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

which Medina Sidonia requested his officers to
give their opinion. To return to Calais involved a
second battle with the English, and if this should
be, the officers were of opinion that there would
come no to-morrow to the Armada; to return to
Spain in battered ships, without pilots, and through
unknown and dangerous seas, was an attempt
nearly as formidable; nevertheless, it was the lesser
of the two evils to which their choice was limited,
and it was the one adopted.[4]
Tempest, conflagration, and battle had laid the
pride of Spain in the dust. No sooner had the
change of wind rescued the Spanish ships from the
destruction which, as we have seen, seemed to
await them, than it shifted once more, and settling
in the south-west, blew every moment with greater
force. The mostly rudderless ships could do
nothing but drift before the rising storm into the
northern seas. Drake followed them for a day or
two; he did not fire a gun, in fact his ammunition
was spent, but the sight of his ships was enough,
the Spaniards fled, and did not even stay to succor
their leaking vessels, which went down unhelped
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