In a short time after the destruction of the enemy's fleet at Teneriffe we find Blake cruising again off the harbour of Cadiz; where, perceiving his ships had become foul, and that his own health and spirits hourly wore away, he resolved to sail for England. His distemper was a complication of dropsy and scurvy, brought upon him by being for three years together at sea, and wanting all that time the conveniences requisite for the cure of his disease. In his passage home it increased upon him, and he became so sensible of his approaching end, that he frequently inquired for land; which, however, he did not live to see, dying as his ship the _St. George_ entered Plymouth Sound, on August 17th, 1657, at about fifty-nine years of age. His body was the next day embalmed and wrapped in lead, and, by order of the Protector, conveyed by water to Greenwich. On September 4th, after the body had lain several days in state, it was carried from Greenwich in a magnificent barge, covered with velvet, adorned with escutcheons and pendants, and accompanied by his brothers, remoter relations, and their servants, in mourning; by Oliver's privy council, the commissioners of the admiralty and navy, the lord-mayor and aldermen of London, the field-officers of the army, and many other persons of honour and quality, in a great number of barges and wherries covered with mourning, marshalled and ordered by the heralds-at-arms, who directed and attended the solemnity. Thus they passed to Westminster Bridge; and, at their landing, proceeded in the same manner, through a guard of several regiments of foot, to the abbey. The funeral procession over, the body was interred in a vault, built on purpose, in the chapel of Henry VII. Some time after the Restoration an order was sent to the dean and chapter of Westminster, directing them to cause such bodies as had been interred in that church during the troubles to be removed; and on September 12th, 1661, the body of Blake was removed from the abbey and buried in the churchyard. Though Blake was upon principle a supporter of the Commonwealth, his character was such that he won from the royalists some of the warmest tributes he received. Dr. Bates, in drawing his character, says, "He was a man deserving praise, even from an enemy. Being advanced to a command at sea, he subdued the Scilly Islands, near home; and having attained the office and title of an admiral, performed things worthy of immortal memory abroad. For he humbled the pride of France; reduced Portugal to reason; broke the naval force of Holland, and drove them to the shelter of their ports; suppressed the rovers of Barbary, and twice triumphed over Spain. Alone blamable in this, that he complied with the parricides." In the words of Anthony Wood, "He was a man wholly devoted to his country's service; resolute in his undertakings, and most faithful in the performance of them. With him, valour seldom missed its reward, nor cowardice its punishment."