THE SPANISH MENACE 



later years. She carried the Paymaster-General of the Fleet and a large 

 part of the King's treasure, although how much this treasure was will 

 never be known. There is no great reason to believe that it was a very 

 large sum, for the intention of the Spaniards was to make the English 

 pay for everything, and they were certainly not counting on the expedi- 

 tion costing them very much after the first outlay. Naturally a fleet of 

 this size would have to carry a certain amount of cash for ordinary 

 expenses, but to risk a vast treasure on such an enterprise, when there 

 was no need for it and when the King had already impoverished himself 

 in fitting out the expedition, would have been ridiculous. Such gold as 

 she carried was taken off before she was allowed to fall into our hands, 

 but there is not the least reason to believe that it was all transferred to 

 the Tobermory or any other galleon ; in fact, from the number of ships 

 which assisted the disabled paymaster it is more likely to have been 

 tolerably well distributed. 

 The Second Fight. 



Materially the results of the first action were not great, but they 

 served to encourage the English hugely and in at least equal degree to 

 discourage the enemy. The handiness of our ships and their better 

 gunnery were as obvious as the fact that many of the Spanish leaders 

 were neither efficient nor loyal, for the way Recalde was abandoned 

 was disgraceful. On the morning of Tuesday the 23rd the wind, after 

 a calm which gave the enemy some chance of using their oars, came 

 from the north-east, giving the Spaniards the weather gage. From 

 morning till night a confused battle raged furiously and with particular 

 gallantry. Several times numbers appeared to give the Spaniards the 

 chance of cutting off one or other of our ships — H.M.S. Triumph 

 especially having a narrow escape — but on each occasion she was either 

 rescued or managed to slip past her opponents. Lord Howard in the 

 Ark appeared to be everywhere, while some of the armed merchantmen 

 whose value was doubted did useful work in heading off Spanish ships 

 which were trying to get out of the melee. At the end of the day the 

 greatest advantage lay in the fact that the Spanish were hopelessly 

 confused and still further disheartened. Their ships were packed with 

 men burning for a hand-to-hand fight on deck, but the English ships 

 were handled so well that they were never given a chance, while at long 

 bowls the English gunnery caused heavy casualties. 

 The Action off the Wight. 



The indecisive second action off Portland was followed by a com- 

 paratively quiet day on the 24th, and the action off the Isle of Wight on 

 the 25th. It began by the English very nearly contriving to cut off the 

 Spanish galleasses, but the wind came up enough to permit the main 

 fleet to come to their assistance, although not before they had suffered 

 considerably. The Triumph was soon again in danger, but she towed 

 off with her boats and slipped out, her handling being specially men- 

 tioned with admiration by the Spaniards. After four hours the majority 

 of the English ships had expended all the ammunition they could spare, 



86 



