SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE, THE HERO OF FLORES
Richard, the son of Sir Roger Grenville, was born about the year
1540, in the west of England, of a family descended from Rollo of
Normandy. In his youth he showed the same restless, daring
disposition which characterised him all through life. For he was
barely twenty-six when he obtained the Queen's permission to serve in
Hungary against the Turks, and it is reported that he was on board
the Christian fleet in the famous battle of Lepanto, 1566, won by Don
John of Austria, and the crowning mercy that saved Europe from
Mohammedan rule; so that the Pope, on hearing the news of the
victory, exclaimed, "There was a man sent from God, and his name was
John."
On his return, being a cousin of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter
Raleigh, the Queen took notice of him and sent him to Ireland, to
serve under Sir Henry Sidney, who was so well satisfied with his
energy and courage that he recommended the Queen to appoint him
Sheriff of the city of Cork.
In 1571 Richard Grenville was elected one of the members for the
county of Cornwall, and was knighted on becoming High Sheriff of that
county.
His acquaintance with Gilbert in Ireland had set his ambition on
discovering new lands in Cathay or America; so when in 1584 Raleigh
obtained a patent to discover and occupy heathen lands not actually
possessed by any Christian prince, Sir Richard Grenville volunteered
for the voyage, and was made commander of the squadron that was to
plant a first colony in Virginia--an idea of Raleigh's.
A Hollander, John Huighen van Linschoten, gives a full account of Sir
Richard's character, as far as he knew it from personal experience.
This Sir Richard Grenville, he says, was a great and a rich gentleman
in England and had great yearly revenues of his own inheritance; but
he was a man very unquiet in his mind and greatly affected to war;
inasmuch as of his own motion he offered his services to the Queen.
He had performed many valiant acts, and was greatly feared in these
islands and known of every man, but of nature very severe, so that
his own people hated him for his fierceness and spake very hardly of
him. "He was of so hard a complexion that, as he continued among the
Spanish captains while they were at dinner or supper with him, he
would carouse three or four glasses of wine, and in a braverie would
take the glasses between his teeth and crush them in pieces and
swallow them down, so that often-times the blood ran out of his mouth
without any harme at all unto him."
Raleigh would have liked to go on the Virginia voyage himself, but
had to be content with sending Grenville as Admiral of the Fleet, and
Ralph Lane to be Governor of the proposed colony.
The latter was a Northamptonshire man, second cousin to Queen
Katherine Parr, about ten years older than Grenville, and one of
Leicester's band of equerries to the Queen.
They sailed in April, 1585, from Plymouth with seven vessels, the
largest being of 140 tons burthen. Thomas Cavendish was one of their
number. Sailing by way of the Canaries to the West Indian Islands,
they anchored in Mosquito Bay, in the island of Puerto Rico, within
falcon-shot of the shore.
Sir Richard landed and gave orders for a fort to be built in an angle
between the river and the sea, backed by woods. There he remained
some days, felling the timber and building a pinnace, the Spaniards
looking on from afar.
After some days a party of twenty horsemen showed themselves on the
opposite bank of the river, carrying a flag of truce; two from either
side met on the sands and discussed politely and courteously. When
the Spaniards expressed some surprise at the English having built a
fort in Spanish territory, they were told that it was only to procure
water and food, which if they could not get by fair means, it was
their resolution to win by the sword.
Upon this discreet answer the Spaniards made "large promises of all
courtesy."
On the morrow, the pinnace being finished, Sir Richard marched some
four miles up country, awaiting the Spaniards' performance of their
promise to bring victuals. As they did not come up in time--what
Spaniard ever does?--Sir Richard swore a little, called them perjured
caitiffs, and fired the woods and his fort. Setting sail, he took
next evening a Spanish frigate, which the Spaniards forsook at the
sight of his squadron. The next night he captured another "with good
and rich freight, and divers persons of account in her," whom he
ransomed for good round sums.
One of these prizes was sent to Roxo Bay, where Ralph Lane built a
fort, while the others busied themselves in stealing a shipload of
salt from the Spaniards. After this they sailed for Hispaniola and
anchored at Isabella.
The Spanish Governor came to the seaside to meet Grenville, each
being very polite and very suspicious of the other; but polite
demeanour prevailed. The English provided two banqueting houses,
covered with green boughs--one for the gentlemen, the other for the
servants; a sumptuous feast was brought in, served all on plate,
while the drums and trumpets played lively music, wherewith the
Spaniards were vastly delighted.
In return, the Spaniards sent for a great herd of white bulls from
the mountains, and lent to each gentleman and captain a horse ready
saddled, and then singled three of the strongest of the herd to be
hunted.
The pastime grew very pleasant and merry, as there were many
onlookers who applauded when one turned a bull in his course. Within
the three hours that they were riding up and down they killed two
beasts from the saddle; the third having taken to the sea was there
shot with a musket.
Sir Thomas More, had Henry the Eighth spared his valuable life, would
not have approved such sport; but he was alone in thinking on mercy
to animals.
After the sport many rare gifts were exchanged; but Sir Richard said,
when he regained his ship, "I always mistrust Spanish politeness.
Had we not been so strong we might have met with no better treatment
than Hawkins received at St. Juan de Ulloa."
On the 7th of June they sailed away and reached Virginia at the end
of the month. But Sir Richard was not thinking so much of colonising
as of exploring. He spent seven weeks in coasting about the islands
of North Carolina; he made an eight days' expedition inland,
receiving kindness from the simple natives, and not always behaving
to them very considerately. For instance, we read in the report of
one of his company: "One of our boats was sent to demand a silver cup
which one of the savages had stolen from us, and, not receiving it
according to his promise, we burnt and spoilt their corn and town,
all the people being fled."
It is clear that Grenville did not know how to deal with Red Indians.
But he also quarrelled with Lane and Thomas Cavendish, and they were
glad when he left them on the 28th of August for England, promising
to come again soon. On the 8th of September Lane vented some of his
bitterness towards Grenville by writing to Walsingham thus: "Sir
Richard Grenville, our General, hath demeaned himself, from the first
day of his entry into government until the day of his departure, far
otherwise than my hope of him, though very agreeable to the
expectations and predictions of sundry wise and godly persons of his
own country that knew him better than myself." He then goes on to
relate how Sir Richard nearly brought him to trial for his life, only
for Lane having ventured to give advice in a public council. He goes
on bitterly enough: "I have had so much experience of his government
as I am humbly to desire your honour and the rest of my honourablest
friends to give me their favours to be freed from that place where
Sir Richard Grenville is to carry any authority in chief. The Lord
hath miraculously blessed this action that, in the time of his being
amongst us, even through his intolerable pride and insatiable
ambition, it hath not at three several times taken a final overthrow."
We cannot help noticing how difficult a matter it was for some of the
Elizabethan heroes to express their thoughts in direct and pithy
language. But it is evident that Lane hated Grenville--what
Grenville thought of Lane we can only guess; but Lane's way of
managing his colony hardly reveals an ability great enough to warrant
his attack upon his superior. He wrote another letter in which he
praised all he saw and smelt in Virginia: "We have not yet found, in
all our search, one stinking weed growing in this land: a matter, in
all our opinions here, very strange. The climate is so wholesome,
yet somewhat tending to heat, as that we have not had one sick since
we entered into the country; but sundry that came sick are recovered
of long diseases, especially of rheums."
Lane fixed upon the fertile island of Roanoke, or Plymouth, as the
residence of his hundred colonists, built a fort and made
entrenchments, but sowed no seed and made no prudent preparations for
the future; he seemed to be content to live on what the Indians
brought them. But he spent most of his time in exploring and looking
for valuables. In a four-oared barge holding fifteen men he tracked
the coast northwards as far as Chesapeake Bay, which he preferred to
Roanoke. "For pleasantness of seat, for temperature of climate, for
fertility of soil, and for the commodity of the sea, besides
multitudes of bears--being an excellent good victual--with great
woods of sassafras and walnut trees, it is not to be excelled by any
other whatsoever."
Lane, in conversation with an Indian chief, heard of a native king
who possessed beautiful pearls, white and round and large; this made
him eager to leave his colony and explore: this greed was soon to be
the cause of his failure. Shortly after, Lane was told that at the
head of the Roanoke River was a tribe of Indians who had stores of
copper and gold; this determined him to seek it out at once. He
rowed for three days up the river, finding that the natives fled at
his approach, taking with them all their corn, so that his food began
to fail. They had in the boat two mastiffs, and they resolved to go
on a little farther, and if need were, they could kill the mastiffs
and live upon their "pottage," flavoured with sassafras leaves. So
they went up the river farther, and at last heard some savages call
"Manteo," an Indian servant they had. "Whereof we all being very
glad, hoping of some friendly conference, and making him answer them,
they presently began a song, as we thought in token of welcome."
Alas! it only meant war, and at once a volley of arrows came sticking
into one of the boats. The English landed, and the Indians fled into
the woods. No supper! no food! they were now come to the dogs'
pottage. So they resolved to row down again, and having the stream
with them accomplished in one day what it had taken four days to do
up-stream.
But on rejoining his colony Lane found that the Indians, once so
friendly, had become subtle enemies. The colonists, many of whom
were rough, bad characters, had treated the Indians as slaves, and
the slaves had resisted, to their loss and damage. Lane had left
trusty guards to take charge of "the wild men of his own nation"; but
the guards joined the rest in cruel handling of the natives. The
result was that the news spread from tribe to tribe that these white
men were devils, not born of women, who had come to waste their corn
and slay their people.
When Lane went away, the Indians thought he was dead; now he had come
back, they believed he had risen from the grave. It was hardly worth
while, they thought, trying to kill people who could rise again and
fight! their best plan was to retreat far into the woods. This would
have been fatal to the colony, for the Indians alone knew how to make
weirs for fish, and they had all the seed-corn.
We can see how Shakespeare must have heard tales of the Indians, or
read Sir Walter's "Virginia."
"When thou camst here first,
Thou strok'dst me, and made much of me, would'st teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night; and then I loved thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle,
The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile;--
Cursed be I that did so!"
--_Tempest._
At length, in May 1586, the Indians could brook no more such wrongs;
they stole into Port Ferdinando, broke up the fish-weirs and wooden
huts, and crossed over to the mainland. In June a battle
ensued--guns against bows and arrows--the Indians were out-matched
and fled. Their king, being shot through with a pistol, lay on the
ground for dead; but suddenly started up and ran away as though he
had not been touched. But he was shot again, fell and was killed.
"I met my man," says Lane, "returning out of the woods with
Pemisapan's head in his hand."
The colony was now in despair--a few oysters were found or they would
have been starved. One prophet amongst them vowed that "the hand of
God had come upon them for the cruelty and outrages committed by some
of them on the natives." Then came Drake with three-and-twenty ships
out of the misty deep, and at once Ralph Lane saw "the very hand of
God stretched out to save them."
On the 19th of June they embarked on Drake's ship and returned to
Portsmouth. But they carried with them that wonderful herb uppowoc,
or tobacco, which all Europe has now learnt to suck after the manner
of the Red Indians, which Edmund Spenser in his "Faerie Queen," writ
a few years after, called "divine." Of course Lane blamed Sir
Richard Grenville for his failure, since Grenville had promised to
return in the spring with fresh colonists and supplies; but he did
not arrive until a fortnight after Lane's departure with Drake.
We have given this short sketch of the doings of the colony in
Virginia, partly that the reader may judge where the fault lay. It
was not Sir Richard's, and it was not wholly Lane's; it was the ill
choice of unworthy colonists that really wrecked the scheme; it was
their gross ill-treatment of the natives that ruined the settlement.
But if Lane had stayed with his own men, instead of hunting for
pearls and copper, he might have kept them in better order. But as
it happened, the real savages were some few of those English
settlers, the off-scouring of England's gaols, and the ill-conduct of
the few made the Indians suspicious of all.
Grenville, when he left Virginia for Plymouth, took the opportunity
of having a little fight with a richly laden Spaniard of 300 tons
burthen, and arrived home rich. He had been unable to fulfil his
promise to return in the spring, because Raleigh had a difficulty in
raising money for the three ships and their outfit. When Grenville
did reach Roanoke, he found all deserted and left in confusion, as if
the colonists had been hunted away by a mighty army.
After scouring the country round and making inquiries of the Indians,
Grenville left fifteen men on the island with provisions for two
years, and set sail for England; but he did not omit to fill his
coffers by an attack upon Spanish towns in the Azores, where he
seized considerable store of booty.
Perhaps he was not only working for himself, but was thinking of his
cousin Walter, who had already spent some forty thousand pounds on
these two Virginian expeditions. These prizes did much to recoup him
for his great expenses.
For the next five years we have little news of Sir Richard's doings,
except that he swept the sea of pirates other than his own
countrymen. But in 1591 he was sent out as vice-admiral with seven
Queen's ships under Lord Thomas Howard, to intercept the Spanish
fleet from the West Indies, which had wintered in Havannah the
preceding year by royal order, lest it should fall into the hands of
Hawkins and Frobisher. For Philip chose rather to hazard the
perishing of ships, men, and goods than that they should become the
prize of the English. He was also preparing a large naval force to
protect and convoy his treasure; but as it happened the Earl of
Cumberland was then off the coast of Spain, and learning their
designs sent word to Lord Thomas.
The latter had left Plymouth early in March and made for the Azores;
there they waited five months for the West Indian treasure-ships in
vain. For Philip had heard of the expedition of Howard and
Grenville, and had ordered the further detention of his ships at
Havannah, until his fleet could go from Spain to defeat the English,
and convoy the treasure safely home.
This was to be the greatest fleet sent out of Spanish ports since the
Armada; it comprised over fifty sail, Portuguese, Biscayan, and
Andalusian galleys, ten Dutch boats seized near Lisbon, and other
smaller craft.
Lord Thomas Howard had six of her Majesty's ships, six victuallers of
London, the barque _Raleigh_, and two or three pinnaces. They were
riding at anchor near Flores, one of the westerly islands of the
Azores, on an afternoon on the last day of August, when a ship hove
in sight, speeding along under full sail.
Captain Middleton reported himself, and announced that he had kept
company with a large Spanish fleet three days before; he had crowded
on all sail and hastened to bring the news.
As he spoke a cry was raised, "Sail-ho!" and there on the horizon
they saw an unwelcome sight--a large force of Spanish war vessels.
It was unwelcome, not only because of their own small numbers, but
also because many of the ships' companies were on shore in the
island; some providing ballast for their ships, others filling in
water and securing provisions. "By reason whereof," says Sir Walter
Raleigh, "our ships being all pestered and romaging everything out of
order, very light for want of ballast, and that which was most to our
disadvantage, the one halfe part of the men of every shippe being
sicke and utterly unserviceable; for in the _Revenge_ there were
ninety diseased: in the _Bonaventure_ not so many in health as could
handle her main-saile. The rest, for the most part, were in little
better state."
The island had shrouded the approach of the Spaniards since they were
first seen, and now the enemy hove in sight again full near, and our
ships had scarce time to weigh their anchors, but some of them were
driven to slip their cables and set sail.
Sir Richard was the last that weighed anchor, for he had waited to
recover his men that were upon the island, who otherwise would have
been lost--"Choosing," says Sir Richard Hawkins, "rather to sacrifice
his life, and to pass all danger whatsoever, than to fail in his
obligation, by gathering together those who were ashore; though with
the hazard of his ship and company."
Raleigh and Hawkins agree in giving this high motive.
Sir William Monson says: "When the Lord Thomas warily, and like a
discreet general, weighed anchor and made signs to the rest of his
fleet to do the like, with a purpose to get the wind of them, Sir
Richard Grenville, being a stubborn man, and imagining this fleet to
come from the Indies, and not to be the Armada of which they had been
informed, would by no means be persuaded by his master, or company,
to cut his cable and follow his admiral; nay, so headlong and rash he
was, that he offered violence to those that advised him so to do.
But the old saying, that a wilful man is the cause of his own woe,
could not be more truly verified than in him; for when the Armada
approached, and he beheld the greatness of the ships, he began to see
and repent of his folly, and when it was too late, would have freed
himself of them, but in vain."
Severe criticism like this, imputing low motives, is in most cases
overdone. How does Monson know that Grenville mistook the fleet for
treasure-ships? it is a mere surmise, for which there is no evidence.
Again, where does Sir Richard seem to repent of his folly? We have
Sir Walter Raleigh's statement to the contrary; he says:--
"The Lord Thomas with the rest very hardly recovered the wind, which
Sir Richard not being able to do, was persuaded by the master and
others to cut his main-sail, and cast about, and to trust to the
sailing of his ship; for the squadron of Seville were on his
weather-bow. But Sir Richard utterly refused to turn from the
enemie, alledging that he would rather choose to die, than to
dishonour himself, his country and her Majesty's ship: persuading his
company that he would pass through the two squadrons in spite of
them, and enforce those of Seville to give way."
Here we have the true motives in the mind of this proud seaman.
First, he would not, for any fear of Spain, leave his men behind to
be tortured by the Inquisition. Secondly, his pride in his country
and his Queen forbade him to fly, however numerous the foe.
No doubt he was a stubborn man--he meant to do what he thought right,
and also what he thought within his power to accomplish. He did not
foresee the accident which rendered his ship helpless, for boldly he
sailed right into the crowd of Spanish galleys; the foremost of them
"sprang their luff" and fell under his lee. As he sailed in and out,
exchanging broadsides and avoiding collisions, "the great _San
Felipe_, being in the wind of him and coming towards him, becalmed
his sails in such sort that the ship could neither make way nor feel
the helm; so huge and high-carged was the Spanish ship, being of 1500
tons."
This it was that prevented him from forcing his way through the
Armada. Raleigh says, no doubt the other course--sailing away from
the foe--had been the better: "Notwithstanding, out of the greatness
of his mind, he could not be persuaded." So the _San Felipe_ and
some others closed upon the unmoving _Revenge_; she could not stir
upon the water, being becalmed. Amongst others that lay close to
board her was the admiral of the Biscayans, a very large and strong
ship; she carried three tier of guns on a side, and eleven pieces in
every tier. She shot eight forth right out of her chase, besides
those of her stern ports.
While the _Revenge_ was entangled with this ship, four other vessels
tried to board her, two on her larboard, and two on her starboard
side.
The fight began at three in the afternoon and it did not end till
dawn next morning, Grenville and his men fighting as Englishmen have
seldom fought before or since. The great _San Felipe_ received the
lower tier of the _Revenge_, discharged with cross-bar shot into her
bowels. She soon shifted herself from the _Revenge_ with all
diligence, "utterly misliking her first entertainment."
The Spanish ships were filled with soldiers, from two hundred in the
smaller to eight hundred in the largest; in the _Revenge_ there were
only mariners, a few servants of the officers, and some gentlemen
volunteers.
Ever and again attempts were made to board the _Revenge_, but always
the Spaniards were beaten back in their own ships with yell and blow.
At first the _George Noble_ of London stayed close by under the lee
of the _Revenge_, having some shot through her. Her captain asked
Sir Richard what orders he had for him, being but one of the
victuallers and of small force: "Go, save thyself and thy crew,
friend; leave me, I pray thee, to my fortune."
As the fight went on hour after hour, ever one ship coming on and
going away hurt, while two others were ready to take its place, many
of the crew of the _Revenge_ were slain or hurt, and towards
nightfall one of the great galleons of the Armada and the admiral of
the hulks were both sunk, while the decks of other vessels were
crowded with groaning wounded.
Sir Richard, though sore wounded himself, never forsook the upper
deck. His eyes were everywhere, directing and encouraging and
bidding his men think of the gracious Queen and their homes in fair
England: "We are fighting for honour, lads, and our country and this
good ship!"
An hour before midnight, Raleigh tells us, Sir Richard was shot in
the body with a musket as he was dressing; anon he was shot also in
the head shortly after, and withal his chirurgeon was wounded to
death, as he stooped over him.
From three of the clock in the previous afternoon, fifteen several
great galleons had assailed her, as well as many small barques. So
ill did they like their treatment that ere the morning dawned they
began to desire some terms of surrender to be offered. The men in
the _Revenge_, too, as the day waxed and the light grew stronger,
began to mark how their wounded increased and their fighting men grew
scanty. They glanced out over the bulwarks and saw none but enemies
baying them round, save one small ship, the _Pilgrim_, commanded by
Jacob Whiddon, who hovered round all night to see what success should
fall out; but in the dawning, being seen of the Spaniards, the
_Pilgrim_ was hunted away like a hare from a field of wheat amongst
many ravenous hounds, all giving tongue and sending their fiery
breath towards her; but she was a fast sailer, and by God's blessing
escaped their clutches.
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[Illustration: SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE AND THE "REVENGE"]
Off Flores there took place the pluckiest fight ever recorded in
Naval history. The little English ship, manned by only a hundred
able men, was beset by a powerful Armada containing many thousands of
soldiers; the fight lasted from 3 p.m. until the following morning,
and not until all the powder was gone, every spar shot away, and most
of the crew, including Sir Richard, disabled, did she surrender.
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In the beginning of the fight the little _Revenge_ had only one
hundred men free from sickness and able to fight, four-score and ten
sick men lay in the hold upon the ballast. These hundred men had had
to sustain the volleys, boarding, and hand-to-hand encounters for
sixteen hours on end, whereas the Spaniards were well supplied with
fresh men brought from every squadron; arms and powder they had at
will, and the comfort of knowing they had strong friends near. The
English saw no hope before them--only honourable death, if so be;
their ship's masts were all beaten overboard, all her tackle cut
asunder, her upper works altogether razed, so that she was well-nigh
brought even with the water, and could not stir except as she was
moved by tide and wave. All her powder was now spent to the last
barrel, all her pikes broken, forty of her best men slain, and most
of the rest sorely hurt. For they had borne eight hundred charges of
heavy artillery and rounds of small shot without number, and at last
began to stare at one another as men desperate who have lost their
last chance of life.
The Armada were now floating all round the _Revenge_, not too near,
for they suspected danger from her still.
Then Sir Richard sent for the master-gunner, whom he knew to be a
most resolute man, and bade him split and sink the ship.
"And Sir Richard cried in his English pride,
'We have fought such a fight for a day and a night
As may never be fought again!
We have won great glory, my men,
And a day less or more, at sea or ashore,--
We die--does it matter when?
Sink me the ship, Master Gunner, sink her, split her in twain!
Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!"
--TENNYSON.
So Sir Richard sought to persuade the company, or as many as he could
induce, to yield themselves unto God, and to the mercy of none else.
The master-gunner readily consented, and so did divers others; but
the captain and the master were of another opinion, and besought Sir
Richard to have care of them, for many of them might live yet to
serve their prince and country. They reminded him that the ship had
six foot of water in her hold, three shot under water, which were so
weakly stopped that with the first working of the sea she must needs
sink; and she was, besides, so crushed and bruised that she could
never be removed out of the place.
As the matter was thus in dispute, and as Sir Richard, where he lay,
still refused to hearken to any reason, the master was convoyed
aboard the General Don Alphonso Baçan, who promised that all their
lives should be saved, the crew should be sent to England, and the
better sort should pay such reasonable ransom as their estate would
bear, and in the meantime might be free from galley or prison. The
Don agreed to this so much the rather as he desired to get possession
of Sir Richard, whom for his notable valour he greatly honoured and
admired.
On this message being delivered, the crew naturally wished to accept
the terms and drew back from the master-gunner, who, in a frenzy of
grief for his admiral's dishonour, as he thought, drew his sword and
would have slain himself on the spot, had not his friends withheld
him from it by force and locked him into his cabin.
Then Don Alphonso asked Sir Richard to come out of the _Revenge_, the
ship being marvellous unsavoury, filled with blood and dead bodies
and wounded men, like any slaughter-house. To which Sir Richard
replied that the Spaniard might do with his body what he list, for he
esteemed it not. As they bore him out of the ship, he swooned; when
he recovered, he was on the Spaniard's deck, and looking about him
said, "I desire you, gentlemen, to pray for me."
The Spanish admiral used Sir Richard with all humanity and tended him
well, highly commending his valour and worthiness; but the English
hero died on the third day and was buried at sea with all honour.
As he lay surrounded by Spanish hidalgos, who were trying to comfort
him in his agony, the dying man half raised himself and said:
"Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind, for
that I have ended my life as a good soldier ought to do, who has
fought for his country and his Queen, for honour and religion.
Wherefore my soul joyfully departeth out of this body, leaving behind
it an everlasting fame, as a true soldier who hath done his duty as
he was bound to do. But the other of my company have done as
traitors and dogs, for which they shall be reproached all their
lives."
Lord Thomas Howard did not deserve this condemnation, for he wished
to attempt a rescue, but his men refused to follow.
A few days after the fight a great storm from the north-west
scattered the fleet, and fourteen Spanish ships went down, together
with the _Revenge_, off St. Michael's Isle. It seemed to the English
that Heaven was on the side of the _Revenge_, for 10,000 Spaniards
perished in that storm.
Sir Richard Hawkins, correcting Raleigh's account, wrote that there
were on board the _Revenge_ "above 260 men, as by the pay-book
appeareth--all which may worthily be written in our chronicles in
letters of gold, in memory for all posterities, some to beware,
others to imitate, the true valour of our nation in these ages."