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RALEGH’S, REPORT OF. AN.ENGAGEMENT. §27
The,Spanith fhips were filled with companies of foldiers, in fome: two hundred, befides
the mariners ;. in fome. five, in others eight hundred. In ours there were none at all
befides the mariners, but the fervants of the commanders, and fome. few voluntary gen-
tlemenonly, Atter many interchanged vollies. of great ordnance and fmall fhot, the
Spaniards deliberated to enter the Revenge, and made divers attempts, hoping to force
her, by the multitudes of their armed foldiers and mufketeers, but were {till repulfed
again andagain, and at all times beaten back into their own fhips, or into the feas. In
the beginning of the fight, the George Noble, of London, having received fome fhot
through her, by the armadas, fell under the lee of the Revenge, and afked fir Richard
what he would command him, being but one of the victuallers, and of {mall force: fir
Richard bid him fave himfelf, and leave him to his fortune. After the fight had thus,
without intermiflion, continued while the day lafted, and fome hours of the night, many
of our men were flainand hurt, and one of the great gallions of the armada, and the
admiral of the hulks both funk, and in many other of the Spanifh fhips great flaughter
was made. Some write that fir Richard was very dangeroufly hurt almoft in the begin-
ning of the fight, and lay {peechlefs for a time ere he recovered. But two of the Re-
venge’s own company, brought home in a fhip of Lime from the iflands, examined by
fome of the lords, and others, affirmed that he was never fo wounded as that.he forfook
the upper deck, till an hour before midnight; and then being fhot into the body with a
mufketashe was a drefling, was again fhot into the head, andwithal his chirurgion wound-
ed todeath. ‘Thisagreeth alfo with an examination taken by fir Francis Godolphin, of
-four other mariners of the fame fhip being returned, which examination, the faid fir
Francis fent unto mafter William Killegrue, of her majefty’s privy chamber.
But to return, to the fight, the Spanith fhips which attempted to board the Revenge,
-as they were wounded and beaten off, fo always others came in their places, fhe having
never lefs than two mighty gallions by her fides, and aboard her: fo that ere the
morning, from three of the clock the day before, there had fifteen feveral armadas af-
failed her; and all fo ill approved their entertainment, as they were by the break of day,
far more willing to hearken toa compofition, than haftily to make any more affaults or
entries. But as the day encreafed, fo our men decreafed ; and as the light gréw more
and more, by fo much more grew our difcomforts; for none appeared in fight but ene-
mies, faving one {mall fhip called the Pilgrim, commanded by Jacob Whiddon, who ho-
vered all night to fee the fuccefs; but in the morning bearing with the Revenge, was
hunted like a hare amongft many ravenous hounds, but efcaped.
All the powder of the Revenge to the laft barrel was now fpent, all her pikes broken,
forty of her beft men flain, and the moft part of the reft hurt. In the beginning of
the fight {he had but one hundred free from ficknefs, and four {core and ten fick, laid
in hold upon the ballaft. A {mall troop to man fuch a fhip, and a weak garrifon to
refift fo mighty an army. By thofe hundred all was fultained, the vollies, boardings,
and enterings of fifteen fhips of war, befides thofe which beat her at large. On the
contrary, the Spanith were always fupplied with foldiers brought from every {quadron :
all manner of arms and powder at will. Unto ours there remained no comfort at all,
no hope, no fupply either of fhips, men, or weapons; the matts all beaten overboard,
all her tackle cut afunder, her upper work altogether rafed, and in effect evened fhe
was with the water, but the very foundation or bottom of a fhip, nothing being left
overhead, either for flight or defence. Sir Richard finding himfelf in this diftrefs, and
unable any longer to make refiftance, having endured, in this fifteen hours fight, the
affault of fifteen feveral armadas, all by turns aboard him, and by eftimation eight
hundred fhot of great artillery, befides many aflaults and entries ; and that the fhip and
SN 2 himfeif
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