History of the United Netherlands, 1588c | Page 7

Royal, succeeded in mastering the vessel, and
putting all the Spanish soldiers to death. This done, the combined
rowers, welcoming Gwynn as their deliverer from an abject slavery
which seemed their lot for life, willingly accepted his orders. The gale
had meantime abated, and the two galleys, well conducted by the
experienced and intrepid Welshman, made their way to the coast of
France, and landed at Bayonne on the 31st, dividing among them the
property found on board the two galleys. Thence, by land, the fugitives,
four hundred and sixty- six in number--Frenchmen, Spaniards,
Englishmen, Turks, and Moors, made their way to Rochelle. Gwynn
had an interview with Henry of Navarre, and received from that
chivalrous king a handsome present. Afterwards he found his way to
England, and was well commended by the Queen. The rest of the

liberated slaves dispersed in various directions.
This was the first adventure of the invincible Armada. Of the squadron
of galleys, one was already sunk in the sea, and two of the others had
been conquered by their own slaves. The fourth rode out the gale with
difficulty, and joined the rest of the fleet, which ultimately re-
assembled at Coruna; the ships having, in distress, put in at first at
Vivera, Ribadeo, Gijon, and other northern ports of Spain. At the
Groyne--as the English of that day were accustomed to call
Coruna--they remained a month, repairing damages and recruiting; and
on the 22nd of July 3 (N.S.) the Armada set sail: Six days later, the
Spaniards took soundings, thirty leagues from the Scilly Islands, and
on--Friday, the 29th of July, off the Lizard, they had the first glimpse of
the land of promise presented them by Sixtus V., of which they had at
last come to take possession.
[The dates in the narrative will be always given according to the New
Style, then already adopted by Spain, Holland, and France, although
not by England. The dates thus given are, of course, ten days later than
they appear in contemporary English records.]
On the same day and night the blaze and smoke of ten thousand
beacon- fires from the Land's End to Margate, and from the Isle of
Wight to Cumberland, gave warning to every Englishman that the
enemy was at last upon them. Almost at that very instant intelligence
had been brought from the court to the Lord-Admiral at Plymouth, that
the Armada, dispersed and shattered by the gales of June, was not
likely to make its appearance that year; and orders had consequently
been given to disarm the four largest ships, and send them into dock.
Even Walsingham, as already stated, had participated in this strange
delusion.
Before Howard had time to act upon this ill-timed suggestion--even had
he been disposed to do so--he received authentic intelligence that the
great fleet was off the Lizard. Neither he nor Francis Drake were the
men to lose time in such an emergency, and before that Friday, night
was spent, sixty of the best English ships had been warped out of
Plymouth harbour.
On Saturday, 30th July, the wind was very light at southwest, with a
mist and drizzling rain, but by three in the afternoon the two fleets
could descry and count each other through the haze.

By nine o'clock, 31st July, about two miles from Looe, on the Cornish
coast, the fleets had their first meeting. There were 136 sail of the
Spaniards, of which ninety were large ships, and sixty-seven of the
English. It was a solemn moment. The long-expected Armada
presented a pompous, almost a theatrical appearance. The ships seemed
arranged for a pageant, in honour of a victory already won. Disposed in
form of a crescent, the horns of which were seven miles asunder, those
gilded, towered, floating castles, with their gaudy standards and their
martial music, moved slowly along the channel, with an air of indolent
pomp. Their captain-general, the golden Duke, stood in his private
shot-proof fortress, on the--deck of his great galleon the Saint Martin,
surrounded by generals of infantry, and colonels of cavalry, who knew
as little as he did himself of naval matters. The English vessels, on the
other hand--with a few exceptions, light, swift, and easily
handled--could sail round and round those unwieldy galleons, hulks,
and galleys rowed by fettered slave-gangs. The superior seamanship of
free Englishmen, commanded by such experienced captains as Drake,
Frobisher, and Hawkins-- from infancy at home on blue water--was
manifest in the very, first encounter. They obtained the weather-gage at
once, and cannonaded the enemy at intervals with considerable effect,
easily escaping at will out of range of the sluggish Armada, which was
incapable of bearing sail in pursuit, although provided with an
armament which could sink all its enemies at close quarters. "We had
some small fight with them