Sir Francis Drake (S392) determined to check Philip's preparations.
He heard that the enemy's fleet was gathered at Cadiz. He sailed
there, and in spite of all opposition effectually "singed the Spanish
King's beard," as he said, by burning and otherwise destroying more
than a hundred ships.
This so crippled the expedition that it had to be given up for that
year, but the next summer a vast armament set sail. Motley[1] says it
consisted of ten squadrons, of more than one hundred and thirty ships,
carrying upwards of three thousand cannon.
[1] Motley's "United Netherlands," II, 465; compare Froude's
"England," XII, 466, and Laughton's "Armada" (State Papers),
pp. xl-lvii.
The impending peril thoroughly roused England. Both Catholics and
Protestants rose to defend their country and their Queen.