Though
express after express had been sent off praying that ammunition
might be sent, none had arrived, and the two fleets lay six miles
apart without action, save that the galleasses came out and skirmished
for a while with the English ships.
That evening, however, a supply of ammunition sufficient for another
day's fighting arrived, and soon after daybreak the English fleet
moved down towards the Armada, and for the first time engaged them
at close quarters. The Ark Raleigh, the Bear, the Elizabeth Jones,
the Lion, and the Victory bore on straight into the centre of the
Spanish galleons, exchanging broadsides with each as they passed.
Oquendo with his vessel was right in the course of the English
flagship, and a collision took place, in which the Ark Raleigh's
rudder was unshipped, and she became unmanageable.
The enemy's vessels closed round her, but she lowered her boats,
and these, in spite of the fire of the enemy, brought her head round
before the wind, and she made her way through her antagonists and
got clear. For several hours the battle continued. The Spanish fire
was so slow, and their ships so unwieldy, that it was rarely they
succeeded in firing a shot into their active foes, while the English
shot tore their way through the massive timbers of the Spanish
vessels, scattering the splinters thickly among the soldiers, who
had been sent below to be out of harm's way; but beyond this, and
inflicting much damage upon masts and spars, the day's fighting
had no actual results.
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