ps had the same superiority over the
galleons which steamers have now over sailing vessels. They had twice
the speed; they could lie two points nearer to the wind. Sweeping round
them at cable's length, crowding them in one upon the other, yet never
once giving them a chance to grapple, they hurled in their cataracts of
round shot. Short as was the powder supply, there was no sparing it that
morning. The hours went on, and still the battle raged, if battle it
could be called where the blows were all dealt on one side and the
suffering was all on the other. Never on sea or land did the Spaniards
show themselves worthier of their great name than on that day. But from
the first they could do nothing. It was said afterwards in Spain that
the Duke showed the white feather, that he charged his pilot to keep him
out of harm's way, that he shut himself up in his cabin, buried in
woolpacks, and so on. The Duke had faults enough, but poltroonery was
not one of them. He, who till he entered the English Channel had never
been in action on sea or land, found himself, as he said, in the midst
of the most furious engagement recorded in the history of the world. As
to being out of harm's way, the standard at his masthead drew the
hottest of the fire upon him. The _San Martin's_ timbers were of oak and
a foot thick, but the shot, he said, went through them enough to shatter
a rock. Her deck was a slaughterhouse; half his company were killed or
wounded, and no more would have been heard or seen of the _San Martin_
or her commander had not Oquendo and De Leyva pushed in to the rescue
and enabled him to creep away under their cover. He himself saw nothing
more of the action after this. The smoke, he said, was so thick that he
could make out nothing, even from his masthead. But all round it was but
a repetition of the same scene. The Spanish shot flew high, as before,
above the low English hulls, and they were themselves helpless butts to
the English guns. And it is noticeable and supremely creditable to them
that not a single galleon struck her colours. One of them, after a long
duel with an Englishman, was on the point of sinking. An English
officer, admiring the courage which the Spaniards had shown, ran out
upon his bowsprit, told them that they had done all which became men,
and urged them to surrender and save their lives. For answer they
cursed the English as cowards and chickens because they refused to
close. The officer was shot. His