The Spaniards,
having no pilots who knew the coasts, anchored off Calais. The
English fleet, closely watching their movements, brought up two
miles astern.
The Spanish admiral sent off another urgent letter to Parma
at Dunkirk, begging him to send immediately thirty or forty fast
gunboats to keep the English at bay. Parma had received the admiral's
letters, and was perfectly ready to embark his troops, but could
not do this as the admiral expected he would, until the fleet came
up to protect him. The lighters and barges he had constructed for
the passage were only fit to keep the sea in calm weather, and
would have been wholly at the mercy of even a single English ship
of war. He could not, therefore, embark his troops until the duke
arrived. As to the gunboats asked for, he had none with him.
But while the Spanish admiral had grave cause for uneasiness in
the situation in which he found himself, Lord Howard had no greater
reason for satisfaction. In spite of his efforts the enemy's
fleet had arrived at their destination with their strength still
unimpaired, and were in communication with the Duke of Parma's
army. Lord Seymour had come up with a squadron from the mouth of
the Thames, but his ships had but one day's provisions on board,
while Drake and Howard's divisions had all but exhausted their
supplies.
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