By This Means, It Was
Taken From The Spaniards And Carried To England, Where The Owners Got It
Again When They Least Expected.
On the 19th March 1590, having laden the kings silver and received
Alvaro Flores with his company, and good
Provision of necessaries,
warlike ammunitions and soldiers, the before-mentioned 19 ships sailed
from Tercera, firmly resolved, as they set forth, to fight valiantly to
the last man, before they would yield or lose their riches. Though they
intended to make for San Lucar, the wind forced them to Lisbon, as if
willing to keep them there in safety, although Alvaro Flores would have
persisted in forcing his way to San Lucar against the wind and weather.
But, constrained by adverse wind, and importunately urged by the
mariners, who protested they would require their losses and damages from
him, he consented to put in at Lisbon, whence the silver was conveyed by
land to Seville. At this time, there lay 20 English ships off Cape St
Vincent, to watch for this fleet; so that if they had gone forwards for
Sun Lucar, which they certainly had done if the wind had been fair, they
must have fallen into the hands of the English: They may say, therefore,
that the wind lent them a fortunate voyage on this occasion. If the
English had met them, they had surely been in great danger, and possibly
few of them had escaped, on account of the fear which they were then in
of the English; as fortune, or God rather, was then wholly against them,
which was enough to make the Spaniards out of heart, and to inspire the
English with the greater boldness; for being victorious, they were stout
and valiant, and seeing all their enterprizes successful, they were
become lords and masters of the sea, and needed to care for no man, as
well appears from this short narrative.
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