Rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field." The Great Armada had left the Tagus on the 20th of May 1588. It consisted of one hundred and thirty-two ships under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia. Besides 8766 sailors, there were on board 2088 galley slaves, 21,855 officers and soldiers ready for action as soon as they should land; 300 monks and friars were pacing the decks, sent to take spiritual charge _in partibus infidelium_. Against this force Queen Elizabeth had only thirty-four of her own ships, but all the seaports from Bristol to Hull sent small armed vessels, while noblemen and merchants contributed to swell the total, which came to nearly two hundred in all. John Hawkins was there as Rear-Admiral under Howard, making with Drake and Frobisher his headquarters at Plymouth. "For the love of God," he writes to Walsingham, on the 19th of June, "let her Majesty care not now for charges," and in the same vein he wrote also to the Queen. As he kept watch the Spanish fleet came slowly on, intending to surprise Plymouth; but Hawkins and his vessels were already awaiting the foe outside, so they anchored for the night off Looe. The next day was Sunday, the 21st of July, and Medina Sidonia seems to have made up his mind to go on to the Isle of Wight. All that day the little English ships were barking round the unwieldy galleys of Spain. "We had some small fight with them that Sunday afternoon," said Hawkins. By three o'clock the Spanish fleet was in a pretty confusion, hasting to get away from their tormentors. On Monday and Tuesday the fight continued, the details of which may be reserved for a later chapter; but every day more reinforcements came to Howard, as courtiers and merchants hurried down from London to serve in pinnace or frigate. By Wednesday morning the English ships had spent nearly all their ammunition, and were begging for powder and shot at every village they passed. On Friday Lord Howard knighted Frobisher and Hawkins for their valiant conduct; he then allowed the Armada to sail along the Sussex coast and cross the Straits of Dover towards Calais. There through Saturday and Sunday vast crowds of Flemings and Frenchmen gathered to gaze at the two great fleets, which were waiting, the Spaniards for the Prince of Parma to join them from Dunkirk, the English to carry out a little device which Sir William Winter had suggested. Six of the oldest vessels were filled with combustibles and guns loaded to the mouth with old iron, and at midnight were conducted in the pitchy darkness of a rising storm within bow-shot of the Armada.