I think it is not right for me to omit to narrate to you, or to keep back, the injuries and the great insults[16] that it was sought to inflict upon me, so wrongfully, and without my having committed the fault of neglecting to do my duty, from which our Lord delivered me. Having been condemned to death, as you will have known, and so ignominiously, and seeing the severity with which the order for execution was given, I demanded, with much spirit and anger, why they inflicted upon me so great an insult and dishonour, I having served the King as a good soldier and loyal subject of his on all occasions and in the encounters which we had with the fleet of the enemy, from which the galleon I commanded always came out of action very badly injured, and with many people killed and wounded. In it (my demand) I requested that a copy of the order should be given me, and that a judicial inquiry should be made of the three hundred and fifty men who were on board the galleon, and if any one of them considered me to blame they might quarter me. They did not wish to listen to me, nor to many gentlemen who interceded on my behalf, replying that the Duke was then in retirement, and very morose, and unwilling that any one should speak with him; because, in addition to the miserable success which he always had with the enemy, on the day of my trouble he was informed that the two galleons--_San Mateo_ and _San Felipe_--of those from Portugal, in which were the two camp-masters,[17] Don Francisco de Toledo, brother of the Count of Orgaz, and Don Diego Pimentel, brother of the Marquis de Távara, were lost in the sea, and most of those they carried were cut to pieces and dead. On this account the Duke kept to his cabin, and the councillors, to make up for his perversity,[18] did wrongs, right and left, on the lives and reputations of blameless persons; and this is so public that every one knows it. The galleon _San Pedro_, in which I sailed, received much injury from many heavy cannon balls, which the enemy lodged in her in various parts; and although they were repaired as well as was possible at the time, there were still some hidden shot-holes through which much water entered. After the fierce engagement we had off Calais on the 8th of August, continuing from the morning till seven o'clock in the evening--which was the last of all--our Armada being in the act of retiring--oh! I don't know how I can say it--the fleet of our enemy followed behind to drive us from their country; and when it was accomplished, and everything was safe, which was on the 10th of the same [month], seeing that the enemy had stopped [ceased to follow], some of the ships of our Armada trimmed up and repaired their damages.