It is true they had only 67 ships with which to oppose the 130 of the
Spaniards, but they sallied out and tackled them at once before the
Spaniards were really ready for them, and drove them into Dunkirk.
Here the Spaniards felt secure and would not come out till one night
the English sent fire ships in among them which forced them to put to
sea. Then ensued a tremendous sea fight, in which Drake, in the
_Revenge_, took the lead.
The battle lasted all day, with guns roaring and ships foundering or
exploding.
At length the Spaniards drew off northward to the German Ocean, the
only line of escape open to them. Round the north of Scotland and
Ireland they went, damaged by shot and beset by a gale, so that in the
end, out of the magnificent fleet of 130 sail which had set out for
the conquest of England, only 53 got back, with only about 9000 out of
the original 30,000 men.
* * * * *
NELSON.
Two hundred years after Drake came Nelson. He was the son of a
clergyman in Norfolk, a poor, sickly little fellow, and was for a time
in the merchant service.
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