, to follow the Admiral: nay, so headstrong and rash he was, -that he offered violence to those that counselled him thereto.” - -Sir Walter Raleigh, Grenville’s kinsman, friend and apologist, tells -substantially the same story, but he endeavours to throw a different -complexion upon it, by representing Sir Richard as being in the first -instance trapped in the fulfilment of a duty. He declares that the -_Revenge_ “was the last waied, to recover the men that were upon the -Island, which otherwise had been - -[Illustration] - -lost.” Unfortunately, this contention is negatived by the numbers of -the men captured in her; and, indeed, he goes on to say that Grenville -afterwards “utterly refused to turn from the enemy” and boasted that he -would “enforce those of Sivill to give him way.” Sir Richard Hawkins is -more whole-hearted. “At the Ile of Flores, Sir Richard Greenfield got -eternall honour and reputation of great valour, and of an experimented -Soldier, chusing rather to sacrifice his life, and to passe all danger -whatsoever, than to fayle in his Obligation, by gathering together -those which had remained ashore in that place, though with the hazard -of his ship and companie: and rather we ought to imbrace an honourable -death than to live with infamie and dishonour, by fayling in dutie.” - -[Illustration] - -No man would have been quicker to lay down such a principle than -Grenville, but it is clear that on this occasion he did not observe -it, and to maintain that he did so would be to mistake the nature of -the man. He was no quiet resolute victim of duty: his stubbornness -was not that of faithful endurance. If the evidence we have quoted -goes for anything he was then, as ever, proud, rash, headstrong and -tyrannical, and he remained true to himself even in his famous dying -speech, which has been garbled by every translator for 300 years. “Here -die I, Richard Greenfield, with a joyfull and quiet mind, for that I -have ended my life as a true soldier ought to do, that hath fought -for his country, Queene, religion, and honor, whereby my soule most -joyfull departeth out of this bodie, and shall alwaies leave behind -it an everlasting fame of a valiant and true soldier, that hath done -his dutie, as he was bound to do.” So it has always run; it was not -until 1897 that Mr David Hannay first translated and replaced the -fierce concluding sentence: “But the others of my company have done as -traitors and dogs, for which they shall be reproached all their lives -and leave a shameful name for ever.” That, to my ear, is the authentic -voice of the Grenville. - -[Illustration] - - -[Illustration] - - -IV - -Is this a condemnation? Is Sir Richard Grenville of the _Revenge_, -after three centuries of fame, to be summed up as a ferocious and -domineering fire-eater, hateful to his subordinates and disobedient to -his chief? I do not think so. It is true that we cannot look to him for -an example of what a seaman should be, or what an officer should do, -but he is none the less a beacon to all Englishmen, because he was a -great fighter and above the fear of death. To breathe the inspiration -of his genius, it is not necessary to tamper with the record of his -character; we have but to look at him as he was, with open eyes, -to think what we will of his faults, and then to turn once more to -the story of his superb valour and his supreme achievement. Beyond -question, he and all his company are among the Immortals. - - Heroes of old! We humbly lay - The laurels on your graves again; - Whatever men have done, men may-- - The deeds you wrought are not in vain.[A] - - HENRY NEWBOLT - - [A] Austin Dobson, _A Ballad of Heroes_. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: - - A REPORT - OF THE TRVTH OF - _the fight about the Iles of_ - Açores, this last - Sommer. - - BETWIXT THE - - _Reuenge, one of her Maiesties_ - Shippes, - - _And an Armada of the King_ - of Spaine. - - - LONDON - Printed for william Ponsonbie. - 1591. -] - -[Illustration: THE LAST FIGHT] - - - - -[Illustration] - - -Because the rumours are diversely spread, as well in England as in -the Low Countries and elsewhere, of this late encounter between her -Majesty’s ships and the Armada of Spain; and that the Spaniards, -according to their usual manner, fill the world with their vainglorious - -[Illustration] - -vaunts, making great appearance of victories: when, on the contrary, -themselves are most commonly and shamefully beaten and dishonoured; -thereby hoping to possess the ignorant multitude by anticipating and -forerunning false reports. It is agreeable with all good reason, for -manifestation of the truth, to overcome falsehood and untruth; that the -beginning, continuance and success of this late honourable encounter -of Sir Richard Grenville, and other her Majesty’s Captains, with -the Armada of Spain, should be truly set down and published without -partiality or false imaginations. - -[Illustration] - -And it is no marvel that the Spaniard should seek, by false and -slanderous pamphlets, advices and letters, to cover their own loss, and -to derogate from others their due honours, especially in this fight -being performed far off; seeing they were not ashamed in the year 1588, -when they purposed the invasion of this land, to publish in sundry -languages in print, great victories in words, which they pleaded to -have obtained against this Realm, and spread the same in a most false -sort over all parts of France, Italy and elsewhere. When shortly after -it was happily manifested in very deed to all nations, how their - -[Illustration] - -Navy, which they termed invincible, consisting of 240 sail of ships, -not only of their own kingdom, but strengthened with the greatest -argosies, Portugal caracks, Florentines and huge hulks of other -countries, were, by thirty of her Majesty’s own ships of war and a -few of our own merchants, by the wise, valiant and most advantageous -conduction of the Lord Charles Howard, High Admiral of England, beaten -and shuffled together, even from the Lizard in Cornwall, first to -Portland, where they shamefully left Don Pedro de Valdes with his -mighty ship; from Portland to Calais, where they lost Hugo de Moncado -with - -[Illustration] - -the galleass of which he was captain; and from Calais, driven with -squibs from their anchors, were chased out of the sight of England, -round about Scotland and Ireland. Where for the sympathy of their -barbarous religion, hoping to find succour and assistance, a great part -of them were crushed against the rocks, and those other that landed, -being very many in number, were, notwithstanding, broken, slain and -taken, and so sent from village to village coupled in halters to be -shipped into England. Where Her Majesty of her princely and invincible -disposition, disdaining to - -[Illustration] - -put them to death, and scorning either to retain or entertain them, -[they] were all sent back again to their countries, to witness and -recount the worthy achievements of their invincible and dreadful Navy. -Of which the number of soldiers, the fearful burthen of their ships, -the commanders names of every squadron, with all other their magazines -of provision, were put in print as an Army and Navy unresistible, -and disdaining prevention. With all which so great and terrible an -ostentation, they did not in all their sailing round about England, so -much as sink or take - -[Illustration] - -one ship, barque, pinnace, or cockboat of ours: or ever burnt so much -as one sheepcote of this land. When as on the contrary, Sir Francis -Drake, with only 800 soldiers, not long before, landed in their Indies, -and forced Santiago, Santo Domingo, Cartagena, and the forts of Florida. - -And after that, Sir John Norris marched from Penich in Portugal, with a -handful of soldiers, to the gates of Lisbon, being about forty English -miles, where the Earl of Essex himself and other valiant gentlemen -braved the city of Lisbon, encamped - -[Illustration] - -at the very gates; from whence, after many days’ abode, finding neither -promised party, nor provision to batter: made retreat by land, in -despite of all their garrisons, both of horse and foot. In this sort I -have a little digressed from my first purpose, only by the necessary -comparison of theirs and our actions: the one covetous of honour -without vaunt or ostentation; the other so greedy to purchase the -opinion of their own affairs, and by false rumours to resist the blasts -of their own dishonours, as they will not only not blush to spread all -manner of untruths: but even for the least advantage, be it but for the -taking - -[Illustration] - -of one poor adventurer of the English, will celebrate the victory -with bonfires in every town, always spending more in faggots, than -the purchase was worth they obtained. Whereas we never yet thought it -worth the consumption of two billets, when we have taken eight or ten -of their Indian ships at one time, and twenty of the Brazil fleet. Such -is the difference between true valour, and ostentation: and between -honourable actions, and frivolous vainglorious vaunts. But now to -return to my first purpose. - -[Illustration] - -The Lord Thomas Howard, with six of Her Majesty’s ships, six -victuallers of London, the barque _Ralegh_, and two or three pinnaces -riding at anchor near unto Flores, one of the westerly islands of the -Azores, the last of August in the afternoon, had intelligence by one -Captain Midleton, of the approach of the Spanish Armada. Which Midleton -being in a very good sailer, had kept them company three days before, -of good purpose, both to discover their forces the more, as also to -give advice to my Lord Thomas of their approach. He had no sooner -delivered the news but the - -[Illustration] - -fleet was in sight: many of our ship’s companies were on shore in the -island; some providing ballast for their ships; others filling of water -and refreshing themselves from the land with such things as they could, -either for money, or by force recover. By reason whereof our ships -being all pestered & rummaging every thing out of order, very light for -want of ballast. And that which was most to our disadvantage, the one -half part of the men of every ship sick, and utterly unserviceable. For -in the _Revenge_ there were ninety diseased; in the _Bonaventure_, not -so many in health as could handle her mainsail. For had not - -[Illustration] - -twenty men been taken out of a barque of Sir George Cary’s, his being -commanded to be sunk, and those appointed to her, she had hardly ever -recovered England. The rest for the most part, were in little better -state. The names of Her Majesty’s ships were these as followeth: -the _Defiance_, which was Admiral, the _Revenge_ Vice-Admiral, the -_Bonaventure_ commanded by Captain Cross, the _Lion_ by George Fenner, -the _Foresight_ by Thomas Vavasour, and the _Crane_ by Duffield. The -_Foresight_ and the _Crane_ being but small ships, only the other were -of the middle size; the rest, besides the barque - -[Illustration: GALLEONS IN HARBOUR] - -[Illustration] - -_Ralegh_, commanded by Captain Thin, were victuallers, and of small -force or none. The Spanish fleet having shrouded their approach by -reason of the island, were now so soon at hand, as our ships had scarce -time to weigh their anchors, but some of them were driven to let slip -their cables and set sail. Sir Richard Grenville was the last weighed, -to recover the men that were upon the island, which otherwise had been -lost. The Lord Thomas with the rest very hardly recovered the wind, -which Sir Richard Grenville not being able to do, was persuaded by the -master and others to cut his - -[Illustration] - -main sail and cast about, and to trust to the sailing of the ship, -for the squadron of Seville were on his weather bow. But Sir Richard -utterly refused to turn from the enemy, alleging that he would rather -choose to die, than to dishonour himself, his country, and Her -Majesty’s ship, persuading his company that he would pass through the -two squadrons in despite of them, and enforce those of Seville to give -him way. Which he performed upon divers of the foremost, who, as the -mariners term it, sprang their luff, and fell under the lee of the -_Revenge_. But the other course had been - -[Illustration] - -the better, and might right well have been answered in so great an -impossibility of prevailing. Notwithstanding out of the greatness of -his mind, he could not be persuaded. In the meanwhile as he attended -those which were nearest him, the great _San Philip_ being in the wind -of him, and coming towards him, becalmed his sails in such sort, as the -ship could neither weigh nor feel the helm, so huge and high charged -was the Spanish ship, being of a thousand and five hundred tons. Who -after laid the _Revenge_ aboard. When he was thus bereft of his sails, -the ships that were under his lee luffing up, also laid him aboard, of -which - -[Illustration] - -the next was the Admiral of the _Biscaines_, a very mighty and puissant -ship commanded by Brittan Dona. The said _Philip_ carried three tier of -ordinance on a side, and eleven pieces in every tier. She shot eight -forthright out of her chase, besides those of her stern ports. - -After the _Revenge_ was entangled with this _Philip_, four others -boarded her; two on her larboard and two on her starboard. The fight -thus beginning at three of the clock in the afternoon, continued very -terrible all that evening. But the great _San Philip_ having received -the lower tier of the _Revenge_, discharged with cross-bar shot, - -[Illustration] - -shifted herself with all diligence from her sides, utterly misliking -her first entertainment. Some say that the ship foundered, but we -cannot report it for truth, unless we were assured. The Spanish ships -were filled with companies of soldiers, in some two hundred, besides -the mariners; in some five, in others eight hundred. In ours there were -none at all, beside the mariners, but the servants of the commanders -and some few voluntary gentlemen only. After many interchanged volleys -of great ordnance and - -[Illustration] - -small shot, the Spaniards deliberated to enter the _Revenge_, and made -divers attempts, hoping to force her by the multitudes of their armed -soldiers and musketeers, but were still repulsed again and again, and -at all times beaten back into their own ships, or into the seas. In the -beginning of the fight the _George Noble_, of London, having received -some shot through her by the _Armadas_, fell under the lee of the -_Revenge_, and asked Sir Richard what he would command him, being but -one of the victuallers and of small force; Sir Richard bid him save -himself, and leave him to his fortune. - -[Illustration] - -After the fight had thus, without intermission, continued while the -day lasted and some hours of the night, many of our men were slain -and hurt, and one of the great galleons of the Armada and the Admiral -of the Hulks both sunk, and in many other of the Spanish ships great -slaughter was made. Some write that Sir Richard was very dangerously -hurt almost in the beginning of the fight, and lay speechless for a -time ere he recovered. But two of the _Revenge’s_ own company, brought -home in a ship of Lime from the Islands, examined by - -[Illustration] - -some of the Lords and others, affirmed that he was never so wounded -as that he forsook the upper deck till an hour before midnight, and -then being shot into the body with a musket as he was dressing, was -again shot into the head, and withal his surgeon wounded to death. This -agrees also with an examination taken by Sir Francis Godolphin, of four -other mariners of the same ship being returned, which examination the -said Sir Francis sent unto Master William Killigrew, of Her Majesty’s -Privy Chamber. - -But to return to the fight, the Spanish ships which attempted to board -the _Revenge_, as - -[Illustration] - -they were wounded and beaten off, so always others came in their -places, she having never less than two mighty galleons by her sides and -aboard her. So that ere the morning from three of the clock the day -before, there had fifteen several Armadas assailed her, and all so ill -approved their entertainment, as they were by the break of day, far -more willing to hearken to a composition, than hastily to make any more -assaults or entries. But as the day increased so our men decreased; and -as the light grew more and more, by so much more grew our discomforts. -For none appeared in - -[Illustration] - -sight but enemies, saving one small ship called the _Pilgrim_, -commanded by Jacob Whiddon, who hovered all night to see the success: -but in the morning bearing with the _Revenge_, was hunted like a hare -amongst many ravenous hounds, but escaped. - -All the powder of the _Revenge_ to the last barrel was now spent, all -her pikes broken, forty of her best men slain, and the most part of -the rest hurt. In the beginning of the fight she had but one hundred -free from sickness, and fourscore and ten sick, laid in hold upon the -ballast. A small troop - -[Illustration: LOADING THE GALLEONS] - -[Illustration] - -to man such a ship, and a weak garrison to resist so mighty an army. By -those hundred all was sustained, the volleys, boardings, and enterings -of fifteen ships of war, besides those which beat her at large. On the -contrary, the Spanish were always supplied with soldiers brought from -every squadron: all manner of arms and powder at will. Unto ours there -remained no comfort at all, no hope, no supply either of ships, men, or -weapons; the masts all beaten overboard, all her tackle cut asunder, -her upper work altogether razed, and in effect evened - -[Illustration] - -she was with the water, but the very foundation or bottom of a ship, -nothing being left overhead either for flight or defence. Sir Richard -finding himself in this distress, and unable any longer to make -resistance, having endured in this fifteen hours’ fight, the assault -of fifteen several armadas, all by turns aboard him, and by estimation -eight hundred shot of great artillery, besides many assaults and -entries. And that himself and the ship must needs be possessed by the -enemy, who were now all cast in a ring round about him; the _Revenge_ -not able to move one way or other, - -[Illustration] - -but as she was moved with the waves and billow of the sea: commanded -the master Gunner, whom he knew to be a most resolute man, to split and -sink the ship; that thereby nothing might remain of glory or victory -to the Spaniards: seeing in so many hours’ fight, and with so great a -Navy they were not able to take her, having had fifteen hours’ time, -fifteen thousand men, and fifty and three sail of men-of-war to perform -it withal. And persuaded the company, or as many as he could induce, to -yield themselves unto God, and to the mercy of none else; but as they -had like valiant resolute men, repulsed so many - -[Illustration] - -enemies, they should not now shorten the honour of their nation, by -prolonging their own lives for a few hours, or a few days. The master -Gunner readily condescended and divers others; but the Captain and the -Master were of an other opinion, and besought Sir Richard to have care -of them, alleging that the Spaniard would be as ready to entertain a -composition, as they were willing to offer the same: and that there -being divers sufficient and valiant men yet living, and whose wounds -were not mortal, they might do their country and prince acceptable -service hereafter. And (that where Sir Richard had alleged - -[Illustration] - -that the Spaniards should never glory to have taken one ship of Her -Majesty’s, seeing that they had so long and so notably defended -themselves) they answered, that the ship had six foot water in hold, -three shot under water which were so weakly stopped, as with the first -working of the sea, she must needs sink, and was besides so crushed and -bruised, as she could never be removed out of the place. - -And as the matter was thus in dispute, and Sir Richard refusing to -hearken to any of those reasons: the master of the _Revenge_ (while the -Captain won unto him the greater - -[Illustration] - -party) was convoyed aboard the General Don Alfonso Bassan. Who, finding -none over-hasty to enter the _Revenge_ again, doubting lest Sir Richard -would have blown them up and himself, and perceiving by the report of -the master of the _Revenge_ his dangerous disposition: yielded that -all their lives should be saved, the company sent for England, and the -better sort to pay such reasonable ransom as their estate would bear, -and in the mean season to be free from galley or imprisonment. To this -he so much the rather condescended as well as I have said, for fear of -further loss and mischief to themselves, as also for the desire he had -to recover Sir Richard Grenville; whom for his notable valour he seemed -greatly to honour and admire. - -[Illustration] - -When this answer was returned, and that safety of life was promised, -the common sort being now at the end of their peril, the most drew -back from Sir Richard and the master Gunner, being no hard matter to -dissuade men from death to life. The master Gunner finding himself and -Sir Richard thus prevented and mastered by the greater number, would -have slain himself with a sword, had he not been by force withheld and -locked into his cabin. Then - -[Illustration] - -the General sent many boats aboard the _Revenge_, and divers of our -men, fearing Sir Richard’s disposition, stole away aboard the General -and other ships. Sir Richard thus overmatched, was sent unto by Alfonso -Bassan to remove out of the _Revenge_, the ship being marvellous -unsavoury, filled with blood and bodies of dead and wounded men like a -slaughter-house. Sir Richard answered that he might do with his body -what he list, for he esteemed it not, and as he was carried out of the -ship he swooned, and reviving again desired the company to pray for -him. The General used Sir Richard - -[Illustration] - -with all humanity, and left nothing unattempted that tended to his -recovery, highly commending his valour and worthiness, and greatly -bewailed the danger wherein he was, being unto them a rare spectacle, -and a resolution seldom approved, to see one ship turn toward so many -enemies, to endure the charge and boarding of so many huge armadas, and -to resist and repel the assaults and entries of so many soldiers. All -which and more, is confirmed by a Spanish captain of the same armada, -and a present actor in the fight, who being severed from the rest in -a storm, was by the _Lyon_ of London a small ship, taken and is now -prisoner in London. - -[Illustration] - -The general commander of the Armada, was Don Alfonso Bassan, brother to -the Marquesse of Santa Cruce. The Admiral of the _Biscaine_ squadron -was Britan Dona. Of the squadron of _Seville_, Marques of Arumburch. -The Hulkes and Flyboats were commanded by Luis Cutino. There were slain -and drowned in this fight, well near two thousand of the enemies, and -two especial commanders Don Luis de - -[Illustration: THE GALLEON FAIR] - -St John, and Don George de Prunaria de Malaga, as the Spanish Captain -confesseth, besides divers others of special account, whereof as yet -report is not made. - -[Illustration] - -The Admiral of the Hulks and the _Ascension_ of _Seville_, were both -sunk by the side of the _Revenge_; one other recovered the road of -Saint Michael’s, and sunk also there; a fourth ran herself with the -shore to save her men. Sir Richard died as it is said, the second or -third day aboard the General, and was by them greatly bewailed. What -became of his body, whether - -[Illustration] - -it were buried in the sea or on the land we know not: the comfort that -remaineth to his friends is, that he hath ended his life honourably in -respect of the reputation won to his nation and country, and of the -fame to his posterity, and that being dead, he hath not outlived his -own honour. - -For the rest of Her Majesty’s ships that entered not so far into the -fight as the _Revenge_, the reasons and causes were these. There were -of them but six in all, whereof two but small ships; the _Revenge_ -engaged past recovery: The Island of Flores was on the one side, 53 -sail of the Spanish, divided into squadrons on the - -[Illustration] - -other, all as full filled with soldiers as they could contain. Almost -the one half of our men sick and not able to serve: the ships grown -foul, unrummaged, and scarcely able to bear any sail for want of -ballast, having been six months at the sea before. If all the rest had -entered, all had been lost. For the very hugeness of the Spanish fleet, -if no other violence had been offered, would have crushed them between -them into shivers. Of which the dishonour and loss to the Queen had -been far greater than the spoil or harm that the enemy - -[Illustration] - -could any way have received. Notwithstanding it is very true, that -the Lord Thomas would have entered between the squadrons, but the -rest would not condescend; and the master of his own ship offered to -leap into the sea, rather than to conduct that Her Majesty’s ship -and the rest to be a prey to the enemy, where there was no hope nor -possibility either of defence or victory. Which also in my opinion -had ill sorted or answered the discretion and trust of a General, to -commit himself and his charge to an assured destruction, without hope -or any likelihood of prevailing: thereby to diminish the strength of -Her Majesty’s Navy, and to enrich the pride and glory of the enemy. -The _Foresight_ of the Queen, commanded by Thomas Vavasour, performed -a very great fight, and stayed two hours as near the _Revenge_ as the -weather would permit him, not forsaking the fight, till he was like -to be encompassed by the squadrons, and with great difficulty cleared -himself. The rest gave divers volleys of shot, and entered as far as -the place permitted and their own necessities, to keep the weather -gauge of the enemy, until they were parted by night. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -A few days after the fight was ended, and the English prisoners -dispersed into the Spanish and India ships, there arose so great a -storm from the west and north-west, that all the fleet was dispersed, -as well the Indian fleet which were then come unto them - -[Illustration: A CAPTURED GALLEON] - -[Illustration] - -as the rest of the Armada that attended their arrival, of which -fourteen sail together with the _Revenge_, and in her 200 Spaniards, -were cast away upon the Isle of S. Michael’s. So it pleased them to -honour the burial of that renowned ship the _Revenge_, not suffering -her to perish alone, for the great honour she achieved in her life -time. On the rest of the islands there were cast away in this storm -fifteen or sixteen more of the ships of war; and of a hundred and odd -sail of the India fleet expected this year in Spain, what in this -tempest and what before in the Bay of - -[Illustration] - -Mexico, and about the Bermudas, there were seventy and odd consumed and -lost, with those taken by our ships of London, besides one very rich -Indian ship, which set herself on fire, being boarded by the _Pilgrim_, -and five other taken by Master Wats his ships of London, between the -Havana and Cape S. Antonio. The 4th of this month of November we -received letters from the Tercera affirming that there are 3,000 bodies -of men remaining in that island, saved out of the perished ships; and -that by the Spaniards own confession there are 10,000 cast away in this -storm, besides those that are perished - -[Illustration] - -between the islands and the main. Thus it hath pleased God to fight -for us, and to defend the justice of our cause against the ambitious -and bloody pretences of the Spaniard, who, seeking to devour all -nations, are themselves devoured. A manifest testimony how injust and -displeasing their attempts are in the sight of God, who hath pleased -to witness by the success of their affairs His mislike of their bloody -and injurious designs, purposed and practised against all Christian -princes, over whom they seek unlawful and ungodly rule and Empery. - -[Illustration] - -One day or two before this wreck happened to the Spanish fleet, when -as some of our prisoners desired to be set on shore upon the islands, -hoping to be from thence transported into England, which liberty was -formerly by the General promised: One Maurice Fitz John, son of old -John of Desmond a notable traitor, cousin german to the late Earl of -Desmond, was sent to the English from ship to ship, to persuade them -to serve the King of Spain. The arguments he used to induce them were -these. The increase of pay which he promised to be trebled: advancement -to - -[Illustration] - -the better sort: and the exercise of the true Catholic religion, and -safety of their souls to all. For the first, even the beggarly and -unnatural behaviour of those English and Irish rebels, that served -the king in that present action, was sufficient to answer that first -argument of rich pay. For so poor and beggarly they were, as for want -of apparel they stripped their poor country men prisoners out of their -ragged garments, worn to nothing by six months’ service, and spared not -to despoil them even of their bloody shirts, from their wounded bodies, -and the very shoes from their feet; a notable testimony of their - -[Illustration] - -rich entertainment and great wages. The second reason was hope of -advancement if they served well and would continue faithful to the -king. But what man can be so blockishly ignorant ever to expect place -or honour from a foreign king, having no argument or persuasion than -his own disloyalty; to be unnatural to his own country that bred him; -to his parents that begat him, and rebellious to his true prince, to -whose obedience he is bound by oath, by nature, and by religion. No, -they are only assured to be employed in all desperate enterprises, to -be held in scorn and disdain ever among those whom they serve. - -[Illustration] - -And that ever traitor was either trusted or advanced I could never yet -read, neither can I at this time remember any example. And no man could -have less become the place of an orator for such a purpose than this -Maurice of Desmond. For the Earl his cousin being one of the greatest -subjects in that kingdom of Ireland, having almost whole countries in -his possession, so many goodly manors, castles and lordships; the Count -Palatine of Kerry, 500 gentlemen of his own name and family to follow -him, besides others. All which he possessed in peace for three or four - -[Illustration] - -hundred years, was in less than three years after his adhering to the -Spaniards and rebellion, beaten from all his holds, not so many as ten -gentlemen of his name left living, himself taken and beheaded by a -soldier of his own nation, and his land given by a Parliament to Her -Majesty and possessed by the English. His other cousin Sir John of -Desmond taken by Mr. John Zouch, and his body hanged over the gates -of his native city to be devoured by ravens; the third brother Sir -James hanged, drawn and quartered in the same place. If he had withall -vaunted of this success - -[Illustration] - -of his own house, no doubt the argument would have moved much and -wrought great effect; which because he for that present forgot, I -thought it good to remember in his behalf. For matter of religion -it would require a particular volume if I should set down how -irreligiously they cover their greedy and ambitious pretences with that -veil of piety. But sure I am, that there is no kingdom or commonwealth -in all Europe, but if they be reformed, they then invade it for -religion sake; if it be as they term Catholic they pretend title, as if -the Kings of Castile were the natural heirs of all the world; and so -between both, - -[Illustration] - -no kingdom is unsought. Where they dare not with their own forces -to invade, they basely entertain the traitors and vagabonds of all -nations, seeking by those and by their runagate Jesuits to win parties, -and have by that means ruined many noble houses and others in this -land, and have extinguished both their lives and families. What good, -honour or fortune ever man yet by them achieved is yet unheard of -or unwritten. And if our English Papists do but look into Portugal, -against whom they have no pretence of religion, how the nobility are -put to death, imprisoned, their rich men made a prey, and all sorts of -people - -[Illustration] - -captived, they shall find that the obedience even of the Turk is easy -and a liberty, in respect of the slavery and tyranny of Spain. What -they have done in Sicily, in Naples, Milan and in the Low Countries; -who hath there been spared for religion at all? And it cometh to my -remembrance of a certain burgher of Antwerp, whose house being entered -by a company of Spanish soldiers, when they first sacked the city, he -besought them to spare him and his goods, being a good Catholic and one -of their own party and faction. The Spaniards - -[Illustration] - -answered that they knew him to be of a good conscience for himself, but -his money, plate, jewels and goods were all heretical, and therefore -good prize. So they abused and tormented the foolish Fleming, who hoped -that an _Agnus Dei_ had been a sufficient target against all force of -that holy and charitable nation. Neither have they at any time as they -protest invaded the kingdoms of the Indies and Peru, and elsewhere, but -only led thereunto, rather, to reduce the people to Christianity, than -for either gold or empery. When as in one only island called - -[Illustration] - -Hispaniola, they have wasted thirty hundred thousand of the natural -people, besides many millions else in other places of the Indies: a -poor and harmless people created of God, and might have been won to -His knowledge, as many of them were, and almost as many as ever were -persuaded thereunto. The story whereof is at large written by a Bishop -of their own nation called Bartholome de las Casas, and translated into -English and many other languages, entitled The Spanish Cruelties. Who -would therefore repose trust in such a nation of ravenous strangers, - -[Illustration] - -and especially in those Spaniards which more greedily thirst after -English blood, than after the lives of any other people of Europe; for -the many overthrows and dishonours they have received at our hands, -whose weakness we have discovered to the world, and whose forces at -home, abroad, in Europe, in India, by sea and land, we have even -with handfuls of men and ships, overthrown and dishonoured. Let not -therefore any Englishman of what religion soever, have other opinion of -the Spaniards, but that those whom he seeketh to win of our nation, - -[Illustration] - -he esteemeth base and traitorous, unworthy persons, or unconstant -fools: and that he useth his pretence of religion for no other purpose -but to bewitch us from the obedience of our natural prince; thereby -hoping in time to bring us to slavery and subjection, and then none -shall be unto them so odious, and disdained as the traitors themselves, -who have sold their country to a stranger, and forsaken their faith -and obedience contrary to nature or religion; and contrary to that -human and general honour, not only of Christians, but of heathen and -irreligious nations, who have always sustained what labour soever, and -embraced even death itself, for their country, prince or commonwealth. -To conclude, it hath ever to this day pleased God to prosper and defend -her Majesty, to break the purposes of malicious enemies, of foresworn -traitors, and of unjust practices and invasions. She hath ever been -honoured of the worthiest Kings, served by faithful subjects, and -shall by the favour of God, resist, repel, and confound all whatsoever -attempts against her sacred person or kingdom. In the meantime, let -the Spaniard and traitor vaunt of their success; and we her true and -obedient vassals guided by the shining light of her virtues, shall -always love her, serve her, and obey her to the end of our lives. - - -FINIS - - - - -A PARTICULAR NOTE OF THE INDIAN FLEET, EXPECTED TO HAVE COME INTO SPAIN -THIS PRESENT YEAR OF 1591, WITH THE NUMBER OF SHIPS THAT PERISHED OF -THE SAME; ACCORDING TO THE EXAMINATION OF CERTAIN SPANIARDS, LATELY -TAKEN AND BROUGHT INTO ENGLAND BY THE SHIPS OF LONDON - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -The fleet of Nova Hispania, at their first gathering together and -setting forth, were 52 sails. The Admiral was of 600 tons, and the -Vice-Admiral of the same burden. Four or five of the ships were of 900 -and 1000 tons a piece, some 500 and 400, and the least of 200 tons. -Of this fleet 19 were cast away, and in them 2600 men by estimation, -which was done along the coast of Nova Hispania, so that of the same -fleet, there came to the Havana, but three and thirty sails. - -[Illustration] - -The fleet of Terra Firma, were at their first departure from Spain, 50 -sails, which were bound for Nombre de Dios, where they did discharge -their lading, and thence returned to Cartagena, for their healths sake, -until the time the treasure was ready they should take in, at the said -Nombre de Dios. But before this fleet departed, some were gone by one -or two at a time, so that only 23 sails of this fleet arrived in the -Havana. - - { 33 sails of Nova Hispania. - At the Havana { 23 sails of Terra Firma. - there met { 12 sails of San Domingo. - { 9 sails of Hunduras. - -[Illustration] - -In the whole 77 ships, which joined and set sail together, at the -Havana, the 17th of July, according to our account, and kept together -until they came into the height of 35 degrees, which was about the -tenth of August, where they found the wind at south west, changed -suddenly to the north, so that the sea coming out of the south west, -and the wind very violent at north, they were put all into great -extremity, and then first lost the General of their fleet, with 500 men -in her; and within three or four days after another storm rising, there -were five or six other of the biggest ships cast away with all their -men, together with their Vice-Admiral. - -[Illustration] - -And in the height of 48 degrees about the end of August, grew another -great storm, in which all the fleet saving 48 sails were cast away: -which 48 sails kept together, until they came in sight of the Islands -of Coruo and Flores, about the 5th or 6th of September, at which time -a great storm separated them; of which number 15 or 16 were after seen -by these Spaniards to ride at anchor under the Tercera; and twelve or -fourteen more to bear with the Island of S. Michael’s; what became of -them after that these Spaniards were taken, cannot yet be certified; -their opinion is, that very few of the fleet are escaped, but are -either drowned or taken. And it is otherwise of late certified, that -of this whole fleet that should have come into Spain this year, being -123 sail, there are as yet arrived but 25. This note was taken out of -the examination of certain Spaniards, that were brought into England by -six of the ships of London, which took seven of the above named Indian -fleet, near the Islands of Azores. - - -FINIS - - -[Illustration: “It may be truly said that the commandment of the sea is -an abridgement or a quintessence of a universal monarchy.” - - Francis Bacon. -] - - -_Letchworth: At the Arden Press._ - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unbalanced. - -In the Plain Text version of this eBook, italic text is indicated by -_underscores_ and superscripts are indicated by caret S^r symbols. - -The larger illustrations have been positioned at the tops of the -pages on which they originally appeared, even when that placed them -in the middle of sentences or paragraphs. 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