They fled in confusion, many being seriously
damaged in collision, but only to encounter the English ships _Revenge,
Victory, Mary Rose_, and _Dreadnought_, which immediately attacked. Some
of the Spanish vessels were captured and some were lost on the shores of
France and Holland; but the main body, much battered and with their
crews badly out of spirits, sailed on into the North Sea. Howard was
close up to them east of the Firth of Forth, but shortage of water and
provisions, as well as of munitions, kept him from attacking, and with
bad weather threatening he made for the Channel ports, and on August
7th, 1588, the Lord High Admiral returned to England with his victorious
fleet.
The remaining ships of the Armada encountered furious storms off the
coast of Ireland, where ten were sunk; and it was not until the end of
September that the battered remnants of the once great fleet reached the
coast of Spain.
Queen Elizabeth went in state to St. Paul's Cathedral to offer up thanks
to the Almighty for the safety of her Kingdom and herself, and caused a
medal to be struck bearing on it a fleet scattered by a tempest and the
words:
He blew with His winds and they were scattered.
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