6. The galleons at once cut their anchor cables, and made all haste to escape from the threatened danger, "Happiest they who could first be gone, though few or none could tell which way to take." Some of the ships had no spare anchors, and when they got outside the harbour could not anchor again, and were carried far away from their flag-ship. When morning broke Sidonia saw his fleet widely scattered. Signals were sent up for them to collect and make back for Calais. 7. The hour for the English to close was now come. A hot attack was begun before the enemy had time to rally and reform. The battle raged with fury from dawn to sunset. By the end of the day the Armada was in a hopeless state. Three great galleons had sunk, three had drifted helplessly on to the Flemish coast, whilst those afloat were in a battered condition, with sails torn and masts shot away. 8. The Spanish admiral was in despair. He saw there was nothing left but to get away by the easiest road. Not daring to return by the Channel, he resolved on making his way home by sailing round the Orkneys. A terrible tempest pursued him, and so many vessels were dashed against the rock-bound coasts of Scotland and Ireland that only fifty-three storm-shattered ships ever reached Spain. Out of thirty thousand men who had set sail in the Armada at least twenty thousand never returned. 9. In England one voice of joy and thanksgiving rang through the land. The great victory had been won with the loss of only one vessel and very few men. Not a single hostile foot had been planted on English soil. A solemn thanksgiving service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral; and in memory of the great deliverance a medal was struck, around the edge of which was inscribed in Latin, "_God blew with His breath and they were scattered_." 10. The war with Spain did not come to a close with the destruction of the Great Armada, but the long-dreaded danger of invasion had passed away. The navy of the greatest power in the world had been smitten and shattered. And the only result of Spain's attempt to enslave England was to raise her to a higher place among the nations. Hence the poet sings in his song of _Rule Britannia_:-- Still more majestic shall thou rise, More dreadful from each foreign stroke; As the loud blast that tears the skies Serves but to root thy native oak. 11. The war with Spain lasted until the death of Philip (1598). It was carried on almost wholly at sea, but the only story of much interest relates to Sir Richard Grenville, who for fifteen hours resisted all the efforts of a Spanish fleet to take or sink his ship, the _Revenge_. The unequal contest went on right through the night. When day dawned the _Revenge_ was riddled with shot, Grenville mortally wounded, and hardly a man still alive and unwounded.