THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.

[1588.]

IT was on Saturday, the 20th of July, that Lord Effingham came in sight of his formidable adversaries. The "invincible" Armada was drawn up in form of a crescent, which from horn to horn measured some seven miles.2 There was a south-west wind; and before it the vast vessels sailed slowly on. The English let them pass by; and then, following in the rear, commenced an attack on them. A running fight 5 now took place, in which some of the best ships of the Spaniards were captured; many more received heavy damage; while the English vessels, which took care not to close with their huge antagonists, but availed themselves of their superior celerity in tacking and manoeuvring, suffered little comparative loss. Each day added not only to the spirit, but to the number of Effingham's force.

8

Raleigh justly 10 praises the English admiral for 11 his skilful tactics.12 He says, "Certainly, he that will happily perform a fight at sea, must be skilful in making choice of vessels to fight in; he must believe that there is more belonging to a good man-of-war, upon the waters, than great daring; 13 and must know that there is a great deal

1 Use aligner, here (a naval term), notranger (a military term). 2 in a length of some seven miles from one horn to the other.' -'some,' environ, or, quelque.

3 The vast vessels sailed slowly on, having the wind behind them (ayant le vent en poupe) which blew from the south-west."

We say, likewise, in the same sense, avoir (and also filer-'to sail on') vent arrière (i.e., lit., 'to have -to ail on with the wind right aft― astern').

4

par derrière.

5 n combat en charse.

a still greater number'.

of difference between fighting loose, or at large, and grappling. The guns of a slow ship pierce as well, and make as great holes, as those in a swift. To clap ships together, without consideration, belongs rather to a madman than to a man of war."

3

The Armada lay off Calais, with its largest ships ranged outside. The English admiral could not attack them in their position without great disadvantage, but on the night of the 29th he sent eight fire-ships among them, with almost equal effect to that of the fire-ships which the Greeks so often employed against the Turkish fleets in their late war of independence. The Spaniards cut their cables and put to sea 5 in confusion. One of the largest galeasses ran foul of another vessel and was stranded. The rest of the fleet was scattered about on the Flemish coast, and when the morning broke,10 it was with difficulty and delay that they obeyed their admiral's signal to range themselves round him near Gravelines. Now was the golden opportunity for the English to assail them, and prevent them from ever letting loose Parma's flotilla against England; and nobly was that opportunity used.11

6

implies a war-ship, whilst navire is said of any other ship (merchant vessel or &c.); bâtiment is the general term for all kinds of ships.

1 se battre à distance, et en venir à l'abordage.

2 To clap together (mettre ensemble) ships.'-in a swift;' turn, 'of a swift ship.'

3 est (or c'est) le fait (followed by de, not by d-to'). When there is only one infinitive (as here, mettre) serving as a subject, or nominative to another verb (est, here), the use of ce is not indispensable: taste must decide it; yet, in general, it is better to use that pronoun, when the infinitive has a regimen of a certain length. But when there are several infinitives serving as nominatives to another verb, ce must be used; and, by the way, the verb must, even then,

remain in the singular, as infinitives, not having in themselves the property of number, cannot, when used as subjects, communicate the form of the plural to the verb: thus, manger, boire et dormir, c'est (not ce sont, as mentioned p. 158, n. 8) leur unique occupation.

4to lie off,' être (or, se trouver) devant (or, à la hauteur de). 5 prirent le large.

6 This was the name of an ancient Venetian kind of galley. 7 aborda par accident.

8 et échoua sur la côte (or, simply, échoua); or, et fit côte.

9 côte de Flandre. Always use the name of the country, instead of the adjective, in such a case as this.

10 the day appeared.'

11 they obeyed,' &c.; turn, 'she (i. e., la flotte-fem.) obeyed, &c. Now was,' &c. &c.; turn,

Drake and Fenner were the first English captains who attacked the unwieldy leviathans: then came Fenton, Southwell, Burton, Cross, Raynor, and then the lord admiral, with Lord Thomas Howard and Lord Sheffield. The Spaniards only thought of forming and keeping close together,1 and were driven by the English past Dunkirk,2 and far away from the Prince of Parma, who in watching their defeat from the coast, must, as Drake expressed it, have chafed like a bear robbed of her whelps. This was indeed the last and the 3 decisive battle between the two fleets. It is, perhaps, best described in the very words of the contemporary writer as we may read them in Hakluyt.4

"Upon the 29th of July in the morning, the Spanish fleet after the abovementioned tumult,5 having arranged themselves again into order, were, within sight of Gravelines, most bravely and furiously encountered by the English; where they once again got the wind of the Spaniards; who suffered themselves to be deprived of the commodity of the place in Calais road, and of the advantage of the wind near unto Dunkirk, rather than they would change 10 their array or separate their forces now conjoined and united together, standing only upon their defence.1 11

"And howbeit 12 there were many excellent and warlike13

'It was for the English a precious opportunity of coming seriously to action, and of preventing for ever (p. 220, n. 7) the Spaniards from letting loose (lacher) the fleet of the Duke-the prince-of Parma (Parme) against England (see page 22, note 1); and that opportunity was admirably used (mise à profit).' 1 à former et à serrer leur ligne (a naval term).—The military term is, serrer les files. 2 Dunkerque.

3 the' should not be repeated, as both adjectives qualify the same noun this case is the reverse of that at p. 192, n. 9, and p. 238, n. 1. Simply, Mais laissons parler un écrivain contemporain, H.

'affray' (échujourée) would

now be the word, here.

6 having put itself again (de nouveau) in order of battle."

vere,' &c.; see page 41, note 8. 7 There;' put within sight of Gravelines' last, and put a full stop after 'Gravelines.'

8to get the wind of, gagner le vent (or, le dessus du rent) sur (or, d). 9 rade, in this sense; and turn, 'the road of C—.'

10 rather than change (de, besides que, before the verb).'

11 We should say, now-a-days, 'and standing only upon the defensive.'

126

'although.'

13 warlike,' in this case, bien armés en guerre.

5

ships in the English fleet, yet scarce were there 22 or 23 among them all, which matched 90 of the Spanish ships in the bigness, or could conveniently assault them. Wherefore the English ships using their prerogative of nimble steerage,2 whereby they could turn and wield themselves with the wind which way they listed,3 came often very near upon the Spaniards, and charged them so sore, that now and then they were but a pike's length asunder: and so continually giving them one broadside after another, they discharged all their shot both great and small upon them, spending one whole day from morning till night in that violent kind of conflict, until powder and bullets 7 failed them. In regard of which want they thought it convenient not to pursue the Spaniards any longer, because they had many great advantages of the English, namely, for the extraordinary bigness of their ships, and also for that they were so nearly conjoined, and kept together in so good array, that they could by no means be fought withal one to one. The English thought, therefore, that they had right well acquitted themselves, in chasing the Spaniards first from Calais, and then from Dunkirk, and by that means to have hindered them from joining with 10 the Duke of Parma's forces, and getting the wind of them, to have driven them from their own coasts.

"The Spaniards that day sustained great loss and damage, having many of their ships shot through and through, and they discharged likewise great store of

1 en grandeur.

2 Simply, agilité.

3 Obsolete, for 'wished,' 'liked.' Use presser vivement.

5 à force de leur lâcher (or tirer) des bordées coup sur coup. There is a misconception to be guarded against, here: coup is not used exactly for coup de canon (firing of a gun), though it might be said to mean that, indirectly, in this particular case; the idiomatic expression coup sur coup ('one after another') may be said of aimost anything, as, e.g., " Après

maints quolibets (low jokes) renvoyés coup sur coup."-LA FONTAINE, page 33.

6 une grele de boulets (or. de fer) et de plomb.

7 projectiles (missiles).-' failed,' after 'until;' see page 299, note 3. 8 Give to the whole of this old English style a modern French construction. See p. 249, n. 9. 10 to join with,' rallier (a naval term).

11 percés d'outre en outre (or, de part en part)-or, traversés des deux bords (naval)-par les boulets.

ordinance against the English; who, indeed, sustained some hindrance, but not comparable to the Spaniards' loss for they did not lose either one ship or person of importance, although Sir Francis Drake's ship was pierced with shot about forty times."

It reflects little credit on the English government2 that the English fleet was so deficiently supplied with ammunition, as to be unable to complete the destruction of the invaders. But enough was done to ensure it. Many of the largest Spanish ships were sunk or captured in the action of this day. And at length the Spanish admiral, despairing of success, fled northward with a southerly wind, in the hope of rounding Scotland, and so returning to Spain without a farther encounter with the English fleet. Lord Effingham left a squadron to continue the blockade of the Prince of Parma's armament; but that wise general soon withdrew 5 his troops to more promising fields of action." Meanwhile the lord. admiral himself and Drake chased the vincible Armada, as it was now termed, for some distance northward; and then, when it seemed to bend away from the Scotch coast towards Norway, 10 it was thought best, in the words of Drake, "to leave them to those boisterous and uncouth northern seas."

The sufferings and losses which the unhappy Spaniards sustained in their flight round Scotland and Ireland, are well known. Of their whole Armada only fifty-three shattered vessels brought back their beaten and wasted crews to the Spanish coast which they had quitted in such pageantry and pride.—(CREASY, The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World.)

1 firent également force décharges d'artillerie; force, used thus adverbially, means 'plenty of.'

2 Il revient peu d'honneur au gouvernement anglais, du fait.

3 'so deficiently. .... as to be unable turn, too deficiently. . to be allowed (or, enabled Simply, dans cette journée (in this battle). 5 Use remmener.

6 to combats that promised (page 55, note 8) more glory.' 7 to chase,' as a naval term, donner chasse (or, la chasse) d.

8 vincible; a new (French) word, little used as yet.

9 s'éloigner.-'Scotch coast;' set page 309, note 9.

10 en se dirigeant vers la Nor wége.