Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

his shot, discharged from lofty decks, passed over
the ships of his antagonist, and fell into the sea. It
was in vain that the Spanish admiral hoisted the
flag of battle; the wind and sea would not permit
him to lie-to; and his little nimble foe would not
come within reach, unless it might be for a
moment, to send a cannon-ball through the side of
some of his galleons, or to demolish a turret or a
mast, and then make off, laughing to scorn the
ungainly efforts of his bulky pursuer to overtake
him. As yet there had been no loss of either ship or
man on the part of the English. Not quite so intact
was the Armada. Their size made the ships a more
than usually good mark for the English gunners,
and scarcely had a shot been fired during the day
that had not hit. Besides, the English fired four
shots to one of the Spaniards. The Armada
sustained other damage besides that which the
English guns inflicted upon it. As night fell its
ships huddled together to prevent dispersion, and
the galleon of Pedro di Valdez, fouling with the
Santa Catalina, was so much damaged that it fell
behind and became the booty of the English. This
galleon had on board a large amount of treasure,
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