a, and thirty-six other
vessels, upon the Irish coast, where nearly every soul on board perished,
while the few who escaped to the shore--notwithstanding their religious
affinity with the inhabitants--were either butchered in cold blood, or
sent coupled in halters from village to village, in order to be shipped
to England. A few ships were driven on the English coast; others went
ashore near Rochelle.

Of the four galeasses and four galleys, one of each returned to Spain. Of
the ninety-one great galleons and hulks, fifty-eight were lost and
thirty-three returned. Of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost.
and eighteen returned. Of one hundred and, thirty-four vessels, which
sailed from Corona in July, but fifty-three, great and small, made their
escape to Spain, and these were so damaged as to be, utterly worthless.
The invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated.

Of the 30,000 men who sailed in the fleet; it is probable that not more
than 10,000 ever saw their native land again. Most of the leaders of the
expedition lost their lives. Medina Sidonia reached Santander in October,
and, as Philip for a moment believed, "with the greater part of the
Armada," although the King soon discovered his mistake. Recalde, Diego
Flores de Valdez, Oquendo, Maldonado, Bobadilla, Manriquez, either
perished at sea, or died of exhaustion immediately after their return.
Pedro de Valdez, Vasco de Silva, Alonzo de Sayas, Piemontel, Toledo, with
many other nobles, were prisoners in England and Holland. There was
hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning, so that,
to relieve the universal gloom, an edict was published, forbidding the
wearing of mourning at all. On the other hand, a merchant of Lisbon, not
yet reconciled to the Spanish conquest of his country, permitted himself
some tokens of hilarity at the defeat of the Armada, and was immediately
hanged by express command of Philip. Thus--as men said--one could neither
cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions.

This was the result of the invasion, so many years preparing, and at an
expense almost incalculable. In the year 1588 alone, the cost of Philip's
armaments for the subjugation of England could not have been less than
six millions of ducats, and there was at least as large a sum on board
the Armada itself, although the Pope refused to pay his promised million.
And with all this outlay, and with the sacrifice of so many thousand
lives, no