Britain's Sea Story, B.C. 55-A.D. 1805; Being the Story of British Heroism in Voyaging and Sea-Fight from Alfred's Time to the Battle of Trafalgar with an Introduction Tracing the Development of the Structure of Sailing Ships from the Earliest Times (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 Excerpt: ...they could turn and wield themselves with the wind which way they listed, came oftentimes very near upon the Spaniards, and charged them so sore, that now and then they were but a pike's length asunder, and so, continually giving them one broad side after another, they discharged all their shot both great and small upon them, spending one whole day from morning till night in that violent kind of conflict, until such time as powder and bullets failed them. In regard of which want they thought it convenient not to pursue the Spaniards any longer, because they had many great vantages of the English, namely for the extraordinary bigness of their ships, and also for that they were so nearly enjoined, and kept together in so good array, that they could by no means be fought withal one to one. The English thought, therefore, that they had right well acquitted themselves, in chasing the Spaniards first from Calais, and then from Dunkirk, and by that means to have hindered them from joining with the Duke of Parma his forces, and getting the wind of them, to have driven them from their own coasts. The Spaniards that day sustained great loss and damage, having many of their ships shot through and through, and they discharged likewise great store of ordnance against the English, who indeed sustained some hindrance, but not comparable to the Spaniards' loss: for they lost not any one ship or person of account. For very diligent inquisition being made, the Englishmen all that time wherein the Spanish navy sailed upon their seas, are not found to have wanted above one hundredth of their people: howbeit Sir Francis Drake's ship was pierced with shot above forty times, and his very cabin was twice shot through, and about the conclusion of the fight, the bed of a certain gen...