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

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  Speaker 1: Section nineteen of Sir Francis Drake by Julian Corbett. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Pamela
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  Speaker 1: and Nagami, Chapter eleven, The Battle of gauvelin part one.
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  Speaker 1: The old story goes that the fatal Tidings found Drake
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  Speaker 1: on Plymouth Hoe playing bowls with the great officers of
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  Speaker 1: the fleet. He was out maneuvered. The surprise was complete,
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  Speaker 1: but he did not stir or start of all that
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  Speaker 1: gallant company. None knew so well as he all that
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  Speaker 1: the Tidings meant. But in the jovial face, ruddy and
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  Speaker 1: clear eyed as ever, there was no sign of the
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  Speaker 1: anxiety beneath. His fleet lay huddled in port at the
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  Speaker 1: mercy of the Spanish fire ships. There was not a
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  Speaker 1: moment to lose, but hurry would spoil all, and he
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  Speaker 1: would not budge. There was time, he said, to play
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  Speaker 1: the game and beat the Spaniards too, born leader of men,
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  Speaker 1: that he was his genius. For a timely Bravado taught
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  Speaker 1: him the value of such a speech to quiet panic
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  Speaker 1: for the tremendous effort he sow at hand. For there
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  Speaker 1: was but one thing that could save the fleet. It
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  Speaker 1: must be got out of harbor before the morning, and
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  Speaker 1: then the almost hopeless struggle would begin. Well nigh incredible
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  Speaker 1: as the feet may seem, it was accomplished during the
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  Speaker 1: night in the teeth of the wind. Nearly all the
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  Speaker 1: fleet was warped out with the utmost difficulty and consummate seamanship.
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  Speaker 1: On Saturday morning, rainhead was weathered, and in rain and mist,
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  Speaker 1: the fleet began beating to the westward, close along the coast,
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  Speaker 1: to try and steal the wind from the Spaniards. So
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  Speaker 1: thick was the weather that it was not till the
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  Speaker 1: afternoon that the fleets had sight of one another. Then
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  Speaker 1: to the masthead of the Great San Martin, the Captain
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  Speaker 1: General of the Ocean Sea, raised the blessed standard of
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  Speaker 1: the Crusade. On one side was the Crucified Redeemer, on
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  Speaker 1: the other the Holy Mother. Three solemn guns boomed out,
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  Speaker 1: and as the sound rolled through the great Armada, every
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  Speaker 1: man fell down and prayed to Christ for victory against
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  Speaker 1: the enemies of his holy faith. Then two along the
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  Speaker 1: misty shore where Drake's men toiled, were muttered, unrecorded orisons,
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  Speaker 1: without ceremony and without prostration. They were crusaders too. Their
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  Speaker 1: faith was as deep, their worship as devout. But the
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  Speaker 1: Puritans hauled on their bow lines as they prayed. There
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  Speaker 1: was need for them to aid the Lord. The armada
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  Speaker 1: was edging inshore, very close, but closer still the arch
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  Speaker 1: enemy of the Holy Faith crept on in the wet
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  Speaker 1: mists to complete his maneuver. Fainter and fainter sank the wind,
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  Speaker 1: and heavier fell the rain. As Drake wrestled with the weather,
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  Speaker 1: the chance of success was desperate. Indeed, in those days
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  Speaker 1: the best of ships could not sail within six points
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  Speaker 1: of the wind, and at every tack the countless sails
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  Speaker 1: on the horizon loomed clearer and closer as they crept
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  Speaker 1: on before the dying breeze. Yet on the completion of
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  Speaker 1: the movement before dawn, he saw the fate of England hang.
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  Speaker 1: On the morrow, Plymouth would be at the Spaniard's mercy
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  Speaker 1: unless the English, by getting the wind, could fall upon
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  Speaker 1: their rear and force them to leeward of the threatened port.
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  Speaker 1: Night fell, with the work still far from dune. An
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  Speaker 1: hour after hour in the darkness were heard the cries
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  Speaker 1: of the boastains and the wail of the rigging as
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  Speaker 1: the ships went about continually. But when the curtain of
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  Speaker 1: the night was lifted, it was upon a glorious scene
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  Speaker 1: for England. A little west of Loo was the Great Armada,
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  Speaker 1: lazily advancing still, and seawards right in the wind of
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  Speaker 1: it were forming the two divisions of the English fleet.
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  Speaker 1: Out of Plymouth was sailing another squadron, which, as it
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  Speaker 1: passed boldly across the Spaniard's front, fired on the leading ships,
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  Speaker 1: and then, going about, joined the bulk of the fleet
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  Speaker 1: to windward. Then, in loose order, Howard and Drake bore down.
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  Speaker 1: Anticipating that Sidonia, with his superior numbers and tonnage, would
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  Speaker 1: take the offensive. They had resolved to attempt nothing but
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  Speaker 1: to harass his advance and cut off stragglers. But no
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  Speaker 1: sooner were they within range than they recognized how hard
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  Speaker 1: was the task before them. Far from attempting Plymouth, the
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  Speaker 1: Armada received them in the crescent formation and continued its
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  Speaker 1: way up the channel, unmoved by their fire. So well
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  Speaker 1: were the Spaniards disposed, and such splendid order did they keep,
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  Speaker 1: that it was impossible for the English to come to
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  Speaker 1: close quarters without danger of losing The wind compelled to
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  Speaker 1: fight at long range. It was in vain that they
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  Speaker 1: directed the whole weight of their medal upon the port
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  Speaker 1: division of the Spaniard's line, and tried, by crowding it
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  Speaker 1: upon the center to break up their unassailable formation. Sidonia's
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  Speaker 1: best advisers knew well their weakness, and Drake too saw
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  Speaker 1: it at a glance. The fleet of Spaniards, he hurriedly
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  Speaker 1: scrawled on the despatch that was sent to Warrene Seymour,
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  Speaker 1: are somewhat above a hundred sails, many great ships, but
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  Speaker 1: truly I think not half of them men of war.
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  Speaker 1: He was right. The Armada was not a fleet of
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  Speaker 1: warships free to take the offensive as it would. Philip,
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  Speaker 1: still less than Elizabeth, had grasped the importance of commanding
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  Speaker 1: the sea. Instead of being a fighting machine of overwhelming power.
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  Speaker 1: His great Armada was in reality the convoy of an
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  Speaker 1: unwieldy mass of transports and storeships, and Sidonia's orders were
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  Speaker 1: to escort it straight to Margate, and not to risk
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  Speaker 1: an action with the combined English fleet till he was
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  Speaker 1: safely at his destination. But though nothing could tempt Sidonia
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  Speaker 1: from his defensive attitude, most of his flag officers were
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  Speaker 1: all on fire to fight. Their chivalry was slow to
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  Speaker 1: learn the lesson which Drake so suddenly had taught both
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  Speaker 1: King and subject. They could not believe that their long
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  Speaker 1: unquestioned supremacy at sea was gone, and at last, Don
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  Speaker 1: Juan Martinez de Ricalde in the Santana, who commanded the
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  Speaker 1: Port division, as he felt himself being forced into the center,
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  Speaker 1: was galled into turning on his foes. In a moment,
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  Speaker 1: he was surrounded by the van of Drake's division. The
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  Speaker 1: Revenge herself was there, conspicuous with an extravagant pennant and
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  Speaker 1: banner on her mizzen, and fighting almost a grappling distance.
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  Speaker 1: Only one vessel could get to Ricalde's support, for as
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  Speaker 1: his flag officers bore up to relieve him, they were
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  Speaker 1: received by an overwhelming fire from Howard. So hot grew
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  Speaker 1: the fight, and so smartly was ship after ship brought
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  Speaker 1: to bear on the isolated Spaniards that at last Sidonia
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  Speaker 1: himself was compelled to come up into the wind to
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  Speaker 1: save them. Howard signaled to shear off and for the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the day in order to Cabracalde while he
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  Speaker 1: refitted his shattered flagship. Sidonia kept the English, busy with
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  Speaker 1: maneuvers for the wind, so ended the memorable Sunday. Little
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  Speaker 1: enough had been done except to show the superior activity
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  Speaker 1: of the English ships and the greater rapidity of their fire.
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  Speaker 1: They found that under courses only they could outsail the
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  Speaker 1: Spanish galleons, and could easily pour in three broadsides to
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  Speaker 1: the enemy's one. Still, the Armada was almost untouched at nightfall. Sidonia,
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  Speaker 1: having reformed his battleships, was pursuing his way up channel
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  Speaker 1: after the storeships and transports as majestically as ever, and
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  Speaker 1: the seamen were grumbling that the onset had been more
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  Speaker 1: coldly done than became the credit of the English navy.
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  Speaker 1: Drake saw that the tactics of the past day would
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  Speaker 1: never do. It was clear that Sidonia meant to avoid
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  Speaker 1: an action and act purely on the defensive till he
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  Speaker 1: had joined hands with Parma. Had the contest begun off
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  Speaker 1: the Spanish coast, as Drake had desired, a series of
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  Speaker 1: harassing engagements might have succeeded. But now there was no time.
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  Speaker 1: The two Spanish forces were but a few days asunder,
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  Speaker 1: and at all hazards, they must not be permitted to unite.
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  Speaker 1: Ere the light faded. Therefore the flag of Council was
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  Speaker 1: flying on the revenge, and when the flag officers were assembled,
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  Speaker 1: Drake and those who supported him urged that a great
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  Speaker 1: effort should be made without a moment's delay. But right
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  Speaker 1: or wrong, Howard lacked the daring of the seamen. He
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  Speaker 1: could not bring himself to risk the fleet, the only
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  Speaker 1: hope of his unready country, and indeed the risk was great.
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  Speaker 1: Every ship grappled by a Spaniard was doomed, and lacking
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  Speaker 1: the old hand's implicit faith in the power of English
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  Speaker 1: seamanship to elude the danger, Howard would not give way.
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  Speaker 1: With the discretion for which he cannot be blamed, he
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  Speaker 1: resolved to continue the tactics of the past day until
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  Speaker 1: his whole force was concentrated by a junction with Seymour
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  Speaker 1: and Winter in the Straits of Dover, and by the
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  Speaker 1: arrival of the reinforcements he expected. He was determined not
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  Speaker 1: to fight a general action, but to rest content with
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  Speaker 1: retarding the Spanish advance till the Gales returned for their discomfiture.
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  Speaker 1: Still bent, however, as we may well believe, on having
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  Speaker 1: his own way, Drake could console himself that As vice
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  Speaker 1: admiral of the combined fleet, the van of the pursuit
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  Speaker 1: was his. The captains had orders to follow his cresset light, and,
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  Speaker 1: with the wind freshening and veering to west northwest, he
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  Speaker 1: led the chase of the Spanish stern lanterns. Under easy sail,
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  Speaker 1: he clung upon their heels till in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the night he was aware of some strange sails near
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  Speaker 1: him which were bearing a different course, And, impressed as
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  Speaker 1: he was with the way the Spanish fleet had been
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  Speaker 1: handled during the day, he was suddenly seized with the
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  Speaker 1: idea that they were weathering him in the dark. Something
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  Speaker 1: at any ri was wrong, and with characteristic decision, he
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  Speaker 1: felt he must get to the bottom of it in accordance. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: with the naval practice of the time in such cases,
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  Speaker 1: and nothing loath perhaps to mislead the commander he could
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  Speaker 1: not direct, he immediately extinguished his light, and, accompanied only
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  Speaker 1: by his tender, stood with the strangers. Having satisfied himself
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  Speaker 1: that they were but a few German merchant men seeking convoy,
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  Speaker 1: Drake at once gave up the chase and let them go. Meanwhile, however,
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  Speaker 1: his maneuver had thrown the English fleet into confusion. Howard,
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  Speaker 1: taking the Spanish light for Drake's, held on his course.
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  Speaker 1: Four or five of his divisions did the same. The rest,
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  Speaker 1: at a loss what to do, struck sail, and when
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  Speaker 1: day broke the Revenge found herself alone save for a
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  Speaker 1: huge galleon drifting within a few cables length of her.
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  Speaker 1: It was none other than Nuestra Signora del Rosario, the
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  Speaker 1: flagship of Don Pedro de Valdes, Captain General of the
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  Speaker 1: and Luthian Squadron and one of the finest officers in
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  Speaker 1: the fleet. In trying to assist a ricalde he had
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  Speaker 1: fallen a victim to Sedonia's rigid formation, which, though well
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  Speaker 1: enough before the wind, too often led to collisions if
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  Speaker 1: any maneuvers were attempted. Drake at once summoned her to surrender,
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  Speaker 1: but though she had lost her bowsprit and foremast, she
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  Speaker 1: had hitherto beaten off every assailant, and honorable conditions were demanded.
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  Speaker 1: The English admiral was in a hurry. He wanted to
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  Speaker 1: overtake his division. He was Drake, he said, and had
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  Speaker 1: no time to parley, And at the sound of the
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  Speaker 1: great name, Baldez struck without another word, He and forty
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  Speaker 1: of his officers were taken on board the Revenge, where
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  Speaker 1: they ransacked Mythology to find adequate compliments for their captor's
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  Speaker 1: prowess and generosity. Proud of his reputation, Drake loaded them
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  Speaker 1: with a princely hospitality, while his officer took possession of
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  Speaker 1: their treasure of some fifty thousand ducats. Then, sending the
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  Speaker 1: galleon with the prize crew into Dartmouth, he went on
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  Speaker 1: his way with his prisoners to overtake the Lord Admiral.
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  Speaker 1: By this time Howard was far ahead, so closely indeed
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  Speaker 1: had he followed the lights which he took for his lieutenants,
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  Speaker 1: that at break of day he had found himself amongst
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  Speaker 1: the rearmost ships of the Spaniards. Knowing as we do
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  Speaker 1: Drake's persistent methods of getting his way when persuasion failed,
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  Speaker 1: it is impossible not to suspect him of a hope,
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  Speaker 1: if not of an intention, of entrapping Howard into a
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  Speaker 1: general action by his wayward maneuver. But in that case
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  Speaker 1: he was disappointed, for so light was the wind, and
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  Speaker 1: so scattered the fleet, that it was four in the
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  Speaker 1: afternoon before the ships had closed up and By the
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  Speaker 1: time Drake arrived on the scene, the Lord Admiral had
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  Speaker 1: extricated himself without fighting, and an attack was no longer possible.
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  Speaker 1: All that Howard and Hawkins had been able to do
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  Speaker 1: was to take possession of the flagship of the Geebusco
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  Speaker 1: and Squadron, which had been shattered by an explosion in
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  Speaker 1: its powder magazine and abandoned. Otherwise, the Armada was as
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  Speaker 1: strong as ever, and to make matters worse, Sedonia had
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  Speaker 1: taken advantage of the respite to reorganize his force. Taught
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  Speaker 1: by yesterday's experience the weakness of the Crescent formation in
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  Speaker 1: face of so nimble an enemy, he united and reinforced
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  Speaker 1: his two wings and formed them into a rear guard,
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  Speaker 1: while he himself, with the galleases and the transports and storeships,
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  Speaker 1: formed a van division in this formation. As Monday drew
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  Speaker 1: to an end, the Armada was lying but calmed off Portland.
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  Speaker 1: Towards sunset. The wind had died away entirely, and thus
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  Speaker 1: another precious day was gone and nothing done. The moon
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  Speaker 1: rose clear and bright and mirrored on the glassy sea.
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  Speaker 1: The two fleets lay facing each other, scarce A cannon
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  Speaker 1: shot apart. The English were spread motionless in a long
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  Speaker 1: broken line at the mercy of the enemy's ard ships.
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  Speaker 1: It was the hour for the galleases, and from the
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  Speaker 1: extreme right of the Armada, where they lay in all
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  Speaker 1: the pomp of their swinging oars, they came striding over
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  Speaker 1: the moonlit waters upon an isolated vessel of the English.
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  Speaker 1: But at that moment troubled patches began to darken the
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  Speaker 1: shining surface of the sea. Sails began to shake themselves
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  Speaker 1: for the coming work, and in a few minutes a
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  Speaker 1: smart breeze had robbed Galleases of their prey. The doomed
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  Speaker 1: ship was saved, but the wind was coming from the northeast,
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  Speaker 1: and the Spaniards at the weather gage. The English at
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  Speaker 1: once led off with a dash straight inshore to try
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  Speaker 1: and get round the enemy's right Sdonia to parry the movement,
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  Speaker 1: stood in two, with his Motley division trailing after him,
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  Speaker 1: and signaled to the rear guard to follow. But no
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  Speaker 1: sooner was the admiral's move taken up than the English
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  Speaker 1: fleet was round again and standing to the eastward on
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  Speaker 1: the opposite tack, threatening to turn the Spaniards left by
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  Speaker 1: the change of direction. Drake, with the starboard division was
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  Speaker 1: now leading, closely followed by the Lord Admiral, and as
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  Speaker 1: they strove to pass to windward, the fighting rearguard of
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  Speaker 1: the Armada, which by Sodonia's inshore movement was now on
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  Speaker 1: its left, turned suddenly upon them. A hot action was
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  Speaker 1: the immediate result, and at a distance so close that
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  Speaker 1: the English ships were in constant danger of being boarded.
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  Speaker 1: One was only saved by the Lord Admiral boldly offering
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  Speaker 1: its assailant a chance a boarding his flagship, and he
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  Speaker 1: himself was in imminent danger till he was rescued by
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  Speaker 1: Drake's Vice Admiral. To abide such an attack from the
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  Speaker 1: windward was rank heresy to the new tactics of Drake's school,
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  Speaker 1: and nimbly disengaging the whole English fleet sprang its luff
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  Speaker 1: and ran large out to sea to deprive the enemy
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  Speaker 1: of his chance of boarding. After it, the Spaniard's rear
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  Speaker 1: guard labored straggling more and more every length it advanced,
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  Speaker 1: far from being defeated. As the Spaniards thought, the English
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  Speaker 1: were fast doing what it seemed almost hopeless. Sodonia's attempt
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  Speaker 1: to follow their rapid doubling had broken his solid phalanx
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  Speaker 1: to pieces. Far away to windward was his flagship, toiling
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  Speaker 1: after his chasing rear guard. Farther still behind him were
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  Speaker 1: the galleases, vainly struggling with the current, and the Portland
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  Speaker 1: race to keep their positions in his wake, And scattered
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  Speaker 1: confusedly over the sea were groups of transports and victualers,
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  Speaker 1: trying to regain the shelter of the battleships. As the
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  Speaker 1: day advanced, every hour improved the English prospects, for the
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  Speaker 1: wind was going slowly round with the sun. For a time,
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  Speaker 1: they contented themselves by luffing up continually to the liver
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  Speaker 1: broadsides on their pursuers, and tempt them to straggle farther.
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  Speaker 1: But at last the wind had veered far enough to
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  Speaker 1: give them the weather gage, and with one accord, they
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  Speaker 1: swept relentlessly upon the Racald's flagship, aware that it was
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  Speaker 1: still trying to recover from the punishment its boldness had
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  Speaker 1: met with On Sunday. The whole Spanish rear guard bore
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  Speaker 1: up one by one to the rescue, and that with
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  Speaker 1: the greatest devotion for each ship as it came into
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  Speaker 1: action was the victim of a concentrated fire. Sidonia, in
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  Speaker 1: like manner, was bearing up with his squadron too, when
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  Speaker 1: his flag captain pointed out to him that away to
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  Speaker 1: Leeward the transports and storeships were in sore trouble. The galleases,
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  Speaker 1: it was evident, could not protect them. They had given
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  Speaker 1: up the attempt to follow their leader's flag, but their
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  Speaker 1: attention was fully engaged by the Triumph, the finest vessel
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  Speaker 1: in the English Navy, and the flagship of Frobisher. He
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  Speaker 1: had got left to Leeward too, but was now bravely
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  Speaker 1: entertaining the galleases, while Edward Fenton in the Merry Rose
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  Speaker 1: and several chartered ships of drakes and the London squadrons
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  Speaker 1: were improving the occasion around him. End of Section nineteen