Fifty-two Stories of the British Navy, from Damme to Trafalgar.Miles, Alfred H. (Alfred Henry)
History
Fifty-two Stories of the British Navy, from Damme to Trafalgar.
Miles, Alfred H. (Alfred Henry)
Great Britain -- History, Naval -- Juvenile literature
In 1588 Sir Francis Drake was appointed vice-admiral, under Charles Lord
Howard of Effingham, High-admiral of England; here his fortune favoured
him as remarkably as ever, for he made prize of a large galleon,
commanded by Don Pedro de Valdez, who yielded on the bare mention of his
name. In this vessel fifty thousand ducats were distributed among the
seamen and soldiers. It must not, however, be dissembled that, through
an oversight of his, the admiral ran the utmost hazard of being taken by
the enemy; for Drake being appointed, the first night of the engagement,
to carry lights for the direction of the English fleet, he being in full
pursuit of some hulks belonging to the Hanse Towns, neglected it; which
occasioned the admiral's following the Spanish lights, and remaining
almost in the centre of their fleet till morning. However, his
succeeding services sufficiently effaced the memory of this mistake; the
greatest execution done on the flying Spaniards being performed by the
squadron under his command.
The next year he was employed as admiral at sea over the fleet sent to
restore Don Antonio, King of Portugal; the command of the land forces
being given to Sir John Norris. They were hardly at sea, however, before
these commanders differed; though it is on all hands agreed that there
never was an admiral better disposed, with respect to soldiers, than Sir
Francis Drake. The ground of their difference was this: the general was
bent on landing at the Groyne, whereas Sir Francis and the sea-officers
were for sailing to Lisbon directly; in which, if their advice had been
taken, without question their enterprise would have succeeded, and Don
Antonio would have been restored. For it appeared, on their invading
Portugal, that the enemy had made use of the time they gave them to such
good purpose that it was not possible to make any impression. Sir John
Norris, indeed, marched by land to Lisbon, and Sir Francis Drake, very
imprudently, promised to sail up the river with his whole fleet; but
when he saw the consequences which would have attended the keeping of
his word, he chose rather to break his promise than to hazard the
queen's navy; for which he was grievously reproached by Norris, and the
miscarriage of the whole affair was imputed to his failure in performing
what he had undertaken. Yet Sir Francis fully justified himself on his
return; for he made it manifest to the queen and council that all the
service that was done was performed by him, and that his sailing up the
river of Lisbon would have signified nothing to the taking the castle,
which was two miles off; and without reducing that there was no taking
the town.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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