History of the United Netherlands, 1607a | Page 4

doubt of it," replied the skipper.
The admiral then asked him what their purpose could possibly be, in
venturing so near Gibraltar.
"Either I am entirely mistaken in my countrymen," answered Gevaerta,
"or they are coming for the express purpose of offering you battle."
The Spaniard laughed loud and long. The idea that those puny vessels

could be bent on such a purpose seemed to him irresistibly comic, and
he promised his prisoner, with much condescension, that the St.
Augustine alone should sink the whole fleet.
Gevaerts, having his own ideas on the subject, but not being called
upon to express them, thanked the admiral for his urbanity, and
respectfully withdrew.
At least four thousand soldiers were in D'Avila's ships, besides seamen.
there were seven hundred in the St. Augustine, four hundred and fifty
in Our Lady of Vega, and so on in proportion. There were also one or
two hundred noble volunteers who came thronging on board, scenting
the battle from afar, and desirous of having a hand in the destruction of
the insolent Dutchmen.
It was about one in the afternoon. There was not much wind, but the
Hollanders, slowly drifting on the eternal river that pours from the
Atlantic into the Mediterranean, were now very near. All hands had
been piped on board every one of the ships, all had gone down on their
knees in humble prayer, and the loving cup had then been passed
around.
Heemskerk, leading the way towards the Spanish admiral, ordered the
gunners of the bolus not to fire until the vessels struck each other.
"Wait till you hear it crack," he said, adding a promise of a hundred
florins to the man who should pull down the admiral's flag. Avila,
notwithstanding his previous merriment, thought it best, for the
moment, to avoid the coming collision. Leaving to other galleons,
which he interposed between himself and the enemy, the task of
summarily sinking the Dutch fleet, he cut the cable of the St. Augustine
and drifted farther into the bay. Heemskerk, not allowing himself to be
foiled in his purpose, steered past two or three galleons, and came
crashing against the admiral. Almost simultaneously, Pretty Lambert
laid himself along her quarter on the other side. The St. Augustine fired
into the AEolus as she approached, but without doing much damage.
The Dutch admiral, as he was coming in contact, discharged his
forward guns, and poured an effective volley of musketry into his
antagonist.
The St. Augustine fired again, straight across the centre of the bolus, at
a few yards' distance. A cannon-ball took off the head of a sailor,
standing near Heemskerk, and carried away the admiral's leg, close to

the body. He fell on deck, and, knowing himself to be mortally
wounded, implored the next in command on board, Captain Verhoef, to
fight his ship to the last, and to conceal his death from the rest of the
fleet. Then prophesying a glorious victory for republic, and piously
commending his soul to his Maker, he soon breathed his last. A cloak
was thrown over him, and the battle raged. The few who were aware
that the noble Heemskerk was gone, burned to avenge his death, and to
obey the dying commands of their beloved chief. The rest of the
Hollanders believed themselves under his directing influence, and
fought as if his eyes were upon them. Thus the spirit of the departed
hero still watched over and guided the battle.
The AEolus now fired a broadside into her antagonist, making fearful
havoc, and killing Admiral D'Avila. The commanders-in-chief of both
contending fleets had thus fallen at the very beginning of the battle.
While the St. Augustine was engaged in deadly encounter, yardarm and
yardarm, with the AEolus and the Tiger, Vice-admiral Alteras had,
however, not carried out his part of the plan. Before he could succeed
in laying himself alongside of the Spanish vice-admiral, he had been
attacked by two galleons. Three other Dutch ships, however, attacked
the vice-admiral, and, after an obstinate combat, silenced all her
batteries and set her on fire. Her conquerors were then obliged to draw
off rather hastily, and to occupy themselves for a time in extinguishing
their own burning sails, which had taken fire from the close contact
with their enemy. Our Lady of Vega, all ablaze from top-gallant-mast
to quarterdeck, floated helplessly about, a spectre of flame, her guns
going off wildly, and her crew dashing themselves into the sea, in order
to escape by drowning from a fiery death. She was consumed to the
water's edge.
Meantime, Vice-admiral Alteras had successively defeated both his
antagonists; drifting in with them until almost under the guns of the
fortress, but never leaving them until, by his superior gunnery and
seamanship, he had sunk one of them, and driven