THE FINAL ACTION. 



289 



admiral came up with Lord Thomas Howard and Lord Sheffield. There were scarcely 

 two or three and twenty among their ships which matched ninety of the Spanish vessels 

 in size, but the smaller vessels were more easily handled and manoeuvred. "Wherefore/' 

 says Hakluyt, "using their prerogative of nimble steerage, whereby they could turn and 

 wield themselves with the wind which way they listed, they came oftentimes very near 

 upon the Spaniards, and charged them so sore, that now and then they were but a pike's 

 length asunder; and so continually giving them one broadside after another, they 



QtEEX ELIZAHETU OX HEK WAY TO ST. PAUL'S. 



discharged all their shot, both great and small, upon them, spending a whole day, from 

 morning till night, in that violent kind of conflict/' During this action many of the 

 Spanish vessels were pierced through and through between wind and water; one was 

 sunk, and it was learnt that one of her officers, having proposed to strike, was put to 

 death by another; the brother of the slain man instantly avenged his death, and then 

 tli3 ship went down. Others are believed to have sunk, and many were terribly shattered. 

 One, which leaked so fast that fifty men were employed at the pumps, tried to run 

 aground on the Flemish coast, where her captain had to strike to a Dutch commander. 

 Our ships at last desisted from the contest, from sheer want of ammunition; and the 

 Armada made an effort to reach the Straits. Here a great engagement was expected, 

 but the fighting was over, and that which the hand of man barely commenced the 

 37 



