Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-09-06

1t is said that before the start Oh
the present hostilities Winston
Churchill, then first lord of the Brit
fsh admiralty, modified the grand
fleet in defiance of orders not to do
so, and thus was ready to spring at
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 bingham 1t was he who
as high admiral of England in 1888
disobeyed most hagrantly Queen Eliza
beth's own order to dismantle 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 in the world.
England was by comparison feeble.
Spain sought world empire. Her
Philip believed it possible to make
| himself the head of a universal mon
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
| 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
| off the Cornish coast. Forthwith there
| was a rush for messengers, a lighting
of alarm fires and a 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 fleet
of 191 vessels. The bitterly punished
but still indomitable Dutch sent some
help from Holland. The largest YES
sci of all was the Triumph, measuring
LOO tons. The number of men was
slightly over 1900. Howard, COM
handing, was himself 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 force the
| tremendous extent of which is given
| by Hakluyt. The vessels numbered
| $50, no less than Ga of them galleons,
which Hakluyt says were of IAN huge
| bignesse and of marvellous force and
so high that they resembled great cas-
| tles'' Manning the fleet were 5000
sailors, 2,OSS slaves and 10000 soldiers,
besides mobiles and gentlemen, all I'M
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.
| 1.-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 salIying forth to meet it, and stood
off for Dunkirk. Howard first sighted
| his enemy on Saturday, the Goth of
July. Letting the great fleet pass.
he followed, marrying it SO severe
ly that the Spaniards lost several ships.
Medina Sidonia 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,
i while, as Sir Wallace Raleigh says.
1.-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 Feas-
sembling 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, it was general and it was furious
| ly hot Drake was hulled no less than
40 times and his cabin was shot out
from under him. The shot of a demi-
| culverin 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 a
smother of smoke and flame as they
smote the unwieldy Spanish hulls, on
mass of Soldiery, worse than useless in
this action, where the English simply
would not come to close quarters and