5 ships
of war and 5000 men, asked two days for deliberation, and then gave 30
ships and 10,000 men of which number 2710 were seamen. Other cities,
particularly Plymouth, came forward with proportionate liberality, and
private individuals, nobles, merchants, and men of humblest rank, were
enthusiastic in volunteering into the naval service, to risk property and
life in defence of the country. By midsummer there had been a total force
of 197 vessels manned, and partially equipped, with an aggregate of
29,744 tons, and 15,785 seamen. Of this fleet a very large number were
mere coasters of less than 100 tons each; scarcely ten ships were above
500, and but one above 1000 tons--the Triumph, Captain Frobisher, of 1100
tons, 42 guns, and 500 sailors.

Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High-Admiral of England, distinguished for
his martial character, public spirit, and admirable temper, rather than
for experience or skill as a seaman, took command of the whole fleet, in
his "little odd ship for all conditions," the Ark-Royal, of 800 tons, 425
sailors, and 55 guns.

Next in rank was Vice-Admiral Drake, in the Revenge, of 500 tons, 250 men
and 40 guns. Lord Henry Seymour, in the Rainbow, of precisely the same
size and strength, commanded the inner squadron, which cruised in the
neighbourhood of the French and Flemish coast.

The Hollanders and Zeelanders had undertaken to blockade the Duke of
Parma still more closely, and pledged themselves that he should never
venture to show himself upon the open sea at all. The mouth of the
Scheldt, and the dangerous shallows off the coast of Newport and Dunkirk,
swarmed with their determined and well-seasoned craft, from the flybooter
or filibuster of the rivers, to the larger armed vessels, built to
confront every danger, and to deal with any adversary.

Farnese, on his part, within that well-guarded territory, had, for months
long, scarcely slackened in his preparations, day or night. Whole forests
had been felled in the land of Waas to furnish him with transports and
gun-boats, and with such rapidity, that--according to his enthusiastic
historiographer--each tree seemed by magic to metamorphose itself into a
vessel at the word of command. Shipbuilders, pilots, and seamen, were
brought from the Baltic, from Hamburgh, from Genoa. The whole surface of
the obedient Netherlands, whence wholesome industry had long been
banished, was now the scene of a prodigious baleful activity. Portable
brid