rth wind, the Spaniards bore down
upon the English, but the English, to take advantage of the wind, turned
westward. And then began a series of maneuvres in which each fleet
contended to deprive each other of the benefit of the wind. The contest
did not last long and before noon the English having slipped between the
Armada and the land bore down upon them right before the wind.

And then began a fierce fight which was waged with varying success. For,
while in one place the English valiantly rescued the ships of London
which were hemmed in by the Spaniards, in another Recaldo, being in
danger, was disengaged with no less resolution by the Spaniards. Never
before was such lightning and thunder of artillery heard, most of which,
notwithstanding, went vainly from the Spanish, flying clear over the
English ships. Only Cock, an Englishman, died gloriously in the midst of
his enemies upon his own small bark.

The English ships being of lesser build than the Spanish invaded the
Spaniards with great dexterity and having discharged their ordnance
withdrew into the open sea and leveled all their shot with a certain and
successful aim at the ponderous Spanish vessels.

And still the English admiral thought it not best to grapple and risk the
fortune of a hand-to-hand fight. For the enemy had a strong and well
appointed army aboard which he lacked, and, their ships standing higher
than his own vessels, threatened nothing less than certain destruction to
those fighting them from below. This was the most fierce and bloody
skirmish of all, though it only resulted in the capture of one huge
galleon and a few small craft by the English. There was a mutual
cessation of hostilities for all the next day for the wind fell dead and
each fleet was compelled to drift idly with the tide.

The calm was still unbroken when the next day dawned, the twenty-fifth
day of the month sacred to St. James, the patron saint of Spain. A small
galleon of Portugal called the Saint Anne being unable to keep pace with
the rest of the fleet was set upon by a number of small English craft,
seeing which three of the great galleasses rowed furiously to her aid.
Lord Howard's Ark Royal, the Golden Lion of his brother, Lord Sheffield's
Bear, and others towed by fisher boats met them with such salvos of shot
that, had not the Spanish fleet come up to rescue them, they would have
shared the fate of Valdez. After this time the galleasses would not fight
again. The wi