has a magnetic and powerful will, combined with quick action and sound, unhesitating judgment.  All the greatest naval and military chiefs have had and must have now these essential gifts of nature if they are to be successful in their art.  The man of dashing expediency without judgment or knowledge is a great peril in any responsible position.  When either a ship or nation or anything else is in trouble, it is the cool, calculating, orderly administrator, who never makes chaos or destructive fuss, that succeeds.  That is essential, and it is only this type of person that so often saves both ships, armies, and nations from inevitable destruction.  The Duke of Wellington used to say that “In every case, the winning of a battle was always a damned near thing.”  One of the most important characteristics of Drake’s and Hawkins’ genius was their fearless accurate methods of putting the fear of God into the Spaniards, both at sea and ashore.  The mention of their names made Philip’s flesh creep.  Even Admiral Santa Cruz, in common with his compatriots, thought Drake was “The Serpent”—­“The Devil.”  And the Spanish opinion of him helped Drake to win many a tough battle.  Amongst the thrilling examples are his dashes into Corunna and Cadiz.  Drake never took the risk before calculating the cost and making certain of where the vulnerable weak spot of the enemy lay, and when and where to strike it.  The complete vanquishing of the Armada is another instance of Drake’s great qualities of slashing yet sound judgment put accurately into effect.

Of course, the honours of the defeat of the Armada must always be shared with other naval experts who had acquired their knowledge of sea warfare in what is called the piratical line.  But the spirit that inflamed the whole British fleet was that of Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Seymour, and Howard, and the inspiration came mainly from the two former.  On the Spanish side, as a naval battle, it was a fiasco, a mere colossal clerical burlesque.  Neither naval strategy nor ordinary seamanship was in evidence on the part of the chief commander or his admirals.  The men fought with rough-and-tumble heroism.  The sailors were only second in quality to our own, but there was no plan of battle, and the poor Duke of Medina Sidonia had neither knowledge of naval affairs nor courage.  Philip’s theory seems to have been that any lack of efficiency in the art of war by his commanders would be made up by the spiritual encouragement of the priests dangling their crucifixes about the decks amongst the sailors and soldiers, who had been put through a course of instruction on spiritual efficacy before sailing on their doomed expedition.  They were made to believe that the Spanish cause was so just that assistance would be given from God to defeat the “infernal devils” and to invade their country.