e
advantage of their superior numbers of fighting-men in a hand-to-hand
conflict on the decks. The soldier's advice was good, but the sailors were
against him. They argued that the fleet must enter Plymouth Sound in line
ahead at the risk of being destroyed in detail, as the shoals at the
entrance (those on which the breakwater of to-day stands) left only two
narrow channels. De Leyva's bold plan was rejected, and it was decided that
the Armada should proceed up Channel.

[Illustration: VOYAGE OF THE ARMADA 1588]

Next day the fighting began. The wind had shifted to the north-west, a good
enough wind for working up Channel on the port tack. English contemporary
accounts say the Armada was formed in a half-moon, a centre and two wings
slightly thrown forward. Howard had as yet only brought part of his fleet
out of Plymouth, but though greatly outnumbered by the Spaniards, he had
his best ships and his most enterprising captains with him, and nothing
daunted by the grand array of the Armada, he began a series of harassing
attacks upon it.

It was Sunday morning, 31 July, according to the Spanish reckoning, the
21st according to the Old Style still used in England. It was a sunny day,
with just enough wind to help the nimble, seaworthy English ships in their
guerilla tactics. Howard's policy was to take full advantage of the three
factors that were on his side in the solution of the problem, better
seamanship in his crews, better gunnery, and handier ships. To close with
and grapple in the fashion of earlier naval battles would have been to risk
being crushed by superior numbers. His policy was to hang upon the flank or
rear of the Armada, close in and try to cripple one or more ships by
artillery fire, slip away if the enemy turned upon him, come on again as
they gave up the attempt to close, and he was ready all the time to swoop
down upon and capture any ship that might be detached from her consorts. At
the time arm-chair critics on shore found fault with what they considered
the half-hearted conduct of the admiral, and the Queen's Council inquired
why it was that none of the Spanish ships had been boarded. Sir Walter
Raleigh, who, as Professor Laughton notes, "must have often talked with
Howard, and Drake, and Hawkins, while the business was fresh in their
memories," thus explains and defends the admiral's conduct:--[10]

"Certainly, he that will happily perform a fight at sea must
believe that there is