The city expected to be assaulted; the women and children were hurried for safety into the fortress, twenty-seven poor creatures being crushed to death in the confusion. But the English did not land; their business was to damage King Philip's navy as much as possible; so they sailed on beyond the batteries and began plundering, burning, and scuttling amongst the many ships that remained. Drake's letter to Walsingham calmly describes how "we found sundry great ships, some laden, some half laden, and some ready to be laden with the King's provisions for England. I assure your Honour the like preparation was never heard of, nor known, as the King of Spain hath made, and daily maketh, to invade England. His provisions of bread and wines are so great as will suffice forty thousand men a whole year, which if they be not impeached before they join, will be very perilous." As the darkness came down the crowds of soldiers and sailors that thronged the quay and seaside streets saw the red fire spring up from many a proud galleon, and in special the splendid warship of the Marquis de Santa Cruz, valued the day before at 18,000 ducats. A big Genoese argosy of 1000 tons, freighted with rich stuffs and thirty-six pieces of brass cannon, was sunk and the treasure wasted. Then, tired out, the crews sank down and slept on the decks till morning. With the dawn poured in thousands of reinforcements, making an attack on the town impracticable; but the spoiling, sinking, and burning went on merrily, the galleys made feints and the big guns boomed, "but they did us little hurt, saving that the master-gunner of the _Golden Lion_ had his leg broke with a shot from the town." Yet there were two hundred culverin shooting at the English fleet for twenty-four hours! The total amount of damage done by Drake seems to come to forty or fifty ships destroyed, while the value of stores consumed was not short of £150,000. Amongst these were 4000 pipes of wine and 30,000 cwt. of wheat. In addition to this Drake had revictualled his ships with wine, oil, biscuit, and dried fruits, a very acceptable present for hungry men. So the great Armada would not sail for England yet awhile! The Queen and her ministers and people, great and small, might sleep securely; for the only man in all England who could inspire his men to fight as heroes, the greatest sea captain, perhaps, that England has ever possessed, had disobeyed orders and angered his vice-admiral in order to save his country. One cannot but think that Nelson must have studied with some care the life of Francis Drake: rules are made for mediocrities by mediocrities: the genius must be allowed to have his own way.