140 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
England, where he was christened Gualtero with great solemnity. 
The search for gold had not been prosecuted with any great ardour, 
but Ealeigh came home convinced both from what he saw and 
heard that there was a great deal of gold in the country. During 
his homeward voyage he set fire to several Spanish towns which 
refused to supply him with provisions. On his return in July he 
was most cordially welcomed, and brought out a narrative of the 
expedition, under the title of the " Discovery of Guiana,' 9 
We now come to the great day of Cadiz, the brightest day in 
Raleigh's life. The Spaniards ever since the defeat of the Armada 
had been making ceaseless preparations for another invasion. The 
king of Spain, to do him justice, was not easily daunted. He 
constantly fitted out expeditions against England ; sometimes, as 
at Cadiz, we were enabled to nip them in the bud, but on two or 
three occasions they actually put out to sea, and if the elements 
had not done our work for us, we should have had to chronicle 
more than one struggle against a Spanish armada. In 1596, news 
arrived that a vast fleet was being fitted out in the bay of Cadiz. 
Drake was dead, but he had a worthy successor in Raleigh, who 
insisted strenuously on the advisability of destroying the fleet 
where it was in the harbour. Accordingly an English fleet, with a 
Dutch contingent, numbering, with transports and tenders, 156 sail, 
and manned with 8,000 men, set sail from Plymouth harbour on 
the 1st of June, with sealed orders, under Lord Howard of Effing- 
ham, Lord Admiral ; Essex, General ; Lord Thomas Howard, Vice- 
Admiral ; and Raleigh, Rear- Admiral. On Saturday the 20th the 
fleet came to an anchor within half a league of Cadiz. Raleigh 
meanwhile had been despatched with a few vessels, under orders 
to intercept any Spanish ship that might try to pass out from 
Cadiz. When he returned, he found Essex in the act of dis- 
embarking his soldiers with the intention of making a descent on 
the west side of the town, and this in spite of a sea running so 
high, that some of the boats had already been swamped and several 
men drowned. Raleigh at once saw that such a course was mad- 
ness, and pointed out to Essex that twenty of the enemy might 
effectually prevent, in such a sea, the landing of our troops. The 
officers all joined with Raleigh in the appeal to Essex, whereupon 
Essex shifted the responsibility for the order on to Lord Howard 
of Effingham, who was persuaded to withdraw the order for dis- 
embarkation, and to move the fleet into the port. By the time the 
