THE SPANISH ARMADA.
The struggle that was at hand between Spain and England had long been
foreseen as inevitable. The one power was the champion of Roman
Catholicism, the other of Protestantism; and yet, although so much hung
upon the result of the encounter, and all Europe looked on with the
most intense interest, both parties entered upon the struggle without
allies, and this entirely from the personal fault of the sovereigns of
the two nations.
Queen Elizabeth, by her constant intrigues, her underhand dealings with
France and Spain, her grasping policy in the Netherlands, her meanness
and parsimony, and the fact that she was ready at any moment to
sacrifice the Netherlands to her own policy, had wholly alienated the
people of the Low Country; for while their own efforts for defence were
paralysed by the constant interference of Elizabeth, no benefit was
obtained from the English army, whose orders were to stand always on
the defensive--the queen's only anxiety appearing to be to keep her
grasp upon the towns that had been handed over to her as the price of
her alliance.
Her own counsellors were driven to their wits' end by her constant
changes of purpose. Her troops were starving and in rags from her
parsimony, the fleet lay dismantled and useless from want of funds, and
except such arming and drilling as took place at the expense of the
nobles, counties, and cities, no preparation whatever was made to meet
the coming storm. Upon the other hand, Philip of Spain, who might have
been at the head of a great Catholic league against England, had
isolated himself by his personal ambitions, Had he declared himself
ready, in the event of his conquest of England, to place James of
Scotland upon the throne, he would have had Scotland with him, together
with the Catholics of England, still a powerful and important body.
France, too, would have joined him, and the combination against
Elizabeth and the Protestants of England would have been well-nigh
irresistible. But this he could not bring himself to do. His dream was
the annexation of England to Spain; and smarting as the English
Catholics were under the execution of Mary of Scotland, their English
spirit revolted against the idea of the rule of Spain, and the great
Catholic nobles hastened, when the moment of danger arrived, to join in
the defence of their country, while Scotland, seeing no advantage to be
gained in the struggle, stood sullenly aloof, and France gave no aid to
a project which was to result, if successful, in the aggrandizement of
her already dangerously formidable neighbour.
Thus England and Spain stood alone--Philip slowly but steadily
preparing for the great expedition for the conquest of England,
Elizabeth hesitating, doubtful; at one moment gathering seamen and
arming her fleet, a month or two later discharging the sailors and
laying up the ships.
In the spring of 1587 Drake, with six vessels belonging to the crown
and twenty-four equipped by merchants of London and other places, had
seized a moment when Elizabeth's fickle mind had inclined to warlike
measures, and knowing that the mood might last but a day, had slipped
out of Plymouth and sailed for Spain a few hours before a messenger
arrived with a peremptory order from Elizabeth against entering any
Spanish port or offering violence to any Spanish town or ships.
Although caught in a gale in the Channel, Drake held on, and, reaching
Gibraltar on the 16th April, ascertained that Cadiz was crowded with
transports and store-ships.
Vice-admiral Burroughs, controller of the navy, who had been specially
appointed to thwart Drake's plans, opposed any action being taken; but
Drake insisted upon attack, and on the 19th the fleet stood in to Cadiz
harbour. Passing through the fire of the batteries, they sank the only
great ship of war in the roads, drove off the Spanish galleys, and
seized the vast fleet of store-ships loaded with wine, corn, and
provisions of all sorts for the use of the Armada. Everything of value
that could be conveniently moved was transferred to the English ships,
then the Spanish vessels were set on fire, their cables cut, and they
were left to drift an entangled mass of flame. Drake took a number of
prisoners, and sent a messenger on shore proposing to exchange them for
such English seamen as were prisoners in Spain. The reply was there
were no English prisoners in Spain; and as this was notoriously untrue,
it was agreed in the fleet that all the Spaniards they might take in
the future should be sold to the Moors, and the money reserved for the
redeeming of such Englishmen as might be in captivity there or
elsewhere.
The English fleet then sailed for Cape St. Vincent, picking up on their
way large convoys of store-ships all bound for the Tagus, where the
Armada was collecting. These were all burned, and Drake brought up at
Cape St. Vincent, hoping to meet there a portion of the Armada expected
from the Mediterranean. As a harbour was necessary, he landed, stormed
the fort at Faro, and took possession of the harbour there. The
expected enemy did not appear, and Drake sailed up to the mouth of the
Tagus, intending to go into Lisbon and attack the great Spanish fleet
lying there under its admiral, Santa Cruz.
That the force gathered there was enormous Drake well knew, but relying
as much on the goodness of his cause as on the valour of his sailors,
and upon the fact that the enemy would be too crowded together to fight
with advantage, he would have carried out his plan had not a ship
arrived from England with orders forbidding him to enter the Tagus.
However, he lay for some time at the mouth of the river, destroying
every ship that entered its mouth, and sending in a challenge to Santa
Cruz to come out and fight. The Spanish admiral did not accept it, and
Drake then sailed to Corunna, and there, as at Cadiz, destroyed all the
ships collected in the harbour and then returned to England, having in
the course of a few months inflicted an enormous amount of damage upon
Spain, and having taken the first step to prove that England was the
mistress of the sea.
But while the little band of English had been defending Sluys against
the army of the Duke of Parma, Philip had been continuing his
preparations, filling up the void made by the destruction wrought by
Drake, and preparing an Armada which he might well have considered to
be invincible. Elizabeth was still continuing her negotiations. She was
quite ready to abandon the Netherlands to Spain if she could but keep
the towns she held there, but she could not bring herself to hand these
over either to the Netherlands or to Spain. She urged the States to
make peace, to which they replied that they did not wish for peace on
such terms as Spain would alone grant; they could defend themselves for
ten years longer if left alone; they did not ask for further help, and
only wanted their towns restored to them.
Had the Armada started as Philip intended in September, it would have
found England entirely unprepared, for Elizabeth still obstinately
refused to believe in danger, and the few ships that had been held in
commission after Drake's return had been so long neglected that they
could hardly keep the sea without repair; the rest lay unrigged in the
Medway. But the delay gave England fresh time for preparation. Parma's
army was lying in readiness for the invasion under canvas at Dunkirk,
and their commander had received no information from Spain that the
sailing of the Armada was delayed.
The cold, wet, and exposure told terribly upon them, and of the 30,000
who were ready to embark in September not 18,000 were fit for service
at the commencement of the year. The expenses of this army and of the
Armada were so great that Philip was at last driven to give orders to
the Armada to start. But fortune again favoured England. Had the fleet
sailed as ordered on the 30th of January they would again have found
the Channel undefended, for Elizabeth, in one of her fits of economy,
had again dismantled half the fleet that had been got ready for sea,
and sent the sailors to their homes.
But the execution of Philip's orders was prevented by the sudden death
of Santa Cruz. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia was appointed his successor,
but as he knew nothing of the state of the Armada fresh delays became
necessary, and the time was occupied by Elizabeth, not in preparing for
the defence of the country, but in fresh negotiations for peace. She
was ready to make any concessions to Spain, but Philip was now only
amusing himself by deceiving her. Everything was now prepared for the
expedition, and just as the fleet was ready to start, the negotiations
were broken off. But though Elizabeth's government had made no
preparations for the defence of the country, England herself had not
been idle. Throughout the whole country men had been mustered,
officered, and armed, and 100,000 were ready to move as soon as the
danger became imminent.
The musters of the Midland counties, 30,000 strong, were to form a
separate army, and were to march at once to a spot between Windsor and
Harrow. The rest were to gather at the point of danger. The coast
companies were to fall back wherever the enemy landed, burning the corn
and driving off the cattle, and avoiding a battle until the force of
the neighbouring counties joined them. Should the landing take place as
was expected in Suffolk, Kent, or Sussex, it was calculated that
between 30,000 and 40,000 men would bar the way to the invaders before
they reached London, while 20,000 men of the western counties would
remain to encounter the Duke of Guise, who had engaged to bring across
an army of Frenchmen to aid the Spaniards.
Spain, although well aware of the strength of England on the sea,
believed that she would have no difficulty with the raw English levies;
but Parma, who had met the English at Sluys, had learnt to respect
their fighting qualities, and in a letter to Philip gave the opinion
that even if the Armada brought him a reinforcement of 6000 men he
would still have an insufficient force for the conquest of England. He
said, "When I shall have landed I must fight battle after battle. I
shall lose men by wounds and disease, I must leave detachments behind
me to keep open my communications, and in a short time the body of my
army will become so weak that not only I may be unable to advance in
the face of the enemy, and time may be given to the heretics and your
majesty's other enemies to interfere, but there may fall out some
notable inconvenience, with the loss of everything, and I be unable to
remedy it."
Unfortunately, the English fleet was far less prepared than the land
forces. The militia had been easily and cheaply extemporized, but a
fleet can only be prepared by long and painful sacrifices. The entire
English navy contained but thirteen ships of over four hundred tons,
and including small cutters and pinnaces there were but thirty-eight
vessels of all sorts and sizes carrying the queen's flag. Fortunately,
Sir John Hawkins was at the head of the naval administration, and in
spite of the parsimony of Elizabeth had kept the fleet in a good state
of repair and equipment. The merchant navy, although numerous, was
equally deficient in vessels of any size.
Philip had encouraged ship-building in Spain by grants from the crown,
allowing four ducats a ton for every ship built of above three hundred
tons burden, and six ducats a ton for every one above five hundred
tons. Thus he had a large supply of great ships to draw upon in
addition to those of the royal navy, while in England the largest
vessels belonging to private owners did not exceed four hundred tons,
and there were not more than two or three vessels of that size sailing
from any port of the country. The total allowance by the queen for the
repair of the whole of the royal navy, wages of shipwrights, clerks,
carpenters, watchmen, cost of timber, and all other necessary dockyard
expenses, was but £4000 a-year.
In December the fleet was ready for sea, together with the contingent
furnished by the liberality and patriotism of the merchants and
citizens of the great ports. But as soon as it was got together half
the crews collected and engaged at so great an expense were dismissed,
the merchant ships released, and England open to invasion, and had
Parma started in the vessels he had prepared, Lord Howard, who
commanded the English navy, could not have fired a shot to have
prevented his crossing.
Well might Sir John Hawkins in his despair at Elizabeth's caprices
exclaim: "We are wasting money, wasting strength, dishonouring and
discrediting ourselves by our uncertain dallying." But though daily
reports came from Spain of the readiness of the Armada to set sail,
Elizabeth, even when she again permitted the navy to be manned,
fettered it by allowing it to be provided with rations for only a month
at a time, and permitting no reserves to be provided in the victualling
stores; while the largest vessels were supplied with ammunition for
only a day and a half's service, and the rest of the fleet with but
enough for one day's service. The council could do nothing, and Lord
Howard's letters prove that the queen, and she only, was responsible
for the miserable state of things that prevailed.
At last, in May, Lord Howard sailed with the fleet down Channel,
leaving Lord Henry Seymour with three men-of-war and a squadron of
privateers to watch Dunkirk. At Plymouth the admiral found Drake with
forty ships, all except one raised and sent to sea at the expense of
himself and the gentry and merchants of the west counties. The weather
was wild, as it had been all the winter. Howard with the great ships
lay at anchor in the Sound, rolling heavily, while the smaller craft
went for shelter into the mouth of the river. There were but eighteen
days' provisions on board; fresh supplies promised did not arrive, and
the crews were put on half rations, and eked these out by catching
fish. At last, when the supplies were just exhausted, the victualling
ships arrived with one month's fresh rations, and a message that no
more would be sent. So villainous was the quality of the stores that
fever broke out in the fleet.
It was not until the end of the month that Elizabeth would even permit
any further preparations to be made, and the supplies took some time
collecting. The crews would have been starved had not the officers so
divided the rations as to make them last six weeks. The men died in
scores from dysentery brought on by the sour and poisonous beer issued
to them, and Howard and Drake ordered wine and arrow-root from the town
for the use of the sick, and had to pay for it from their own pockets.
But at last the Armada was ready for starting. Contingents of Spanish,
Italians, and Portuguese were gathered together with the faithful from
all countries--Jesuits from France; exiled priests, Irish and English;
and many Catholic Scotch, English, and Irish noblemen and gentlemen.
The six squadrons into which the fleet was divided contained sixty-five
large war ships, the smallest of which was seven hundred tons. Seven
were over one thousand, and the largest, an Italian ship, _La
Regazona_, was thirteen hundred. All were built high like castles,
their upper works musket-proof, their main timbers four or five feet
thick, and of a strength it was supposed no English cannon could pierce.
Next to the big ships, or galleons as they were called, were four
galleasses, each carrying fifty guns and 450 soldiers and sailors, and
rowed by 300 slaves. Besides these were four galleys, fifty-six great
armed merchant ships, the finest Spain possessed, and twenty caravels
or small vessels. Thus the fighting fleet amounted to 129 vessels,
carrying in all 2430 cannon. On board was stored an enormous quantity
of provisions for the use of the army after it landed in England, there
being sufficient to feed 40,000 men for six months.
There were on board 8000 sailors, 19,000 soldiers, 1000 gentlemen
volunteers, 600 priests, servants, and miscellaneous officers, and 2000
galley slaves. This was indeed a tremendous array to meet the fleet
lying off Plymouth, consisting of 29 queen's ships of all sizes, 10
small vessels belonging to Lord Howard and members of his family, and
43 privateers between 40 and 400 tons under Drake, the united crews
amounting to something over 9000 men.
The winter had passed pleasantly to Geoffrey and Lionel Vickars; the
earl had taken a great fancy to them, and they had stayed for some time
in London as members of his suite. When the spring came they had spoken
about rejoining Francis Vere in Holland, but the earl had said that
there was little doing there. The enmity excited by the conduct of
Elizabeth prevented any co-operation between the Dutch and English; and
indeed the English force was reduced to such straits by the refusal of
the queen to furnish money for their pay, or to provide funds for even
absolute necessaries, that it was wholly incapable of taking the field,
and large numbers of the men returned to England.
Had this treatment of her soldiers and sailors at the time when such
peril threatened their country been occasioned by want of funds, some
excuse would have been possible for the conduct of Elizabeth; but at
the time there were large sums lying in the treasury, and it was
parsimony and not incapacity to pay that actuated Elizabeth in the
course she pursued.
As the boys were still uneasy as to the opinion Francis Vere might form
of their continued stay in England, they wrote to him, their letter
being inclosed in one from the earl; but the reply set their minds at
rest--"By all means stay in England," Captain Vere wrote, "since there
is nothing doing here of any note or consequence, nor likely to be. We
are simply idling out time in Bergen-op-Zoom, and not one of us but is
longing to be at home to bear his part in the events pending there. It
is hard, indeed, to be confined in this miserable Dutch town while
England is in danger. Unfortunately we are soldiers and must obey
orders; but as you are as yet only volunteers, free to act as you
choose, it would be foolish in the extreme for you to come over to this
dull place while there is so much going on in England. I have written
to my cousin, asking him to introduce you to some of the country
gentlemen who have fitted out a ship for service against the Spaniards,
so that you may have a hand in what is going on."
This the earl had done, and early in May they had journeyed down to
Plymouth on horseback with a party of other gentlemen who were going on
board the _Active_, a vessel of two hundred and fifty tons belonging to
a gentleman of Devonshire, one Master Audrey Drake, a relation of Sir
Francis Drake. The earl himself was with the party. He did not intend
to go on board, for he was a bad sailor; and though ready, as he said,
to do his share of fighting upon land, would be only an encumbrance on
board a ship.
He went down principally at the request of Cecil and other members of
the council, who, knowing that he was a favourite of the queen, thought
that his representations as to the state of the fleet might do more
than they could do to influence her to send supplies to the distressed
sailors. The earl visited the ships lying in the mouth of the Tamar,
and three times started in a boat to go out to those in the Sound; but
the sea was so rough, and he was so completely prostrated by sickness,
that he had each time to put back. What he saw, however, on board the
ships he visited, and heard from Lord Howard as to the state of those
at sea, was quite sufficient. He at once expended a considerable amount
of money in buying wine and fresh meat for the sick, and then hurried
away to London to lay before the queen the result of his personal
observations, and to implore her to order provisions to be immediately
despatched to the fleet.
But even the description given by one of her favourites of the
sufferings of the seamen was insufficient to induce the queen to open
her purse-strings, and the earl left her in great dudgeon; and although
his private finances had been much straitened by his extravagance and
love of display, he at once chartered a ship, filled her with
provisions, and despatched her to Plymouth.
Mr. Drake and the gentlemen with him took up their abode in the town
until there should be need for them to go on board the _Active_, where
the accommodation was much cramped, and life by no means agreeable; and
the Vickars therefore escaped sharing the sufferings of those on board
ship.
At the end of May came the news that the Armada had sailed on the 19th,
and high hopes were entertained that the period of waiting had
terminated. A storm, however, scattered the great fleet, and it was not
until the 12th of July that they sailed from the Bay of Ferrol, where
they had collected after the storm.
Never was there known a season so boisterous as the summer of 1588, and
when off Ushant, in a south-west gale, four galleys were wrecked on the
French coast, and the _Santa Anna_, a galleon of 800 tons, went down,
carrying with her ninety seamen, three hundred soldiers, and 50,000
ducats in gold.
After two days the storm abated, and the fleet again proceeded. At
daybreak on the 20th the Lizard was in sight, and an English
fishing-boat was seen running along their line. Chase was given, but
she soon out-sailed her pursuers, and carried the news to Plymouth. The
Armada had already been made out from the coast the night before, and
beacon lights had flashed the news all over England. In every village
and town men were arming and saddling and marching away to the
rendezvous of the various corps.
In Plymouth the news was received with the greatest rejoicing. Thanks
to the care with which the provisions had been husbanded, and to the
manner in which the officers and volunteers had from their private
means supplemented the scanty stores, there was still a week's
provisions on board, and this, it was hoped, would suffice for their
needs. The scanty supply of ammunition was a greater source of anxiety;
but they hoped that fresh supplies would be forthcoming, now that even
the queen could no longer close her eyes to the urgent necessity of the
case.
As soon as the news arrived all the gentlemen in the town flocked on
board the ships, and on the night of the 19th the queen's ships and
some of the privateers went to moorings behind Ram Head, so that they
could make clear to sea; and on the morning when the Spaniards sighted
the Lizard, forty sail were lying ready for action under the headland.
At three o'clock in the afternoon the look-out men on the hill reported
a line of sails on the western horizon. Two wings were at first
visible, which were gradually united as the topsails of those in the
centre rose above the line of sea. As they arose it could be seen that
the great fleet was sailing, in the form of a huge crescent, before a
gentle wind. A hundred and fifty ships, large and small, were counted,
as a few store-ships bound for Flanders had joined the Armada for
protection.
The _Active_ was one of the privateers that had late the evening before
gone out to Earn Head, and just as it was growing dusk the anchors were
got up, and the little fleet sailed out from the shelter of the land as
the Armada swept along.
The Spanish admiral at once ordered the fleet to lie-to for the night,
and to prepare for a general action at daybreak, as he knew from a
fisherman he had captured that the English fleet were at Plymouth. The
wind was on shore, but all through the night Howard's and Drake's ships
beat out from the Sound until they took their places behind the Spanish
fleet, whose position they could perfectly make out by the light of the
half-moon that rose at two in the morning.
On board the English fleet all was confidence and hilarity. The
sufferings of the last three months were forgotten. The numbers and
magnitude of the Spanish ships counted as nothing. The sailors of the
west country had met the Spaniards on the Indian seas and proved their
masters, and doubted not for a moment that they should do so again.
There was scarce a breath of air when day broke, but at eight o'clock a
breeze sprang up from the west, and the Armada made sail and attempted
to close with the English; but the low, sharp English ships sailed two
feet to the one of the floating castles of Spain, and could sail close
to the wind, while the Spanish ships, if they attempted to close-haul
their sails, drifted bodily to leeward. Howard's flagship, the
_Ark-Raleigh_, with three other English ships, opened the engagement by
running down along their rear-line, firing into each galleon as they
passed, then wearing round and repeating the manoeuvre. The great _San
Matteo_ luffed out from the rest of the fleet and challenged them to
board, but they simply poured their second broadside into her and
passed on.
The excellence of the manoeuvring of the English ships, and the
rapidity and accuracy of their fire, astonished the Spaniards.
Throughout the whole forenoon the action continued; the Spaniards
making efforts to close, but in vain, the English ships keeping the
weather-gage and sailing continually backwards and forwards, pouring in
their broadsides. The height and size of the Spanish ships were against
them; and being to leeward they heeled over directly they came up to
the wind to fire a broadside, and their shots for the most part went
far over their assailants, while they themselves suffered severely from
the English fire. Miquel de Oquendo, who commanded one of the six
Spanish squadrons, distinguished himself by his attempts to close with
the English, and by maintaining his position in the rear of the fleet
engaged in constant conflict with them.
He was a young nobleman of great promise, distinguished alike for his
bravery and chivalrous disposition; but he could do little while the
wind remained in the west and the English held the weather-gage. So far
only the ships that had been anchored out under Earn Head had taken
part in the fight, those lying higher up in the Sound being unable to
make their way out. At noon the exertions of their crews, who had from
the preceding evening worked incessantly, prevailed, and they were now
seen coming out from behind the headland to take part in the struggle.
Medina-Sidonia signalled to his fleet to make sail up Channel, Martinez
de Ricaldo covering the rear with the squadron of Biscay. He was
vice-admiral of the fleet, and considered to be the best seaman Spain
possessed now that Santa Cruz was dead.
The wind was now rising. Lord Howard sent off a fast boat with letters
to Lord Henry Seymour, telling him how things had gone so far, and
bidding him be prepared for the arrival of the Spanish fleet in the
Downs. As the afternoon went on the wind rose, and a rolling sea came
in from the west. Howard still hung upon the Spanish rear, firing but
seldom in order to save his powder. As evening fell, the Spanish
vessels, huddled closely together, frequently came into collision with
one another, and in one of these the _Capitana_, the flagship of the
Andalusian division, commanded by Admiral Pedro de Valdez, had her
bowsprit carried away, the foremast fell overboard, and the ship
dropped out of her place.
Two of the galleasses came to her assistance and tried to take her in
tow, but the waves were running so high that the cable broke. Pedro de
Valdez had been commander of the Spanish fleet on the coast of Holland,
and knew the English Channel and the northern shores of France and
Holland well. The duke therefore despatched boats to bring him off with
his crew, but he refused to leave his charge. Howard, as with his ships
he passed her, believed her to be deserted and went on after the fleet;
but a London vessel kept close to her and exchanged shots with her all
night, until Drake, who had turned aside to chase what he believed to
be a portion of the Spanish fleet that had separated itself from the
rest, but which turned out to be the merchant ships that had joined it
for protection, came up, and the _Capitana_ struck her flag. Drake took
her into Torbay, and there left her in the care of the Brixham
fishermen, and taking with him Valdez and the other officers sailed
away to join Lord Howard. The fishermen, on searching the ship, found
some tons of gunpowder on board her. Knowing the scarcity of ammunition
in the fleet they placed this on board the _Roebuck_, the fastest
trawler in the harbour, and she started at once in pursuit of the fleet.
The misfortune to the _Capitana_, was not the only one that befell the
Spaniards. While Oquendo was absent from his galleon a quarrel arose
among the officers, who were furious at the ill result of the day's
fighting. The captain struck the master-gunner with a stick; the
latter, a German, rushed below in a rage, thrust a burning fuse into a
powder barrel, and sprang through a port-hole into the sea. The whole
of the deck was blown up, with two hundred sailors and soldiers; but
the ship was so strongly built that she survived the shock, and her
mast still stood.
The duke sent boats to learn what had happened. These carried off the
few who remained unhurt, but there was no means of taking off the
wounded. These, however, were treated kindly and sent on shore when the
ship was picked up at daylight by the English, who, on rifling her,
found to their delight that there were still many powder barrels on
board that had escaped the explosion.
The morning broke calm, and the wind, when it came, was from the east,
which gave the Spaniards the advantage of position. The two fleets lay
idle all day three or four miles apart, and the next morning, as the
wind was still from the east, the Spaniards bore down upon Howard to
offer battle.
The English, however, headed out to sea. Encouraged by seeing their
assailants avoid a pitched battle the Spaniards gave chase. The _San
Marcos_, the fastest sailer in the fleet, left the rest behind, and
when the breeze headed round at noon she was several miles to windward
of her consorts, and the English at once set upon her. She fought with
extreme courage, and defended herself single-handed for an hour and a
half, when Oquendo came up to the rescue, and as the action off
Plymouth had almost exhausted his stock of powder, and the Brixham
sloop had not yet come up, Howard was obliged to draw off.
The action of this day was fought off Portland. During the three days
the British fleet had been to sea they had received almost hourly
reinforcements. From every harbour and fishing port along the coast
from Plymouth to the Isle of Wight vessels of all sizes, smacks, and
boats put off, crowded with noblemen and gentlemen anxious to take part
in the action, and their enthusiasm added to that of the weary and
ill-fed sailors. At the end of the third day the English fleet had
increased to a hundred sail, many of which, however, were of very small
burden.