Connecticut western news., 1881-02-02
THE SPANISH ARMADA.
Spain's Last Effort to Secure Control
 of the Seas.

of Spain, says Samuel Smiles, the
 historian, to make his Armada invincible.
 He had spent nearly fifty thousand
 ducats on the fleet. The Pope lent him
 thousand ducats. Beside what he had spent, he had two millions of ducats in
 reserve. The Armada consisted of one
 hundred and thirty-six ships. They
 were by far the largest that had up to
 that time been constructed. They con-
 tained thirty thousand Spanish in- fantry and sailors, and two thousand
 galley slaves for the purpose of rowing the ships when the wind failed. Beside this large army, thirty thousand troops
 were in the Spanish Netherlands, ready
 to embark, on given signal, in aid of the troops of the Armada. Such was the force which the English sailors had to combat.
 Before the Armada sailed, the Pope,
 Sixtus ", illuminated his bull. He denounced Elizabeth as an illegitimate and usurper, and solemnly conferred her kingdom on Philip, with the title of defender of the Christian faith, "to have and to hold as tributary and feudatory to Rome."
 Everything was now prepared for the snbjugation of England, and the h. vincible Armada set sail. The first ships were sighted off the Lizard on the 22d of July, 1888. They had long been looked for. The beacon-fres blazed forth from the Lizard to Falmouth, Dodman Point, Gribbin Head and Rame
 Head When the news arrived at Plymouth that the enemy were in sight,
 Drake was playing 8 game of bowls with his comrades; but before the evening closed sixty of the best English ships were warped out of Plymouth Harbor to meet the foe. They went down the English Channel. It was not until the next day that they saw the
 bulky Spanish ships through the drizzly | haze.
 Another day elapsed, and then they
 met. As the Armada, followed by the
 English fleet, went fighting along the
 coast of Devon and Dorset, the people
 on land looked on with intense anticipa-
 tion. At every little port that they
 passed-at Dartmouth, Teignmouth.
 Lyme, and Weymouth-boats came out
 laden with men and provisions, and
 little ships darted out to sea, most of
 them merchantmen, to take part in the
 fray. Fhe Armada reached the bay
 between Portland Bill and St. Alban's
 Head, when the wind shifted to the northeast, and gave the Spaniards the weathergage. The English made tack seaward, and were soon after assaulted by the Spaniards, who bore down upon them. Ship after ship was engaged, but the Spaniards were never able to close with or to board their ever attacking, ever-fying adversariee. And so the roar of cannon ascended along the coast. One fight after another, but still nothing decisive. The Armada passed the Isle of Wight oD its way to the roads of Calais. The English, having received men and munitions from shore, followed 1t slowly.
 Lord Howard, commander of the English fleet, called the commanders to consultation. It was then determined to attack the Armada. It was dead at night. The sea was black, the thunder rolled in the distance. In a moment six blazing fire ships were sent in among the Armada. The Spaniards were seized with panic. There was yell through out the fleet. Every cable was cut, and the ships began to drift. The larger ships became entangled with each other. Some were burned by the flaming vessels. The largest and most splendid vessel of the Armada, the Capitana, was driven ashore, and taken possession of by the French. When morning dawned, part of the Spanish fleet lay disabled, | but the greater number had put to sea, and were observed making for the Netherland ports.
 The English lifted anchor and fol- | lowed them. They came up with the | Spanish fleet off Gravellines, and i'm mediateIy attacked them. They broke through the vanguard, and attacked the Spanish fagships. They riddled them through and through, tore their sails and rigging to shreds. and forced them back upon the main body. Four of their ships ran foul of each other. The English continued the battle for six hours, always refusing the attempts of the Spaniards to lay themselves along side. Three of the Spanish ships went down before the fight was over, and many others were drifting, helpless wrecks, toward the fatal sandbanks of Holland. Sixteen of the best Spanish ships had already been sacrificed, and from four to five thousand soldiers had been destroyed yet not an English ship had been lost, and not more than ! hundred Englishmen had been killed.
 The wind was now blowing hard, and driving the ships on lee shore, seeing which, Medina Sidonia, the Captain General of the Spanish fleet, gave the order to retreat. The Invincible Arma- la then bore away toward the north west, into the open sea. The crippled ships went down one after another, They were scattered far and wide. Some were wrecked on the rock k-girdled coast of Norway. In trying to reach the Western Ocean many of the Spanish ships were wrecked on the Shetland and Orkney Islands, or on the rocks in the dangerous tides of the Stronsa and Pentland Firths. The shores of Scot