The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1898-07-30
THE SPANISH ARMADA.
The Great Gallons Were battered
and Beaten by the Little
English Fleet.


the armada had naturally been the one
all-absorbng theme of Boosting or con
lecture, in palace and monastery, il
street and shop. From every altar oil
the land fervent prayers for its success
were rising. The king himself passed
hours of every day upon his knees be-
fore the sacrament; and those in wait
ing on him declared that he often rose
in the night, signing to Heaven for vic
tory.
And now came Mendoza's good news
Yet the king, feyerish as was his long
| ing for success, was too old a player to
! put absolute trust in his ambassador
confused report; for the sanguine
magniloquent Mendoza had reputa-
tion for "deceiving himself" So Philip,
in an agony of conflicting doubt and
hope, shut himself up in the Eseorial,
would give no one audience until he
| should receive more certain tidings.
While Mendoza's ridiculous rumors
were circulating through the courts of
| the continent, the armada was i'll re-
| atty flying, crippled and miserable, into
| the fogs and gales of the German ocean.
For Philips fleet, if not actually con-
quered, had been terribly shattered by
| the ineessant, deadly fire of the English
gunners in the great fight Off Grave
| lines. When the Spanish admiral, the
duke of Medina Sidonia, counted over
his ships after the battle, several were
missing, among them those of the two
heroes of the day on the Spanish side,
the dashing, irresistible soldier-sailors
Toledo and Pimentel, having fought till,
in the words of Spanish officer pres
emit their cracked galleons were
"knoeked in pieces, and the crews nearly
all dead or wounded" drifted in the
black night, helpless, or rather I'M
helped, away from their consorts to-
ward the Low-Gountry coast.
Yet the armada had not been utterly
routed. and Elizabeth's captains knew
this full we'll In the evening, Just after
the fighting had ceased, Howard wrote
home that he had distressed them
much" and, though he doubted not, ''by
Gods good assistance, to Cypress them"
vet he could not write unto her ma iestv
ill more be done" And even jubilant
Drake, who. with the insight of the
great sea captain, had at once appreci-
ated almost to its full the success
achieved at Gravelines, still expected to
"wrestle pulp with the Spaniards. and
WAS keeping a sharp eye upon them
night and day.
In spite of their exhaustion, the Span
iards had scarce closed their eyes dur
ing the night after Gravelines, fearing
every moment to hear their ships strike
on the treacherous banks which skirt
the ow-Country coast. Soon after day
broke their fears were all but realized.
The wind had gradually edged to the
northward, and was now blowing hard
from the northwest. This must have
been fair enough wind for Calais; but
Sidonia had no stomach for another
fight, and owing to their crippled state,
his ships, bad saiers at best, were now
falling off to the leeward toward the
low line Of shoals. With terror the
Spanards saw in front of them the
great waves breaking into gray foam on
the smooth sands, and close behind
them the pursuing English fleet.
Sidonia was tagging behind, with his
stout-hearted lieutenants, Recalde and
Leyva. The pilots declared that the
fleet was doomed unless the wind shift
ed and that speedily. ChickenIhearted
officers begged Sidonia 20 strike his
colors, and at least save ships and lives;
but the admiral confessed himself and
resolved to die, if die he must like a
true knight of the cross. The English,
howey~, did not attack, believing, as the
Spaniards afterwards concluded, that
the armada was drifting of itself to
sure destruction. Suddenly, by mir
acle, as the Spaniards piously thought,
the wind veered to the southwark, The
armada, rescued from the shoals only to
suffer a more terrible fate, eased sheets
and sailed out into the deep North sea,
closely followed by the English.
Shaken by the terrible strain of the
last ten days, and now utterly unnerved
by the narrowness Of this last escape
from the very jaws of death, Sidonia
was in a panic of doubt and despair. So
hastily summoning a council of war, he
asked whether he ought to sail back
into the channel. It was voted to do so
If the wind came fair, otherwise to "obey
the weather." and sail north about to
Spain; for, it was urged, hulls were
leaking at thousand shot-holes, the
rigging was terribly cut up, and the
ammunition was nearly all consumed,
Promising to turn back if the wind
shifted, Sidonia headed his ragged fleet
for the Orkneys; yet it may be inferred
that he had no wish to face again the
deveilish tactics of those hereto pirates.
William f. Tilton in Century