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ruin, and the remaining ships were scattered by the tempests of the north. After all, Philip proved to be, what the sailors called him, only "a Colossus stuffed with clouts."
The English sailors followed up their advantage. They went on "singeing the Ring of Spain's beard." Private adventurers fitted up a fleet under the command of Drake, and invaded the mainland of Spain. They took the lower part of the town of Corunna; sailed to the Tagus, and captured a fleet of ships laden with wheat and warlike stores for a new Armada. They next sacked Vigo, and returned to England with 150 pieces of cannon and a rich booty. The Earl of Cumberland sailed to the West Indies on a private adventure, and captured more Spanish prizes. In 1590, ten English merchantmen, returning from the Levant, attacked twelve Spanish galleons, and after six hours' contest, put them to flight with great loss. In the following year, three merchant ships set sail for the East Indies, and in the course of their voyage took several Portuguese vessels.
A powerful Spanish fleet still kept the seas, and in 1591 they conquered the noble Sir Richard Grenville at the Azores--fifteen great Spanish galleons against one Queen's ship, the Revenge. In 1593, two of the Queen's ships, accompanied by a number of merchant ships, sailed for the West Indies, under Burroughs, Frobisher, and Cross, and amongst their other captures they took the greatest of all the East India caracks, a vessel of 1600 tons, 700 men, and 36 brass cannon, laden with a magnificent cargo. She was taken to Dartmouth, and surprised all who saw her, being the largest ship that had ever been seen in England. In 1594, Captain James Lancaster set sail with three ships upon a voyage of adventure. He was joined by some Dutch and French privateers. The result was, that they captured thirty-nine of the Spanish ships. Sir Amias Preston, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Francis Drake, also continued their action upon the seas. Lord Admiral Howard and the Earl of Essex made their famous attack upon Cadiz for the purpose of destroying the new Armada; they demolished all the forts; sank eleven of the King of Spain's best ships, forty-four merchant ships, and brought home much booty.
Nor was maritime discovery neglected. The planting of new colonies began, for the English people had already begun to swarm. In 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert planted Newfoundland for the Queen. In 1584, Sir Waiter Raleigh planted the first settlement in Virginia. Nor was the North-west passage neglected; for in 1580, Captain Pett (a name famous on the Thames) set sail from Harwich in the George, accompanied by Captain Jackman in the William. They reached the ice in the North Sea, but were compelled to return without effecting their purpose! Will it be believed that the George was only of 40 tons, and that its crew consisted of nine men and a boy; and that the William was of 20 tons, with five men and a boy? The wonder is that these little vessels could resist the terrible icefields, and return to England again with their hardy crews.
Then in 1585, another of our adventurous sailors, John Davis, of Sandridge on the Dart, set sail with two barks, the Sunshine and the Moonshine, of 50 and 35 tons respectively, and discovered in the far North-west the Strait which now bears his name. He was driven back by the ice; but, undeterred by his failure, he set out on a second, and then on a third voyage of discovery in the two following years. But he never succeeded in discovering the North-west passage. It all reads like a mystery--these repeated, determined, and energetic attempts to discover a new way of reaching the fabled region of Cathay.