The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-29
DESTRUCTION OF SPANS ARMADA
Scrap of History Three Centuries Old of Interest at the
Present Time.

and bridegrooms, before each others
eyes, until the number of inhabitants
butchered in the blazing streets rose
to many thousands, and the plumber
from palaces and warehouses was
counted by millions before the sun had
set on the great fury" And those
professional soldiers had been taught
| TO consider the English as a pacific,
! delicate, effeminate race, dependent on
F., good living, without experience in war;
quickly fatigued and discouraged, and
even more easily to be plundered and
butchered than were the excellent
] burghers of Antwerp.
g . 9
The battle lasted six hours, long,
hot and furious; for now there was no
! excuse for retreat on the part of the
! Spaniards. but on the contrary it was
/ the intention of the captain general to
return to his station off Calais, If ii
: were within his power. Nevertheless
the English still partially maintained
the tactics which had proved so sue
: cessful, and resOlutely refused the
fierce attempts of the Spaniards to lay
themselves alongside. Keeping within
musket range, the wel-disciplined
English mariners poured broadside az
ter brGadSide against the towering
ships of the Armada which afforded
so easy mark, while the Spaniards, on
their part. found ii impossible, while
wasting incredible quantities of powder
and shot, to infiict any severe damage
on their enemies. Throughout the ac-
ton not an English ship -sas destroyed
and not q hu6dred men were killed On
the other hand, all the best ships of the
Spaniards were riddled through and
through. With masts and yards shat
tered, sails and rigging torn to sl~ads,
and a northwest wind still drifting
them towards the fatal sandbanks of
Holland, they labored heavily in
chopping sea- firing wildly and receiv-
ing tremendous punishment at the
hands of Howard, Drake, Seymour,
Winter and their followers. Not even
Master Gunner Thomas could COM
plain that day 90 blind exercise on
the part of the English. with little
harm DONE to the enemy There was
scarcely a ship in the armada that did |
not suffer severely, for nearly all were |
engaged in that memorable action off |
the sands of Gravelines.
Three sank before the fight was over,
many others We're soon drifting help
less wrecks towards a hostile shore, |
and before 5 o'clock in the afternoon,
at least 16 of their best ships had been
sacrificed and from 1000 to 5000 SOL
diers !-illed.
OF the four galeasses and four gal
leyS, one of each returned to Spain Of
the 81 great galleons and hulks, 5S were
lost and SO returned. OF the tenders
and zabras, II We're lost and IS re-
turned. Of 1874 vessels which sailed
from Corunna in July. but 50, great
and small, made their escape to Spain,
and these We're so damaged as to be
utterly worthless. The invincible ar
mazda had not onlyEbeen vanquished,
but annihilated. OF the $4,000 men who
sailed in the fleet it is probable that
not more than 10000 ever saw their
native land again.
9 g @
In the year 1888 alone the cost of
Phillips ornaments for the subjuga-
ton of England could not have been
less than 100000 ducats. And with
all this outlay and with the sacrifice
Of so many thousand lives. nothing had
been accomplished and Spain in a mo-
nent, instead OF seeming terrible to all
the world, had become ridiculous.