Lord Howard wasted many precious hours in
capturing her before he set off to join Drake and Seymour, who were
thundering against the Spanish fleet. The wind had got up during
the night, and the Spaniards had drifted farther than they expected,
and when morning dawned were scattered over the sea off Gravelines.
Signals were made for them to collect, but before they could do so
Drake and Seymour came up and opened fire within pistol shot. The
English admiral saw at once that, with the wind rising from the
south, if he could drive the unwieldy galleons north they would
be cut off from Dunkirk, and would not be able to beat back again
until there was a change of wind.
All through the morning the English ships poured a continuous
shower of shot into the Spanish vessels, which, huddled together
in a confused mass, were unable to make any return whatever. The
duke and Oquendo, with some of the best sailors among the Fleet,
tried to beat out from the crowd and get room to manoeuvre, but
Drake's ships were too weatherly and too well handled to permit
of this, and they were driven back again into the confused mass,
which was being slowly forced towards the shoals and banks of the
coasts.
Howard came up at noon with his division, and until sunset the fire
was maintained, by which time almost the last cartridge was spent,
and the crews worn our by their incessant labour.
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