and fell upon all merchant-ships belonging to the
Spaniards. Spain, it was now known, was preparing a formidable force
for the invasion of England; but the queen and her ministers,
unintimidated by the boasts of the Spaniards, omitted no precautionary
measures to defeat Philip's plans. In 1587, a fleet under Sir Francis
Drake was despatched to Cadiz. The admiral here forced six galleys,
placed for the guardianship of the port, to shelter themselves under the
cannon of the castle; and then, having burnt upwards of a hundred ships
laden with ammunition and provisions, he sailed for Cape Saint Vincent,
where he surprised some forts, and destroyed all the fishing craft he
could fall in with. From thence, appearing off the mouth of the Tagus,
he challenged the Spanish admiral, Santa Cruz, to come out and fight;
but the Spaniard, obeying his master's orders, allowed Drake to burn and
destroy every vessel he could find, rather than hazard an engagement.
The King of Spain, hoping to frighten the English, published in every
country in Europe a full account of the armada he was preparing for the
subjugation, as he hoped, of England. For three years had Philip been
making the most mighty efforts to fit out a fleet with which he hoped to
humble the pride of the queen of that "tight little island," who had
dared to refuse his hand, and to enslave her heretical subjects. The
Most Happy Armada, for so he had styled it, consisted of 134 sail of
towering ships, of the total burden of 57,868 tons; on board of it wore
19,295 soldiers, 8450 sailors, 2088 slaves, and 2830 pieces of cannon.
In addition to the foregoing, there were galleys, galliasses, and
galleons stored with 22,000 pounds of great shot, 40,000 quintals, or
hundredweights of powder, 1000 quintals of lead for bullets, 10,000
quintals of match, 7000 muskets and calivers, 1000 partisans and
halberds, besides double-cannon and field-pieces for a camp on
disembarking, and a great many mules, horses, and asses, with six
months' provisions of all sorts. To this may be added a large band of
monks, with racks, thumbscrews, chains, whips, butchering knives, and
other implements of torture, with which it was proposed to convert the
English from the error of their ways, and to bring them to the true
faith as expounded by the pope and his pupil Philip.

The larger of these ships measured from 1000 to 1200 tons, they carried
50 guns, about 180 mariners, and 300 soldiers. A still la