Compared with the small
English ships, the big ships of the Spaniards, with their huge
superstructures, looked like castles floating on the sea, and the ocean
seemed to groan beneath its heavy burden. But how astonished the English
must have been, both at the vast number and size of the ships composing
the Armada, proudly floating up the Channel in a formation resembling an
arc or segment of a circle extending nearly seven miles.
When the battle commenced, Lord Howard had only got together a fleet of
about a hundred ships, but it soon became evident that the light and
well-handled ships of the English, with their more rapid sailing and
clever manoeuvring, were more than a match for the much larger ships of
the Spaniards. Sir Francis Drake followed the Armada closely during the
night, and came up with a large galleon commanded by Don Pedro de Valdez
that had been damaged in the fight, and this he captured with all on
board. The weather now began to grow stormy, and the strong gale which
sprang up during the night caused some of the Spanish ships to foul each
other, and the English captured several of them the next day. The wind
now began to blow in all directions, and some of the Spanish ships
becoming unmanageable, their formation was broken, so that there was no
fixed order of battle.
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