Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-09-21
By CAPT. ROLAND F. ANDREWS
IVNNNNNANNNNNNNN

1t is said that before the start OF
the present hOstilities Winston
Churchill, then first lord of the Brit
ish admiralty, modified the grand
fleet In defiance of orders not to do
so, and thus was ready to spring al
Germany with every sea dog of Eng
land when war broke forth. If Col
onel Churchill thus acted he had high
English example In the case of Lord
Howard EfIingham. II was he who
as high admiral OF England in 1888
disobeyed most flagrantly Queen Eliza
beth's own order to dlsmantle part OF
his fleet and was therefore possessed
of the strength to smash the great ar
mazda Of Spain when Its lofty gal
Icons came rolling into the channel.
Spain was at that time perhaps the
most powerful nation I'm the world.
England was by comparison feeble.
Spain sought world empire. Her
Philip believed II possible to make
archy, sharing power only with the
pope. England stood In his way.
Hence the dispatch OF the armada to
make England vassal to Spain, burn
her heretics and establish the sway Of
Philip over both the old and the new
hemIspheres.
Howard, with his captains, was at
q game Of bowls In Plymouth town
when there came scuttling into the
harbor a Scotch privateer with the
news that the armada was even then
OF the Cornish coast. Forthwith there
was a rush for messengers, a lighting
Of alarm fires and press Of cap
tains for their ships. Only Sir Frances
Drake remained unconcerned. There
was time, he observed. both to win the
game and beat the Spaniards. So aim
ing their bowls very carefully and COOL
ly they finished what Hallam reck-
ons the best and bravest match that
ever was scored"
The royal navy, augmented now by
several times its number Of armed mer-
chantmen. had got together a feet
of 191 vessels. The bitterly punished
but still indomitable Dutch sent some
help from Holland. The largest ves-
Sci Of all was the Triumph. measuring
LOO tons. The number Of men was
slightly over 1900. Howard. COM
manding. was himself a Catholic, but
though Philip proclaimed his cause the
cause of the church against the here
tic. Howard and all the other English
Catholics remained splendidly loyal.
Against them Philip sent a force the
tremendous extent Of which is given
BY Hakluyt. The vessels numbered
$50. no less than "a Of them galleons,
which Hakluyt says were of ian huge
bignesse and of marvellous force and
so high that they resembled great cas-
ties" Manning the feet were 5000
sailors, 2.0S8 slaves and 10000 soldiers,
besides mobiles and gentlemen, all un-
der command Of the duke Of Medina
Sidonia. At Dunkirk. the great Span
ish general. Farnese. was collecting an
other fleet for the transport Of troops
to England as soon as the armada
should win the command Of the seas.
'The Invincible Armada" as the
Spaniards termed It, entered the Chan
mel. headed for Plymouth in the hope
of surprising the English. found How
ard sallying forth to meet 1t, and stood
of for Dunkirk. Howard first sighted
his enemy on Saturday. the Goth Of |
July. Letting the great fleet pass,
he followed, marrying 1t so severe |
ly that the Spaniards lost several ships. |
Medina Sldonia at last brought his
ships to anchor In Calais roadstead, his !
larger craft lying In the outer circle. |
Howard dared not attack at close quar- |
tiers, since his vessels were much in |
ferior In tonnage and in ordinance,
while, as Sir Wallace Raleigh says,
"the Spaniard had an army on board |
him and Howard had none" How
ever on the night of the 10Th he sent |
In eight fireships, so alarming the |
Spaniards that they cut their cables
and put to sea. One Of the largest |
galeasses fouled another and went |
ashore. In the confusion the rest of |
the fleet became badly scattered so
that in the morning the feat of reas-
in fleet formation was most |
difficult. Now was the opportunity Of
the English to attack on something like /
equal terms.
Drake and Fener were the first to
tackle their cumbersome foes. Then
came Fenton, Southwell. Burton and
the rest, with the lord admiral plunging
In himself. While the action was that
Of detached vessels rather than squad |
rOns, 1t was general and 1t was furious
ly hot. Drake was hulled no less than
40 times and his cabin was shot out
from under him. The shot of demi-
landed on the dinner table Of
the earl of Northumberland. But the
English ships were the smarter sail
ors, the English got the weather gauge
and they kept the vessels in !
Ensland's First Almanac. |
The first almanac printed In England
was the "Kalendar Of Shepardes."
which appeared in 1897, just 40 years
after Gutenberg printed his first al