311 ProftssC'T J. K. Laughon [^'^7 ^j 



Lord- Admiral of England, with whom were Drake and Hawkyns as 

 Tiee- and rear-admirals ; several noblemen, including Lord Thomas 

 Howard, the admiral's nephew : his two sons-in-law. Lord Sheffield and 

 Sir Eobert Southwell ; and that quaint mixture of courtier, adyenturer, 

 and buccaneer, the Earl of Cumberland : together with many genuine 

 sea-dogs, of whom the best known are Frobiser. Fenner, and Fen ton. 

 Large numbers of merchants* ships, levied by the Queen or by their 

 own towns, had joined the fleet, which as it lay at Plymouth consisted 

 of about 80 sail all told. From the time of his return from the coast 

 of Spain in the previous summer, Drake had been urgent that he 

 should be sent out again, with a still more powerful squadron, to repeat 

 the blow. Hawkyns, Frobiser, Fenner — all the seamen of experience 

 — were of the same opinion. Howard, guided by their advice, 

 repeatedly pressed the importance of the step ; but Elizabeth stead- 

 fastly refused. She hoped, perhaps, for peace; more probably, 

 perhaps, she hoped that the war might continue to be carried on in 

 the same cheap and desultory fashion as during the last three years 

 and was unwilling to set Philip the example of more sustained efforts. 

 It is difficult to believe that she was entirely hoodwinked by the 

 negotiations carried on in Flanders and by the false protestations of 

 the Duke of Parma. She was herself too accomplishe»i in dissimula- 

 tion to fall such an easy victim as she is commonly represented ; but I 

 think that she had persuaded herself that the preparations in Spain were 

 merely a threat, which, however, might be converted into a terrible 

 reality. And this seems to me to explain her ignoble conduct in the 

 matter of supplying the ships. She believed that the Spaniards would 

 not be the aggressors ; that any extraordinary supply of ammunition 

 was uncalled for, and provisions could bo put on board from week to 

 week. It was cheaper, she may have argued to herself, than to buy 

 and ship a quantity of stores which would only have to be landed 

 again and disposed of at a loss. And so, notwithstanding the prayers 

 and entreaties of Howard and Drake, backed up by the opinion of 

 every man of experience, no further attempt was made on the Spanish 

 ports. It is prolable enough that had Drake been permitted, he 

 would have kindled such a blaze in the Tagus or in the harbour of 

 Corimna, as would have effectually prevented the invasion which was 

 now on foot. 



It has been said over and over again* that the Duke of Medina- 

 Sidonia was ordered by Philip to hug the French coast, so as to 

 avoid the English fleet and to reach the Straits of Dover with his 

 force ir.tact. Xothing can well be more inaccurate. He was, on the 

 contrary, orderel, if he met Drake near the mouth of the Channel, 

 to fall on hi m and destroy him ; it would be easier and more certain 

 to destroy the EngL'sh fleet piecemeal, than to allow it to collect ia 

 one. Nor do his instructions contain one word about hugging the 

 French coast ; on the contrary, they advise the Scilly Isles or the 



* MonBOD, in Chnrchill's ' Tovages,' iii. p. 149 : Lediard's ' Naval HMory,* 

 p. 253. 



