ded to invade this country in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. An account of the fleets on either side may therefore be
interesting.

[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Spanish galleass. 1588.]

The great Armada consisted of no less than 132 vessels, of which only
four were galleys, and four galleasses.[16] Of the remainder, 30 were
under 100 tons, and 94 were between 130 and 1,550 tons. The total
tonnage of the ships, less the galleys and galleasses, was 59,120. The
armament consisted of 2,761[17] guns. The seamen numbered 7,865 and the
soldiers 20,671. The fleet was divided into ten squadrons. The largest
vessel was the flagship of the Levant squadron, and was of 1,249 tons,
and carried 30 guns. The crew consisted of 80 sailors and 344 soldiers.
The next largest was of 1,200 tons and carried 47 guns, but the greater
number of the vessels were much smaller. The popular belief as to their
incredible size and unwieldiness must therefore be dismissed as
baseless, for even the largest ships were far exceeded in size by some
of the carracks, or merchant vessels, of that day. On the average the
Spanish vessels mounted 22 guns apiece, and carried crews of 231 sailors
and soldiers. Fig. 44 is a sketch, taken from the tapestry of the old
House of Lords, of one of the galleasses of the fleet. It will be
noticed that she carried her guns extremely high, a peculiarity which
was common to many of the Spanish vessels; for we read that their fire
did more harm to the rigging than to the hulls of the English vessels.

The fleet mustered by Elizabeth was far more numerous, but its tonnage
did not amount to one-half of that of the Armada. The total number of
vessels sailing under the English flag was 197, of which, however, only
34 belonged to the Royal Navy. The remainder were merchant vessels,
hastily fitted out and adapted for purposes of war by their owners, or
by the ports to which they belonged. Of the Royal ships the largest was
the _Triumph_, built in 1561. She was commanded by Sir Martin Frobisher,
and was only exceeded in size by four of the Spanish vessels. The
_Triumph_ was between 1,000 and 1,100 tons, but there were only seven
ships in the English Navy of between 600 and 1,000 tons, whereas the
Spaniards had no fewer than 45. The crew of the _Triumph_ numbered 500,
of whom 300 were sailors, 40 gunners, and 160 soldiers.

The _Triumph_ carried 42 guns, of which 4 were cannon, 3 demi-cannon, 17
culverins, 8 demi-culverins, 6 sakers, a