THE ENGLISH FIRE-SHIPS. 287 



with which they were either badty supplied, or had expended too freely. Off the Isle of 

 Wight, the English battered the Spanish admiral with their great ordnance, and shot away 

 his mainmast; but other ships came to his assistance, beat them off, and set upon the 

 English admiral, who only escaped by favour of a breeze which sprung up at the right 

 moment. Camden relates how the English shot away the lantern from one of the 

 Spanish ships, and the beak-head from a second, and that Frobisher escaped by the 

 skin of his teeth from a situation of great danger. Still this was little more than 

 skirmishing. "The Spaniards say that from that time they gave over what they call the 

 pursuit of their enemy ; and they dispatched a fresh messenger to the Prince of Parma, 

 urging him to effect his junction with them as soon as possible, and withal to send 

 them some great shot, for they had expended theirs with more prodigality than effect." 

 On the other hand the English determined to wait till they could attack the enemy in 

 the Straits of Dover, where they expected to be joined by the squadrons under Lord 

 Seymour and Sir William Winter. Meantime Effingham's forces were being considerably 

 increased by volunteers ; " For the gentlemen of England hired ships from all parts at 

 their own charge, and with one accord came Hocking thither as to a set field." Among the 

 volunteers were Sir Walter Raleigh, the Earls of Oxford, Northumberland, and Cumberland. 

 On the evening of the 27th the Spaniards came to anchor off Calais, and the English 

 ships, now 140 in number, "all of them ships fit for fight, good sailors, nimble and tight 

 for tacking about which way they would, anchored within cannon-shot." A squadron of 

 about thirty ships belonging to the States, acting in conjunction with the Admiral of 

 Zeeland and his squadron, effectually blockaded Dunkirk, and the poor Prince of 

 Parma, with his pressed men constantly deserting, his flat-bottomed boats leaky, and his 

 provisions not ready, could do nothing. 



The Spanish ships were almost invulnerable to the shot and ordnance of the day, 

 and " their height was such that our bravest seamen were against any attempt at 

 boarding them." These facts were well understood by Elizabeth's ministers, and the Lord 

 Admiral was instructed to convert eight of his worst vessels into fire-ships. The orders 

 arrived so propos of the occasion, and were so swiftly executed, that within thirty hours 

 after the enemy had cast anchor off Calais, the ships were unloaded and dismantled, filled 

 with combustibles and all their ordnance charged, and their 1 sides being smeared with 

 pitch, rosin, and wildfire, were sent, in the dead of the night, with wind and tide* 

 against the Spanish fleet. When the Spaniards saw the whole sea glittering and shining 

 with the reflection of the flames, the guns exploding as the fire reached them, and a heavy 

 canopy of dense smoke overhead obscuring the heavens, they remembered those terrible 

 fire-ships which had been used so effectively in the Scheldt, and the cry resounded through 

 the fleet, " The fire of Antwerp ! " Some of the Spanish captains let their hawsers slip, 

 some cut their cables, and in terror and confusion put to sea ; " happiest they who could 

 first be gone, though few or none could tell which course to take." In the midst of all 

 this fearful excitement one of the largest of the galleases, commanded by D. Hugo de 

 Moncada, ran foul of another ship, lost her rudder, floated about at the mercy of the tide, 

 and at length ran upon Calais sands. Here she was assailed by the English small craft, 

 who battered her with their guns, but dared not attempt boarding till the admiral sent 



