In My
Opinion, Such Rashness Would Have Ill Assorted With The Discretion And
Trust Of A General, To Have Committed
Himself and his charge to
assured destruction, without any hope or likelihood of prevailing,
thereby to have diminished the strength
Of her majestys navy, and to
have increased the pride and glory of the enemy.
[Footnote 374: This singular antiquated sea term may signify, not in
sailing _trim_. - E.]
The Foresight, one of her majestys vessels, commanded by Thomas
Vavasour, performed a very great service, and staid two hours as near
the Revenge as the weather would permit, not forsaking the fight till
well nigh encompassed by the squadrons of the enemy, and then cleared
himself with great difficulty. The rest gave diverse vollies of shot,
and engaged as far as the place and their own necessities permitted, so
as to keep the weather-gage of the enemy, till night parted them.
A few days after this fight, the prisoners being dispersed among the
Spanish ships of war and ships from the Indies, there arose so great a
storm from the W. and N.W. that all the fleet was dispersed, as well the
fleet of the Indies then come to them as the rest of the armada that had
attended their arrival, of which 14 sail, together with the Revenge
having 200 Spaniards on board of her, were cast away upon the island of
St Michael. Thus they honoured the obsequies of the renowned Revenge,
for the great glory she had achieved, not permitting her to perish
alone. Besides these, other 15 or 16 of the Spanish ships of war were
cast away in this storm upon the other islands of the Azores: And, of an
100 sail and more of the fleet of the Indies, which were expected this
year in Spain, what with the loss sustained in this tempest, and what
before in the bay of Mexico and about the Bermuda islands, above 70 were
lost, including those taken by our London ships; besides one very rich
ship of the Indies, which set herself on fire being boarded by the
Pilgrim, and five others taken by the ship belonging to Mr Wats of
London between the Havannah and Cape St Antonio. On the 4th of November
this year, we had letters from Tercera, affirming that 3000 dead bodies
had been thrown upon that island from the perished ships, and that the
Spaniards confessed to have lost 10,000 men in this storm, besides those
who perished between the main and the islands. Thus it hath pleased God
to fight for us, and to defend the justice of our cause, against the
ambitious and bloody pretences of the Spaniards, who seeking to devour
all nations are themselves devoured: A manifest testimony how unjust and
displeasing are their attempts in the sight of God, who hath been
pleased to witness, by the evil success of their affairs, his mislike of
their bloody and injurious designs, purposed and practised against all
Christian princes, over whom they seek unlawful and ungodly rule and
supreme command.
A day or two before this terrible catastrophe, when some of our
prisoners desired to be set on shore on the Azores islands, hoping to be
thence transported into England, and which liberty had been formerly
promised by the Spanish general; one Morice Fitz John, (son of old John
of Desmond, a notable traitor, who was cousin-german to the late earl of
Desmond,) was sent from ship to ship to endeavour to persuade the
English prisoners to serve the king of Spain. The arguments he used to
induce them were these. Increase of pay to treble their present
allowance; advancement to the better sort; and the free exercise of the
true catholic religion, ensuring the safety of all their souls. For the
first of these, the beggarly and unnatural behaviour of those English
and Irish rebels that served the king of Spain in that action was a
sufficient answer; for so poor and ragged were they, that, for want of
apparel, they stripped the poor prisoners their countrymen of their
ragged garments, worn out by six months service, not even sparing to
despoil them of their bloody shirts from their wounded bodies, and the
very shoes from their feet; a noble testimony of their rich
entertainment and high pay. As to the second argument, of hope of
advancement if they served well and continued faithful to the king of
Spain; what man could be so blockishly ignorant ever to expect promotion
and honour from a foreign king, having no other merit or pretension than
his own disloyalty, his unnatural desertion of his country and parents,
and rebellion against his true prince, to whose obedience he is bound by
oath, by nature, and by religion? No! such men are only assured to be
employed on all desperate enterprizes, and to be held in scorn and
disdain even among those they serve. That ever a traitor was either
trusted or advanced I have never learnt, neither can I remember a single
example. No man could have less becomed the office of orator for such a
purpose, than this Morice of Desmond: For, the earl his cousin, being
one of the greatest subjects in the kingdom of Ireland, possessing
almost whole counties in his large property, many goodly manors,
castles, and lordships, the county palatine of Kerry, 500 gentlemen of
his own family and name ready to follow him, all which he and his
ancestors had enjoyed in peace for three or four hundred years: Yet this
man, in less than three years after his rebellion and adherence to the
Spaniards, was beaten from all his holds, not so many as ten gentlemen
of his name left living, himself taken and beheaded by a gentleman of
his own nation, and his lands given by parliament to her majesty and
possessed by the English. His other cousin, Sir John Desmond, taken by
Mr John Zouch; and his body hung up over the gates of his native city to
be devoured by ravens.
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