which he and his knights drank; when each fixed their helmets on their heads. The Spaniards now drew near. They might easily have refused the battle, if they had chosen it; for they were well freighted, in large ships, and had the wind in their favor. They could have avoided speaking with the English, if they had willed; but their pride and presumption made them act otherwise. They disdained to sail by, but bore instantly down on them, and commenced the battle. When the King of England saw from his ship their order of battle, he ordered the person who managed his vessel, saying, “Lay me alongside the Spaniard who is bearing down on us; for I will have a tilt with him.” The master dared not disobey the king’s order, but laid his ship ready for the Spaniard, who was coming full sail. The king’s ship was large and stiff: otherwise she would have been sunk, for that of the enemy was a great one and the shock of their meeting was more like the crash of a torrent or tempest. The rebound caused the castle in the king’s ship to encounter that of the Spaniard, so that the mast of the latter was broken, and all in the castle fell with it into the sea, when they were drowned. The English vessel, however, suffered, and let in water; which the knights cleared, and stopped the leak, without telling the king any thing of the matter. Upon examining the vessel he had engaged lying before him, he said, “Grapple my ship with that; for I will have possession of her.” His knights replied, “Let her go her way: you shall have better than her.” That vessel sailed on; and another large ship bore down, and grappled with chains and hooks to that of the king. The fight now began in earnest, and the archers and crossbows on each side were eager to shoot and defend themselves. The battle was not in one place, but in ten or twelve at a time. Whenever either party found themselves equal to the enemy, or superior, they instantly grappled, when grand deeds of arms were performed. The English had not any advantage; and the Spanish ships were much larger and higher than their opponents, which gave them a great superiority in shooting and casting stones and iron bars on board their enemy, which annoyed them exceedingly. The knights on board the king’s ship were in danger of sinking, for the leak still admitted water: this made them more eager to conquer the vessel they were grappled to. Many gallant deeds were done; and at last they gained the ship, and flung all they found in it overboard, having quitted their own ship. They continued the combat against the Spaniards, who fought valiantly, and whose crossbow-men shot such bolts of iron as greatly distressed the English.