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21 - Sir Francis Drake by Julian Corbett · Sir Francis Drake

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty one of Sir Francis Drake by Julian Corbett.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
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  Speaker 1: Pamel Nagami, Chapter eleven, The Battle of gavelin part three.
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  Speaker 1: What had happened could not be seen from the English decks.
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  Speaker 1: As the fire ships passed through the enemy's anchorage, other
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  Speaker 1: fires seemed to rise, but it was not till the
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  Speaker 1: gray dawn broke that they knew not a single Spanish
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  Speaker 1: ship had caught fire. In its chief object, the terrible
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  Speaker 1: stroke had failed, but in its lesser aim it had succeeded.
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  Speaker 2: Entirely.
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  Speaker 1: The armada was dislodged, and the bulk of it was
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  Speaker 1: seen still flying in disorder to the north northeast. The
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  Speaker 1: San Martin had hove too, and with a little group
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  Speaker 1: of galleons about her, was firing guns and signaling to
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  Speaker 1: recall her panic stricken flock nearer. Still, the most splendid
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  Speaker 1: of the four galleases was seen shattered with a collision,
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  Speaker 1: struggling with oars and foresail to get under the guns
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  Speaker 1: of Calais Castle. Then Howard Wade, every arrangement had been
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  Speaker 1: made for completing the work.
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  Speaker 2: The fire ships.
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  Speaker 1: Had left undone, and the whole fleet was ready to
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  Speaker 1: fling itself into the confusion in one last cast, to
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  Speaker 1: fight till it could fight no more. The Lord Admiral
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  Speaker 1: was to lead, Drake was to follow, and see Moore
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  Speaker 1: to come last. But there was more need for rapid
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  Speaker 1: action than any one had dreamed, for no one expected
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  Speaker 1: that the whole eight fire ships could have missed.
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  Speaker 2: All sail was crowded.
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  Speaker 1: On seeing her signal disregarded, the San Martin was making
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  Speaker 1: for the flying armada and trying to rally it off
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  Speaker 1: Grovelin lest it should be swept to leeward of Dunkirk.
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  Speaker 1: And already the finest ships were going about to form
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  Speaker 1: upon her in the old unassailable order. The rest were
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  Speaker 1: luffing more and more to clear the Flemish sands, and
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  Speaker 1: perhaps under cover of the gathering rear guard, to attack
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  Speaker 1: and return with the tide to their anchors. Everything hung
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  Speaker 1: on whether the attack could be pushed home before the
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  Speaker 1: enemy had formed. It was a question almost of minutes,
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  Speaker 1: and in that supreme moment the Lord Admiral was found
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  Speaker 1: wanting for him. The magnificence of the laboring galleas was
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  Speaker 1: too tempting a lure. Unable for all his courage to
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  Speaker 1: comprehend the new tactics, his only idea was to pluck
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  Speaker 1: his enemy feather by feather, And as he came athwart Calais,
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  Speaker 1: he turned aside for the sake of capturing a vessel
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  Speaker 1: already out of action, he risked the last chance of
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  Speaker 1: destroying the whole armada. One tremor of irresolution and all
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  Speaker 1: might have been lost. But there was none. It was
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  Speaker 1: the hour for which Francis Drake had been born, and
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  Speaker 1: without a glance at his commander, in all his heroic
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  Speaker 1: directness of purpose, he led the fleet onward. Nearly the
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  Speaker 1: whole of the captains obeyed his lead, as in grim silence,
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  Speaker 1: the revenge bore down straight for the group in which
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  Speaker 1: the San Martin towered. Not a shot was fired till
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  Speaker 1: almost within pistol range. Her bow guns were let fly
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  Speaker 1: at Sidonia, luffing immediately. She next plunged in her broadside
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  Speaker 1: at point blank range, and with that deadly salute passed on,
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  Speaker 1: enveloped in smoke. Close at Drake's heels were Frobisher and
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  Speaker 1: the Triumph and Hawkins in the victory, and others enough
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  Speaker 1: to deal with the San Martin and her friends. Beyond
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  Speaker 1: was another group of giants trying to form on Sedonia's flank.
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  Speaker 1: On these, Drake fell and was lost again in a
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  Speaker 1: fiery cloud. Away to the starboard arose the roar of
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  Speaker 1: Winter's guns and Seymour's as in like manner they dealt
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  Speaker 1: with other knots of the disordered rear guard. On every side.
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  Speaker 1: The last great battle in the West was raging, with
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  Speaker 1: fury unexampled. After three hours, Howard with lingerers came up,
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  Speaker 1: and as he plunged into the heart of it with
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  Speaker 1: timely aid, the.
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  Speaker 2: Fury of the fight grew fiercer.
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  Speaker 1: Still eyes had never seen the like old hands who
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  Speaker 1: had fought at Lepanto swore it was child's play. To
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  Speaker 1: this there was no thought of prize or quarter. As
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  Speaker 1: each galleon's fire ceased and she was seen to settle,
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  Speaker 1: another was taken in hand. Nor were the Spaniards less determined,
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  Speaker 1: though the English gunners plied them three or four to one.
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  Speaker 1: Though beside their nimble enemy they moved like logs. They
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  Speaker 1: would not hear of surrender. The commander of one galleon
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  Speaker 1: stabbed a man who was in the act of hauling
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  Speaker 1: down his colors, Drake's rear admiral cross sank another at
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  Speaker 1: his side, with its flag still flying and its captain's
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  Speaker 1: defiance ringing in his ears. They were as short of
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  Speaker 1: ammunition as the English, and when their cannon shot was spent,
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  Speaker 1: they defended their splintered and leaking vessels with musketry till
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  Speaker 1: frantic with the carnage, mariners leapt overboard by scores, to
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  Speaker 1: be picked up by the busy pinnaces of the English.
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  Speaker 1: Let the roll of those who for the lifelong day
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  Speaker 1: endured the storm to save the rest from the sands
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  Speaker 1: be remembered by the conquerors. Levia ricalde Acquiendo, Pimental Enriques
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  Speaker 1: and Francisco.
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  Speaker 2: De Tolero all were there.
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  Speaker 1: And many more, the flower of Spanish chivalry, fighting to
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  Speaker 1: the last, almost without power of resistance, as the water
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  Speaker 1: rushed in beneath their feet. Drake's decision at the critical
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  Speaker 1: moment had had its effect. They had never been able
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  Speaker 1: to more than half form, but back to back as
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  Speaker 1: it were, in little groups they had to endure the
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  Speaker 1: resolute charges of the English who surrounded them, and for
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  Speaker 1: six hours the battle had continued shuffle together and almost unmanageable.
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  Speaker 1: The Spanish ships had by this time lost all semblance
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  Speaker 1: of the crescent formation. Of the forty vessels that had
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  Speaker 1: been cut off from the rest of the armada, only
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  Speaker 1: sixteen were left at the last. Some had fled, one
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  Speaker 1: had sunk, another was sinking, and the third was derelict.
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  Speaker 2: About three o'clock.
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  Speaker 1: It began to rain heavily and the fire of necessity slackened,
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  Speaker 1: But for three hours more a desultory fight continued, as
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  Speaker 1: Sedonia took advantage of the lull to gather the shattered
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  Speaker 1: battleships together for retreat. No one cared to press them hard.
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  Speaker 1: The bulk of the Armada was already to leeward of Dunkirk.
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  Speaker 1: The English powder was almost exhausted, and the breath of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord of Hosts was now sweeping the Spaniards to
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  Speaker 1: utter destruction. With the rain, the wind had changed and freshened.
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  Speaker 1: It was blowing dead on the treacherous coast of the Netherlands.
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  Speaker 1: The sea was getting up and breaking over the decks
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  Speaker 1: of the laboring galleon, and Drake, himself, riddled with shot,
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  Speaker 1: was content to hang upon the skirts of the flying
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  Speaker 1: enemy till he could see them one by one, engulfed
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  Speaker 1: in the sands on their lee all through the dark
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  Speaker 1: and blustering night. He clung upon them and watched with
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  Speaker 1: his triumphant fleet on their weather quarter. He knew that
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  Speaker 1: half of them dare not tack and the rest could
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  Speaker 1: not for their wounds. Yet inch by inch, the squally
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  Speaker 1: northwest wind drifted them nearer their doom. For such an hour,
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  Speaker 1: Drake's whole life had been lived, the life he had
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  Speaker 1: lived for vengeance on the Idolators and England's enemy. His
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  Speaker 1: life had been one long tragedy, and now as he
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  Speaker 1: gazed over the lee bow of the revenge in grim exhilaration,
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  Speaker 1: he waited for the terrible catastrophe. The night gave way
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  Speaker 1: to day, and still the Armada was striving fruitlessly, with
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  Speaker 1: the wind as relentless as the demon at its heels.
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  Speaker 1: All day, the agony was prolonged, and as the last
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  Speaker 1: hour approached, with the waning light, once more the Spanish
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  Speaker 1: crews fell down in prayer.
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  Speaker 2: But now it was not for victory.
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  Speaker 1: Six fathoms had been sounded, then five, and God alone,
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  Speaker 1: the pilots said, could save the fleet. And then it
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  Speaker 1: was at the eleventh hour that Drake had to own
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  Speaker 1: that vengeance.
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  Speaker 2: Was the lord's.
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  Speaker 1: Suddenly, the wind dropped and then sprang up from the south.
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  Speaker 1: With a cry of thanksgiving, the Spanish helms were thrust down.
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  Speaker 1: In a few minutes the armada was standing northward out
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  Speaker 1: to sea, and once more, by the act of God,
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  Speaker 1: at the very moment when his vengeance seemed accomplished, the
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  Speaker 1: enemy had been wrested from Drake's grip.
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  Speaker 2: We have the army of Spain before us.
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  Speaker 1: He wrote to Walsingham on the following night, and mined,
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  Speaker 1: with the grace of God, to wrestle a fall with them.
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  Speaker 1: There was never anything pleased me better than the seeing
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  Speaker 1: the enemy flying with southerly wind to the northward. God,
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  Speaker 1: grant you have a good eye to the Duke of Parma,
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  Speaker 1: For with the grace of God, if we live, I
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  Speaker 1: doubt not. But ere it be long so to handle
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  Speaker 1: the matter with the Duke of Sedonia, as he shall
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  Speaker 1: wish himself at Saint Marie Port among his orange trees.
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  Speaker 2: God give us grace to depend upon him, so we
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  Speaker 2: shall not.
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  Speaker 1: Doubt victory, for our cause is good. So on the
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  Speaker 1: heels of the flying armada, he cheerily announced its escape,
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  Speaker 1: and the grim resignation of the last words alone betray
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  Speaker 1: how sorely the Puritan's faith was tried. It was the
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  Speaker 1: last day of July yesterday, Winter and Seymour had been
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  Speaker 1: sent back to their old station in the Channel to
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  Speaker 1: watch Dunkirk, and Drake, under peremptory orders from court, had
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  Speaker 1: just sent his prisoners ashore. He was short of ammunition,
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  Speaker 1: he was weary watching the long struggle seemed about to
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  Speaker 1: begin all over again, and yet no note was coming
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  Speaker 1: from him but and cheerful endeavor. For two days he
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  Speaker 1: and Howered with the rest, continued the chase, but they
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  Speaker 1: were not destined to wrestle a fall to the northward
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  Speaker 1: of the Dogger Bank, the long expected tempest came rolling
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  Speaker 1: up out of the west, and Drake knew for a
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  Speaker 1: while at least that the country was safe. Constantly threatened
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  Speaker 1: with attack, the Spaniards.
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  Speaker 2: Were holding resolutely.
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  Speaker 1: To their old formation, and thus, as he had first
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  Speaker 1: caught sight of it in the gathering darkness, with the
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  Speaker 1: wild storm rack flying over it, Drake bid the armada farewell,
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  Speaker 1: and through the rising sea ran for the coast of
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  Speaker 1: Scotland to save himself from the wrath to come end
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  Speaker 1: of Section twenty one