THE SPANISH MENACE 



the Indies. In 1590 squadrons cruising in the trade lanes caused the 

 treasure-fleet to abandon its voyage and turn back, and the almost com- 

 plete stoppage of the revenue of the country vi^as a very serious handicap 

 to the Spanish administration, especially as they had not yet completely 

 given up the idea of a new Armada. The same policy was followed in 

 1591, when a British squadron went to the Azores with the hope of 

 capturing the treasure. Unfortunately, the Spanish were not to be 

 caught so easily, and they sent out a huge fleet to meet the convoy in the 

 Azores. The small British squadron that had been sent to guard the 

 coast of Spain was quite powerless to stop it, and all they could do was 

 to send warning to Lord Thomas Howard, who had a few ships at Flores, 

 Drake's old flagship the Revenge being commanded by Sir Richard 

 Grenville. The ships were in no condition to fight, being engaged in 

 watering and changing ballast, while some of them had half their crews 

 ashore sick. They weighed or cut their cables as quickly as possible 

 and, knowing from experience that the clumsy Spanish ships would never 

 catch one of ours to windward, they contrived to weather them. The 

 Revenge was the last to weigh, perhaps because Sir Richard refused to 

 abandon his sick, perhaps because his duty as Vice-Admiral was to cover 

 a retreat. It ended in his little ship, with only a hundred men fit for 

 duty, getting right in the middle of the entire Spanish Fleet. Howard 

 gallantly attempted to cause a diversion, but the Spanish Admiral con- 

 sidered that one ship in his clutches was worth more than half a dozen 

 who could always evade him. So began the grandest defence in the 

 history of the Navy, a fight that lasted for fifteen hours against colossal 

 odds and ended in the ship being surrendered against the orders of her 

 dying commander, with her ammunition expended, six feet of water and 

 more in her hold, and over forty of her gallant men killed. The 

 remainder of the fleet escaped, and Alonso de Bazan, the Spanish 

 Admiral, waited for the treasure-fleet. The ships turned up, but the 

 fear of the British had caused them to leave their treasures, so that the 

 object of the expedition was attained after all. Before he could get his 

 unwieldy convoy clear of the islands, however, a tremendous gale burst 

 on it, and more than half the fleet was driven ashore or overwhelmed. 

 The Revenge herself was wrecked with heavy loss of Spanish life. 



Elizabeth and French Politics. 



By this time Elizabeth was getting heavily involved in French 

 politics, for Henry IV fought the League while he was a Protestant, and 

 when he turned Catholic he found that some of his ambitious barons were 

 desirous of making themselves independent. One aspired to the throne 

 of Brittany and called in the help of Spain, who seized a considerable 

 tract of French land round about Brest and fortified it. Frobisher and 

 Norrys were ordered to assist the French in turning them out, and some 

 fierce actions took place. It was during a final assault that Sir Martin 

 Frobisher received a slight wound in his side and died owing to the 

 efforts of his doctors. Poorly educated and scarcely able to sign his 

 own name, a blunt seaman who cared nothing for popularity and 



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