He did not intend to go on board, for he was a bad sailor;
and though ready, as he said, to do his share of fighting upon
land, would be only an encumbrance on board a ship.
He went down principally at the request of Cecil and other members
of the council, who, knowing that he was a favourite of the queen,
thought that his representations as to the state of the fleet might
do more than they could do to influence her to send supplies to the
distressed sailors. The earl visited the ships lying in the mouth
of the Tamar, and three times started in a boat to go out to those
in the Sound; but the sea was so rough, and he was so completely
prostrated by sickness, that he had each time to put back. What he
saw, however, on board the ships he visited, and heard from Lord
Howard as to the state of those at sea, was quite sufficient. He
at once expended a considerable amount of money in buying wine and
fresh meat for the sick, and then hurried away to London to lay
before the queen the result of his personal observations, and to
implore her to order provisions to be immediately despatched to
the fleet.
But even the description given by one of her favourites of the
sufferings of the seamen was insufficient to induce the queen to
open her purse strings, and the earl left her in great dudgeon;
and although his private finances had been much straitened by his
extravagance and love of display, he at once chartered a ship,
filled her with provisions, and despatched her to Plymouth.
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