For a while he prevailed, compelling several of the foremost to give way, who sprang their luff and fell under the lee of the _Revenge_. But his success was short-lived; the _Revenge_, coming under the lee of the great _San Philip_, of 1,500 tons, was becalmed. This was about three o’clock in the afternoon; and while the _Revenge_ was hotly engaged with this gigantic adversary, four more Spanish ships-of-war ranged alongside, and, after a furious cannonade, attempted to board her, but in vain; and the _San Philip_, after receiving from the lower tier of guns of the _Revenge_ an especially deadly salvo, “discharged with cross-bar shot, shifted herself with all diligence from her sides, utterly misliking her first entertainment.” But her place was at once taken by another Spaniard, and, indeed, through the twelve or fifteen hours during which the battle lasted, Grenville’s ship was constantly fighting against overwhelming odds. All through the August night the fight continued under the quiet stars, ship after ship washing up on the _Revenge_ like clamouring waves upon a rock, only to fall back foiled and shattered amidst the roar of artillery:— Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons came, Ship after ship, the whole night long, with their battle-thunder and flame, Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead and her shame, For some were sunk, and some were shattered, and some would fight no more; God of battles! was ever a battle like this in the world before? Though wounded early in the day, Grenville was able to fight his ship from the upper deck till an hour before midnight, when he was again wounded, this time in the body, with a musket ball. The sailors carried him below, and as his wounds were being dressed, a shot crashed through the _Revenge_, stretched the doctor lifeless, and inflicted an injury to Sir Richard’s head from which, in two or three days, he died.