LORD HOWARD OF EFFINGHAM, THE
TRUSTED OF THE QUEEN
Charles, eldest son of Lord William Howard, was born in 1536, his
mother being Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Gamage of
Glamorganshire. His father, brother of the Duke of Norfolk and uncle
of Queen Catherine Howard, was, on that lady's execution, condemned
to life imprisonment for having concealed her faults; but the
sentence was soon remitted, and in Mary's reign he was appointed High
Admiral of England. It was under such a father that Charles was
trained both on land and sea service. He was about twenty-two years
of age at the accession of Elizabeth, and his "most proper person,"
or handsome appearance, at once won the Queen's favour; for she liked
a jewel set in a goodly case.
So Charles was sent to France on an embassy of condolence after the
death of Henry II., and to congratulate the young king. Soon he was
elected one of the knights for his native county of Surrey in the
Parliament of 1562. We next hear of him as being a General of Horse
under the Earl of Warwick, in the army sent against the rebel Earls
of Northumberland and Westmorland in 1569.
In 1570, when Lord Lincoln was Lord Admiral, Howard was ordered to
command a squadron of ships-of-war sent by Queen Elizabeth to escort
Anne of Austria, sister of the Emperor Maximilian, from Zealand into
Spain, whither she was going for the purpose of being married to
Philip II. Howard of course knew that Philip had no love now for the
Queen of England; so, when the great Spanish galleons came into
British waters he first made them salute the Queen's flag, and then
gave them all honourable escort, to show his Queen's respect for the
house of Austria. It was a deed which gave promise of great exploits
hereafter. Richard Hakluyt thus describes it in a letter to Lord
Charles Howard:--
"When the Emperor's sister, the spouse of Spain, with a fleet of one
hundred and thirty sail, stoutly and proudly passed the narrow seas,
your Lordship, accompanied by ten ships only of her Majesty's Royal
Navy, environed their fleet in most strange and warlike sort,
enforced them to stoop gallant and to vail their bonnets for the
Queen of England, and made them perfectly to understand that old
speech of the Prince of Poets, Virgil,
'Non illi imperium pelagi sævumque tridentem,
Sed tibi sorte datum."
('It was not to him that fate had given the Empire of the deep and
the fell trident, but to thee.')
"Yet after they had acknowledged their duty, your Lordship, on her
Majesty's behalf, conducted her safely through our English Channel,
and performed all good offices of honour and humanity to that foreign
Princess."
No doubt this proud demand for homage to the flag of England went far
to secure for Lord Charles the post of Lord High Admiral in 1585.
For relations between Spain and England were growing ever more
strained, and war conducted at first by private adventurers was bound
to issue in a national contest. The Queen began to prepare for this
by purchasing arms and powder abroad. She had many pieces of great
ordnance of brass and iron cast, and luckily a rich vein of stone was
found in Cumberland, near Keswick, which helped much in the works for
making brass. How patriotic our forefathers were can be seen by the
cheerful way in which both nobles and peasants helped in providing
weapons.
In every nobleman's house complete armouries were provided, private
individuals built ships-of-war, and poor men flocked to the ports to
offer their services. When Spain insolently warned off all the
English from trading with America, when she instigated revolt in
Ireland, and hired assassins to murder Elizabeth, patriotism was
awakened from a long sleep. The near approach of danger had evoked
the nation's dormant spirit and indomitable courage.
When the Prince of Orange had been assassinated and the Prince of
Parma had taken Antwerp, Elizabeth hesitated no longer to conclude a
treaty with the Netherlands against their Spanish oppressors, and
issued a long statement of the reasons for so doing. Other Christian
princes admired such manly fortitude in a woman. The King of Sweden
said she had taken the crown from her head and adventured it upon the
chance of war.
There was no need in those days to compel the men to bear arms and
defend their country. Englishmen were not then devoted to sports and
games, but hastened from north to south to offer their maligned Queen
bands of horse and foot. Amongst the first was Lord Montague, a
Roman Catholic peer, with two hundred horsemen led by his own sons,
and with them a young child, very comely, seated on his pony, the
eldest son to his lordship's heir; so there were grandfather, father,
and son at one time on horseback before the Queen, ready to do her
service.
There were many Roman Catholics who remained loyal, and not least
among them was Lord Charles Howard, who had been for many months
looking after the welfare of the fleet, seeing all was in good order,
and now and then issuing out to check or pursue pirates.
"The Queen," we are told by Fuller, "had a great persuasion of his
fortunate conduct, and knew him to be of a moderate and noble
courage, skilful in sea matters, wary and provident, valiant and
courageous, industrious and active, and of great authority and esteem
among sailors."
Another admirer of Lord Howard's admits that he was no deep seaman
like Sir Humphrey Gilbert; but he had sense enough to know those who
had more skill than himself, and to follow their instructions; he was
not one to go his own wilful way, but ruled himself by the
experienced in sea matters--thus the Queen had a navy of oak and an
admiral of osier. With the help of Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher,
the new Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, formed his plans of
defence. Sir Philip Sidney, too, was deep in their counsels,
planning expeditions, subscribing money, and persuading rich friends
to volunteer or fit out ships.
Early in January 1588 Philip, to gain time for his preparations, had
proposed through the Duke of Parma, his Governor in the Netherlands,
that commissioners should meet to negotiate a treaty of peace. Both
Elizabeth and Burghley were in favour of this, not seeing that it was
but a blind to cover their exertions to repair the damage done by
Drake at Cadiz the year before.
Howard wrote at once to Walsingham: "There never was such a stratagem
and mask to deceive her Majesty as this treaty of peace. I pray God
that we do not curse for this a long grey beard with a white head
witless (Burghley's), that will make all the world think us
heartless.... Therefore, good Mr. Secretary, let every one of ye
persuade her Majesty that she lose no time in taking care enough of
herself."
Lord Charles does not forget his wife as danger begins to face him:
"I request that, if it please God to call me to Him in this service
of her Majestie, which I am most willing to spend my life in, that
her Majestie of her goodness will bestow my boy upon my poor wife"
(he was probably a page at Court), "and if it please her Majestie to
let my poor wife have the keeping either of Hampton Court, or
Oatlands, I shall think myself most bound to her Majestie; for" (in
his own spelling) "I dow assur you, Sir, I shall not leve heer so
well as so good a wyfe dowthe desarve."
It is strange to mark from the letters written a few weeks before the
Armada set sail how very parsimonious both the Queen and Burghley
seemed to the admiral to be in providing for the expenses of fitting
out the fleet. Drake had been prevented from getting his fleet in
order for sea-service at Plymouth. "The fault is not in him," wrote
Howard, "but I pray God her Majestie do not repent her slack
dealing." Four ships, which Howard had asked for, the Queen was loth
to use, and especially the _Elizabeth Jonas_, a stout vessel of 900
tons burthen, which carried more guns and not fewer seamen than any
of the other ships. "Lord! when should she serve if not at such a
time as this?" wrote Howard to Walsingham on the 7th of April;
"either she is fit now to serve, or fit for the fire. I hope never
in my time to see so great a cause for her to be used. The King of
Spain doth not keep any ship at home, either of his own or any other
that he can get for money. I am sorry that her Majestie is so
careless of this most dangerous time. I fear me much, and with grief
I think it, that she relieth on a hope that will deceive her and
greatly endanger her, and then it will not be her money nor her
jewels that will help. Well, well! I must pray heartily for peace,
for I see the support of an honourable war will never appear.
Sparing and war have no affinity together."
Lord Howard had been painfully riding from port to port all along the
south coast of England, to scan the outfit and crews of all the
ships. He had written letter after letter for more ships, better
victuals, more guns. He had dared to say to the Queen what few
others could say, and had awakened her at last from her false hopes
of peace. On the 21st of May, after leaving with Lord Henry Seymour
a fleet strong enough to protect the narrow seas from any invasion
that the Prince of Parma might attempt, Lord Howard left Dover with
most of the Queen's ships and a great number of private vessels, some
fifty sail, that were furnished by London and the east coast. On the
23rd of May he entered Plymouth Road and was met by Sir Francis Drake
and a fleet of sixty vessels, Queen's ships and stout barques and
pinnaces fitted out by the town and nobles of the west coast. Here
he was detained a week by contrary winds. On the 28th he wrote to
Burghley, saying that his fleet of a hundred sail had only victuals
for eighteen days: "With the gallantest company of captains,
soldiers, and sailors ever seen in England, it were a pity they
should lack meat." However, he did go out to meet the Armada, which
they thought was on its way, but a violent gale from the south
scattered his ships, which "danced as lustily as the gallantest
dancers in the Court."
On Howard's return to Plymouth on the 13th of June, he found a letter
from Walsingham, reproving him in the Queen's name for having gone so
far away, and for leaving England almost unprotected.
He was obliged to defend himself and his advisers, Drake, Hawkins,
Frobisher, and Fenner, against the lady's private view of
sea-tactics. "I hope her Majestie will not think we went so rashly
to work, or without a choice care and respect of the safety of this
realm." And then at grave length he painfully explained that he was
more likely to miss the enemy near home than off the coast of Spain,
as they must needs pass Cape Finisterre on their way from Lisbon, but
after that they might go eastwards towards the Netherlands, or coast
the west of Ireland, or seize the Isle of Wight--and thus humbly he
vails his bonnet to the imperious Mistress of the Sea: "But I muste
and will obeye, and am glad there be suche in London as are hable to
judge what is fitter for us to doe than we here."
Let us hope that the Queen and Burghley were able to note the bitter
sarcasm; for we can imagine how Drake and Hawkins and Frobisher
discussed the matter, not without "old swearing."
It was at the end of May that the Invincible Armada sailed from the
Tagus for Corunna, there to take on board the land forces and stores.
Cardinal Albert of Austria gave it his solemn blessing before it
departed, and the Spaniards were full of confidence and enthusiasm.
Its total tonnage was about 60,000, its fighting force 50,000; while
the English tonnage was 30,000, and the mariners and fighting men
some 16,000.
Howard sailed in the _Ark Royal_, Sir Francis Drake in the _Revenge_
as vice-admiral, Sir John Hawkins in the _Victory_ as rear-admiral,
while Lord Henry Seymour in the _Rainbow_, with four Queen's ships
and some Dutch vessels, watched the narrow seas.
The English admirals were united by good feeling and patriotism; no
jealousy disturbed their counsels. Drake, in a letter to Burghley,
writes: "I find my Lord Admiral so well affected for all honourable
service in this action as it doth assure all his followers of good
success and hope of victory."
The storm which had driven back the English fleet from the Spanish
coast dispersed or dismasted many of the enemy. One sunk and three
were captured by their own galley-slaves under a Welshman, David
Gwynne; he had been a galley-slave eleven years, and encouraged the
rest to rise and strike for liberty. After killing the Spaniards on
board, he took the three galleys to a French port. The Armada had to
put back to Corunna to refit, and spent a month or more in harbour.
Then the news was carried to Court that the Spanish fleet was so
broken they would not attempt any invasion this year. Some of our
ships were ordered to the Irish coast, the men at Plymouth were
allowed ashore, some were even discharged, while the officers amused
themselves with revels, dancing, bowls, and making merry.
The Queen and Burghley were again keeping a tight hand on the slender
finances, and Walsingham had to write to Lord Howard, bidding him
send back to London four of the tallest ships-royal. This made the
Lord High Admiral write a strong letter to the Queen on June 23rd, in
which he breaks out boldly, "For the love of Jesus Christ, madame,
awake thoroughly, and see the villainous traitors around you and
against your Majestie and your realm: draw your forces round about
you like a mighty Prince, to defend you. Truly, madame, if you do
so, there is no cause to fear; if you do not, there will be danger."
The safety of England was surely in great part due to this nobleman's
brave conduct in standing up against the rigid measures of Lord
Burghley. He even offered to pay the cost of the four ships which he
retained, if they were not wanted in battle.
Meanwhile conflicting reports kept coming into Plymouth respecting
the Spanish fleet; sometimes it was said they were at sea, at other
times they were reported to be still in harbour. Lord Howard's
scouts were of course on the watch for their first appearance.
On the 17th of July the Lord Admiral had to write to the Lord High
Treasurer for a supply of money: "Our Companies grow into great
neede. I have sent herein enclosed an estimate thereof, praying your
Lordship that there may be some care had, that we may be furnished
with moneye, withoute the which we are not hable to contynewe our
forces togeather."
On the 19th of July the Spanish fleet steered across the Channel from
France to the Lizard; but they mistook it for the Ram's-head, just
west of Plymouth Sound, and night being at hand they tacked off to
sea, intending in the morning to attempt to surprise the ships in
Plymouth. For they had heard that the crews were off their vessels,
all making merry in the town. Had they sailed in that night they
might have done much damage, and anticipated the Japanese surprise at
Port Arthur.
But a Cornish pirate, named Thomas Fleming, had caught sight of the
Armada off the Lizard, and made all sail to Plymouth with the fateful
news--
"At sunrise she escaped their van, by God's especial grace;
And the tall _Pinta_, till the noon, had held her close in chase."
It was deemed so important that he got as a reward a free pardon and
a pension for life. There is a tradition that Howard, Drake, and
Frobisher, with other officers, were playing a match at bowls on the
Hoe when a seaman came running up with Fleming's news.
"We must go on board at once," was the thought of all.
"No, no," laughed Drake, with a wave of the hand; then shouted in his
cheery manner, "Come, let us play out our match. There will be
plenty of time to win the game and beat the Spaniards too."
It sounds at first like a bit of bravado, but no doubt Sir Francis
had a fine knowledge of the effect of brave words upon sailors; that
story was told at once from ship to ship, and the rogues laughed, and
swore that Drake was the man to singe the Spaniard's beard, as he had
done before at Cadiz. King Philip might well set a big price on
Drake's head, for his men feared Drake worse than the devil.
Whistles were blown, orders shouted, ropes riven. The wind was
blowing pretty stiffly into the harbour and the ships were warped out
with difficulty; boat-loads of men came splashing up to their ships'
side, fresh from the bear-pit and the tavern. They were soon busy,
hauling and sweating and laughing merrily at the thought of the fun
which was coming, for which they had waited so long on shore. All
hands worked with a will--"With singular diligence and industry and
with admirable alacrity of the seamen, whom the Lord Admiral
encouraged at their halser-work, towing at a cable with his own
hands.... I dare boldly say," says Fuller, "that he drew more,
though not by his person, by his presence and example, than any ten
in the place."
Lord Howard hauled himself out that night in the teeth of the wind
with only six ships. Early next morning, July 20th, some
four-and-twenty came out, and with these he stood out to meet the
enemy, resolved to check their progress at all hazards.
Soon after daybreak sixty-seven vessels entered Plymouth Road; by
nine o'clock they were in the open channel, waiting for the enemy.
Howard had to wait all day; for the Spanish fleet did not come in
sight till three o'clock in the afternoon.
One gentleman in the English fleet, named Dodington, occupied part of
his time in writing a hasty despatch to the Privy Council:--
"Right Ho. Heare is a ffleete at this instant cominge in upon us,
semid at north-west, by all likelywode it should be the enymy: hast
makes me--I can write no more. I beseech your L. to pardon me, and
so I referr all to your Ho. most depyst considerationes.
"Your Ho. most humble to comand
"ED. DODINGTON.
"ffrom the ffleete at Plymouth."
The covering address of this letter is curious; the little gallows
expresses _haste_.
[Illustration: FOR HER MA|ties| SPETIALL SERVISE]
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| FOR HER MAties SPETIALL SERVISE |
| --------- |
| | | | To THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LORDS OF |
| | o | HER MAts MOST HO. PREVY CUNSELL, |
| | | _hast post hast, for lyfe hast! for lyfe!_ |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
When it was about three o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th, the
English saw approaching them a huge fleet--ships with lofty turrets
like castles, like a half-moon in front, the wings of which were
spread out about the length of seven miles. They were coming on very
slowly, though with full sails, for their blunt bows churned up the
resisting wave.
Lord Howard did not attempt to stay them, as the wind was against
him, but he let them ride lazily by in all their pomp and show.
The Spaniards, seeing that the English were ready for them, and were
not to be caught napping, turned west again and anchored in the bay
of Looe, a few miles from Plymouth Sound.
Next morning, Sunday, the 21st of July, the Spaniards weighed anchor
early, with the idea of sailing east and seizing a harbour in the
Isle of Wight, and then of going on to the Hague to take on board the
Prince of Parma and his men.
Lord Howard let the Armada pass Plymouth, keeping his sixty ships in
the haven. When about nine o'clock on this Sunday morning the Armada
had all passed eastward, Howard weighed anchor and hoisted sail. "We
durst not adventure to put in amongst them, their fleet being so
strong," he wrote in his first report.
But he sent after them his swift pinnace, the _Disdain_, which fired
the first shot; then came fire, smoke, and echoing cannon, for Howard
in the _Ark Royal_ followed the _Disdain_, thundering furiously upon
a big galley which he thought was the admiral's flagship, but which
proved to be the Spanish vice-admiral's, Alphonso de Leyva.
Meanwhile Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher were playing fiercely upon
the rear division under Juan de Recaldé.
We can imagine how anxiously Howard and Drake watched the effect of
this first attack, and how they noted that the high galleons and
galleasses were sending their shot plunging into the whitened sea
right over the low hulls of barque and pinnace, while the English
shot told again and again.
The wind was favouring the English, whose ships darted about from
side to side with incredible rapidity round the slowly moving,
stately Spaniards.
"Their great ships," says Hakluyt, "were powerful to defend, but not
to offend; to stand, but not to move; and therefore far unfit to
fight in narrow seas. Their enemies were nimble and ready at all
sides to annoy them, and as apt to escape harm themselves by being
low built and easily shot over."
So the Spaniards gathered their ships together in close order in form
of a half-moon, keeping the smaller vessels in the centre.
This unequal fight lasted six hours. As Hawkins said, "We had some
small fight with them that Sunday afternoon."
By three o'clock the great and "invincible Armada" was in utter
confusion, and Nature now said to the English, "It is supper-time, my
lads."
So they rested a while--some eating and drinking, some devoutly
saying their prayers with thankful soul, and a few writing hasty
letters. Even the Lord High Admiral could not find time to write at
length to Walsingham. "I will not trouble you with any long letter;
we are at present otherwise occupied than with writing. Sir, the
captains in her Majesty's ships have behaved themselves most bravely
and like men hitherto, and I doubt not will continue to their great
commendation. There shall nothing be either neglected or unhazarded
that may work the Spaniards' overthrow. And so, commending our good
success to your godly prayers, I bid you hearty farewell." Then
Howard adds in a postscript in his direct manner: "Sir, for the love
of God and our country, let us have with some speed, some great shot
sent us of all bigness; for this service will continue long,--and
some powder in it."
Meanwhile the Duke of Medina Sidonia was very sharp with his gunners,
whom he ordered on his flagship for a lecture on gunnery. "Fools!
what was the good of firing so high, and hitting only the sea!"
Perhaps the gunners had not the means of depressing the muzzles of
their guns. Anyhow, one master-gunner went back to his ship very
sulky indeed. He was a Dutchman, and it was said his wife had been
insulted by a Spanish officer. He resolved to take his revenge out
in powder. He laid a train of powder to the ship's magazine, fired
it and jumped overboard; two hundred men were blown into the air.
Spanish boats were sent to get the money and valuables out of her,
and order was given to sink her. But somehow she got adrift, and was
boarded by Lord Thomas Howard and Captain Hawkins, who found in her
about fifty groaning men, horribly burnt. The stench was so
disgusting that they had to quit her at once, and the Admiral ordered
a small barque to tow her into Weymouth. The "scorched Spaniards"
were gazed upon by the wondering townsfolk, and a quantity of
gunpowder, which by luck had not exploded, was rescued and came in
very useful to Howard in the days following.
How Don Pedro de Valdez by collision lost his mainmast, got left
behind and was captured, has been told in the chapter on Martin
Frobisher.
But the same night Lord Howard had a narrow escape of being taken;
for in the dark he followed a lantern which he supposed was carried
by Drake's ship. But Drake, in his eager pursuit, had forgotten the
order to hang out a lantern, and fortunately only two vessels, the
_Bear_ and the _Mary Rose_, followed Howard, the others lay to, as
they could see no light. In the morning Howard found he was in the
midst of the Armada, but very coolly dropped astern and quietly
joined his own fleet.
On Tuesday, the 23rd of July, at five o'clock A.M., the fleets were a
little past Portland, when the wind changed from north-west to
north-east; this caused some confusion, and some volunteer ships were
surrounded by Don Alphonso de Leyva's squadron. A fierce and long
fight ensued, which lasted all day. "This was the most furious and
bloody skirmish of all," wrote the Dutch chronicler, "in which the
Lord Admiral of England continued fighting amidst his enemy's fleet."
All Tuesday, too, fresh ships came up to reinforce the English; on
Saturday Howard's force numbered sixty sail, by Tuesday afternoon
they had been increased to a hundred.
After the long fight on Tuesday there was a lack of gunpowder and
balls, and the Spaniards on Wednesday only fired fitfully at
intervals.
Wednesday afternoon was utilised for a council of war. The English
fleet was redistributed into five squadrons, and from each squadron
were selected small, fast vessels to make sudden night-attacks. Lord
Howard's cautious circumspection and cool courage had won the respect
of the greater seamen, like Drake and Frobisher; his way of asking
advice and taking it when given proved how sensible he was. At this
council several of his younger officers, with more heat than
discretion, earnestly entreated him to let them lay aboard the enemy.
Howard refused their request, not with a hasty and peremptory "No,"
but with calm statement of his reasons. He pointed out the enormous
size of the Spanish ships compared with his own, their lofty turrets
fore and aft, from which they could hurl missiles, even fragments of
rock, and might annihilate those who fought beneath them; he reminded
his officers of the large numbers of regular troops with which they
were filled, and said they must save themselves for the crisis, when
the Duke of Parma's flotilla should join the Armada.
Both fleets were becalmed most of Wednesday, but the Spaniards kept
very good order, and the larger galleons protected the smaller.
On Thursday, the 25th of July, there was sharp fighting off the Isle
of Wight. The _Santa Anna_ and a Portuguese galleon were singled out
by Frobisher for attack. Don Alphonso with a large force hurried up
to relieve them, and it would have gone hard with Frobisher had not
Lord Charles Howard in his _Ark Royal_ and Lord Thomas Howard in the
_Golden Lion_ come to the rescue. They cut up the rigging of the
Spanish flagship with chain-shot, and then got out of reach before
they could suffer much damage. "These two ships, the _Ark_ and the
_Golden Lion_, declared this day to each fleet that they had most
diligent and faithful gunners. The galleasses, in whose puissance
the greatest hope of the Spanish fleet was founded, were never seen
to fight any more--such was their entertainment that day."
On Friday Lord Howard knighted Frobisher, Hawkins, and some others
for their valiant conduct on the previous day.
The two fleets moved slowly and quietly along the Sussex shore as far
as Dungeness; thence they turned and steered across towards Calais.
Those who looked on from the shore might well imagine that the great
ships of the Armada were undefeated, for it was mostly in their masts
and rigging that they had suffered harm. On Sunday evening the
Spaniards anchored off Calais, and the Lord Admiral followed and
coolly dropped anchor within cannon-shot of his enemy.
A few miles off Calais Howard had been overtaken by Seymour's force
of some twenty ships, with Sir William Winter second in command; so
that his entire force was now about a hundred and forty ships, many
of them quite small craft. Many of the men on board were mere
landsmen, and knew not which way to turn, or how to set a sail. "If
you had seen the simple service done by the merchants' and coast
ships," wrote Winter to Walsingham, "you would have said we had been
little holpen by them, otherwise than that they did make a show."
Sunday, the 28th of July, was a sunny day, and the French shore was
full of holiday folk who had come in market carts from town and
village to see the grand spectacle of the great Spanish floating
castles.
Though they were not noisily fighting there was much business being
done--messengers were hurrying to the shore for despatches, and
hurrying back to the galleons with news that the Prince of Parma was
making all possible preparations for debarkation at Dunkirk, but
could not be ready for a dozen hours or so. Parma was a great
general, but he could not work miracles on sea. His flat-bottomed
boats were leaky; his provisions were not on board; his men did not
like the look of the sea; the sailors were there on compulsion, and
kept deserting in crowds; the Dutch fleet was waiting for him, and if
he sailed, it would be to expose his army to certain destruction.
But the Armada had reached Calais unbroken and apparently invincible;
for the Spanish ships sat on the water like huge castles, their bulks
being so planked with great beams that balls and bullets might strike
and stick, but never pass through; so that the English cannon could
do little damage, except only in playing on their masts and
tackle--besides, their enormous height made any attempt to board them
impossible.
Those English officers who thought on these things might well wonder
how the Spaniards were ever to be beaten off from the Thames and
London. Howard must have been consulting and wondering how the great
battle was to be won. Some say that the Queen herself suggested
fire-ships, others say that the device was Winter's, who had it from
Gianibelli, an Italian who had practised it with great success in
defending Antwerp from Parma three years before. As has been told
before, six of the oldest vessels were filled with combustibles and
smeared with pitch, and convoyed to the Armada at midnight.
It was a rough sea after a three days' calm, the rain fell in
torrents, and the wind blew from the south-west, so that when the
flaring hulks came careering with deadly detonations amongst the
wooden walls of Spain, no wonder if a panic seized them, and they
scurried before the wind to the mouth of the Scheldt--all but the
Neapolitan galleass, the _Capitana_, which lost her rudder, bumped on
the Calais sands and was taken. For Howard had sent his long-boat
and a pinnace to seize her.
"We had a pretty skirmish for half-an-hour"--a hundred English armed
with muskets and swords against seven hundred Spaniards and forty
guns. "They seemed safe in their ship, while we in our open pinnaces
and far under them had nothing to shroud and cover us."
The captain, Don Hugo de Moncada, smiled a sarcastic smile when asked
to surrender. In a few minutes a bullet had struck him in the
forehead, and he fell dead upon the deck.
On this the crew threw themselves into the sea, and the English
enjoyed an hour and a half of plunder; fifty thousand ducats
(£10,000) rewarded them well, but the ship was claimed by the
Governor of Calais.
While the Lord Admiral stayed to watch the capture of the
_Capitana_--not quite an admiral's duty, one would suppose--a very
great fight was going on off Gravelines, where the Flemish shoals and
the stormy sea together helped the English pursuers. Many great
galleons were wrecked or taken, while no English ship was seriously
damaged.
Lord Howard hurried up in time to see the end of the fight, and
wrote, "Their force is wonderful great and strong, but we pluck their
feathers by little and little." Burghley's want of resources spared
the enemy a final defeat, for ammunition was exhausted, and the
Spaniards limped lamely away. "Tho' our powder and shot was well
near all spent," wrote Howard, "we set on a brag countenance and gave
them chase."
They followed northwards up to Friday, the 2nd of August, when, being
midway between the Firth of Forth and the Skager-Rak, Howard
signalled to stop. For they had to refresh the ships with victuals,
as well as powder and shot; so some light pinnaces only were sent to
dog the Armada to the Isles of Scotland. On their way south again
the English were scattered by the storm, which was driving the
Spaniards on the rocks; but they assembled in Margate Road on the 9th
of August.
A medal was struck to commemorate the defeat of the Armada. On it
were depicted fire-ships pursuing a fleet, with the motto, "Dux
femina fecit" ("The leader who did this was a woman").
We may have our doubts on this point; certainly the fire-ships did
much damage, but it was the winds of heaven that finished the fight.
"Afflavit Deus, et dissipantur" was more true to the facts--"God has
blown on them and they are scattered," a more humble record of the
victory.
The Queen was so excited by the wonderful escape from invasion that
she wished to send off at once an expedition to the Azores, in order
to catch the trading ships on their way back from the Indies, and so
replenish the exhausted treasury.
Lord Howard consulted with Drake and Frobisher, but all held the
daring scheme to be impracticable. The crews had not yet received
their money due from before the Armada fight; many seamen and
soldiers were in rags and half famished, in spite of all that
indignant admirals had written. "Upon your letter," Howard writes to
Walsingham on the 27th of August, "I presently sent for Sir Francis
Drake and showed him the desire that her Majesty had for intercepting
of the King's treasure from the Indies. So we considered it, and
neither of us find any ships here in the fleet anyways able to go
such a voyage before they have been aground, which cannot be done in
any place but at Chatham, and it will be fourteen days before they
can be grounded." Then with a touch of scorn for the ignorance that
prompted such a desperate scheme for vessels just come from a long
sea-fight, he adds, "Belike it is thought that the West Indian
islands be but hereby! it is not thought how the year is spent. I
thought it good, therefore, to send with all speed Sir Francis Drake,
although he be not very well, to inform you rightly of all. He is a
man of judgment and acquainted with it, and will tell you what must
be done for such a journey."
If Sir Francis Walsingham had turned up a file of old letters, he
must have found a recent letter from the Lord High Admiral, written
only four days before this, in which Howard writes with reference to
the Armada returning from the north to renew the fight:--
"Sir, God knowethe what we shall dow if we have no men: many of our
shypse ar so wekly maned that they have not maryners to way ther
ankers. Well, we must dow what we chane (can). I hope in God that
he will make us stronge anufe for them, for all men are of good
corage heer."
After re-reading this, Walsingham must surely have doubted his own
judgment. We may notice that the spelling of those times varied with
the mood of the writer, and it also gives us an insight into the
manner of pronouncing words. When all men spell on the same dead
level, there is nothing to be learnt from it. Drake must have spoken
"a bit of his own mind" at Court, for we hear no more of any
expedition to the Azores, but of an expedition under Drake to Spain.
However, it was not until 1596 that the Lord Admiral again hoisted
his flag; it was the year in which the British Navy lost by death
three of its most eminent seamen--Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins.
Philip had been steadily gaining ground in Brittany and began to
think of another attempt at invasion. In February 1594 he wrote to
his Viceroy in the Netherlands, instructing him to destroy
Elizabeth's shipping at home. "Two or three thousand soldiers might
be landed at Rochester, who might burn or sink all the unarmed
vessels they could find there, and then sail off again before the
people of the country could collect in sufficient numbers to do them
any damage." Later in the year 1594 a raid of Spaniards from
Brittany upon Penzance burnt and plundered that town; in 1596 a
second raid was made upon the same district. On the 10th of April
Spain seized Calais, and stirred the brave Virgin Queen to wrath.
By the 3rd of June a fleet of nearly one hundred and fifty vessels
was ready to sail from Plymouth, of which seventeen were Queen's
ships and eighteen Netherlanders.
Lord Admiral Howard had the chief command at sea; the young Earl of
Essex was given the command of the land forces. Lord Thomas Howard,
a cousin of Lord Charles, and Sir Walter Raleigh had each a squadron.
The entire force was 17,000 strong, the largest force sent from
England since the days of the Crusades. As military rank in those
days was settled according to rank in the peerage and not by standing
in the army or navy, this young Earl had precedence in the
commission, because the Lord Admiral was only a baron. On the 18th
of June they learnt from an Irish vessel, that had just left Cadiz,
that the port was full of men-of-war and galleons richly laden.
On the 20th they anchored quietly in the harbour to the amazement of
all, and now the Earl of Essex set up a claim to the honour of
leading in. But Lord Howard of Effingham stoutly resisted it, for he
knew what a rash and impetuous firebrand the Earl was. "No, my lord,
it belongs to me as a seaman to arrange all this; besides, I must
acquaint you privately that I have been strictly charged by her
Majesty to prevent you from exposing yourself to unnecessary danger."
The whole council backed up the Lord High Admiral, and the Earl
sulked in a boyish manner: he was to be taken care of like a child!
On the 21st of June they fought from 5 A.M. until 1 P.M.; several
vessels were taken and spoiled. The _San Felipe_, the glory of Spain
for her size, was blown up to save her from falling into English
hands. But the gunpowder exploded before her soldiers and sailors
had had time to leave.
Raleigh wrote an account of it: "Tumbling into the sea came heaps of
soldiers, as thick as if coals had been poured out of a sack--some
drowned, some sticking in the mud ... many, half-burnt, leaped into
the water; others hung by ropes' ends to the ship's side, under water
even to the lips ... and withal so huge a fire and such tearing of
the ordnance in the great _Felipe_, as, if any man had a desire to
see hell itself, it was there most vividly figured."
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[Illustration: THE BLOWING-UP OF THE "SAN FELIPE"]
During the attack on Cadiz the _San Felipe_, the glory of Spain, was
set on fire to prevent its falling into the hands of the English, but
a premature explosion of the powder magazine wrought terrible havoc
amongst the Spanish soldiers, hundreds being mutilated, burnt, or
drowned.
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The Earl of Essex with a body of 800 men landed about a league from
Cadiz, and he and Lord Howard met in the market-place.
The city had surrendered, and promised 600,000 ducats as ransom for
the inhabitants. Lord Howard wrote with pride to the Queen's
Council: "No aged or cold blood touched, no woman defiled; but all
the ladies, nuns, and children, with great care embarked and sent to
St. Mary's Port with all their apparel and rich things about them."
Even Philip II. was forced to admit that the world had never seen
more chivalrous humanity among victors, and Queen Elizabeth in her
letter of thanks to Howard and Essex, wrote: "You have made me
famous, dreadful, and renowned; not more for your victory than for
your courage; nor more for either than for such plentiful liquor of
mercy, which may well match the better of the two."
On the 23rd of October in the following year, 1597, the Lord High
Admiral was created Earl of Nottingham for saving his country twice
from invasion.
In 1599 he was made Lieutenant-General of all England; in 1601 he was
instrumental in crushing the insurrection of Essex. He attended the
death-bed of his Queen, being the first cousin of Queen Anne Boleyn;
Howard had also married a Carey, the grand-daughter of the Queen's
aunt, Mary Boleyn, sister of Queen Anne. He was at this time in
great affliction for the death of this lady, and had retired from the
Court to grieve in solitude; for the Queen, like her father, hated
the sight of mourning. But now she had sent for her faithful Lord
Admiral, and he came and knelt by her cushions and fed her with broth
with a spoon, and begged her to go to bed, yet she still refused. At
last she bade all go away but Howard; then in piteous accents she
murmured, "My lord, I am tied by a chain of iron about my neck;" but
he knew not if she spoke this in frenzy. We will end this account of
the Lord High Admiral by a gayer scene.
It was the year 1608; James I. and Queen Anne of Denmark were
spending November at Winchester Palace. They played games from
twilight till supper-time; they danced, and the Queen noticed that
the old admiral, now over sixty-seven, seemed mighty fond of Lady
Margaret Stuart, daughter of the Earl of Murray, a blooming girl of
nineteen. Anne told the King, and his Majesty at once made himself
very busy in merrily promoting the marriage of the old veteran with
his pretty cousin. They were soon married, and, before he died, the
Earl of Nottingham had the pleasure of seeing two more children, one
of whom succeeded his half-brother in the earldom. His remaining
years were spent at Haling House in Surrey, in honourable ease and
retirement; he died in his eighty-eighth year, loved and respected by
all who knew him. "He was a nobleman," says Camden, "whose courage
no danger could daunt, whose fidelity no temptation could corrupt."