606 
THE SPANISH ARMADA. 
Nieuport and Dunkirk, he could not stir, without exposing his army 
to certain ruin, the consequence of which would probably be the 
entire loss of the Netherlands. In compliance with this request the 
armada was ordered to advance, and it had arrived within sight of 
Dunkirk, between the English fleet on the one hand, and the Dutch 
on the other, when a sudden calm put a stop to all its motions. In 
this becalmed situation, the three fleets remained for one whole day. 
About the middle of the night a breeze sprung up, and lord Howard 
had recourse to an expedient, which had been happily devised on the 
day before. Having filled eight ships with pitch, sulphur, and other 
combustible materials, he set them on fire, and sent them before the 
wind among the different divisions of the Spanish fleet. When the 
Spaniards beheld these ships in flames approaching towards them, it 
brought to their remembrance the havock which had been made by 
the fire-ships employed against the duke of Parma’s bridge at the 
siege of Antwerp. The darkness of the night increased the terror 
with which their imaginations w'ere overwhelmed, and the panic flew 
from one end of the fleet to the other. Each crew, anxious only for 
their own preservation, thought of nothing but how to escape the 
present danger. Some of them took time to weigh their anchors, 
but others cut their cables, and suffered their ships to drive with 
blind precipitation, without considering whether they did not thereby 
expose themselves to a greater danger than that which they were so 
solicitous to avoid. In this confusion the ships ran foul of one 
another ; the shock was dreadful, and several of them received so 
much damage as to be rendered unfit for future use. When day- 
light returned, lord Howard bad the satisfaction to perceive that his 
stratagem had fully produced the desired effect. The enemy were 
still in extreme disorder, and their ships widely separated and dis- 
persed. 
His fleet, on the contrary, had lately received a great augmentation 
in (he ships fitted out by the nobility and gentry, and by those under 
lord, Seymour, who had left Justin de Nassau, as alone sufficient to 
guard the coast of Flanders. Being bravely seconded by sir Francis 
Drake, and all the other officers, he made haste to improve the advaur 
tage which was now presented to him, and attacked the enemy in 
different quarters at the same time, with the utmost impetuosity and 
ardour. The engagement began at four in the morning, and lasted 
till six at night. The Spaniards displayed in every rencounter the 
most intrepid bravery, but, from the causes already mentioned, they 
did very little execution against the English ; while many of their own 
ships were greatly damaged, and twelve of the largest were either 
run aground, sunk, or compelled to surrender. 
It w'as now evident that the purpose of the armada was entirely 
frustrated. The Spanish admiral, after many unsuccessful rencounters, 
prepared therefore to make his way home, but as the winds were con- 
trarv to his return through the channel, he resolved to take the circuit 
of the island. The English fleet followed him for some time, and, had 
not their ammunition fallen short, they had obliged the armada to 
surrender at discretion. Such a conclusion of that vain-glorious 
enterprise would have been truly illustrious to the English, but the 
