THE SPANISH MENACE 



Once again both Royal ships and armed merchantmen were employed 

 in alliance with a Dutch squadron of ten ships, but the whole affair was 

 badly bungled and the Spaniards were waiting for us on the coast. 

 Accordingly this part of the project was abandoned, and the Azores 

 were attacked instead. Raleigh was given no instructions, and acting 

 on his own very good judgment offended Essex, when the beginning of 

 the enmity between the two great adventurers was caused. After that, 

 with lack of co-operation between the leaders, nothing could be done, 

 and the expedition returned to England with little result. 



Cumberland's Last Effort. 



George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, has already been mentioned 

 as a noteworthy adventurer of these times, fitting out a number of expedi- 

 tions and sailing himself in several of them. His last venture was in 

 1598, when he collected twenty sail and left Plymouth in March. Tak- 

 ing a number of prizes on the Spanish coast, he plundered the Canaries 

 and then went on to the West Indies. San Juan was taken after a gallant 

 action. A delay at this port, however, caused very heavy casualties 

 through sickness. He had the bad luck to miss the main treasure-fleet 

 from Mexico, which was the real aim of the whole expedition. From a 

 financial point of view it was a failure, but indirectly it hampered the 

 Spaniards very considerably by once again interrupting the flow of 

 treasure into the King's coffers. The Earl did not go roving again, and 

 died in 1605. 



Sir William Monson. 



The great Queen's reign was drawing to its close, but before the 

 end there were one or two dashing naval exploits, principally to the 

 credit of Vice-Admiral Sir William Monson. In 1602 he was to have 

 sailed in an expedition under Sir Richard Leveson, but owing to delays 

 and the waste of a lot of time in waiting for the Dutch concerted action 

 was prevented and the Spanish treasure-fleet escaped ; in fact, it nearly 

 captured the British squadron sent against it. Later it slipped through 

 Monson's second line by the best of luck while he was pursuing a worth- 

 less prize. He heard, however, that at Cezimbra there were a number 

 of valuable ships, and accordingly decided to attack the port. By then 

 he had rejoined Leveson's flag and concerted action was agreed upon, 

 but whereas the admiral drifted out of the roadstead impotently his 

 lieutenant anchored as near shore as he could get and maintained a 

 magnificent hammer-and-tongs action with the forts and men-of-war. 

 For a dozen killed and wounded the English gained the galley Sao 

 Valentino worth a million ducats and dispersed the fighting squadron 

 in the port, Leveson generously giving Monson the lion's share of the 

 credit and assisting in every way in his advancement. Leveson 

 eventually returned to England, while Monson remained on the coast as 

 admiral for a time. When he finally reached Plvmouth he was immedi- 

 ately honoured by the Queen in every wav, and sent out to Spain with 

 another squadron to watch Corunna and Ferrol. After raiding the coast 

 for some time he pursued what appeared to be a rich prize in the dark- 



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